One more Minute about the wonderful ability to read, remembering that most people in history couldn’t and many in the world still can’t read. Humbling, that we’re so blessed.
I’ve noticed an interesting thing about public speaking. When I’m scheduled to deliver a sermon or speech, I think my topic through on the basis of a biblical text, prepare an outline, and then, if there’s time, write out the sermon or speech word for word and memorize it. That, incidentally, is how the ancient Greek and Roman orators did it. What I’ve learned over 40 years is that I don’t own the topic until I’ve spoken it out loud in front of people. Speaking out loud results in revisions in my understanding and more depth of thought about the given subject. The point is I don’t own the subject until I repeatedly speak it publicly.
Augustine, the fourth century church father, was surprised when he happened to see Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, reading. “When he was reading, his eyes ran over the page and his heart perceived the sense, but his voice and tongue were silent” (“Confessions,” 6.3.3). What surprised Augustine was that Ambrose read silently; people read out loud. “It was not until the Age of Enlightenment (the eighteenth century) that reading generally became a silent affair” (Thomas Winger, “The Spoken Word: What’s Up with Orality?” Concordia Journal, April, 2003; 136).
Learning that, and remembering that I’ve grown spiritually from speaking out loud, I wonder if our personal devotions and Bible studies would be more helpful if more time were spent listening to God’s Word spoken out loud? We usually read the text and then turn to our own thoughts. Perhaps more time letting the spoken word impact us? “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believed, and so I spoke,’ we also believe, and so we also speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13).
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