August 2008

Dear Friends

The other day and evening Kevnie Growns arranged for people who read the bible in Church in Tunstall to come and have a practice together. About fifteen people turned up and I am very grateful to them all for doing so. What follows are some remarks that come from that day. But my last paragraph has in it the most important point I want to make and it applies to us all.

Even though we met in Tunstall Church I do think that many of my comments apply to St Nicholas Rodmersham as well as St John the Baptist.

The first observation is that place is all-important. The bible is being read from a particular lectern in a particular building! It has got to happen somewhere, after all! Some buildings have an awful echo. Tunstall lectern is beautiful, an eagle, and very high. If you are short your face may not be seen over it. If you are tall or bulky in size you may find that the space the building allows you to stand in is too minimal! So, you have to read from that somewhat uncomfortable place. But just because the space is awkward, this doesn’t mean that you can change it. You can’t! That is the place from where you have to read.

Secondly, we went through all the obvious points in public speaking. We must never take them for granted. Enunciate each word. Speak slowly. Project your voice, especially if you usually speak quietly. Look at the people in the pews from time to time and not only at the print in front of you. Concentrate on the work – for it can be very hard work to engage every person in the Church unless you do. You want them to hear you after all!

Now for a word about the microphone: one of the ladies who came to the practice wears a deaf-aid. She switches to the loop system when she needs to. Our loop system works! I didn’t know that she wears the aid until she told us when we were talking about the loop system. But the other point was that when the reader fiddles with or knocks the microphone, the noise hurts the ears of the wearer of the hearing aid! Yet, the position of the microphone is all-important so that your voice can be carried into the building. Be conscious of the microphone. Speak to it! Dictate to it! Don’t let it catch you unawares! Adjust it while you are reading if you are confident enough to do so, bearing in mind those who wear hearing-aids.

For me, the most important insight applies to anyone reading the bible in any Church or in any place. Yours is a significant ministry. It is a service to the rest of us. You are reading words written over two thousand years ago and you are the medium through whom the writer is communicating his important message or story or statement of faith.

Yours, therefore, is a significant responsibility. We need to hear what the writer wanted to say. If you read well enough, we, the listeners will do the rest of the work. If you read poorly we won’t be able to do that. You are the messenger who is telling us something important about eternal truths, about the love of God and about our Christian story.

Practice your reading at least ten times before you read it in Church. As you familiarise yourself with the message, the story or the poem you have to read, look for the key words in the piece. Put yourself into the mind of the writer of so long ago. What was he trying to communicate? Was it sadness or rejoicing? Was it a challenge to his readers or God’s comfort to them? What are the key words that inform the meaning of what you are reading? Get to know them and where they come. Then the purpose of the writer of ancient time will be fulfilled by you, the reader!

With good wishes

Keith McNicol