The Oratory: I have ‘performed on stage’ and given a speech as a liturgist.

Daily writing prompt

Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech?

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Oratory of the Liturgist

I do not know, occasional readers, if you will consider this “performing on stage or giving a speech”.

I often stand at the lectern in front of the congregation of my church. I read aloud to them the lessons appointed by the lectionary; the words of God for the people of God. I am not the pastor of my Church. This is the one opportunity I have to directly contribute to the spiritual formation of my fellow church-goers. I give my all to deliver a powerful and dynamic reading. I don’t want to come across dully, as one who is reading the instruction manual to an appliance.

In a past life, I was an area manager for a certain nationwide retail chain. An unfortunate amount of public speaking was also required for that role. The content of those “speeches” was somewhat less inspiring than Holy Scripture. In a way, the retail presentations were more performative because I didn’t believe the words I was saying. I was regurgitating corporate propaganda. My audience was a bunch of underpaid twenty-somethings. In reality, they didn’t much care what I was saying.

As far as performing on stage, I did my fair share of public school theater. Of course, that was when I was much, much younger than I am today. Nobody was going to nominate any of us, the awkward children that we were, for a Tony Award. Reflecting on it now I realize that as a child, nobody seems to suffer crippling stage fright. I didn’t worry about public perception until I was a teenager.