Corporate readings help us increase active participation in the corporate gathering. Just like every aspect of our gathering - and all of life - corporate readings are formative. But too few churches devote time to the corporate reading of Scripture, corporate confession, corporate prayer, and reciting the creeds as we gather the people of God.

For those of us planning services, we are responsible for giving our people language for who God is, what He has done, and how He has called us to live. Corporate readings are one of the most neglected resources at our disposal.

Corporate readings unite us in one voice. In the same way, a pledge, or vows unite us to one another in their shared language and shared direction - when we read aloud together we embody our collective unity as the people of God. But to an even greater degree, when we read Scripture together, and when we recite the creeds, or we use the ancient prayers we join the people of God from all places and time through history.

If corporate reading is something you would consider in your gathering, start with Scripture: read it aloud together, read it responsively, read it slowly, read it repeatedly. My wife first suggested to me that when leading a corporate reading, I begin not by inviting the congregation to read along but by listening silently while I first read the words. That way when I repeat the reading, inviting them to read aloud with me, they have already heard the words and felt the pacing. This small adjustment allows people to not exert all of their mental energy while keeping up with their reading and trying to process simultaneously. They can settle into the words as we pray, read, and confess together.