Three vital ways using our voices shapes our faith
As an introvert, whose nervous system goes into hyperarousal with too much stimuli from sound and light, I often opt for quiet, introspective, individual faith-building practices like reading or prayer. (This is also why welcoming my kids home for visits means I have to gird myself for the steady stream of music! But having them home is worth every loud minute.) I’ve been thinking a lot about voices of late as part of my work as a public speaking coach/consultant. As I’ve reflected, I’ve come to better appreciate how significant our voices are to growing in faith.
Three ways voices play an important role faith-development:
1 Reading the Word aloud—even individually—slows us down and quiets the things competing for our attention. My favorite way to reduce distraction during personal study will always be writing it out. But if that’s not your jam, I recommend you try reading aloud to yourself whatever passage you’re studying. We all read faster than we speak and are prone to gloss over parts of sentences (especially if it’s a familiar passage) without even meaning to. Having to match your voice to your vision will keep you immersed in the passage more effectively.
2 Our voices make partaking of the Word a shared meal. This is why many (how I wish it were all!) churches read the day’s passage aloud. It’s also my favorite part of our small group meetings. Hearing my friends speak God’s Word aloud lets me know them better (because of the way they understand and therefore emphasize parts of it) and it also causes me to re-examine how I understand the passage because of the different emphasis. Long before the average person had the ability to read, and long before the printing press made the Bible readily available to all, God’s people relied on hearing His Word spoken aloud in worship. The Hebrew culture—in contrast to the modern American culture—was collectivistic in nature. Without even realizing it, we read the Bible as though it’s written to/about individuals where more times than not it refers to groups of people. (The language often used is a plural “you”. For more on this read Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes and take another look at verses like Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 8:28.) By reading the Word aloud to one another, we’re figuratively gathering around a table to partake of nourishment God always intended to be shared.
3 We carry the “paralytic” to Jesus with our voices. Decades later, I still grapple with singing in church after my scarring 7th grade choir experience. But my friend, musician and He is… therefore I am co-author, Julie, helped me see how gathering with others in worship allows us to be lifted out of seasons of pain and hardship by hearing the voices of others raised in song. In a way, their voices become the mat on which we’re carried to Jesus (Mark 2:1-5); sometimes our voice carries someone else. The same is true of corporate prayer: hearing the voices of those praying for us individually or for a larger part of the Body equips and encourages us in ways silent prayer cannot. God surely hears and treasures our unspoken prayers—this isn’t about Him; it’s about us and how spoken prayers are a ministry to the recipient.
No surprise here: God seems to have known how being audible is helpful to our faith development, too. He called to Moses from within the burning bush. He whispered to Elijah. He sent angels to proclaim Jesus’ birth in a way that the shepherds’ human ears could hear. And at Jesus’ baptism, an audible “voice from heaven” identified Jesus as being His son.
We won’t all have an audible encounter with God, but His voice is recorded for us in the Bible to build our faith. And He’s endowed (most of) us with a voice we can use to praise Him and tell others about Him.