Paul wrote to Timothy (1Timothy 4:13):
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. (NIV & TNIV)
Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. (NASB)
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. (ESV)
Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. (NKJV & KJV)
It is interesting to me first that the word "Scripture" doesn't appear in this text yet several translations put it in assuming that is what Paul means when he tells Timothy to devote himself to reading. Only the KJV and the NKJV leave it out. I don't have any doubt that we should assume in interpreting this text that Paul is telling Timothy to pay attention to reading the Scriptures publicly to the gathered church.
What I would like to know is why in our fellowship (Churches of Christ for those of you who may not know my background) we did not include this as one of the acts of the assembly? It seems pretty obvious to me that reading of Scripture was approved in Scripture and practiced by the early church (and even in the Old Testament). This is why lectionaries developed. I have the church where I serve now (and churches in the past) read my text for preaching just before the sermon. But I have not talked them into reading a text or text's as part of a pattern.
I have several questions for all of you who may come by.
1. Does your congregation have Scripture reading as part of your worship service apart from reading the text for preaching?
2. What pattern do you use for reading Scripture? Do you use a lectionary or some other way of choosing the text or texts to be read?
3. Was this a part of the congregation's worship service before you came? If not was it difficult for you to have them start doing it? How did you convince them they should have reading of Scripture as a regular part of the assembly?
4. How is the reading working out? Have you noticed a difference in the congregation?
5. Are you working on developing this as a part of your assembly?
14 comments:
Good thoughts. Am I remembering correctly that in the OT people stood while God's word was being read? I think it would be as appropriate, if not more so, if we stood for a reading as for a prayer or a song. It really needs a good reader to be effective as stumbling over words distracts from what is being read, but I think more of it should be done. Jeanne
Jeanne, I agree that you need someone to read who does a good job. I enjoyed so much the year at Tabernacle where we emphasized reading our bibles daily and we set aside some Wednesday nights where we just read from selected portions of Scripture. It was a thoroughly enjoyable time for me.
At Randolph, one of the men (late 80s, Ron Smith I believe) asked if we would stand to hear the Word read.
We do this here in Spearman. The church in North Platte also did this. I am not sure how they choose what should be read and in what order but it seems to be a part of a reading plan. It is very cool.
peace
neva
That is a really good point and something we need to spend much more time doing in our assemblies. Part of it may be in the fact that they didn't really read silently but read aloud which made reading a very public act. There is a verse in the New Testament that appears to site Paul as scripture. I forget where it is but it seems like it is either in the epistles of John or Peter. I can find it if need be. So they had a pretty early understanding that what was being written was inspired and was to be used in this manner.
We do have scripture reading, but like you said, it's something that goes along with the sermon topic.
In the past we did have an elder who would read a text (instead of a closing prayer) and challenge the congregation to go out and do what was read.
I like the idea. But my only question is did they have public reading of scripture because not everyone had "scripture" to read. So when they came together did they find someone with some scripture and let someone read it to everyone?
Do you understand the question?
Matt,the text is 2Peter 3:15-16.
Trey, yes people back then did not have a Bible to take home like we do today. I think that they kept a copy at the building or whatever structure where they met. This is where lectionaries developed. I'm planning on another post as a follow up that suggests we should still read the Scriptures out loud in services. Hopefully it will come up soon.
The Brazilian church I now attend and serve as a bivocational minister (in cooperation with several Brazilian men) has a weekly reading of Scripture. Right now we are reading through Acts. Sometimes there are two readings, the first being the regular reading, and the second a reading from the text to be used in the sermon.
When I served Sunrise Christian Church in Farmington, NM I introduced Scripture readings from the Revised Common Lectionary. The treasurer told me it was "liberal" and there was grumbling about having to stand for the first reading (so we let people sit). I used one of the readings, at least, for the basis of my sermon.
I prefer the lectionary, for breadth of readings, and like to preach on the readings. This helps keep the preacher from always talking about the same things, and forces him to look at passages he might otherwise ignore.
Didn't Jesus read from Isaiah at one time? Don't know if the people stood, but thought they did. So they had scriptures to read, just not the N.T. as we have today. Wouldn't this be a good example for us to follow?
What is a lectionary??
Jeanne
Bob you have touched on one of my pet issues. We need extended reading of the Word in our assemblies. I have pushed this in every place I have served and in the last several years more "pushy."
As far back as we can go in Christian "liturgies" we see extended readings from the Hebrew Bible, the Epistles and the Gospels ... in every assembly. Most of the time the Psalms are read or sung too. In our own history Campbell stressed the "liturgy of the Word" which meant readings from the Epistles and Gospels every Lord's Day. In fact in that day the account of the resurrection was read from a different Gospel each Sunday ... not a bad idea.
At Palo Verde we begin every assembly with a "Call to Worship" which consists of a song and a Psalm reading. We have extended scripture readings from the sermon text and supporting themes. We have even read entire books from the pulpit, shorter ones. Ephesians, Colossians, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, 1 John, Galatians are among those that have been read orally.
I guess I am saying ... AMEN to your post.
Shalom,
Bobby Valentine
Thanks Adam for your comments. I like the idea of reading through a book. That would probably be easier to sell in the more conservative restoration churches. I have preacher friends who have also used the Revised Common Lectionary.
Bobby, thanks for sharing your story and passion on this issue. I'm not much of a boat rocker so I haven't pushed much about the issue. However, I have long wanted to study the ancient lectionaries to see what they did in their readings. I'm glad to know that Campbell actually did readings of these kinds. I'm going to approach this idea of reading of the Scriptures in the assembly from a different angle shortly in another post. I'm sure you will have heard this angle and I hope you provide some of your own insights.
Thanks for the comments. Looking forward to Part 2
I know that I am a "Johnny come lately" to comment on your blog but here goes:
At the church of Christ where I attend (Grinnell, IA) we have had a scripture reading proceeding the start of the worship service for at least 11 years. We do this 5 minutes before the start of the service to quiet the auditorium and to focus our minds on what we are about to do.
We usually pick the scripture to read but sometimes the preacher will ask us to read a scripture that is the text for his sermon.
One last thing I noticed, some believe that you need a good reader to read the scripture. I disagree with this. If you demand only a good reader with a good voice, you are excluding those that really can use the time in front of the audience. You know, there may be future preachers that get up to read the scripture. This was the case for me as I now do some preaching when our regular preacher is out of town.
Thanks for setting up your blog.
Patrick, thanks for your comments. I agree that we shouldn't just choose someone with a good voice. Too many in our congregations want to put "our best foot forward" for services. I think instead we ought to spend a little more time outside of the assembly to help men read better. I pray that your opportunities to preach continue to grow and that your service to our Lord is fruitful.
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