This Sunday we are looking at the Bible and how we read it - a selection of short reflections on reading in and out of context, and as I've posted before 'loadsa Bible.'

Without giving away too much, neither confetti nor doilies are very useful, though each is attractive in its own way.

So, here's a bit of homework for anyone so inclined, Gatherer or not.

If you are a regular user of the Bible, what schemes or methods do you use?  What gets kept and what gets omitted?  For example, if you are a lectionary preacher - a good practice - have you ever sat down to determine which passages are omitted and wondered why?  Or if you us SU material, have you ever wondered how they choose what is 'in' and 'out' of their syllabus?  Or if you do the 'Bible in a year' have you wondered why those passages in that order?  Any or all of these is/are good models, but they all make choices on what is used or not.

Maybe you could have a look at some obscure bit of Leviticus or one of the 'minor' prophets or even one the neat little lectionary excisions and ponder why it was included in the Bible and why we now ignore it.  I recall one of our college tutors doing an experimental service using a variety of texts linked to the expulsion of bodily fluids (I've bowdlerised that for the more delicate reader!) which certainly gave us all pause for thought.

What would you excise and why?  What would you keep and why?