Has anyone fumbled while Lecturing at church?

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blessedtrinity said:
Hello,

While attending daily mass today I was asked to be a reader. I did not expect to read but gladly offered to assist at mass. I was a little nervous when I got to Lectern but for the most part I read well. By the end of reading I fumbled a word,it threw me off and I went back to the beginning of sentence, arghh. I got through it but felt awful when I returned to my pew.
Indeed, it was a humbling experience which I hope never to encounter if ever I have to read again. I was wondering if any of my fellow Catholic brothers and sisters have ever gone through this and if so, how did you get past the feeling a failure?

Sincerely
blessedtrinity
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I have learned over the years to not “read” the word, but to proclaim it (with my heart.). If I’m scheduled ahead for a Sunday Mass, I try to meditate on the reading throughout the week. As I do the reading, sometimes parts of the meditation will come to my mind and I ask the Lord to allow His words to penetrate the hearts of the congregation.

I always briefly look at the daily readings during the week, so as not to be caught “unawares” just in case I’m asked. You are not a failure, and who knows…maybe lectoring will be a new ministry in your future. (That’s what happened to me as I had not one itty, bitty desire to read.)
 
Tigg said:
I have learned over the years to not “read” the word, but to proclaim it (with my heart.). If I’m scheduled ahead for a Sunday Mass, I try to meditate on the reading throughout the week. As I do the reading, sometimes parts of the meditation will come to my mind and I ask the Lord to allow His words to penetrate the hearts of the congregation.

I always briefly look at the daily readings during the week, so as not to be caught “unawares” just in case I’m asked. You are not a failure, and who knows…maybe lectoring will be a new ministry in your future. (That’s what happened to me as I had not one itty, bitty desire to read.)
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Yes, good to have a plan.
Our parish purchases a Lector’s workbook fro each Lector. We are expected to practice aloud during the week at home, and the pronunciations are phonetically listed in the margins, along with notes as to the meaning of the texts, along with suggestions for emphasis within the reading. Works very well for us.
Peace.
 
My favorite was when a good friend of mine announced “A reading from the first letter of St.Paul to the FILIPINOS.” There was a snicker here and there in the congregation and I nudged my wife. I don’t think my friend ever realized he had messed up, which was a blessing.
 
this week, we had a “reading from the Book of Elijah” at morning Mass…:rolleyes:

Mispronunciations are way better than those who read the entire passage without a breath. 😃
 
blessedtrinity said:
Hello,

While attending daily mass today I was asked to be a reader. I did not expect to read but gladly offered to assist at mass. I was a little nervous when I got to Lectern but for the most part I read well. By the end of reading I fumbled a word,it threw me off and I went back to the beginning of sentence, arghh. I got through it but felt awful when I returned to my pew.
Indeed, it was a humbling experience which I hope never to encounter if ever I have to read again. I was wondering if any of my fellow Catholic brothers and sisters have ever gone through this and if so, how did you get past the feeling a failure?

Sincerely
blessedtrinity
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yes, every lector has stumbled over a word or phrase. I wouldn’t worry about it
 
Rich_C said:
I’ve never been a lector and never will be, but once in college I helped father distribute ashes on Ash Wednesay at his request.

When the first person came up, I got my line backwards and said, “Turn away from the Gospel and embrace sin!”
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Okay, my worst blunder came back from my preaching days on a sermon from Romans, I tried to refer to the “uncircumcised Gentiles”, but slipped and used the word genitals. I kept going despite an old man in the front that almost bust a gut holding it in and turning the reddest red I have ever been.
 
pnewton said:
Okay, my worst blunder came back from my preaching days on a sermon from Romans, I tried to refer to the “uncircumcised Gentiles”, but slipped and used the word genitals. I kept going despite an old man in the front that almost bust a gut holding it in and turning the reddest red I have ever been.
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Classic. Bravo! that’s got to beat them all.
:rotfl::yeah_me:
 
Sunbreak said:
Ha, don’t worry about it. I was asked to read for a Mass in Polish shortly before the Mass started. At the time I was trying to learn the language but didn’t have a very good sense of it. So I am sure my pronunciation wasn’t perfect. Fortunately it was a weekday Mass, although there was a good amount of people there since in was Lent. Plus most of the people were aware I wasn’tt one of “them” meaning I wasn’t born in Poland.
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Good for you. I would have to practice a little for that. At the Spanish Mass I attend the deacon, obviously not a fluent Spanish speaker, struggles week after week with the gospel. Yet no one leaves.
 
To all my dear friends,

Thanks a million and I thank God for all your awesome, funny, gut-busting responses!
I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time as I read all your responses to my question about fumbling a word while lecturing. Some of you poor souls had it a lot worse than I did. I’m not pointing fingers but, some of you really had unfortunate tongue twister moments.

I have since gotten over that little moment in my life and have moved on. As a matter of fact, I read the next day and BULLSEYE! I read well and only mispronounced one word without stumbling over it. I read it how I saw it. It was the word Seyene and I pronounced it See-yeen. Its pronounced, Sa-nee. Go figure, and I didn’t sweat it because there was no readers at church that morning and I volunteered five minutes before mass.

A dear friend of mine is a monsignor and he told me, “we are made strong through our weakness.” This is a passage from 2 Corinthians 12:9 and to show you how God works in my life, I was reading various articles the next day and that scripture passage was in each one that I read.

