"If faith comes through hearing, how crucial it is for the reader to be aware of God's presence in his or her work and to attempt to present to God's people a living Word to hear." Clayton Schmit
The reading of Scripture in worship can be seen as a ministry in itself, wherein members of the congregation are able to serve each other in the giving and the receiving of the Word.
"In public worship, ill-prepared readings have an effect on people's spiritual welfare. We need words we can count on. We need readers we can trust to speak God's Word so that its truth shines forth. We do not attempt to read the Scriptures well merely to honour the Word. We attend to these things carefully because people's faith is at stake." Clayton Schmit
We have two main objectives in presenting these workshops:
[1] To deepen the reader's appreciation of worship by examining the basic elements and the shape of Christian worship. We also consider the centrality of Scripture to worship.
[2] To assist readers to read more effectively. This involves equipping the reader with tools to help understand a Scripture passage, and tools to communicate this understanding in the public reading.
These workshops are offered to a group of 6-12 participants who would meet for four 2-hour sessions over consecutive weeks at your church.
There is no charge for these workshops. We are receiving support for this project from the Lilly Foundation through the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship.
Attention to the reading of Scripture also has implications in other areas of church life: Bible reading during Council meetings; Bible reading in the context of elders' visits; the reading of Scripture within the church education program.
“The workshop became an awesome small group of learning from scripture and getting to know others.”
"Since we believe the Word of the Lord to be central to worship, why don't we spend as much time preparing to read it on Sunday as we do a choir anthem? As a conscientious response to this question, the Word of the Lord workshop was an unqualified blessing for our congregation. We learned to read the Word more effectively, which means we understood the Word better. We also learned to hear the Word better — our ears are better tuned to God's speech in Scripture. In short, God's Spirit blessed the workshop such that we — as readers, as listeners, as worshipers — more fully received the Word in Jesus Christ.”
• Clayton J. Schmit, Public Reading
of Scripture. Abingdon Press
• F. Russell Mitman, Worship in the Shape of Scripture. Pilgrim
Press
• Jack Hartjes, Read the Way You Talk. Liturgical Press
• James F. White, Introduction to Christian Worship. Abingdon
Press
• David Peterson, Engaging With God: A Biblical Theology of Worship.
Inter-Varsity Press
• Frank Senn. Christian Liturgy: Catholic and Evangelical.
Fortress Press
• Gordon Lathrop, Holy Things. Augsburg Fortress Publishers
• Laurence Hull Stookey, Calendar: Christ's Time for the Church,
Abingdon Press
• Gail Ramshaw, Reviving Sacred Speech: The Meaning of Liturgical
Language, OSL Publications
"There is no more important proclamation than the public speaking of the Word of God. Chiefly, we proclaim this message in public worship as God speaks to us through the Scriptures. Preachers use the Word as the basis for their sermons, messages that are prepared to draw a connection between the affairs of people’s lives and God’s word of promise. But before the proclamation of preaching is the proclamation of reading God’s Word aloud. When the Word is read, God’s people hear it and are transformed by it." Clayton Schmit
"Nothing else need be done in worship than that our dear Lord Himself talk to us through His Holy Word and that we, in turn, talk to Him in prayer and song of praise." Martin Luther
"As Christians we believe that God’s Word will change us. We trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to work in the Word, bringing faith and transformation. We hope that the Word of God is not some dead letter but a living word that continues to bring new life to the church, and regeneration to individuals who hear it. For people overwhelmed by careless, clever, entertaining, and deceitful words, we know there is one word worth believing. It is God’s Word of truth and love. Many of us read and study it privately and are fed by it. But we also need to lift it up in the midst of God’s people and to pronounce it aloud as a living word. This is what we attempt to do when God’s people gather in worship." Clayton Schmit
"We also need to remember that a Worship Service is not
the weekly meeting of a group of like-minded friends. There are matters of
life and death being addressed here.
Words can be both praise and lament, the recounting of both death and life.
A bath can wash and a bath can drown. Both happen in the one use of water
in the church. The joyful-living meal of the community has the death of Jesus
at the center of its memory and the dreadful hunger of our neighbours and
of the world as the focus of our mission. The central things of Christian
worship are not narrowly ’religious’ things nor are they concerned
simply with happiness and success. They welcome us to the full truth about
ourselves: sorrow and hope, hunger and food, loneliness and community, sin
and forgiveness, death and life. God in Christ comes amidst these things,
full of mercy." Gordon Lathrop
"The various acts of rehearsing salvation history give us anew the benefits of what God has done for us in these past events. Christ’s birth, baptism, death, resurrection and his full ministry are all given to us again for our own appropriation. These events become no longer simply detached data from the past, but part of our own personal history as we relive salvation history through rehearsing it in our worship." James White