For a recent bit of fund-raising, I was challenged to do some extreme Bible reading around London. Public readings, with extra points for a relevant passage. It was a competition between myself and Andy Flannagan, the director of the Christian Socialist Movement. Stephen Timms, MP for East Ham and chair of the CSM, was the judge of the competition. I’m amazed to say I won! Below are my photos. I settled on a theme of London through the ages and made the rest up as I went along. Enjoy…
Here are Rob’s Extreme Bible Reading Entries:
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- 1. 9am – Which Bible will Rob use on his day of Extreme Bible Reading?
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- 2. 9:02am – Rob went for the KJV, more for it’s size than which version it was! Portability was key.
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- 3. 10am – Rob took the cable car just to prove it was easy to read at a height. He confused his German passengers with Psalm 148:4.
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- 4. Rob started his history of London at the Roman Wall where he read Psalm 127 to the Emperor Trajan
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- 5. The Emperor Trajan was suitably impressed.
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- 6. Rob moved into the Anglo-Saxon period (and some shade) with a reading about the use bread for King Alfred’s sake. Matthew 14:15-21.
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- 7. Rob shifts seemlessly into the Norman period with a visit to William the Conqueror’s Tower of London. He saw the tourists from all over the world and thought it apt to read Genesis 11:1-9.
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- 8. Leaping over to the Tudor period, Rob visits the Golden Hynde which Francis Drake sailed into Plymouth in 1580, having circled the globe. Rob scared small children by reading Jonah 2.
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- 9. Rob continued in the Tudor period at the Globe. People queueing for a matinee seemed to like his reading of Matthew 6 until Police asked if he had a public performance license.
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- 10. Rob moved onto the Stuart period (partly to avoid being arrested) at Pudding Lane, site of the start of the Great Fire of London. He read Jeremiah 21:10 to lunching bankers who looked suitably scared.
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- 11. Rob went to the statue of Oliver Cromwell, who led the commonwealth in the middle of the Stuart period. He (Rob, not Cromwell) read Isaiah 40:20-24.
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- 12. Rob moved on to the 18th Century where London became the centre of an ever-growing empire. Soldiers guarding some scaffolding near Clive Steps enjoyed Genesis 28:12.
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- 13. The 19th century beckoned with Rob’s visit to Trafalgar square, memorial to the battle of 1805. Sunbathers were bemused by 1 Samuel 17.
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- 14. Continuing merrily through the 19th century, Rob explained to some Danish olympians that Parliament was rebuilt in 1847 and then read them Romans 13 before they had a chance to run away. They didn’t try to run away.
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- 15. The 20th century loomed over the horizon and Rob went to stand in front of its most famous character, Churchill. Churchill was stilled by Rob’s reading of Isaiah 2:4.
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- 16. The 20th Century crossed into the 21st at what used to be the Millennium Dome where Rob took a trip down Millennial memory lane and read Revelation to terrified looking G4S staff.
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- 17. Rob brought his history of London bang up to the present with a visit to the Olympic site at Stratford. Spanish visitors mobbed him because of his t-shirt and he read the Beatitudes.
