Lord keep us steadfast in your word, raise up in us a passion for your Word revealed in scripture, teach us your vision and will for our lives and by your Spirit help us to walk in your ways and to be faithful to our promises to you, our neighbor and our community. Amen.
The issue of Bible literacy or illiteracy is a significant issue today. The vast majority of people own a Bible, about 80% of Americans report having a Bible in their homes, but many, many people are ignorant of just what is in the Bible and how the Bible came to be the book that we have today. Many people can quote Bible fragments and yet in doing so they significantly alter the historical meanings of those passages by taking them out of context. Many idioms and sayings exist, such as, “God helps those who help themselves,” people attributing them to the Bible yet they are not scriptural in origin but are quoted with a vigor and belief that they are the very word of God.
Christianity.com recently noted, “Fewer than half of all adults can name the four gospels. Many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the disciples. According to data from the Barna Research Group, 60 percent of Americans can't name even five of the Ten Commandments. "No wonder people break the Ten Commandments all the time. They don't know what they are," said George Barna, president of the firm. The bottom line? "Increasingly, America is biblically illiterate."
As Americans one of the great freedoms and great responsibilities we have is our freedom of religion. This means that for us as individuals we are responsible for exercizing our own faith. Our faith is not given privilege over against the faith of our neighbor. Neither Roman Catholic, Neo-Evangelical, Presbyterian, Jew, Muslim, Krishna, or Lutheran is given advantage over each other in our confession of faith or teaching of its precepts and literacy in its scriptures.
Ultimately, the responsibility for addressing this problem lies in the hands of parents and congregations. Together we are the ones who have made promises at baptism for the care and instruction of the baptized. Our public schools have not made these promises. Their responsibility is to educate our children in the broader studies of our world; math, science, language, history, etc. You and I are responsible for teaching the Bible and how to follow Jesus. This is our work. We made the promise.
This means that as Christians and, in particular, Lutheran kids and adults we are responsible for being intimately aware of the Bible, its content, and how it works as witness to God’s work in and among God’s people. That means we need to make a commitment to studying and learning the Bible. We cannot teach the Bible to our families unless we as parents and grandparents are committed to learning about the Bible ourselves.
As a pastor I take seriously the responsibility to continue studying God's Word. It is a necessity in order to preach and to teach. What a pastor cannot do, however, is to force people to make a decision to attend Bible studies or Sunday School. We can only offer opportunities and encouragement.
I challenge all of you, grandparents, parents, and kids to get your noses in the Bible. Read it every day. Start with Mark’s Gospel and read ten verses together every day. Make it part of your saying grace at your evening meal. Don’t worry about if the break doesn’t make sense tomorrow you will continue to read. Talk together about what you read. Do it at dinner or before bed, it doesn’t matter when but do it consistently. Do it faithfully.
Get involved in a Sunday school class in your home congregation or your local community. In confirmation class at Messiah this year, we focus on learning about the Bible. We will study how different parts and passages of the Bible functioned for their original audiences and we will talk about how it speaks to us today. We are learning the difference between history and story, facts and truth. Parents and members are always welcomed to sit in on a class. We all need to learn God’s Word, even pastors need to keep studying and growing in our understanding of the Bible.
We are all sinners and can do better in our personal spiritual disciplines but we are, also, all saints raised by God from the waters of baptism to a new life in Christ including studying the living Word. God bless you as you immerse yourself in the Bible and fulfill our baptismal promises.
The issue of Bible literacy or illiteracy is a significant issue today. The vast majority of people own a Bible, about 80% of Americans report having a Bible in their homes, but many, many people are ignorant of just what is in the Bible and how the Bible came to be the book that we have today. Many people can quote Bible fragments and yet in doing so they significantly alter the historical meanings of those passages by taking them out of context. Many idioms and sayings exist, such as, “God helps those who help themselves,” people attributing them to the Bible yet they are not scriptural in origin but are quoted with a vigor and belief that they are the very word of God.
Christianity.com recently noted, “Fewer than half of all adults can name the four gospels. Many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the disciples. According to data from the Barna Research Group, 60 percent of Americans can't name even five of the Ten Commandments. "No wonder people break the Ten Commandments all the time. They don't know what they are," said George Barna, president of the firm. The bottom line? "Increasingly, America is biblically illiterate."
As Americans one of the great freedoms and great responsibilities we have is our freedom of religion. This means that for us as individuals we are responsible for exercizing our own faith. Our faith is not given privilege over against the faith of our neighbor. Neither Roman Catholic, Neo-Evangelical, Presbyterian, Jew, Muslim, Krishna, or Lutheran is given advantage over each other in our confession of faith or teaching of its precepts and literacy in its scriptures.
Ultimately, the responsibility for addressing this problem lies in the hands of parents and congregations. Together we are the ones who have made promises at baptism for the care and instruction of the baptized. Our public schools have not made these promises. Their responsibility is to educate our children in the broader studies of our world; math, science, language, history, etc. You and I are responsible for teaching the Bible and how to follow Jesus. This is our work. We made the promise.
This means that as Christians and, in particular, Lutheran kids and adults we are responsible for being intimately aware of the Bible, its content, and how it works as witness to God’s work in and among God’s people. That means we need to make a commitment to studying and learning the Bible. We cannot teach the Bible to our families unless we as parents and grandparents are committed to learning about the Bible ourselves.
As a pastor I take seriously the responsibility to continue studying God's Word. It is a necessity in order to preach and to teach. What a pastor cannot do, however, is to force people to make a decision to attend Bible studies or Sunday School. We can only offer opportunities and encouragement.
I challenge all of you, grandparents, parents, and kids to get your noses in the Bible. Read it every day. Start with Mark’s Gospel and read ten verses together every day. Make it part of your saying grace at your evening meal. Don’t worry about if the break doesn’t make sense tomorrow you will continue to read. Talk together about what you read. Do it at dinner or before bed, it doesn’t matter when but do it consistently. Do it faithfully.
Get involved in a Sunday school class in your home congregation or your local community. In confirmation class at Messiah this year, we focus on learning about the Bible. We will study how different parts and passages of the Bible functioned for their original audiences and we will talk about how it speaks to us today. We are learning the difference between history and story, facts and truth. Parents and members are always welcomed to sit in on a class. We all need to learn God’s Word, even pastors need to keep studying and growing in our understanding of the Bible.
We are all sinners and can do better in our personal spiritual disciplines but we are, also, all saints raised by God from the waters of baptism to a new life in Christ including studying the living Word. God bless you as you immerse yourself in the Bible and fulfill our baptismal promises.
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