Reading the Scriptures During Worship

[reformedminister]

If you can get a copy of "Many Verses: The Importance of the Reading of Scripture in Reformed Worship" by Ernest Springer (out of print from Old Paths) you will be blessed, convicted and encouraged. It's a very brief book, but a sound perspective on the reading of God's Word in worship. We read some in our church, but not nearly enough - several passages each week that tie in with the order of worship our pastor has put together... but we don't read consecutively, nor do we often read more than a chapter at any one time.

Reading personally and reading in worship are two completely different things - and both are important practices. We shouldn't feel satisfied that enough Scripture is read in our private and public worship if all the Scripture reading we experience (or 95% of it) is done in private. We also should not bow to the pressure of time wherein people start complaining if too much "idle time" is spent. There's a great deal of pressure, I think, to "keep things moving" in worship - and a common incorrect perception that when the congregation ("audience" in modern terms) is sitting still and passively listening to something like the Word of God being read (come on, folks, it's the Word direct from God's own mouth!) is a waste of time. Those who lead in the churches MUST never bow to such opinions, but instead give heed to what the Word prescribes for us in worship, and what God has ordained for the nourishment of souls.

For many folks who care little about doctrine and Scriptural worship, listening to a couple of chapters read during a Lord's Day service would be "boring". However, for those of us who love God's Word it would be a treat and like manna from heaven. The people in our congregation enjoy listening to God's Word. When we started reading large portions of Scripture I wondered how the congregation would react to the time of "stillness", but now everyone is used to it. What I have found helpful is to have everyone stand in between the Old and New Testament readings for the singing of a psalm or hymn.

 

[Tim]

However, for those of us who love God's Word it would be a treat and like manna from heaven. The people in our congregation enjoy listening to God's Word.

YES!!!!

This is so true, brother!

 

[rbcbob]

I have a few observations.

At the church I currently attend, many of the men who lead worship will read a bit of scripture (usually only part of a chapter). But then they will start to comment on what they just read (they are not ordained ministers of the Word), I suppose to get us to appreciate the spiritual truth that was just introduced. Sometimes I wish they would just stop and read us scripture - whole books at a time! That is truly what I desire to hear: my precious God speaking to us through His holy scripture!

The other thing that sometimes happens is that they will read a hymn or ask us to meditate on the words of a hymn for a few moments. We are never asked to meditate on a passage of scripture.

It beats my why it would be done this way.

In a way it reminds me of radio stations. Some music stations have too much talk. Others advertise, "more music...less talk". I would apply this to church: "more scripture, less comment" (unless it is the pastor actually preaching the Word, of course).

Dear pastors, please give us the good stuff! The meat!

Before I read the scheduled passage I will say a very few words about it in order to give the hearers a mental heads up regarding the precious Word that they are about to hear.

 

[he beholds]

Forgetting why we did what we did.

We need reasons for our practices, and when they become rote, it is easy to forget them, and to replace them with practices not in line with our theology. Then the tide goes the wrong way, and what we DO influences what we believe, instead of our theology dictating our practice.

I have more hope for a church that worships properly for the wrong reason than a church that worships incorrectly. Services that are at least proper in form can lead to proper in theology ... though it would be better to have the form follow proper theology.

It is hard for me to think of a scenario where doing the right thing for the wrong reason is a positive, especially in worship where God is looking at our hearts. Am I just too much of my postmodern upbringing?

Anyway, back to the OP, I was talking about this last night to my husband and he made a good point. If you aren't trying to get through the whole Bible in a year, which you couldn't be as you'd get through the whole book of Genesis in a year, why does consecutive necessarily matter more than relative to the sermon? I don't think it would be wrong to take the year and read through Genesis, and then the next year, another book, but I don't think the way our church does it, where the opposite Testament reading relates to the sermon, is wrong, either.

 

[BJClark]

Wannabee;

]Laziness. Lack of vision. The infiltration of worldly philosophies. Seeker sensitivity. It's not creative enough. People are simply bored with God's Word.

While I agree with your overall assessment, I don't know that I agree with 'people are simply bored with God's Word.'

