When we present, we often prepare with the intent of not messing up or missing lines in the presentation. I wonder if this is enough though. Should we not aim to "do justice" to the passage rather than to just not mess up? By that I mean aiming to not make a mistake is by all means part of it, but that is only the first stage. That can be done easily by using virtually exclusively rote memory of words and gestures.
I'm yet to know what it is exactly, but there seems to be a change that happens when someone has 'gotten personal' with a text. I have used the term to "memorized intimately" before to refer when we include our voice, actions, thoughts, and emotions in our Scripture memorization and presentation, but rarely to I see it presented where the presenter is the person in the Scripture. When that happens, the presentation seems to come across with a new level of 'power'.
That power is first and foremost because it is God's word that we are proclaiming, but such a presentation seems to make Scripture feel more real and enables us to closer relate to it. I wonder how we can learn to approach our task in this manner more often and train others to do likewise...
When taking on my responsibilities with what is now called Ezra's Creed (a Bible ministry on NWC's campus) Mark B. gave me a line of advice which I believe he received from Dr. Ardel C.. This advice was also a statement of caution speaking to the importance and demand that such a task calls. This has has remained on my mind for the last two years as a guide to most of what I have put my hands to in this ministry. The line was: "If you are going to do it, do it well."
That is what I am talking about here, not just to memorize and recite Scripture, but to do it well so that it comes alive to people. The first time I saw this happen was in 2008 when during a Word of Witness chapel on the life of David, Steve J. presented David's Psalm of repentance (Psalm 51). I wish I could link you to a video of it, but that was before we were recording them. I know though that I was not the only person who had tears in there eyes by the end of the passage.
Even though Steve was on stage with an auditorium full of students, nobody saw Steve, we all saw David. I think that is what part of it is, coming so close to the text that you can speak as if you were the one who first spoke the words of the text. You don't just show what emotions they may have had you have the emotions they had. I pray that through this ministry, more people will watch Scripture come to life and move into their lives. That is what it is about.
For the King,
~Andrew Voigt
If you are interested in more information on Scripture presentation and memorization, please look around at Josiah's Gift's web page. They are a ministry that is passionate about getting people into the Word of God and presenting the Word of God as the Word of God.
Their website: http://josiahsgift.wordpress.com/
Colossians 3:23? :)
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