Marsha and I are leaving Monday morning for a week’s vacation. It will actually be the first time we have taken off together since we have been here. Because of my extended time off with my surgery last year I really didn’t feel I could take vacation time off. Then, Aaron insisted (Pastor Larry, you will take a week off.) and I scheduled a week in September. But Marsha had an event with the ladies and one thing led to another and we got away for two days to Michigan. But now, we are going to be visiting family in Ohio for a week. Other than two over night trips to Ohio for funerals, I have not been back in the time we have been here. I am looking forward to it.

          Getting together with non-family members is going to happen, too, but with three other pastors. And the funeral home folks. Our daughter-in-law called the other night to talk to Marsha. Somehow, my former co-workers at the funeral home found out we were going to be in town. (The only way they would know is the daughter-in-law telling them since she works there.) They want us all to get together. I really care for these people and we all have really good relationships. But, it is a family trip. On the other hand, it will be a free meal. The getting together with the pastors will be in three different situations, all of which involve eating. (Ever wonder what pastors do when they get together? They eat.) I talked to one pastor this week, a man who has been my friend for 23 years. I went to Ohio last December for an overnight to be with him at his son’s funeral. When we talked on the phone he told me he really needed to talk about some things. I have a feeling what it is about, because we have talked about it many times. Chuck is a retired United Methodist Church pastor, but he is still fairly active. With everything going on in the UMC, and given how distressed he has become over it all, I think Chuck is going to cut his ties with his denomination. It is distressing to see someone agonizing over losing something like that, but it is encouraging to know he is choosing Scripture over tradition. My old friend is struggling with the issue and it is causing him pain.

          The UMC is not the only denomination that is following a different path than Scripture. Acutely aware of society, almost every denomination in America today is trying to walk a line between God’s Word and society trends. The problem when you straddle the fence is that you are accomplishing nothing. We have talked about this whole thing in this blog before, so we are not going to get into it now. Suffice it to say, every denomination in the country is getting smaller at a time when the population is growing at an unprecedented rate. The UMC, as an example, has gone from 11,000,000 people in the USA in 1968 to 7,000,000 million now while the national population has grown from 201,000,000 in 1968 to 327,000,000 in 2017. Religion is in trouble.

          BUT! WAIT! There is good news! Religion is not the same as Christianity. I know I have been quoting polls lately by Christian polling companies that keep their fingers on the pulse of Christianity in America, and this will be the last time for a while, but while church attendance is going down, Bible reading is actually going up. You would think that one would reflect the other, but the fact is, many church goers never crack the Book while many readers never darken the doors of a church.

          Here is what I have found out this week. 48% of Americans read their Bibles. Meanwhile, less than 20% attend church. Granted, the first poll question asked if you read daily, the next if you read weekly, the next monthly and then the last quarterly. But the question for church attendance is the same, which still puts Bible reading way above church attendance. In fact, those adults who read at least several times a week are at 35 %. And this does not include reading in church.

51% of all Baby Boomers (age 53 -71) read the Bible on a regular basis, while the generation above that, the Elders, only have 48% who read the Bible. I have been told all my adult life that Boomers are taking the country to ‘hell in a handbasket’, whatever that means, but it seems as my generation gets older they are turning back to the Word. In fact, all the age groups among adults (Millennials, Gen Xers, Boomers and Elders) are all reading the Bible to some degree at close to 50%. It is a trend we don’t see in the news media, but it seems that, in the privacy of their own time, Americans are dusting off the Word.

 Another interesting thing is that well over half of all these people who are reading the Word are reading it electronically. Computers, laptops, tablets, Kindles, cell phones or whatever. Many reasons for that, but the biggest is convenience. I do this mostly because I can adjust the font to be able to read better. But there is no denying that convenience is a key. Also, in many electronic applications, one can cross reference and search with lightning speed not to mention the fact that, in many cases,  you can set your electronic device to read to you.

 66% of all Americans wonder often what the Bible says about certain events, which indicates a certain confidence in the authority of the Scripture. What is really interesting here is that among the most curious are adults with minor aged children at home. They are worried about their children and want some reassurances. Further, 53% of adult American wonder how the Bible can affect their lives. This would indicate to me that maybe, just maybe, people are realizing that they need a guidebook to get through life.

 57% of adult readers say that reading the Scripture makes them more aware of their need for God in their lives. They may not understand, at least at first, how that happens and how it fits their lives, but they are on a journey, and a journey is made up of many steps. People are reading the Scripture and wanting more.

 To end the poll, 58% of all adult Americans say that the Bible has transformed their lives.

 Your first reaction is probably exactly like mine. WHAT??!!? That makes no sense whatsoever. How can people be reading the Bible more and sin is abounding more? If all these people are seeking, why aren’t they in church? If the Bible is changing attitudes, why don’t we see it? And, maybe the biggest question, how can they hope to understand this complex Book on their own?

 But then, we stop and consider. Maybe sin is abounding more because Satan sees the trend. Not all these seekers are born again Christians, but even born again Christians get into some bad situations filled with sin. Reading the Bible, being curious, seeking answers does not mean that sin no longer has dominion. Then the second question; where are these people in church? Evidently, they are seeing something different in the Scripture than they are seeing in church. They are reading about love, but in church they see gossip, backbiting, arguing, anger and disunion. If you are seeking medical help, do you go to a crack house? Church and their denominations are moving away from God. The third question asks why we don’t see the changing attitudes. I think it is because we are pretty much stuck on being around and fellowshipping with people like ourselves. Maybe the only window we have to the wider world we have out there is the window the news media gives us. Do we actively go out and seek people, or do we insulate ourselves? And then, lastly, we wonder; how can they understand the meanings in the Bible outside of organized study? It is a good question, and a valid one. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone has asked me, “What does this mean?” While knowledge of Biblical times and knowledge of the languages and all that is useful, the fact is that the Bible is not really hard to understand. We think it is because we have been told it is hard to understand, but it is not. On my laptop, I use a web-page that has 58 English translations of the Bible as well as a lot of reference material. It is all there at my fingertips, and much easier to use and even understand than any of my print Bibles. People are finding out that yes!, they can read and understand the Word of God!

People are moving away from denominations because the denominations are moving away from the God they are seeking. People are moving away from churches because churches are not reflecting the Lord. The Bible says we are to gather ourselves together. We study, we fellowship, we become a family. That is what draws people together.

In the end, the Word of God will be triumphant. I want to ride that bandwagon!