1. Read these guides: Reading the Bible, Biblical Meanings, and About Genesis. Pay particular attention to the Immediate Layer questions and Covenantal Layer questions. 
2. Every Monday through Saturday follow the Bible reading plan at http://YouCanReadTheBible.com
   
3. As you read through each day's chapters, think about those Immediate Layer questions about narrator, scenes, characters, and dialogue. You might even reflect on how other parts of the Bible relate to these specific chapters, which is what that Covenantal Layer of meaning is all about.
4. Each week there are some big themes that emerge from the week's readings. Some of these themes are explored each week in the resources labeled Metanarrative. In a big picture sense, these themes touch common human experiences and are often also found in the books, movies, and music of our culture. Just as these cultural expressions are produced today, cultural expressions were also being produced when the Bible was being written. How do the individual stories and the grand cosmic story from the Bible relate to the individual movies, books, and music being made today, and vice versa?
5. The primary goal of this class is to facilitate your diving into the Bible. I want this to be a good place to ask questions and a place to feel stretched. The Spirit works in us through our encounters with God in the Bible. If you only want or feel able to interact with the readings at the Immediate Layer, then do that. Everything else depends on those individual stories. Chances are good though that as you continue reading through the Bible, you will start to remember what you've read in the Bible before, and you will begin to ask how those pieces fit together. That is the Covenantal Layer. When you start to sense that all of these biblical stories are really pointing towards Christ as God's promised redeemer, you will probably also begin to sense that a lot of the books, movies, and music made in our world point towards other things as ways of setting things right or even that it is all just hopeless. That is the Metanarrative Layer, and maybe you will want to begin to explore and interact with that as well.