Ours is a share in the work of the Spirit who opens our hearts to God's holy word. Ours is the task of telling our family story, the story of salvation. Ours is to proclaim the true and saving work of God.
We are messengers of God's love for us. Our task is to proclaim that word, which challenges, confronts and captures our hearts. We proclaim a word that heals and consoles. Ours is to offer the story of the "great things the Lord has done for us," that we might turn to the table of the Eucharist with good cause to give thanks and praise.
Let us prepare the word which is ours to speak: study the scriptures, understand the passage, let it dwell deep within us. Let us come to our work in awesome reverence of the word we proclaim: it is the Word of the Lord. Let us handle the book of the Lord's word with great care: it is a tabernacle of the Lord's presence
Anyone can read the scriptures in public, only the believer can proclaim them. Approach the table of the Lord's word as you would the Lord himself: with reverence and awe.
Let our eyes fall often on the faces of the assembly: they are the body of the Lord whose word we proclaim. Let the Lord's peace settle in our hearts, that our voices may be clear and steady. Let our voices echo the sound of the word, with conviction, with gentleness, with strength and with wonder. Let us remember that the story we tell is filled with a drama we need not supply, but must always convey in our presentation.
Like the prophets, we will sometimes proclaim what no one wants to hear: remember always our own need to hear the hard saying and never imagine that our ministry places us above what we proclaim. Let no minister of the word think that there is nothing left to learn: always strive to understand the scripture, practice cannot help but open the mind and heart.
When your brothers and sisters praise and thank you for your work, take delight in the word they have heard and rejoice in the work the Lord has accomplished through you. Be faithful in the work you do, for through it the Lord saves his people.