Someone once likened the Reader's position, as he reads from the desk in a Church of Christ, Scientist, to being in a plastic booth alone with God. But what about the people in the congregation? Where do they come in? Isn't the Reader a human being reading to other human beings? But if this is the case, what is going on spiritually?
This was the question I had to answer when I was elected First Reader of a branch church. This opportunity came entirely unexpectedly, and I felt very unprepared. After the initial shock, a few lines of a hymn came to thought,
God is with me, and His presence
Shall my perfect guidance be,
Till my heart that peace inherit
God alone can give to me.Christian Science Hymnal, No. 81;