I think it's more, people simply do not KNOW God's Word or believe it to be true, and for those who have read it and refuse to actually preach it, it's possible it scares them, because they realize they can never 'live up' to those standards, so why teach it? Why not try to make God exciting if you don't even believe in Him or believe He is fully capable of saving without our help??

If they actually believed what God's Word says it would require and challenge them to change their own perception of Who God is--to them God is impotent and not capable of saving US all by Himself without our help.

I am so thankful God does not need my help to save me...He certainly wouldn't be worthy of WORSHIP IF HE Did..

 

[rbcbob]

Forgetting why we did what we did.

We need reasons for our practices, and when they become rote, it is easy to forget them, and to replace them with practices not in line with our theology. Then the tide goes the wrong way, and what we DO influences what we believe, instead of our theology dictating our practice.

I have more hope for a church that worships properly for the wrong reason than a church that worships incorrectly. Services that are at least proper in form can lead to proper in theology ... though it would be better to have the form follow proper theology.

It is hard for me to think of a scenario where doing the right thing for the wrong reason is a positive, especially in worship where God is looking at our hearts. Am I just too much of my postmodern upbringing?

Anyway, back to the OP, I was talking about this last night to my husband and he made a good point. If you aren't trying to get through the whole Bible in a year, which you couldn't be as you'd get through the whole book of Genesis in a year, why does consecutive necessarily matter more than relative to the sermon? I don't think it would be wrong to take the year and read through Genesis, and then the next year, another book, but I don't think the way our church does it, where the opposite Testament reading relates to the sermon, is wrong, either.

If we are still talking about a sincere desire to incorporate the directive of 1 Tim 4:13 then I would say that there is considerable latitude open to the elders in how it is accomplished. One benefit in reading consecutively through the bible is that over the course of a number of years the congregation has been exposed to the entirety of the Word of God together.

 

[reformedminister]

I have more hope for a church that worships properly for the wrong reason than a church that worships incorrectly. Services that are at least proper in form can lead to proper in theology ... though it would be better to have the form follow proper theology.

It is hard for me to think of a scenario where doing the right thing for the wrong reason is a positive, especially in worship where God is looking at our hearts. Am I just too much of my postmodern upbringing?

Anyway, back to the OP, I was talking about this last night to my husband and he made a good point. If you aren't trying to get through the whole Bible in a year, which you couldn't be as you'd get through the whole book of Genesis in a year, why does consecutive necessarily matter more than relative to the sermon? I don't think it would be wrong to take the year and read through Genesis, and then the next year, another book, but I don't think the way our church does it, where the opposite Testament reading relates to the sermon, is wrong, either.

If we are still talking about a sincere desire to incorporate the directive of 1 Tim 4:13 then I would say that there is considerable latitude open to the elders in how it is accomplished. One benefit in reading consecutively through the bible is that over the course of a number of years the congregation has been exposed to the entirety of the Word of God together.

This is exactly the point, and the reason the Westminister divines made the recommendation in the Directory for Public worship.

 

[Brian Withnell]

I have a few observations.

At the church I currently attend, many of the men who lead worship will read a bit of scripture (usually only part of a chapter). But then they will start to comment on what they just read (they are not ordained ministers of the Word), I suppose to get us to appreciate the spiritual truth that was just introduced. Sometimes I wish they would just stop and read us scripture - whole books at a time! That is truly what I desire to hear: my precious God speaking to us through His holy scripture!

The other thing that sometimes happens is that they will read a hymn or ask us to meditate on the words of a hymn for a few moments. We are never asked to meditate on a passage of scripture.

It beats my why it would be done this way.

In a way it reminds me of radio stations. Some music stations have too much talk. Others advertise, "more music...less talk". I would apply this to church: "more scripture, less comment" (unless it is the pastor actually preaching the Word, of course).

Dear pastors, please give us the good stuff! The meat!

You probably would like our service (though we don't read whole books at once).

Before the invocation, a deacon reads a passage that is to be preparation for worship ... the idea is for the passage to be one that centers on God and his calling the people to worship. There is a time of meditation after it is read.

The next thing is the invocation ... a responsive reading of the scripture.

A hymn of praise.

Prayer seeking God's blessing and presence.

