{"id":11,"date":"2018-06-18T19:46:41","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T19:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/?p=11"},"modified":"2018-07-21T14:58:01","modified_gmt":"2018-07-21T14:58:01","slug":"welcome-hear-gospel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/2018\/06\/welcome-hear-gospel.html","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to Hear the Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reading Aloud<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was in grade school, learning to read, students who even whispered to themselves softly or moved their lips as they read were ridiculed and chastised. This was seen as behavior requiring immediate correction. But did these children know instinctively that reading is a physical act; that good books are meant to be heard; that the words are meant to be in our mouth<\/em>?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants\u2019 descendants,\u201d says the <\/em>Lord<\/em>, \u201cfrom this time and forevermore.\u201d\u00a0 Isaiah 59:21<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This Column<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a minister. I haven\u2019t been trained, ordained, or pastor-ized in any way. I\u2019m not an historian. But what I have<\/u><\/strong> done for almost 50 years, in multiple Protestant denominations and churches, is serve as a lay reader. What I\u2019ve done is engaged in the public reading of scripture. I\u2019ve tried to put the Lord\u2019s words in my mouth.<\/p>\n

In Hear the Gospel<\/u>, I\u2019d like to share with you my thoughts on reading scripture aloud — what it means to me and why I think it\u2019s important. These are my own observations and ideas. They may be a little unorthodox. So, please bear with me. I invite you to simply take what you can use and disregard the rest.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll generally post three kinds of articles. The first kind will be explorations into why I think that scripture was meant to be read and heard aloud in the first place, and why it\u2019s so important for ALL OF US to read and hear scripture aloud.<\/p>\n

The second kind of article will include links to Gospel readings — some that I\u2019ve recorded, accompanied by notes on those same readings that will give you a sense of my approach to the experience of reading aloud. The selected readings will come from the revised common lectionary provided by the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. The commentary is my own.<\/p>\n

And finally, I\u2019ll occasionally post observations from other books, articles and news of the day that I find relevant to the subject of reading scripture aloud.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can you Hear the Gospel?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like Shakespeare, I think scripture sounds<\/u> much better than it reads on the page. Anyone who reads the Bible aloud regularly quickly recognizes how good it sounds <\/em>and how immediate<\/em> it seems. There\u2019s an emotional depth and vitality in scripture that\u2019s revealed only when it\u2019s given a human voice.<\/p>\n

The public reading of scripture in a worship service is not just a footnote to the sermon or homily. Reading aloud before a congregation precipitates a dramatic encounter between the reader, listeners and scripture that\u2019s happening right here, right now, in this space and time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Encountering Scripture Today<\/strong><\/p>\n

The encounter is dramatic because there are passages in the bible that are completely outside of our understanding of how the laws of physics work and are beyond our day-to-day experience of the world in which we live. These are words that challenge our perception and understanding of present reality.<\/p>\n

There are passages which are astounding to read<\/strong> and even more astonishing to hear<\/strong>. Words that we could never have imagined coming out of our own mouth. Words that upset us, confound us, and even make us blush. These are words which once read aloud cannot be unread, unspoken or ignored.<\/p>\n

These words are meant to be in our mouth, from this time forth and forevermore.<\/p>\n

Reading Aloud in Public<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know that many of us dread speaking \u2013 let alone reading aloud — in front of a group and will avoid it at all cost. We might feel we don\u2019t have the gift or don\u2019t feel it\u2019s something we\u2019re called to do. We may feel shy or uncomfortable and afraid we\u2019ll make mistakes. We may not like it when we think readers of the gospel sound actorly or try to impose their own interpretation on the text. We may be confused as to whether a reading should be devotional, homiletic or scholarly, or all three at the same time\u2026and how do you do that anyway?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I think.<\/p>\n

First, there\u2019s no single voice that is the voice of the Bible. The Gospels are to be heard not only in the sonorous tones of the most skilled readers in the congregation, but in every voice. There are over 3,000 persons named in the Bible and tens of thousands of other unnamed soldiers, wedding guests, tax collectors, shepherds, and woman-at-the-wells. Each one evokes a different voice. We\u2019re all called to lend them our voices.<\/p>\n

Nearly all of us<\/u><\/strong> are blessed at birth with one of the most miraculous instruments in all of God\u2019s creation, the human voice. It\u2019s not the human eye that is the most miraculous, as some would have you think, but the voice. This is the gift. If you have a voice, no matter what the timbre, you have the gift.<\/p>\n

Reading the Gospels aloud can be a powerful and unifying source of faith. For me, the Bible contains all that it means to live; to really live and live fully, as a human being in the presence of God. Here are all the challenges we face as creatures of God\u2019s creation and the comfort we seek. These are words to keep in our mouth.<\/p>\n

I hope you will find all of this interesting and that, if you\u2019re not already, you will become emboldened to try reading scripture aloud.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I\u2019ll leave you with words from Timothy, \u201cUntil I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture\u2026\u201d\u00a0 What other invitation do we need?\u00a0 Please, join me in this exploration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Aloud \u00a0 When I was in grade school, learning to read, students who even whispered to themselves softly or moved their lips as they read were ridiculed and chastised. This was seen as behavior requiring immediate correction. But did these children know instinctively that reading is a physical act; that good books are meant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":621,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWelcome to Hear the Gospel - Hear the Gospel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/2018\/06\/welcome-hear-gospel.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Welcome to Hear the Gospel - Hear the Gospel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reading Aloud \u00a0 When I was in grade school, learning to read, students who even whispered to themselves softly or moved their lips as they read were ridiculed and chastised. This was seen as behavior requiring immediate correction. But did these children know instinctively that reading is a physical act; that good books are meant…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/2018\/06\/welcome-hear-gospel.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hear the Gospel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-18T19:46:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-21T14:58:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Theodore May\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Welcome to Hear the Gospel - Hear the Gospel","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/2018\/06\/welcome-hear-gospel.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Welcome to Hear the Gospel - Hear the Gospel","og_description":"Reading Aloud \u00a0 When I was in grade school, learning to read, students who even whispered to themselves softly or moved their lips as they read were ridiculed and chastised. This was seen as behavior requiring immediate correction. But did these children know instinctively that reading is a physical act; that good books are meant…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/2018\/06\/welcome-hear-gospel.html","og_site_name":"Hear the Gospel","article_published_time":"2018-06-18T19:46:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-07-21T14:58:01+00:00","author":"Theodore May","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/2018\/06\/welcome-hear-gospel.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/2018\/06\/welcome-hear-gospel.html","name":"Welcome to Hear the Gospel - Hear the Gospel","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-06-18T19:46:41+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-21T14:58:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/#\/schema\/person\/c9e5892a8128aa67c63807b1c7d6b181"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/2018\/06\/welcome-hear-gospel.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/2018\/06\/welcome-hear-gospel.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/2018\/06\/welcome-hear-gospel.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Welcome to Hear the Gospel"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/","name":"Hear the Gospel","description":"What it means to really live in a world inhabited by the living God","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/#\/schema\/person\/c9e5892a8128aa67c63807b1c7d6b181","name":"Theodore May","description":"Ted May speaks with no authority other than the fact that he has served as a lay reader for more than 50 years in multiple churches, spanning multiple denominations, and feels the call to share what he has learned from that experience with others. After a successful corporate career, he\u2019s now an executive presentation coach who works with business professionals and students in the greater Washington, D.C. area. He and his wife live in Northern Virginia, where they raised three children.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/author\/tmay"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/621"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions\/63"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/hearthegospel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}