Giving Attention to Reading: The Lector as Minister

The lector is one who ministers to the congregation through the reading of Scripture. At one point in church history, the lector, or reader, was considered one of the minor orders in which persons were formally acknowledged for the exercise of gifts, or charismata, they possessed. Although reading is nowhere explicitly cited as one of the charismata, its exercise is as significant as preaching and teaching; we read in 1 Timothy 4:13: “Give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching.”

Reading the Word of God aloud can bring blessing to the one who reads and to those who hear. How is such blessing brought about? It is first of all a gift of grace. Reading is a charismatic act when done in the context of true worship – that is, when words are read aloud in spirit and truth. A worshipful act of reading is no mere playback of recorded inspiration; prophetic reading breathes again the truth present in the text being read. This representation is a poetic act of mimesis which resounds with the breath of life. The Bible does not speak for itself; God has chosen to speak through the reading of His Word. God became incarnate in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh; so does the Church continue by the Spirit of Christ to be the Body of Christ to the world as each Christian in his or own person presents the Word of God uniquely, whether individually or with other Christians.

The reader becomes the letter of Christ written with the Spirit of the Living God when words of prophetic proclamation are processed through the whole person. The Great Commandment, to love the Lord God with all one’s heart, soul, and mind, and to love others as oneself, is to be applied to reading as much as to all things in life. Anything less than reading with one’s whole person, in loving submission to God and others, strangles the Spirit’s flow.

Competent charismatic reading prophesies life to those ready to hear the Word of the Lord. The Christian reader is a minister of the new covenant, not of letter but of spirit. The Spirit gives life – this then is the criterion by which prophetic reading is judged. Lifeless reading is a mocking impersonation of presenting the Gospel – still born words sound monotonously ineffective and reflect gloomingly off veiled and captive minds of hardened hearers. However, reading full of the Spirit is transformative – the image of God, figured in reading the Word of God, is set in one’s imagination as an example to be followed with others as faithful disciples of Christ.

Faith come from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. Blessed is the one who reads aloud words of prophecy and blessed are those who hear.

TRUE TELLING, GOOD ACTING

Life lets one live mimetically and diegetically by way of one's imagination - at the moment one acts, one's conscience is at once considering one's action while ready to judge what was done and what is to be done next. This conscientious judgment may be considered the running narrative that accompanies contemporaneous conduct.

Mimesis is no mere copy of an idealized past but an effort to create an ideal present-to-come. Diegesis sets the conceptual framework within which mimesis acts, describing what is to be done.

Mimesis	Diegesis
(Greek `imitation' or `to copy')	(Greek `to narrate')
shows rather than tells, by means of action that is enacted.	the telling of the story by a narrator.
represents	reports
embodies	narrates
transforms	indicates
knows only a continuous present	looks back on a past

Doing is always present tense. Once something takes place, mimesis is necessarily replaced by diegesis. This is the dynamic of rehearsal – one considers what is to be done, one does it, then one discusses what was done so that it can be done again, whether the same way or better or perhaps just differently.

Discuss, do, discuss.

Perhaps this nexus of diegesis and mimesis is an aspect of love that lets two individuals act as one – the two hold in common an imaginative narrative that constrains each one's actions to follow a similar direction; one is constantly considering the other, doing what the other wills as well as one can. We learn to work with others in such a way that, given the intimacy of our relationship, we become aware of one another's non-verbal narrative that may not necessarily be explicitly expressed. We know one another well enough to have a good idea of what one another may very well be thinking.

Actors do this more easily when they have a script to follow and much rehearsal prior to performance. People do this when they have been working together over time – it defines a dynamic essential to teamwork.

Living the truth in love, as Scripture commands (Ephesians 4:15), demands that diegesis and mimesis be congruent; otherwise, one is in danger of hypocrisy – one does what is not consistent with what one thinks. We are called to be imitators of God (the Greek word behind imitators, mimetai, gives us our English word "mimic" or "actor"). However, we are admonished severely not to be hypocrites (the Greek word hypocrites also meaning actor).

Counter to how our current culture prizes effective presentation without regard to truth, Christians are called to do what is true - it is simple as that.

