People's Bible in the Highlands
On the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, the UK Bible Societies are extending an open invitation to members of the public to contribute to a hand-written, electronically-compiled collection of the Bible's teachings. August sees 'The People's Bible' coming to the Highlands.
 With verse contributions from high-profile personalities including the Prince of Wales and TV broadcaster Sally Magnusson, the month of August sees 'The People's Bible' tour come to the Highlands and Islands.
As a major initiative to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, the Bible Societies of Scotland, England and Wales have joined forces in offering a nation-wide opportunity to all UK citizens to contribute Bible verses – each in their own hand-writing – to a volume which will ultimately be presented to the Queen.
At nine representative venues, there will be the chance to all to come and write – using a special digital pen – two verses which will then be uploaded electronically onto the internet to add to the thousands contributed by others across the UK.
Already, HRH The Prince of Wales has written the first two verses (Genesis 1:1–2) of the new digital handwritten Bible, along with other high profile personalities. The Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition will be penning their chosen verses later this year.
The aim is to produce a unique hand-written copy of God's Word which will become available both to read as a physical document and to explore online. 'The People's Bible' is exactly that: a Bible written by the people, for the people.
Verses from the Prince of Wales
However, more than just the text produced, 'The People's Bible' is about giving our citizens a fresh experience of the Bible and encountering the scripture in the middle of everyday life. As it travels the country, stopping in town centres and supermarket car parks, people of all ages, backgrounds and beliefs will have the opportunity to connect with a passage of the Bible and really make it their own.
The completed work will feature contributions from all who want to come and write; ordinary folk as well as senior public figures and celebrities, and part of it will be bound and presented to the Queen at a national service of celebration at Westminster Abbey on 16 November 2011.
The video below gives a short overview of the project which is coming to the Highlands and Islands at the following venues:
---------------------
Alasdair Moodie who represents the Scottish Bible Society in the area is looking for volunteers to assist in the setting up and dismantling of the exhibition marquee each day. He writes:
"In addition to writers, we need local volunteers in Inverness to help the two Bible Society staff set-up and take-down the exhibition marquee each day, and to assist members of the public at the 10 writing stations during the day.
The days will be split into two hourly sessions starting at 9.00 am and finishing at 6.00pm. The set-up session is from 7.00 till 9.00am, and the take-down session is from 6 till 8.00pm.
We will need four volunteers for each two hour session during the day. This makes a total of 56 volunteers being needed to cover all the sessions. So please don’t hold back and think that others will do it. Please volunteer, and enjoy helping to make this Bible writing project a complete success.
If you have friends in surrounding towns and communities, then please invite them to come in to their nearest venue, to write their Scriptures.
Since it was published 400 years ago the King James Bible has been one of the worlds most influential books ever. The Scottish tour commenced at Edinburgh Castle on 19 June, the anniversary of the birth of King James VI in the Scottish capital in 1566.
In Scotland, the People's Bible has already visited many towns and cities in the first six weeks of the project. The team have covered hundreds of miles on the road and will soon be taking to the skies as the members make their way to Orkney by plane. The tour is due complete in November in time for the presentation to the Queen.
Footnotes:
Further information can be found at The People's Bible web site.
Anyone who might wish to offer volunteer support <click here> for further details.
Contact details for Alasdair Moodie: Tel. 01463 223385 or
E-mail: alwamo@uwclub.net
|
Print