Non-Readers in Worship
Since the supreme ambition of a congregation (and all it’s educational, evangelistic, missional activities) is to draw all into the worship of Almighty God, then what do we do with those who can’t read? This may appear a strange question at first. Yet almost every church service I’ve been in, whether Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, etc requires some hefty amounts of reading. Whether it’s reading the hymns, or the Scriptures, or responsive prayers, or confessions of faith. If a congregation is doing what it’s supposed to do, then the assembly will have to include non-reading children, illiterate adults, and aging older people whose eyes have gotten to a place where reading is a serious challenge. Are these, Christ’s vulnerable ones, to be marginalized, removed from the great assembly, left to be silent while the readers verbally worship? It’s really not so strange a question after all. There are several ways congregations have attempted to remedy this, some be excluding the non-re...