
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 14, 1995                   TAG: 9501160030
SECTION: RELIGION                    PAGE: B-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAUREN R. STANLEY KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LEARNING TO READ THE SCRIPTURES ALOUD AND WITH FEELING

When you come to Virginia Seminary, one of the first things students tell you about is ``Read and Bleed,'' a course taken in the first year, between semesters. You'll love it, the students say with a knowing grin. It's such a joy, they say. A whole week of reading the Scriptures aloud to each other, under the guidance of teachers from the National Institute for the Word of God.

Somehow, those warnings set off a little bell in the back of the mind. ``Read and Bleed''? you think. ``Read, I get. But, Bleed''?

Well, we're between semesters now, one-sixth of the way through seminary. And it's time for ``Read and Bleed,'' also known as Oral Interpretation of Scripture, a mandatory class for all Virginia seminarians. It is a rite of passage, really, for all of us who have chosen this seminary.

A whole week learning to read the Scriptures aloud, well, with feeling. You read, your classmates listen. The teacher and the other seminarians critique. You read some more. More critique. Then you switch: Another seminarian reads, you listen and critique. All week long.

There is a scene in the movie ``La Bamba,'' in which the main character, recording his first record, has to sing the same phrase over and over again, perhaps 10 times. In the movie, you see this character putting everything into these few words, repeatedly, in fast cuts. As I stand in the pulpit and read from the Song of Solomon or Job or Hosea or Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, I keep thinking of that scene. Only now, I am the one in the recording studio - reading instead of singing - the same phrase repeatedly, trying to find just the right volume, resonance, emphasis and passion.

Try this. Change that. More volume. Less stiffness. We occasionally are encouraged to overact, if necessary, because when most of us feel we are overacting, we really are not. We're fine; it just seems silly to us. Oh, there are times when, playing around a bit, someone will overact with a vengeance: ``Since we are J'SSSST-IF-EYED by FAY-TH, we have PEEACE with GAHD!'' But usually, overacting simply means we can hear better, with clearer enunciation, more emotion, more care for the words.

Almost everyone has been in a church where the Scriptures reader has stumbled through a passage, or read so fast no one can understand what is being said, or spoken in a monotone the entire time, so smoothly that the listeners begin to doze off:

``InthebeginningwastheWordand-theWordwaswithGodandthe-WordwasGod... ''

It's pretty frustrating for the people in the pews; many tune out. Some even quit attending church because they are ``bored'' with the whole thing. No passion, no fire, no meaning and it's all old stuff anyhow, right?

``Read and Bleed'' is meant to counteract that. Not only are we to learn the principles of reading well, but, it is hoped, one day we will teach others to read well, too.

So we are taught how to breathe correctly (from the diaphragm, not the chest); to use our whole upper torso to produce sound, not just the throat; to mark the pauses, and use them well; and to learn the rhythms of the passage.

But there is more to reading well than the physical aspects and simply being able to pronounce ``Nebuchadnezzar'' numerous times in the Book of Daniel. Reading well has several components, the first of which is faith. If you believe in the Word of God, you can read it with passion, find the understanding necessary for each passage, impart an appreciation of the form, and show the power of the message of God

And every once in a while, when someone is reading a passage from, say, one of Paul's letters, everything will jell. The classmate in the pulpit will seem, if only for a second or two, to BE Paul, talking to each of us personally about something of immense importance, with fire in the eye and passion in the heart.

That is what ``Read and Bleed'' is really all about. To get to those moments as often as possible, so that when we are reading in our churches, we aren't just reading some story, we're bringing the Word of God to life. If possible, we are communicating to each person - on an individual basis - the message of God through human words.

It is a powerful undertaking. Rite of passage ``Read and Bleed'' may well be, but one with lasting impact on our ministries, and it is hoped, on the ministries of all who will be hearing the Word of God delivered in faith, with understanding, care and passion.

Lauren R. Stanley, a former assistant news editor for the Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, now attends Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, where she is studying for the Episcopal priesthood.

by CNB