Richard Froese
South Peace News
An Easter tradition that started in a High Prairie church about 20 years ago – and growing! – was celebrated worldwide for the third year.
People in the Peace region and around the world joined the Holy Week Bible Reading Marathon online from Palm Sunday, April 2 to Maundy Thursday, April 6.
Readers were welcomed to read the Bible aloud in one-hour blocks on Zoom and Facebook in the 100-hour marathon organized by the Anglican Diocese of Athabasca.
“More than 60 people from around the world chose to read,” says organizer, Diocese Rev. Deacon Canon Peter Clarke, of St. Mark’s Anglican Church.
He says the expanded worldwide marathon has taken on a new life.
“A number of people across the country expressed their joy of being invited to be part of this event for the third time,” Clarke says.
“Everyone expressed joy and thankfulness about being able to be a part of the Bible reading.
“It is becoming a tradition.”
Readers from the High Prairie and Slave Lake regions were joined by other from across Canada, the United States, Germany, Mozambique, Iran, South Sudan, Germany and Zimbabwe, he says.
Some from the High Prairie region read several times, he notes.
Scriptures were read in several languages, including, English, French, Portuguese, Shona, Persian, Tagalog and Farsi.
The Bible was read in various versions, including the King James Version, the New Revised Standard Version, the The Indigenous Bible, The Message and others, including a phone app that Clarke helped develop for the Archdiocese of Athabasca.
Athabasca Bishop David Greenwood started and ended the marathon.
The Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Most Rev. Dr. Linda Nichols, read from British Columbia where she was visiting.
People from all denominations were invited to read the Bible in one-hour segments.
After the marathon was cancelled in 2020 when churches were closed in March by the COVID-19 restrictions, the event returned in 2021 online on the world stage.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions started, the program was held in the High Prairie church as various people from other local churches and the community read the Bible aloud.
Clarke and the Anglican Diocese of Athabasca look forward to continue and grow the tradition in 2024 when Easter will be celebrated on March 31.
He plans to organize the Bible reading Marathon from Palm Sunday, March 24, to Maundy Thursday, March 28.