All active members of the Church of Christ, Scientist, have opportunities to read aloud. Readings from the Bible and the writings of our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, prayerfully prepared and effectively presented at a service or committee meeting or to a friend in need, help to achieve the healing purpose of the church.
Our Leader did much rewriting and revising, and she sought the help of experts in an effort to give correct expression to what Mind was revealing to her. Should it not be natural, then, for her followers, in preparing to read from her works or from the Bible, to take whatever human footsteps Mind directs so that their oral presentation fully communicates the spiritual meaning that has unfolded to them? The Manual of The Mother Church by Mrs. Eddy states of the Readers in The Mother Church, "The Directors shall select intelligible Readers who are exemplary Christians and good English scholars."Man., Art. II, Sect. 2;
A spiritual message gets through to listeners most effectively when it is read with understanding, love, and an unaffected naturalness that is simple and direct. Reading for an audience should be conversational in style but with sufficient projection to fill the auditorium.
