Just read it from the book!
Posted on January 20th, 2009
Chief Justice Roberts, for whom I have the greatest admiration, botched the oath at the inauguration today. This is why I read the Lord’s Prayer from the book when I’m praying it in public, and why I always read the Verba at Divine Service, despite the fact that I’ve said the words many hundreds of times now. I know that, when put on the spot, I have the capacity to forget anything, including my own name. Thus my liturgical rule #1: Always, always, always read the words from the book.
Categories: Liturgy
Tagged: John Roberts, Obama, Politics
Pastor, forgive me if I seem critical of your post. I do not intend to be so. My comments that follow are intended to present an additional consideration.
A primary reason to read from the Book is to make the audience aware by visual aid that you are invoking a higher power and they should pay close attention! As you probably agree, if you were to read your sermons, you wouldn’t be as natural, persuasive, or passionate as you would otherwise be by casting the script aside.
Unfortunately, from my perspective, Roberts was more concerned with his performance than the gravity of the ceremony. After all, how often does he administer the oath? This is probably his first time. And so, it troubles me that Roberts did not insure (for Obama and the nation) that the words he was speaking were a solemn pronouncement from a source other than himself. Roberts should have been looking down constantly to draw attention to the words. Had he done so, the focus would have been on Obama’s attention (or lack thereof) to the oath.
I find I tend to forget most frequently the things I REALLY know the best.
Good advice.
One of my Liturgical Fears: TLH p. 15, in which the pastor recites the Lord’s Prayer by himself up to the doxology. What a prime opportunity to botch something even the three-year-old’s know by heart. And, yes, I have botched it once. Use the book.
Juan – that’s my fear too!
Brutus – Excellent point. I have often made it myself, but hadn’t thought of it in this context.
“…I have the capacity to forget anything, including my own name.”
Has this ever happened to you before? There was one time where I happened to introduce myself with the wrong name. I should have been wearing a name tag.
Yeah while I obviously understand the fear, there are few things in my mind more cheesy looking than for the celebrant to be holding the book through things like the salutation or the benediction. The solution isn’t hold the book. The solution, imo, is to be mindful, conscious and deliberate in preparation for the ds every time.
Todd, this is quite true, but you better have the book handy if your memory fails, and the humility and good humor to be able to stop yourself and correct your error.
Todd-
I don’t hold the book for the salutation or the benediction – or, for that matter, the preface. But I always panic a bit during the preface, especially with the changing melodies of the different settings. I’ve taken to keeping the words of the benediction the same irrespective of the setting – it’s simply too much to switch back and forth like that. Whoever thought that was a good idea should be condemned to a bar serving only stale beer and playing Hannah Montana songs for all eternity. (Of course, the people who lobbied for these foolish things might actually like that.)
And so what did I do today? I botched the benediction. Chanted from LSB DS3. I mean I completely botched it. I had botched it badly about 6 months ago and now I have created this mental block. No amount of preparation for today seemed to overcome it. I practiced it 3 times after I practiced the Proper Preface this morning.
I had to resort to actually holding the book. And I agree with Todd, it’s cheesy, but not as cheesy as giving people a botched benediction and acting like nothing happened.
-Andy Smith