How to read in church
Work on your diction
This is a category of cartoons entitled ‘vaguely humorous, but also possibly slightly useful’ in that the advice given is intended to be actually valid.
You can find the cartoon here on CartoonChurch.com: Reading the lesson, or in the book, ‘Heroes of the Coffee Rota‘.
On the subject of reading in church, a reader on Twitter kindly offered the following advice from c1950.
@davewalker @FictionFox from ‘Advice from a Headmaster to his Sixth Formers’, c1950. More panache is needed. pic.twitter.com/WeUx50AaGN
— Casebound Portrait (@A5Portrait) January 22, 2016
When I was 8 and had just started Sunday School, I was asked to read a recitation at the Sunday School Anniversary. This was 50 years ago, no microphones or sound systems in churches. Mum taught me the words, a verse each evening, and then I had to stand on the toilet seat in the bathroom whilst she stood downstairs in the opposite corner of the house, listening. I don’t remember how she did it, but by the time the day arrived, I was able to speak clearly and throw my voice such that I was able to hear throughout the very full church. Without shouting. I can still remember part of the poem, and am a confident public speaker. She did a good job.
We had reading competitions when I was in Sunday School. I was never very good at them. Fear, probably. But I quite enjoy speaking in front of people now.