A Tip for Lectors
Posted by Brian September 01, 2006
If you are scheduled to read a Bible passage in church, here’s the best thing you can do to improve your reading:
Arrive at church 10 minutes early. Then read the passage aloud to yourself from the actual paper or book you will be reading from during the service.
It’s even better if you read it to yourself a few times the night before. But if you don’t read it from the actual page you will see on the podium/lectern/ambo, then a weird spelling mistake or unexpected line- or page-break can throw you off.
At St. Michael’s, somebody always prints out the readings and leaves them on the ambo before the service. Last Sunday, part of one of the readings was cut off. The lector reached that point, got a confused look, and paused for several seconds. Luckily, he had brought up his service sheet, which had the whole passage. He was able to finish, but not before announcing, “Sorry, it got cut off.”
I repented later for whispering “that’s why you read it beforehand” snarkily to David during church.
