Readership in Christian Science church services is a call to speak the Word of God with the inspiration that heals. It is God's assignment, not people's choice, and carries with it God's protection. It demands that we plunge deeply beneath personal interpretation of the text and give audience to Spirit. The book of Nehemiah puts it this way: "They read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." Neh. 8:8
When elected Second Reader, I had an enlightening opportunity to prove my ability to speak distinctly and understandingly while reading the Bible in English, which is not my native tongue. I loved to do this work and put the accent on Love, that is, on expressing and feeling Love.
Three points stood out to me in this work of reading God's Word:
