Many of us could probably admit that reading the Scripture in worship receives little of our weekly prep time. This has certainly been true in my own experience. If I’ve been given only the task of reading Scripture at a wedding or worship service, I carefully prepare for its delivery. On a more typical Sunday, though, I’ve spent the bulk of the week crafting the larger movement of the service, shaping prayers, choosing hymns, studying a text, and writing a sermon. If I’m honest, preparation to read the Scriptures is the first thing to slide off my plate.

A Speaker’s Power
Can you remember the last time someone recommended a book to you? Though you might not have searched the volume out, when you did come across it, your interest had already been aroused by the other person’s enthusiasm. In the same way, a worship leader lets listeners know how much the text matters: Attention to volume subtly suggests that the text is worth hearing; eye contact with listeners lets them know that the sacred words are intended for them; a relaxed pace lets listeners know that the text is worth savoring; facial expression communicates the way in which the words have moved the speaker. The incarnation of the spoken Word matters.

What Eugene Peterson has done for the written Word in his scriptural paraphrase The Message is what preachers are invited to do with the spoken Word. We honor the text by communicating it to individuals in such a way that they’re most able to receive it.

Douglas Campbell, professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School, describes the difference between a text that’s simply read from the page and one that’s been internalized by the speaker. He says, “It’s like the difference between a play in which the actors are reading the play from the script in rehearsal and when they’re doing it in performance and have internalized it. The process is able to communicate lots of subliminal information, verbal and nonverbal, which is much richer.” Pointing out that this is how the Bible has actually been communicated for most of its history, he adds, “It becomes a living text. It becomes something that’s being spoken to you now.”

A Living Text
Thankfully the outcome doesn’t depend on the number of commentaries consulted or on a magic eye-contact ratio. Instead compelling delivery is born of prayerful preparation with a keen ear for the living voice behind the written Word. What’s required is an investment of time, energy, study, listening, and practice. Here are some suggestions for how to do this.

Listen to the text. Rich study of the Scripture helps the worship leader to tune in to the voice of the original author and to hear the text with the ears of its first hearers. If you understand and care why the passage mattered to its first hearers, your listeners will as well.

Spend time with the text. Get to know it. Memorize it. How do you imagine this text sounded the very first time it was ever read in worship? What expression would you give to the words if you were speaking them as your own to a friend over coffee?

Speak the text. There’s no substitution for reading the text aloud. Speak it often as you prepare to preach. Speak it in your personal devotions. Print the text from your computer and mark it up. Develop simple notations such as brackets, underlining, exclamation points, and question marks to indicate emphasis, volume, emotion, and wondering.

Practice the text. Practice, practice, practice. Read the passage aloud 20 times in a row. Expect to be surprised by the nuances of voice and rhythm that begin to emerge. Invite feedback from a colleague, or videotape the reading in order to critique yourself.

Spend an hour or two preparing to read the Scripture in worship this week. And don’t be surprised if someone tells you, “It was the high point of the service.” Shouldn’t it be?

MARGOT STARBUCK HAUSMANN is an ordained Presbyterian minister, currently working as a writer and speaker.