Announcing Living 1 John 1
an online community for ordinary Catholics who want to know and pray with the Scriptures a bit better
I’m equal parts excited and nervous to share this project with the great big world. It is scary to take the plunge when you’ve been working on something. Self-doubt creeps in and you wonder if what looked and sounded really great to you in the isolation of your home office is actually even a good idea…
But here it goes. I’d like to introduce you to Living 1 John 1.
Have you ever wanted more than the Sunday homily? Do you ever come away from a Mass with unanswered questions about the Scriptures you just heard? Have you ever felt disconnected from the God of the Bible? Are you afraid that “Scripture study” is going to be boring, heady, academic, and confusing? Or perhaps you already read and study on your own but want more?
You’re not alone. In fact, if there is anything I’ve discovered in my foray into teaching online, it’s that there are Catholics like you all over the world.
This fall will mark sixteen years since I started working in adult formation in the Church. Much of that formation has been centered upon Sacred Scriptures. Having the blessing of studying under and working for Scott Hahn, I was affected by his desire for “biblical literacy for the laity.” After I began teaching online, I quickly found Catholics who had a deep desire to know Scripture better. They weren’t looking for heady, academic studies, but for someone who could sit down over a cup of coffee with them and answer their questions.
That’s why I’m thrilled to announce Living 1 John 1: an online community for ordinary Catholics who want to know and pray with the Scriptures a bit better.
We are living in a time in the Church when it has never been easier to access incredible resources, studies, and courses. There are libraries full of books, an internet full of courses, and streaming services full of podcasts. What makes this community a little different? We are doing this together. Have a question? I’m in the message boards with you. I have “office hours” via Zoom. I’m ready to have the conversation, to struggle with the difficult passage, to laugh at the inside jokes, and guess what? To pray with you, too.
Living 1 John 1 is made up of three tiers.
Tiers
Community
First, the community is open, free to anyone. The “coffeeshop” allows us to talk with fellow Catholics–I like to call us “ordinary Catholics”–about Scripture and the Church. Have an insight about the Sunday Mass readings? Have a question about a difficult passage? Have a prayer intention? That’s what this place is all about! You can think of it as a Facebook group… only better and more private.
At the heart of Living 1 John 1 is the practice of lectio divina. Our desire to know Scripture is a desire to know and love Jesus Christ. Ultimately, he is loved not in academic study, but in a relationship–which we call prayer. Periodically, I will be praying with the Scriptures using the classic practice of lectio divina. These will be live, but like many of the other opportunities in the community, they’ll be archived so you can pray with them later, too.
Membership
The second tier of Living 1 John 1 is the membership community. I mentioned that our love for Jesus is ultimately nourished in prayer. However, we can’t love what we do not know. The better we know the Scriptures, the richer our lectio divina and other times of conversation with the Lord will be.
Monthly Bible studies are a chance for us to delve deeper into some topic of Scripture - maybe an event, a character, or even a single verse! These studies will be held live but will be archived for later, too. That means members have access to all past studies. Right now there are already 15 studies, so get your notebooks ready.
The beauty of Living 1 John 1 is that it isn’t just a place for study, but is also a place to find fellowship with ordinary Catholics like yourself. So another part of the membership tier is a book club. We’ll pick a book, generally something that will help us know and love the Word of God better, and discuss it as long as it takes to get through it.
Lastly, members will have access to frequent, regular “office hours” with me via Zoom. Have a question about the Bible study? Want to just shoot the breeze? I’m here! That’s what this community is all about. There are a lot of books and podcast and bible studies out there. But this isn’t a one-way street like so many of those things are. Let’s talk together about these passages.
Courses
The last tier will consist of courses. These courses will first be held live, similar to the monthly Bible studies. You can watch live, or the videos will be archived so you can catch up later. These provide the opportunity to go deeper than the monthly studies, but I promise: they are still aimed at my favorite audience: the person in the pew. The first course will launch soon. It will examine how we as Catholics read Scripture differently. We’ll look at things like the canon of Scripture, inspiration, inerrancy, and interpretation.
1 John 1
Why is it called Living 1 John 1? Well, 1 John 1 is one of my favorite parts of Scripture. John the beloved disciple is sharing his heart with us. He wants us to know that he is not just writing down some sage advice or a code of conduct. He is giving us something much deeper: he is introducing us to a Person.
The Word is so much more than written text on a page. The Word is a Person. When John and the other disciples were going out to evangelize, they weren't passing out Bibles. They weren't telling people about a new list of rules. They were passing on a Person–their friend, Jesus Christ.
John tells us that he wants to share the Word with us because he wants to have fellowship with us. He wants us to have fellowship with Jesus…with the Holy Trinity! So let’s starting reading the Word, knowing the Word, loving the Word… and sharing it with others. Because who doesn’t want fellowship… and joy!?
Sign me up! I want to know the Scriptures, pray the Scriptures, and talk about them within a community of Catholics who value the same things I do.
Ready?
I mentioned at the beginning of this post that this announcement has filled me with both excitement and anxiety. So I started small: first introducing it to those who have supported me over the past year, and now, to you. Next week, the invitations will go out to social media and the great big world out there.
We’d love to have you–whether you want to dip your toe in and poke around the community, or you’re ready to jump in and get all the value of the membership.
There’s a free trial so you can look around. As a founder, I’m also offering you a special limited time offer - the annual membership is currently discounted.
You can sign up here. Upon signing up, you’ll automatically have access to the community and all the “spaces” there. Take some time to introduce yourself and poke around. It’s a work in progress, and you get to help build something great.
There will be many opportunities to answer questions and get comfortable with the platform (including a special edition of office hours tomorrow morning, where I can help you find your way around the community).
To Know and Love
Perhaps you know the Scriptures forwards and backwards, pray lectio divina frequently, and facilitate a Bible study at your parish. Great! We would love to have you in our community so that you can share your knowledge and love with us. Or maybe you have trouble remembering where the book of Philemon is in the Bible, you don't know what lectio divina is, and the idea of Bible study makes your head hurt. We’d love to have you, too.
If we want to love Jesus Christ, we must know Jesus Christ. And if we want to know Him, we need to talk to him, study his Word, and pray to the Holy Spirit to open our hearts and minds to what He wants to do in our lives.
Have questions? Drop a comment below or reach out. I hope to see you in the community soon.
God bless,
Joan
Announcing Living 1 John 1
Will Mountain join??