August 17. 2004

“Listen for God’s Word to you, and to The Church.” That’s the way I begin a reading of scripture in public worship. I do not print a Bible page number in the bulletin. I do not encourage people to read along with me from their Bibles. I ask them to participate by listening.

For centuries listening was the only way for God’s people to engage with the sacred texts. Those trained to read and interpret the texts read aloud to an eager and receptive audience. After the invention of the printing press, things changed.

If you could afford it, you could have “your own” Bible; carry it around with you; read it at your leisure. Perhaps fearful that this would lead to uninformed reading of scripture and contribute to faulty theology, the Church continued to have the biblical texts read in Latin, resisted translations in the vernacular, and basically continued to chain the scripture to properly trained and ordained priests. The Protestant Reformation challenged these practices, advocating scriptures in the language of the people and universal access to the scriptures.

Almost five hundred years later, I find that there are some unexpected repercussions. Statistics tell us that every household has several bibles, most unused. And our approach to scripture is too often “I’d rather do it myself.” That is, it’s my Bible to read and interpret for myself, which seems to further a trend toward personalized religion. We forget that it is not just God’s Word to us; it is also the book of the church, and needs to be understood in a broad social, theological, and congregational context.

We are under the illusion that because we can carry the Bible around in our pocket, open or close the book at leisure, and read only passages we choose, we have authority over the text. When we silently read along while the text is read aloud, we may get the feeling that we control the text, rather than letting the text shape our lives. Thus I encourage people to lay aside their Bible during the reading of Holy Scripture in public worship. Listening and reading are two very different skills; both are necessary. Public worship seems to me the place to practice listening skills.

This is not a new idea, but is an ancient church practice that can become muddled in our day and age. Presbyterian pastor Eugene Peterson, scholar and translator of The Message, has recently voiced similar concerns in his writings. I encourage us to listen creatively to scripture read aloud, as well as study the written text on our own. What think you? Send along your comments.
Until next time, Keep the faith, . . . and let the faith keep you.

shalom
rwp 8/17/04