Having completed the entrance rite with the Introit, Kyrie, Gloria, and Collect of the Day, the congregation is seated at table to enjoy a feast of the word.
I.
Concerning the hearing of the word, Christ says in John 6, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day…. It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” By the hearing of God’s word we eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood, receiving life in both body and soul. Because the words that Christ speaks to us are true food and true drink which give us life, there is no more important activity for Christians to be devoted to than the hearing of God’s word. As Christians we can’t quit the word of God anymore than we could quit breathing or eating or drinking.
For this reason, throughout the bible God enjoins the public reading of scripture on his people. God commands Moses to proclaim the Torah to his people (Ex 21:1; Dt 4:14; 6:1). When he comes down from Mt. Sinai, Moses inaugurates the covenant by reading the scriptures (Ex 24:7). Every seven years the entire Torah was to be read at the Feast of Booths (Dt 31:9-13). When Israel took possession of the promised land, the first thing that Joshua did was read the Torah (Jsh 8:34-35). In the time of the kings, the omission of the reading of God’s word attended apostasy and wickedness, but contrariwise its restoration attended faithfulness and repentance as in the case of King Josiah and his reforms (2 Kgs 22:8-11; 23:1-3). In the post-exilic period, Ezra the scribe began his religious reforms with the public reading of the Torah (Neh 8:2-3). In the New Testament, St. Paul expressly calls for his epistles to be read (1 Th 5:27; Co 4:16) and from the conclusions to his letters we know that this happened in the context of the Divine Service (e.g. 1 Co 16:20-24). Likewise, Paul exhorts Timothy as a young pastor to devote himself “to the public reading of scripture” (1 Tm 4:13) as one of the chief tools of pastoral ministry (2 Tim 3:16).
Within the grammar of the Old Testament, there is not a discrete word for “reading,” rather it is included in the ordinary word for “proclaim” or “preach.” The scriptures are “preached” or “proclaimed” not simply “read,” which assumes that the reading of the bible is an aural/oral activity. This heritage is taken into the Greek of the New Testament, where “reading” is conceived of as knowledge brought forth from the text through speech. In the ancient world whenever the bible was read, whether privately or publicly, it was always done aloud. The modern phenomenon of reading silently is both “modern” and a rather odd “phenomenon.” The first known example of a person reading silently to themselves is Ambrose of Milan in the late 4th century AD, and even then, it was very peculiar and disturbed those who witnessed it. Interestingly enough, developmental psychologists have time and time again recognized the profound value of reading out loud over reading silently for the sake of learning, comprehension, and critical thinking, and yet in the modern era we have almost entirely lost our reading voice and with it the ability to listen.
II.
Within the history of the church, the reading of the written scriptures has always been organized into cycles where an appointed portion is read on an appointed day. These cycles are called “lectionaries.” From the Old Testament we know that there were appointed lessons of Torah on sabbaths, the Feast of Booths, and the Passover. The Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds present one and three year lesson cycles respectively for the Torah. From the New Testament we also know there was a cycle of appointed lessons from the Prophets as evidenced in Luke 4:17 where Jesus is handed the appointed text from Isaiah. These appointed lessons usually followed the pattern of a continuous reading (lectio continua) so that whole books would be read continuously. This pattern of continuous reading was supplanted in the New Testament era by selected readings (lectio selecta) which were appointed to match various seasons of the church year and their attendant feast days and festivals.
One of the earliest descriptions that we have of the Service of the Word of the New Testament church comes from the Apostolic Constitutions which describes a service not dissimilar to our own. It describes two lessons from the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets, a person sings one of the “hymns of David” responsively with the congregation, then Acts or “one of the letters of Paul” is read, at which point everyone stands and observes “great silence” for the reading of one of “the Gospels” either Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. After the lessons are done, the pastors “exhort” the people one after another with the Bishop going last. From this it appears that the earliest pattern of lessons is Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel, and even included in this is the use of the psalms to break up the readings and the rubric to stand for the Gospel!
