Reading in public
It’s time to wrap up this opening section of the series, looking at how the practice of public reading has shaped the content and collection of these sacred writings into the bible. This short, potted history of how we got the bible is, over and over again, a story of which books Christians read in public worship. Reading – public reading as part of meeting together for worship – is fundamental to being Christian. It is not, obviously, the only way we encounter the bible, even in worship. A huge amount of the words worshippers say to or about God are also taken, in one way or another, from the pages of the same scriptures. The Christian practice of public reading is relational more than it is informational. Reading is not the only thing that happens. It is one element, one very important element, of public worship, but it happens surrounded by a framework of prayer and praise, confession and thanksgiving. It is primarily intended to help us listen, so that people m...