Suggestions for reading the Lessons
Thank you for your willingness to share your talent in reading the lessons.
You are proclaiming, bearing a message. You are not merely reading. If you understand what you are reading, so will
your listeners. If the passage (especially from St. Paul's letters or the Old Testament) has little meaning for you,
it will have less meaning for the listeners.
Read passages out
loud several times (Friday or Saturday?). Read and listen to yourself.
"What am I proclaiming?"
Copy and enlarge the text on a copier if this will improve your
delivery.
* Check with the Pastor
or a dictionary any tricky or unfamiliar words.
Example: prophecy is
a noun [declaration] as a long e (aim for the cy)
prophesy
is a verb [declare] as a long i or y (aim for the sy)
It may be helpful to
mark your manuscript [copied, not a book] with a red pencil, pen or high-lighter to
alert you to quotes....
questions.....explanatory phrases. Consider using notations:…
slashes... .arrows... parentheses...underlining….high-lighting.
Make a dry run. Come
early and read before the Service begins. Stand in the designated spot and read
to yourself,
using your lips but not your voice.
Hold your manuscript
in your hands, not on the altar – chest level. Use the support of a hymnal or bulletin if necessary.
Announce the book and chapter. Omit any reference to verses. If more than one chapter is in the reading, use a phrase
something like "beginning in the 4th chapter.
Look up occasionally; making eye contact with the congregation. This places your reading on a one-to-one level.
(Use a finger to hold
your place, if necessary.)
Pause in your reading. Take a breath at periods, semi-colons, even commas at times. Give the message, the words,
time to soak into the minds of the
listeners.
To indicate its end, pause after reading the selection. Take a breath for closure. Then announce "Here ends the reading"
or whatever the liturgy prescribes,
* Correct pronunciations (audio and visual) for some of the biblical names and places:
http://www.briannelsonconsulting.com/bible/pronunciation.html