In the course of the church’s history, the number and nature of the lessons varied. In the 4th century you’d find two Old Testament lessons, an Epistle lesson, and a Gospel lesson. In the 5th century the number of Old Testament lessons was reduced to one, with the Epistle and Gospel retained. In the 7th century, the Old Testament lesson was dropped entirely from the Sunday service, limiting the lessons to only the Epistle and Gospel. And finally, in the 20th century, the historic pattern of an Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel lesson was restored. At present, Lutheran Service Book contains two lectionaries, the historic one-year lectionary hailing from the time of Charlemagne with some minor revisions and additions, and the three-year lectionary which is a revision of a lectionary the Second Vatican Council produced and subsequently revised. Both lectionaries include an appointed Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel lesson for each Sunday of the church year, which can be found in the front matter of the hymnal. An advantage of the one-year cycle is a greater familiarity with key texts and key doctrines of the faith. A downside of the one-year is a very minimal exposure to the scriptures. An advantage of the three-year cycle is a wider exposure to the bible and greater uniformity with both Catholicism and Protestantism generally. A downside of the three-year is a lack of deep familiarity with any particular passage or story of the bible. Each has pros and cons. I consider it less important which lectionary one uses and more important that a lectionary is used. It is an excellent discipline to center the life of the church around the reading of scripture so that together we are walking through the life and teaching of Jesus, and learning the central doctrines of the faith.
III.
Thus far, we’ve outlined the history of reading and what has been read in church. Now we can say a brief word about who did the actual reading and where they did it. Originally the task of reading the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts was a task given to well trained men known as “scribes” whom we see in abundance throughout the New Testament in the synagogues. In the early church this task was given to men ordained into the office of “lector” who were carefully trained and chosen for the task. In the Middle Ages the reading of the Epistle was handled by either the lector or “subdeacon” (an assisting minister), however, the Gospel lesson was reserved either for the deacon (chief assisting minister) or the presiding minister. In some places, only the Bishop was allowed to read the Gospel. The general theme that we see in history is that the one who read also held the Office of Holy Ministry.
Following this tradition and in view of our confession of the Office of Holy Ministry, the Lutheran Church has always reserved the reading of the Gospel for the presiding minister if not all three lessons. If the Old Testament and Epistle lessons are delegated to another, it ought to be one who is either in or aspiring to the Office of Holy Ministry. This position has been recently confessed by the Missouri Synod’s CTCR who, when asked whether or not it was appropriate for women to serve as lay readers, stated that the office of lector ought not be ordinarily delegated to any lay person, man or woman, but ought to be filled by those in or aspiring to the pastoral Office. This is also reflected in the “Introduction” section of our Lectionary books. The reasoning behind this statement is that the reading of the lessons in the Divine Service is both “proclamation” and “teaching,” both of which are given to the pastoral office to perform publicly. Our Augsburg Confession states that, “no one should publicly teach, preach, or administer the sacraments without a proper call.” Additionally, this confession takes seriously the sacramental nature of the hearing of God’s word as it is proclaimed, both in the sense of reading and preaching. Where we have by and large lost our awe and wonder over the ministry of the Word, Luther writes, “the preaching of the Gospel is nothing else than Christ coming to us, or we being brought to him.” For Luther, to hear the word read and preached is a sacramental act whereby Christ comes to us, no less than in Baptism or the Lord’s Supper. It is, as we say, “the word of the Lord.” He himself comes and he himself speaks.
In view of this highly sacramental view of reading God’s word, it makes sense that historically you’d find the readings done, either from the altar or the pulpit. The Old Testament and Epistle lessons are traditionally done from the southern horn of the altar (right side) and the Gospel lesson from the northern horn of the altar (left side). Another option for the reading of the Gospel is to read it from the nave in a “Gospel Procession.” This practice helps to emphasize the incarnational aspect of the Gospel reading, Christ coming in our midst and speaking to us in the flesh. This is highly appropriate during the season of Advent and on feast days. Reading from the altar is my preferred practice so that there is a visual unity between the service of the Word and the service of the Sacrament and the altar is more consistently and narrowly the location of Christ’s advent among us. However, the lectern and pulpit do serve as extensions of the northern and southern horn of the altar and are also fine for usage as places of reading.
Rev. Philip Bartelt
Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd
Gaudete, 2024
