The Celebration of the Bible is based on a festival that our Jewish brothers and sisters hold each year called Simchat Torah, or Rejoicing with the Torah. The Torah is the first five books of the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) in our Bible. It is a celebration marking the end of the annual cycle of the reading of the Torah. The last chapter of Deuteronomy and the first chapter of Genesis are read in the synagogue.

The worshipers stand and dance and sing around the synagogue in celebration of the completion of another year of worshiping God with the Torah. While we have different customs in worship, we do read Scriptures from the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures).

The Torah holds many of our most cherished stories—God’s Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Esau, the Joseph saga, Moses, the crossing of the Red Sea, the Ten Commandments, Joshua, to name a few.

We are called to celebrate our BIBLE— our gift of God’s word for us over many centuries and for our lives today. We invite you to celebrate. To rejoice. To give thanks for the special book that shapes our lives.

Come and join the CELEBRATION!

On the pdf download you will find a:

• Timeline for preparing for the Celebration
• Ideas to incorporate the Celebration into a worship service
• Ideas for presenting new Bibles
• Suggestions for a "tribe" Celebration (Tribes will not be biological families.)
• Recipes for biblical foods to be shared as part of the Celebration
• Closing meditation