DISCUSSING DRAMA (a segment of conversation)

As an actor, I must insist that

we know Hamlet best through

an actor's portrayal of that character.

This is why I despise

"Drama as Literature";

one misses the essential element of "seeing" that is Theatre;

drama is doing, not merely reading!

And

whatever a human does, is done

in the context of relationship.

"It is not good for a man to be alone."

As Christians,

we have been made

a theatre to the world

to reveal Jesus Christ.

The call to become imitators of God

compels us

to act out our own portrayal of

the character of Christ

in the daily drama of life.

Personal preference for practicing with paracletal performers

I want to lead a troupe composed of performers willing to act while teaching others to act as well. The troupe will study theory, then collaborate in putting theory into practice. Although my personal theology will take priority for practice purposes of leadership, covenantal compromise for the sake of community will be highly valued. Open communication demands that any compromise must be examined closely. Right relationship always has highest priority.

[NOTE: I coined the adjective "paracletal" used in the title for this post. It is based the Greek term paraclete which can be translated "one called alongside another to help/counsel/comfort/advocate. My intention is that I will find other like-minded performers who will come alongside me in my own calling to do what I do myself.]

Sample story of STATUS

The Victorian political rivalry between

Benjamin Disraeli

and

William Gladstone

is legendary.

Once, coming from opposite directions,

the two met in a narrow alley.

It was clear that one of them

would have to step into the gutter

to let the other pass.

Gladstone drew himself up

and huffed

"I never step aside for scoundrels!"

Disraeli, with a sly smile,

stepped into the gutter

and replied

"I always do."

“Acquaintances become friends when they agree to play status games together.”

I recently post this quote of Keith Johnstone, from his book on IMPRO. When a friend inquired as to what it meant, I offered the following explanation:

Status games are behavioral transactions that take place whenever people come together. Some folk play high, others low; some are quite aware of where they stand, others just don't know. Strangers who meet while walking on the street will begin to size one another up and down, considering what is to be done next - the higher status person will manage to win one's own way, while the lower status one will yield.

Friends find it fun to play around with this. Neither cares which one is high or low; the only thing that matters is that both can continue to go to where they want to get. Like the auld Scottish song, "You take the high road and I'll take the low road - we'll both get to town anyway!"

Jesus was a master status player. He knew how to play low or high, depending on the one with whom he happened to be interacting. The Gospel invites us to join in on His game, playing it like He did. Consider Mary's Magnificent Song in which she declares:"He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble."

The hymn in the second chapter of Philippians tells us something similar in yet another way: "He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Leading into that hymn are these wise words: "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus .."

I have found this concept of playing status to be very fruitful for teaching theology and theatre. Actor who learn how to play status well become better actors; other people who learn to play status well can become better persons.

My friend than commented: “That all sounds very complicated to me. I am just me and I am just honest and try to love people unconditionally, which sometimes causes me to be hurt but to me that is a price worth paying most of the time. If I am hurt repeatedly then I simply retreat. There are some people who do not like honesty and turn away but to me that is their choice. I have been lied to in my life and that has hurt so I do not do that to others. I think I have grown up to have a simple brain!”

I responded:

Having grown up, you know better now how to be "just" you. You are mature enough to properly value the cost of right relationship - as you yourself posted in your note: to you, "that is a price worth paying most of the time."

Playing status properly, one considers one's own status in the context of the whole relationship with another. One does not strive to be higher or lower than another, merely with the other, letting the situation signal when certain status postures are called for (for example - high status tends to be more still, low status tends to stutter; high status is more open, low status is much more closed; high status may be bold, low status is probably hesitant; etc., etc., etc.).

Future posts will continue to discuss the concept of status, both on stage and off.

Remembering TARTUFFE

I directed a production of TARTUFFE myself in November of 2004, with my own son playing the title character! Reading over the note I wrote for the program, I see we chose to use the subtitle "The Imposter" rather than "The Hypocrite." It seems that "I found the play to be very apt given the overheated atmosphere of [that year's] election season" (President Bush vs. Senator Kerry, you may recall). My note concludes, "The play may be about an imposter, but it is also about family and friends whose true loyalty and love prove to be greater than the hypocrisy of one who tries to destroy them. Truth trumps fiction. It must."