BIBLE W6 D1 Out of the Depths I Have Cried to You O LORD (Psalm 130)

Today we try a different sort of meditation on Psalm 130. We read the passage three times as we've done on other times, but this time when we read it the third time, we are to read verses 5 & 6 aloud. Try it that way and notice how different it is to read the Bible out loud.

Most of my Bible reading is done in silence... I read the words, and the voice inside my head is relatively monotone as I take in the meaning of what I'm reading. However, when I read these two verses out loud, I immediately noticed I put more expression into the words. So I then went back and read the entire passage with the type of expression (inside my head) which I'd use if I were reading out loud. It made a difference for me in the feeling of reading the passage.

I still remember the first time I had to read the Bible out loud in our church when I was growing up. I was in 9th grade - the year I was confirmed. Holy Trinity Lutheran was an ornate Gothic building and the Lectern (the place where you stand and read the scriptures) was big and imposing. I jumped at the chance to do this because you could skip a day of Sunday School to practice with the head reader. Of course, it wasn't the "get out of jail free" opportunity I was expecting because I had to read the passage over and over as he coached me on how to read in public (very slow... careful in how you pronounce the words... put some feeling into it...). It was a bit of a tussle since he wanted me to read slowly enough to be understood, and I only wanted to quickly get it over with and goof off.

And as you might expect, being my first time reading in public, it couldn't be a simple new testament reading with words like Jesus, Mary and Love. No, it had to be some old testament reading (probably from Chronicles) where the Amorites were fighting with the Hittites and Jehoshaphat was doing something to Nebuchadnezzar (or something like that).

For some reason, I kept doing it...