God was reminding me to “chill out” and stop sweating the smalls things in life and move on…

Thanks once again to all of you for sharing your “human experiences” with me. Together along with the Immaculate Heart of Our Mother Mary, "WE SHALL TRIUMPH’’

May the Sacred Heart of Christ comfort all of us…
Blessedtrinity
 
Making a mistake while reading is no big deal. It happens all the time.
 
I personally prefer the USCCB website where you can actually hear an audio of each day’s readings. (On left hand side of page, near the top.) That really helps in pronunciation of obscure biblical towns and names.

usccb.org/bible/readings/032014.cfm
 
I really like many of these suggestions for regular Lectors.

However, I feel it should be pointed out that the OP did not have any time to prepare beforehand, as the church did not have a scheduled lector for that Mass, and asked the OP to step in and do it last-minute.

So, in my eyes, you get bonus points for having the courage to step up when asked! 👍
 
pnewton said:
Okay, my worst blunder came back from my preaching days on a sermon from Romans, I tried to refer to the “uncircumcised Gentiles”, but slipped and used the word genitals. I kept going despite an old man in the front that almost bust a gut holding it in and turning the reddest red I have ever been.
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:rotfl: Please stop. Now my sides are aching
 
Ridgerunner said:
My favorite was when a good friend of mine announced “A reading from the first letter of St.Paul to the FILIPINOS.” There was a snicker here and there in the congregation and I nudged my wife. I don’t think my friend ever realized he had messed up, which was a blessing.
Click to expand...
pnewton said:
Okay, my worst blunder came back from my preaching days on a sermon from Romans, I tried to refer to the “uncircumcised Gentiles”, but slipped and used the word genitals. I kept going despite an old man in the front that almost bust a gut holding it in and turning the reddest red I have ever been.
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:rotfl: I hope someone will collect these. The first above brought tears to my eyes and the second has my sides aching. I’m still laughing as I try to type five minutes later.

I can’t top these two but will share this. In my parish during Lent it is the custom that instead of singing an entrance hymn the congregation simply chants Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison until the priest reaches the sanctuary. Before Mass then the lector announces “our opening hymn is not in our hymnals. Instead we will sing Kyrie etc.” The Sunday before last the lector announced “instead we will sing 'kree ehlishun, krist ehlishun, kree ehlishun.” Fortunately the congregation did not follow his instructions literally.
 
Oh boy, here I go again…

I truly believe God is using my recent “blunders” to humble me and to “rely” on him, period!
Last weekend our parish had a mens retreat and I volunteered to read at mass because the usual readers were not around, not a problem. Well, I only had a couple of minutes to see what the day reading was. As I was going over reading at Lectern the Sacristy Bells rang out, doe!

I quickly tried to exit Lectern but I ran into the side of it, ouch! Does one know how heavy a Lectern is? Its like running into a refrigerator and you can hear the “kaboom” throughout church as my hip collided into it. Oh, I know my parish brothers got a chuckle out of that one but I didn’t care at the moment. All I knew was I had to get off Altar area and into my pew as Father processed out.

And there is todays magical blunder. I went to daily mass this morning and asked to read. Todays reading from the book of Numbers was “Ginormous.” I managed to read even though I was a little nervous and when it came to the end of this particular reading I didn’t see the Responsorial Psalm.

I slowly began to exit my Lectern and heard a soft whispering voice which said, “Read the Responsorial Psalm.” I turned my head as Father was lovingly guiding me through my confusion. I looked at him as to say, “Where is it?” He gently whispered from across the Sanctuary, “Next page.”

Oh, Mama, Mia and talk about a moment I will never forget! Indeed my Spiritual Journal is beginning to fill up with some funny DOE moments I can reflect on in my later years.

Lord, give the courage to do your will no matter the cost. We think that the Saints had it easy but all of them faced these same difficulties we do, if not worse, in their own lives…

Blessings
Blessedtrinity
 
I’ve made a few ‘blunders’ in the past. Some more memorable than others. Once, our sound system wasn’t cooperating. I am blessed with a voice that carries and I took vocal training for the stage many years ago, so I decided I would use my best projection. I was concentrating on the words and didn’t notice that the red light came back on… talk about proclaiming! I think the folks closest to the speakers got a haircut!

The one word that always trips people up is “Siloam”. What’s funny is hearing the word pronounced 3 different ways in the same Mass. I read “Sy loam” in the Epistle, Deacon Read “Sy lo am” in the Gospel and Father said “Se lo am” in his homily. I learned that it’s best to get the consensus prior to Mass. Even if it’s wrong - everyone’s all on the same page.

The woman who does the assigning always likes to give me the tongue-twisters or the words that make your eyes cross! Book of Kings is good for that!
 
I recently was commissioned to be a Lay Leader of Prayer, and last Friday had to lead the Stations of the Cross. This was my first time and it couldn’t have been worse. There was no electricity in the Church. And I had no mike. It was ok for the first few stations, because there was enough daylight, but I had to speak very loudly to be heard, and that is a lot of reading. Then it got dark and the sacristan produced a teeny flashlight and I had to proceed through the rest trying to read by that tiny light and shout the words. The music director was trying to lead the singing and play the piano, but then could not read the words or music. By the end of them I was exhausted and trying to keep from laughing.

Afterwards a couple of people came up and said they actually liked having them in the dark!
Which is fine, if you don’t have to lead them.

Also, I had to lead the Divine Mercy Novena for my first time before the Stations (we do it weekly for 9 weeks) and miscounted on one of the decades and started to say an 11th “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion”, which of course threw them off a little bit.

I think now that I can read anywhere. The worst has to be over.
 
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