As lay readers, we have a unique opportunity to experience the Bible.

We generally think in terms of Bible study and “lessons” from the Bible. But as lay readers we read scripture aloud and so, I tend to focus on the experience of reading scripture aloud more than interpretation or meaning. The latter are better left to experts.

When we read scripture aloud in church, we experience the Bible directly on at least three different levels.

Engagement with the physical text

The first and most basic level of engagement is our experience of the physical text.  This the most obvious and immediate experience that is available to us as readers, but it’s often overlooked.

We may hold a book. We may read from a large book open before us on a lectern or in the pulpit. The book is the Holy Bible. It has physical presence.

I don’t believe that the Bible is a sacred object. I believe it’s what’s in the Bible that is sacred. But I revere the book itself and believe its importance to the reader should not be ignored.  So, begin by picking up a Bible.

 

The whole story

We’ve become so dependent upon technology that many of us would feel lost without our different mobile devices.  Today, the temptation to search for and read scripture aloud right from a phone or tablet is real. I don’t choose to do this unless there’s no alternative.

When we read a verse from the Bible off of a smart phone or tablet, all we see is a single passage or verse displayed on the screen. The rest of the Bible is temporarily obscured in RAM or off in the amorphous cloud. We can’t see or experience the Bible in its entirety. We are offered no sense of its completeness.  All we see is an orphan chapter or couple of verses.

Imagine if you could only see the world looking through the end of a thin cardboard tube. Imagine if you had never seen the night sky except through a 2.5” telescope.  Imagine how limited and potentially misleading that experience would be.

When we hold the printed Bible in our hands, or have the book open before us, we can see and feel the Bible in its fullness.  We have a sense of where we are – physically — in the narrative. We can see that what we are reading is only a tiny part of a much greater whole.

I believe it’s important to encounter and embrace the Bible in its entirety and not just those passages we select or are comfortable with.  Accessing the Bible one verse, or short passage at a time, atomizes the Bible and makes it easier to cherry pick only those verses that suit your immediate purposes. It narrows our focus on a verse in isolation and allows us to easily disregard the rest. Holding the book reminds us there is much more.

 

With book in hand

Bibles come in all shapes, sizes, and editions. Some are inexpensive paperbacks. Some are costly leather bound or hard copy editions, beautifully illuminated, and printed in majestic fonts. Some are old have been handed down for generations. We can feel the weight of the book. We feel the quality of the paper. Sometimes the book even has a familiar smell. The important thing is that we hold something real in our hands.

I like to think that what we are holding in our hands is the first Wiki; the first aggregation of thousands of years of wisdom and experience. Not a collection of laws and pithy aphorisms. but a complete narrative of the human experience in its infinite complexity. All in relation to the divine.

Bearing witness to the human experience 

On a second level, when we read scripture out loud, we share in the experience of the people and events captured in the text. We lend them our voices.  We bear witness to the extraordinary; their struggles and encounters with the divine.

As readers, we share their experiences with the listening audience.

Experiencing the audience

And finally, when we read scripture aloud, we experience the collective response of the listening audience.  While sitting quietly and respectfully, it may seem that the audience is not responding in any way. But think about it for a minute. An audience is listening to you, quietly, respectfully. To what you have to say. What more can you ask? When does that ever happening to you anywhere else in your life?

Look in their eyes. They are listening for God’s word.  You have the power to share it with them. It is a privilege and experience that is not soon forgotten.

Trust the text

Trust the text: the text will get you through.

The Bible with you, in and of itself, should be a comfort. The fact that we are speaking words that are from the mouths of Kings, prophets, disciples, angels and those who have walked with God, and that have been spoken by others like us for over thousands of years, should give us confidence. What we are saying is important to hear. Reading scripture aloud. What an experience.