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