Why do we read Scripture the way we do?
The way we read Scripture in our Sunday morning gatherings is intentional and on-purpose. We believe as a church that it's good and necessary to "devote [ourselves] to the public reading of Scripture" as Paul commands in 1 Timothy 4:13. Every so often someone asks why we do this part of the gathering the way we do, so here are a few of the key reasons why. Let this fuel your preparation to be a participant in the worship gathering this coming Sunday.
1. Scripture commands us to do this. Like I mentioned above, Paul commands the public reading of Scripture in 1 Timothy 4:13, to be done whenever Christians gather. Funny enough, this command is first in a list of three things - public reading of Scripture, exhortation, and teaching - so we can infer from this, possibly, that the Scripture reading in the gathering is more important than the teaching on a passage of Scripture. Why would this be? When we read Scripture, it's actually God speaking, in His Word, directly to His people. So really, what Paul commands for gathered Christians is to let loose the very Word of God upon our ears and hearts and minds. Even the words of the most killer sermon, by the most eloquent preacher can't do what the inspired Word of God can.
2. We unapologetically read longer passages. Often (but not always), our official Scripture reading is the preaching passage for the morning. And whatever that passage is, we usually read the whole thing, which is often between fifteen and twenty verses. We believe that the inspired Word of God is really a unified, complex whole, instead of many independent, disconnected little parts. So we really benefit more from taking bigger swaths of Scripture at a time, to hear it develop it's own themes and ideas, and give its own context to its individual verses. Reading and memorizing single verses or smaller sections have their place, and sometimes our readings are shorter; but we do love to let the longer passages speak in our gatherings.
3. We stand for the reading. We usually either stay standing after a song, or stand after a period of sitting in the worship gathering, to give preeminence and importance to the reading of God's Word. Since human beings are combinations of body and soul, our physical movements are often tied to how we think and feel, and to our spiritual affections. By standing for the Scripture reading, we try to give it at least the level of importance we give to much of our corporate singing together, and we call our bodies, minds, and hearts to attention, to truly hear and heed God's Word.
Some of the above might seem super traditional to some, but they might be new concepts to others. We hope this clarifies, and gives fuel to one of the most important elements of our worship gatherings!