The gloria patri (sung)

Reading of the law (every Lord's day)

Prayer of confession

Declaration of pardon (always scripture)

Pastoral prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer

Preparation for hearing the Word (hymn)

Scripture reading (by pastor)

Sermon on the reading

Hymn of response.

Commission and benediction

Congregational response

​

That is every Lord's Day, with some occasional divergences for Baptisms and such. The service changes in form only to the extent that the scripture changes (and the pastor preaches through the Bible one book at a time, usually a NT then OT book.)

The scripture reading is significant, the congregation is integral to the service and required to perform the worship. The singing, the responsive reading. So much of what is done is by the congregation. The Word is read responsively much of the time. I am blessed by it whenever I am able to worship in the service (though all too often my duties as deacon require my presence outside the corporate worship service--which is also "worship" in the sense of my serving the body so the body may worship).

-----Added 6/9/2009 at 09:46:15 EST-----

Forgetting why we did what we did.

We need reasons for our practices, and when they become rote, it is easy to forget them, and to replace them with practices not in line with our theology. Then the tide goes the wrong way, and what we DO influences what we believe, instead of our theology dictating our practice.

I have more hope for a church that worships properly for the wrong reason than a church that worships incorrectly. Services that are at least proper in form can lead to proper in theology ... though it would be better to have the form follow proper theology.

It is hard for me to think of a scenario where doing the right thing for the wrong reason is a positive, especially in worship where God is looking at our hearts. Am I just too much of my postmodern upbringing?

The idea is that if a church is totally wrong in theology, but practice is right (in all that they say and do in the worship is sound from a doctrinal standpoint, and the Word is at least read and treated as the Word of God) then there is at least hope that those that hear (including the pastor of the church) will have that act upon them and change the heart.

A sound doctrinal church that does the wrong things will not stay sound doctrinally for long. If they treat the Word lightly, if it is never read, if worship is nothing more than "spiritual" entertainment, then they will not retain the sound doctrine. The wrong thing even for the right reasons will lead to destruction.

 

[reformedminister]

I have a few observations.

At the church I currently attend, many of the men who lead worship will read a bit of scripture (usually only part of a chapter). But then they will start to comment on what they just read (they are not ordained ministers of the Word), I suppose to get us to appreciate the spiritual truth that was just introduced. Sometimes I wish they would just stop and read us scripture - whole books at a time! That is truly what I desire to hear: my precious God speaking to us through His holy scripture!

The other thing that sometimes happens is that they will read a hymn or ask us to meditate on the words of a hymn for a few moments. We are never asked to meditate on a passage of scripture.

It beats my why it would be done this way.

In a way it reminds me of radio stations. Some music stations have too much talk. Others advertise, "more music...less talk". I would apply this to church: "more scripture, less comment" (unless it is the pastor actually preaching the Word, of course).

Dear pastors, please give us the good stuff! The meat!

You probably would like our service (though we don't read whole books at once).

Before the invocation, a deacon reads a passage that is to be preparation for worship ... the idea is for the passage to be one that centers on God and his calling the people to worship. There is a time of meditation after it is read.

The next thing is the invocation ... a responsive reading of the scripture.

A hymn of praise.

Prayer seeking God's blessing and presence.

The gloria patri (sung)

Reading of the law (every Lord's day)

Prayer of confession

Declaration of pardon (always scripture)

Pastoral prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer

Preparation for hearing the Word (hymn)

Scripture reading (by pastor)

Sermon on the reading

Hymn of response.

Commission and benediction

Congregational response

​

That is every Lord's Day, with some occasional divergences for Baptisms and such. The service changes in form only to the extent that the scripture changes (and the pastor preaches through the Bible one book at a time, usually a NT then OT book.)

The scripture reading is significant, the congregation is integral to the service and required to perform the worship. The singing, the responsive reading. So much of what is done is by the congregation. The Word is read responsively much of the time. I am blessed by it whenever I am able to worship in the service (though all too often my duties as deacon require my presence outside the corporate worship service--which is also "worship" in the sense of my serving the body so the body may worship).

-----Added 6/9/2009 at 09:46:15 EST-----

Sounds like a great service!