Ponderings on how authentic church should be in the global mission of God's new community.
Who is the bible for and how inclusive is it presented to be ?
There was a trend 10 years or so ago to help people be better prepared (hyper prepared) for public reading of scripture. It came from a noble place to honour the word of God. I love friends in the acting profession who can read, recite or remember so well, and those who put time into public declaration of the word of God. They are so gifted by God and such a blessing to the church. My concern however was a growing trend of elitism which only allows well prepared gifted readers to be the sole public readers of the bible in the gathered new community of God. To me the issue was always and is always one of balance. The majority of us are not gifted in public reading, but we have a heart for God's people. Whats more, regardless of our reading and public speaking abilities we long for his word to be declared, and love to honour it amongst his family. The heart of God is surely more passionate about our genuine affection for him and our private authenticity than any public announcements. ( Luke 18:1-14, 1 Cor 13:1, Matthew 6:1-4, ). Many of the countries we are currently working in have a high percentage of illiteracy or shortage of bibles in that language to check what is being read/ recited. This however does not minimise the desire for God's word, in many cases it makes it more intense.
I was left wondering if this (hyper prepared reading of scripture) was a bit of an obsession in the Western world, to read the word of God in a more controlled (OCD) manner which was more to our taste and middle class liking. Was this part of the Western world looking like it had a high view of Scripture when in fact we were trying to contain / manage the word of God to our limitations ?
Confession time. I don't usually share this ... but as a young guy I acted in the theatre, in a lead role of an Alan Bennet play (amongst others). I've also worked in musical direction in the theatre and media world. It was a weird world of social eccentricity. I remember the culture long after the lines and practiced intonation have been forgotten (a lesson for the new community in itself). Without exception, each new show was a fresh window on how desperate and depraved false community and humanity can be. The duplicity of pretending to be perfectly charming in a company before the Director or public, was coupled with constant gossip and backstabbing backstage to land the Director's favour for the next role. It was no family of cohesive unity, but everyone driven to do what was right in their own eyes. I would hate that world or a similar culture to be seen in the church. The church is so much more beautiful than a theatre company culture to me. God's new community has greater treasure in his grace. We are normalised by knowing that it is by grace alone we belong. Our story begins and ends with his mercy identifying who we are authentically and transparently before God. We are united by the same blood, to hear the voice of the one true eternal shepherd who draws all people to himself.
So... should we maintain or impose an exclusivity on who should read from the front of church ?
Should we not be more concerned about opening up the word to all people in a natural way for heart to heart response in the family ?
At what stage are we guilty of making the reading of God's word a performance act which has an extra manmade veneer obscuring the natural human reading and genuine human response of creatures who need to hear and respond to our GOD ?
- If we only allow hyper prepared readers, what does this say about the 7 year old who comes to read the bible on the spot (or not so prepared) and mispronounces ? (My wife is still mortified and getting over the fact that on Palm Sunday she told a full congregation that Jesus road into Jerusalem on a clot rather than a colt. Thankfully it was a new community full of grace.)
- Is it not healthy for other children to hear one of their group read in church ?
- If we segregate children to only read in their own program (where they can make mistakes without us having to listen), what does that say about how much we value them as a church family, and the level of our patience and grace?
"Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them,[c] so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers."
Psalm 96:7-9
Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts!
Worship the Lord in the splendour of holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth!
- His word is for all...those who have not been to school, those who cannot read or struggle to read so easily. It is for the ordinary man, woman, boy, or girl in in a frontier mission country, where audio bibles are treasured and hopefully one day they will also have a printed bible to read (hopefully they will also be helped by God's people to be patiently sought how to read.)
- The bible is for the marginalised, vulnerable and transparently weak/ humble... The bible is for the old man who wears glasses as he wobbles before the lectern, or the one who reads in their second or fourth language. The bible is for the displaced Ukrainian who arrived in your country yesterday, it is for the persecuted asylum seeker who knows Christ but has never read publicly in your language. It is for the street child in Bogota, Brazil or Odessa, It is for the woman who used to work on the streets and the gang leader who now serves Christ. It is for the man who found Christ in prison, the rogue whose story proclaims he was treasured by heaven.
- NB All of these authentic (real current situations) of reading the bible have more inherent blessing to me when each read publicly in church, blessing more than any staged or stage managed performance. How wonderful that God's word has no boundaries about who should read it, and is so inclusive of all marginalised by the caste system, or downtrodden due to persecution.
- Yes such open culture can be dangerous and messy, but there are even greater dangers in treating the gathered people of God as a sanitised or contained performance. There is no good which can come from reading the bible as performance, or reading with our limitations imposed with pride, there is no good which can come from reading with the motive of self gratification or personal adoration.
- As a family we meet as a family and speak as a family (with blunt openness in the security of guaranteed acceptance and love). Simarly as the household of God as we gather to hear God speak to us as a family, and through the family. Surely if you belong to this family of Christ by his grace and compassion, it is appropriate for you to read God's word publicly and speak his truth to the rest of the family? Public confession of Christ and wearing the badge of discipleship (Romans 10:9) is inherent to belonging to God's family. We need to permeate each of our gatherings with this vital component.
- Extra layers of conditions about who can read publicly (inner circle membership restrictions) have more to do with the 1st century Hebraic monoculture Jesus is scathing of in the gospels.
- Consider what is perceived by the family (and those looking on through the new community window), re: who reads the bible publicly and who is chosen/ invited to do so.
- How inclusive can we make this whilst being helpful to the family?
- Reading God's word is not the role of the elite super priests with a hotline to heaven, it is for the family priesthood of all believers. Don't elevate your role as a leader beyond what it is by Christ's calling. We are servants and servants who submit below his word... called to facilitate and enable others to come close and hear his voice, confess his greatness. This is our great privilege.
- Public "Mistakes" are opportunities to display grace in action. When one learns publicly by grace, we all learn.
- Diversity of accents, and overtones of many cultures proclaim that we are all one in Christ Jesus. Without diversity there is no true unity. Unity in Christ is not monotone or monochrome, but a loud diversity which covers the whole earth, all generations, all history and even the unconfined / yet to be understood cosmos.
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