The Underestimated Power of the Public Reading of Scripture

Yesterday, one of our elders, Seth, preached about why we follow a Scripture reading plan in our church services. 
 
We are not Anglican, but Seth, who had the task of finding us a “program” of readings, chose the Book of Common Prayer, which follows a well-crafted balanced diet that aims to hit most of the Bible in three years.
 
According this plan we always read four passages: 
 
Old Testament 
 
Psalms
 
New Testament
 
Gospels
 
In our case, we will then preach expositorily from one of them. That is, we will teach through the passage verse by verse. 
 
Seth gave a powerful explanation using a passage from the Nehemiah. This one: 
 
1 And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. 
 
2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 
 
3 And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. 
 
4 And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. 
 
5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. 
 
6 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. 
 
7 Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites,helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. 
 
8 They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. (Neh 8:1-8 ESV Emphasis added) 
 
Seth made the point that this is when the Jews began to compile books for their Bible and the direct reason why we have the Bible today. 
 
The Bible was meant to be read publicly, but most churches do it very little. 
 
Why do you think that is? My guess is that church services are designed more and more to be attractional, and reading Scriptures for 5-10 minutes is boring. 
 
But if we saw it for what it was, God speaking to us, we could be like the Israelites when Ezra read to them, “lifting up their hands…bow[ing] their heads and worship[ing].” 
 
It was inspiring to think about this, and it made me excited to not only keep doing it at church, but at home as well. In our family, we have had starts and stops now that all our kids are teenagers or grown. Time for another start.