Max Effort
There are movies which simply could never be the same without narrators. A Christmas Story, narrated by author Jean Shepherd, and To Kill A Mockingbird , narrated by Kim Stanley who played the adult version of Jean Louise 'Scout' Finch, fall into this category for me. Both these narrations provide a wealth of background information and help the story flow. My favorite television narration came on The Wonder Years as Daniel Stern was the voice of the grown up Kevin Arnold, the main character in a show about growing up in the late 1960's- early 1970's. I loved the Ken Burns' documentary series, Baseball, partly due to John Chancellor's terrific narration which left me on the edge of my imaginary bleacher seat in Ebbets Field or the Polo Grounds or Yankee Stadium. The right voice is everything and the wrong voice can spoil a great show.
With the quarantine, I've had more time to read the Bible. I've found myself wanting a different outlook so I've also spent hours listening to the Bible. I do my reading on biblegateway.com. the same site my students use to read for their daily quizzes. According to their Facebook page, Bible Gateway is the most visited Christian website. Read, search, study, compare, & share the Bible in 200+ versions & 70+ languages. One reason I like it so much is that our international students can read the material to be covered in both English and in their native tongue. One great perk of Bible Gateway is that in at least three English translations, you can listen to the Word being read aloud. It may be more than that but I haven't looked further. The reason I mention those three is that they all have the same narrator, Max McLean, pictured above. McLean, founder and artistic director of Fellowship for Performing Arts, a New York City-based producer of live theater from a Christian worldview (from Wikipedia), also stars as C.S. Lewis onstage in a number of plays based
on Lewis' books. I've come to love listening to McLean's voice reading the Scripture. It's a trained voice and he uses emotion. I can imagine Jesus or Paul or David or Solomon saying it just the way Max does... if only they had spoken English. I'm afraid I've read the Word so much and heard particular passages so often that I may unconsciously skip over words and verses when I read- I don't think that is nearly as much an issue when I listen and specifically when I listen to Max.
Let me go back to something I said a few sentence ago. Often, when scriptures are read in public worship, the voices of the readers are flat and may be devoid of real feeling. I completely understand- we don't want to inject ourselves into the account. I'm not sure I don't read in an identical manner. I forget that when Jesus or Peter or Abraham or Gideon are quoted, there was passion and intent and maybe even doubt or anger behind the words which came from their lips or in some cases, their pens/quills. I need the reminder that even when Spirit-breathed, the spoken words came with sounds. That's what Max provides for me. Sometimes, my ears are better than my eyes. I can hear with my eyes closed.
Applicable quote of the day:
It is vital that there is a narrator figure whom people believe. That's why I never do commercials. If I started saying margarine was the same as motherhood, people would think I was a liar.
David Attenborough
To hear Max McLean narrate one of my favorite chapters, click or copy/paste the link below:
https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/Luke.18
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
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