Richard Froese
South Peace News
Easter will be celebrated April 9 and a tradition that started in High Prairie years ago is back!
People in the Peace country and around the world are invited to join the Holy Week Bible Reading Marathon online April 2-6.
Readers are welcomed to read the Bible aloud in one-hour blocks on Zoom in the 100-hour marathon organized by the Anglican Diocese of Athabasca.
St. Mark’s Anglican Church started the event about 20 years ago where the Bible is read in public from Palm Sunday at 1 p.m. to Maundy Thursday at 5 p.m.
People from all denominations are invited to read the Bible in one-hour segments on Zoom, says Diocese Rev. Deacon Canon Peter Clarke, of High Prairie, who initiated the community event that was held in the church for many years.
“God has given us this wonderful way to share His Word around the world,” says Clarke,
“We encourage people to be part of this year’s event,” Clarke says.
People may sign up online at www.athdio.ca.
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.
Participants may read the Scriptures in the language and Bible version of their choice.
He encourages people to invite friends and family to join the marathon in various ways.
“Tell your friends about it, even if they do not wish to read,” Clarke says.
The event can also be viewed online on Facebook.
“People ask what passage they will read – the answer is nobody knows,” Clarke says.
“We start reading in Genesis with the first reader and then after an hour, the next reader comes on and continues for an hour, starting at the point where the previous reader finished.
“It is an amazing experience to be a part of and often people are surprised at just how quickly the hour goes by, even in the middle of the night.”
More than 100 people from around the world signed up to read last year, Clarke says. Readers joined from across Canada, the United States, Zimbabwe, England, Germany, and the Philippines.
“We heard the Word of God proclaimed in English, Farsi, French, German, Inuktitut, Shona and Tagalog,” Clarke says.
Athabasca Bishop David Greenwood and Archbishop Gerard Pettipas of the Catholic Archdiocese of Grouard- McLennan were among the readers. Others included the Primate, the Prime Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the USA, the Prime Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, numerous bishops, clergy and lay people from all over the world.
For more information, visit the website at www.athdio.ca.