The reading of a hymn is the first thing we hear in our church on both Sundays and Wednesdays. It's the Reader's initial opportunity to set the tone for a service designed to waken thought and to heal.
The Christian Science Hymnal provides a variety of hymns—of affirmation, praise, comfort, and thanksgiving. The Reader will want to share these inspired, healing messages with clarity, unhampered by any lack of skill in reading.
Hymns are poems set to music, and reading them well presents certain difficulties not found in reading prose. The short, rhymed hymn lines with their repeated beat can tempt us to respond vocally in a stereotyped way and lose sight of the beauty and meaning of the poem.
