Open Word

Paul writes that ‘… the Holy Scriptures … are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ (2 Timothy 3:15-17)

Open Word was devised by Matthew Hutton while a curate at St Stephen’s Church in Norwich. Matthew presented Open Word at St Stephen’s over 2016/17 and 2017/18 and, at the Mitre Benefice, in 2020/21, first in person and then (with the advent of Covid) on Zoom.

The idea behind Open Word as originally conceived is to cover (somewhat ambitiously!) the whole Bible over 18 weeks – to see how God’s Grand Story hangs together and how He speaks to us though the unfamiliar as well as the more well-known bits. A particular aim is to see how Jesus inhabits the Old Testament. Most recently, through a more condensed version, running from September 2024 through to March 2025, Matthew focussed on the OT books, after an initial Overview of the whole Bible.

This was in recognition that most of us tend to direct our attention to the NT, and neglect the OT, apart perhaps from the Psalms and a few favourite passages elsewhere. And, in various conversations, Matthew has sensed that a number of folk might welcome some concentrated sessions on the OT – in community. And that sense was confirmed by the group who came.

In response to the OT sessions, Matthew now plans to revisit the New Testament over 8 sessions in late 2025 and early 2026 (dates to be confirmed), but probably on Monday evenings at the Mitre from 19.30 to 21.30, as follows:

1.   Overview of the Bible

2.  The Incarnate Christ: The Synoptic Gospels

3.  The Incarnate Christ: John’s Gospel

4.  The Early Church: The Acts of the Apostles (from a Lukan perspective and with reference to the NT Letters)

5.  The NT Letters: Paul’s Letter to the Romans

6.  The NT Letters: The other Pauline Letters

7.  The NT Letters: The “Catholic” Letters

8.  Revelation and New Creation

If you would like to be kept informed, please add your name and email to the waiting list by emailing openword@weareeast.church.

Meanwhile, for those who would like to enjoy the whole of Open Word for themselves, you can easily access the content on 55 Podcasts which Matthew recorded in 2021.  Just click on the LISTEN ON SPOTIFY button, starting with Introduction and then 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 for the Overview of the Bible through to 18.1, 18.2 and 18.3 for Revelation and New Creation. The EPISODE NOTES button will take you to the text of the PowerPoint Slides.

Teaching
Seeing and understanding what the OT says.

Training
Learning how to apply what we learn to our daily life.

Transformation
Allowing the Holy Spirit to conform us more into the image of Christ.