So I’m warming up by the fire after a gorgeous, cold, sunset-streaked Dock Walk.  We divided the walk in two today: walking out to Goliath (the crane – not the warrior.  He’s dead – stone to the forehead I believe), we reflected on 2011 – our standout memories, things to be thankful for, things we were happy to leave behind us…

Someone else thinking along similar lines put up this fantastic video on YouTube today:

On our way back from Goliath to mugs of steaming hot chocolate in the Premier Inn, we turned our attention to 2012 – the Big Year that lies ahead of us.  Today is of course the day that we all make New Year’s Resolutions, take stock, pause for breath and make a mental vow that Everything Will Be Different in the glorious blank page of the new year that lies before us.

It’s easy to poke fun at New Years Resolutions – often they fail – but, y’know, sometimes they work.  And so I’d like to put forward a resolution for Dock-World 2012.

Here it is: In The Dock we will be people of Wordlive.  In case you haven’t come across it, Wordlive is an online Bible-reading resource produced by Scripture Union.  You can find it here, or store the address in your favourites (www.wordlive.org), or click anytime on the link from The Dock homepage (under the ‘Connect’ drop-down menu).  You can access it online (where there’s a variety of options – ‘Classic’ for a straightforward Bible-reading-and-reflection, ‘Alt’ for a more left-brain multimedia/creative response, or ‘Lectio’ for a more thoughtful, meditative angle.)  You can get it as an app for smartphones.  Or you can do what I New-Years-Resolved last year – receive it as a daily podcast to your computer or phone – a little chunk of Bible, a reflection, time to pause, and a prayer, beautifully produced into a 5-minute podcast.

You know how I said that New Years Resolution sometimes work?  Well – and I take no personal credit for this – the Wordlive habit has worked for me in this past year.  I’ve been fed, challenged, surprised, moved, inspired, instructed and uplifted by those little 5-minute nuggets more times than I can count.  And – best of all – I haven’t been alone; the podcasts form the basis of our Dock Walk discussions, and so I’ve always had other people chewing over the same readings who can chat, question, share their perspective and their response.  (All the more important in a big community like the Dock network – where we are connected online but are often separated by geography and lifestyle.)  (And also a fantastic way to hold ourselves accountable – knowing that someone is going to be asking “So, how’s it going with Wordlive this week?” does wonders for the discipline!)

So here’s your New Year Dock Challenge – become a Wordlive person.  As the video above reminds us, this is a scary, complicated, wonderful world – and those Wordlive daily readings provide a fantastic way to grapple with some of the big questions and dilemmas of living in it.  You don’t have to always agree, understand or ‘click with’ the Scripture passage every day – but it’s amazing how often the Bible is utterly, profoundly relevant to the world of today.