It was our carols by candlelight service, one of the largest gatherings of the year, the reader approached the lectern opened the Bible at Matthew 1, and confidently proclaimed:
“This, is the gynaecology of Jesus the Messiah…”
As dyslexic working overseas in a country where most people are bi-lingual (as a minimum) we’ve had some funny moments in the Christmas services with the readings which contain a lot of words that don’t tend to come up in conversation the rest of the year.
Below is a list of the pronunciations of these words which has proved helpful in preping our readers for Christmas services.
Quirinius Kw - rin - ee - us.
Jesse Jes-ee
Caesar See-Zer
Augustus Aw-guhs-tuhs
Census Sen-sus
Syria See-re-uh
Nazareth Naz-er-uhth
Galilee Gal-ee-lee
Judah Joo-duh
Manger Meyn-jer
(NB. Not the french pronunciation manger (to eat)…)
Messiah Mi-sahy-uh
Herod Hair-rod
Magi Mey-ji
(NB not Maggi (as in Maggi Mee)
Frankincense Fran-kin-sense
(It is not a monster brought to life by a mad doctor.)
Myrrh Mur
Gabriel Gay-bree-el
Genealogy Jee-nee-ol-uh-jee
(Quite different from ‘gynaecology’ though that is part of the Christmas story…)
All the names in Matthew 1…
Tbh just read it confidently and keep going…