Yesterday afternoon I spent an hour with 16 high school students who are thinking about studying for the ministry. It was a pleasant hour, and affirmed my confidence that the Lord of the Church is raising up leaders for the future of His mission.
One of the challenges they will face – we’re facing it already – is biblical illiteracy. People today don’t know the Bible as well as previous generations did. That makes it more challenging for pastors to communicate. Think about it. Some young men have a religious bent; they take God’s Word seriously. Then they come to the Seminary and are immersed in the Bible and theology for four years. When they get out into the “real” world, they assume that parishioners understand biblical words and concepts. In the past, yes; today? No. “Barna Trends 2018” reports 20 percent of Americans “read, use, or listen to the Bible four times a week or more.” 38% use it less than four times per week. 23% use the Bible one time a month, or less. 22% are skeptical or hostile toward the Bible (136).
A timely article for Presidents’ Day was written by Rabbi Meir Soloveichik. The rabbi shows how Abraham Lincoln thought and spoke in biblical terms as he struggled with the horrors of the Civil War. He quotes Adam Gopnik. Lincoln “had mastered the sound of the King James Bible so completely that he could recast abstract issues of constitutional law in biblical terms.” Rabbi Soloveichik describes Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address as “More a sermon than a political speech, it is the most remarkable piece of oratory in American history. Lincoln called his country to repentance and described the Civil War as God’s punishment for American slavery, concluding with the Psalmist’s declaration that ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether” (Wall Street Journal, February 15-16; C3). Americans could understand that. Not today.
Today 72 percent of Americans believe America is headed in the wrong direction (Barna Trends 2018, 116). For the good of our country (which is the Second Great Commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself”), pastors and people will teach and learn God’s Word more than ever. May we start today and may our prospective pastors further the blessing for our country. “Each age its solemn task may claim but once; make each one nobler, stronger than the last” (Lutheran Service Book, 682, 1)
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