How to Read the Bible in Church

A few Sundays ago, I was in the vesting room when one of our lay readers approached the rector with a question. He wanted to know if he could read the Old Testament lesson from the King James Version of the Bible. He felt that the Jacobean language of the Authorized Version was especially fitting for this particular passage of Scripture, in which God asks Job, â??Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?â? (Job 38:4). I was struck not only by his unusual request, but by the fact that this faithful lay reader had actually taken the time to look over the passage well in advance, reflected on it, and had even brought his own printed-out text to church. When he announced the lesson during the liturgy, he mentioned that he would be reading from the King James Version (so as not to confuse anyone who might be trying to follow along with the text in the bulletin), and there was an awkward chuckle throughout the congregation. Was he being serious? Once he began to read, it became clear that, yes, he was quite serious. Iâ??m also certain that most of us listened to the words of this reading more attentively than we had listened to any Old Testament reading in the last several months.