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Occasionally, I spend time thinking about out-of-the-ordinary traditions. I question the purpose of various traditions in private moments, asking myself if there is merit in honoring all of them. I'm thinking specifically about the tradition of standing while the preacher reads the Bible. How may times have I, after comfortably settling myself on a soft pew cushion, heard a pastor or evangelist begin the introduction of his sermon with a feeble opening illustration only to hear him tell the congregation to stand while he reads from the Bible? Probably a million times. How many times have I observed a preacher open his Bible, while declaring in his holiest preacher voice, "Will you please stand in honor of the reading of God's Holy Word?" Probably two million times. Of course no one wants to dishonor God's Holy Word by remaining seated when the preacher says, "stand." Standing for the reading of the Scripture is, for me anyway, a hollow and needless tradition. It's a complete disruption. It disrupts my concentration. It breaks in my train of thought. It forces me to expend needless energy standing and relocating the scriptural text. I don't read very well when I'm standing. My trifocals don't have that just-right lens for reading while I'm standing. Besides, I'm sixty-one years old and it isn't easy for me, after becoming comfortably settled on the purple pew cushion, to stand up only to return to my posterior one hundred and twenty seconds later. I stand for two minutes and it takes me four times that long just to get resettled. Often the preacher will qualify his request by declaring that the Bible is "honored" when people stand for the reading of the scripture text. What is the Bible, anyway? Is it some sort of sacred object for people to worship? What is there about the Bible that merits my standing to hear a preacher stumble his way through reading a passage of scripture that may or may not relate to the sermon? The preacher will even quote Nehemiah 8:5 (And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:) But the preacher has forgotten, if he ever knew it, that Ezra didn't ask the people to stand for the reading of the book. (Yes, I said "book." The Bible describes the object from which Ezra read as being a "book." Check it out.) Those who heard Ezra read from the book, stood of their own volition. Somehow modern preachers seem to believe that Ezra made a request for the people to stand while he read. Not so. I'm half convinced that preachers who ask people to stand while they read the scripture text are doing so as a means of gaining personal attention. Perhaps they believe it interjects an extra measure of holiness to the sermon. Perhaps they love to hear the sound of their voice through the PA system. Perhaps they feel a need to control the crowd. Perhaps they think the Bible is so sacred that it is disrespectful not to stand. It's strange how some preachers insist that the congregation stand for the formal reading of the Bible at the beginning of the sermon, but they will read fifty additional verses, give or take a couple, during the course of the sermon, never asking the congregation to rise from their seats. It seems to me that if it's so almighty important for the people to be standing when they hear the reading of the master text of the sermon, it would be equally important for them to stand when they hear the reading of other verses during the course of the sermon. What gives? There's another odd quirk about the tradition of standing for the reading of the Bible. The same preachers who use Nehemiah 8:5 as the proof text for asking people to stand while they read the Bible completely ignore the context of their little proof text (v. 8:5-6). The next verse in the you-stand-while-I-read-Bible proof text reads: "And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground." If the preachers are going to be consistent with their interpretation of the passage in question, why do they not honor the context? Taking the passage literally, if people are supposed stand while the Bible is being read, then they should also, a) answer with a vocal "Amen, Amen," b) while lifting up their hands, and c) bowing their heads, and d) worship the LORD with their faces to the carpet. I have imagined trying to honor all of the context Nehemiah 8:5-6. I can just see myself standing while the preacher reads, and then yelling out a vocal, "Amen, Amen," while lifting my hands and bowing head and finally falling on my face to the carpet between the pews. I'd be in worse shape than Beatle Bailey after Sarge has finished him off. Talk about being in a contorted position, I'd be in a real fix. Standing while the Bible is being read doesn't do anything for me. It doesn't make me respect the Bible any more than I did before. I don't feel that I've dishonored the Bible when I don't stand. I'm not any holier when I'm standing than when I'm seated. I suppose it helps inflate the ego of the preacher who asks me to stand while he reads the Bible. I'm simply not impressed by the preachers who make me stand when they read the Bible aloud. One of these days I'm liable to just sit right where I am when a preacher asks me to stand while he reads the Bible. But then, my wife will probably kick me in the shins and I'll stand and loudly shout, "Amen!! Amen!!" while lifting my hands heavenward and simultaneously bowing my head in pain as I fall forthwith on my face to the carpet between the pews. It'll be a holy moment for sure... -- June 10, 2002 (This article was written for BaptistLife.Com Discussion Forums) |