Church preparation confession

At the church I previously attended, reading the bible in church was something to be taken seriously, as well it should be. I did a purpose-designed training course with Kel Richards on how to prepare and then execute it well. So, last week when I received the email telling me that I was on bible reading on Sunday morning I took note and planned on giving it some attention - or I thought I did.

I emailed back to check that I was to read the NIV (because I never usually read the NIV - a few of the significant differences in interpretation I found between it and the ESV, the deal breaker being James 5:15, convinced me to switch to the ESV years ago) and then I thought I filed that piece of information away somewhere as being of some importance. But obviously I didn't. Because then I completely and absolutely forgot!!! My church has also temporarily shifted buildings since last time I went, and I missed a lot of the moving business being in Tasmania last weekend, so I was distracted by that when I turned up on Sunday morning, so much so that when I was asked at the door on my way in if I needed a bible I responded negatively because I had my trusty little ESV in my bag, and still no bells went off.

Then I sat down and chatted to a girl I'd never seen before, all the while being snuggled and kissed by my favourite five-year-old friend, and didn't even glance at the service sheet as I otherwise might have done. So, I am sitting near the back of church, having turned up dressed in the same thing I wore the night before, not having done anything at all with my hair, and the service leader says that coming up Ali is going to read the bible. I had a small moment of absolute panic when I realised that I had totally forgotten, and didn't even have the right version of the bible on me. For some ridiculous reason I turned around and asked the girl behind me if she had one, before I dashed out the back to the church bible supply, grabbed a bible then made my way to the front. I then had to just wing it because I hadn't even read the passage through once.

Thankfully it was 2 Corinthians, so it wasn't full of those OT names loaded with As and Is.

I thought I managed reasonably, with at least some of the right inflections, but then I don't suppose people notice their own mistakes while they are reading out loud anyway. However, after church I was still totally gob-smacked that I had completely forgotten (I just don't usually forget such things, most especially things that involve me standing up in front of a crowd of people!) and wondered how much of a fool I had made of myself up the back of church as I scrambled around looking for a bible. So, I mentioned it to one girl and she says "oh you did well, except you read a different version". What?! Turns out that not ALL the bibles in the church bible stash are actually NIVs, and that the one that I picked up obviously wasn't. I still have no idea what version I actually read

So it was all bad form. Next time, no longer confident of my capacity to remember anything, I will put a reminder in my phone, and on my computer and stick it to the milk bottle and write it in lipstick on the bathroom mirror etc.