Penna Dexter
In a recent sermon, my pastor declared: “The most significant decision we make every week is whether we will go to church.”
Church attendance is declining as the culture secularizes. Our pastor, Paul Donison, told us that during the pandemic, 40 million Americans stopped going to church and the numbers have continued dropping.
Dr. Ryan Burge is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Eastern Illinois University. He researches religiosity and political behavior in the United States and publishes a substack called “Graphs about Religion.” His findings show religious practice diminishing in all major demographic groups over the last 15-20 years. He says, “every group is leaving religion, even among conservatives and Republicans, the group that is typically tied to religion.”
Polls reveal that about a quarter of Americans identify as evangelicals. But many evangelicals report they’re not attending church. Dr. Burge says, “non attenders are taking on the label.”
When asked about church attendance, self-identified Christians who don’t attend church offer explanations like: “I don’t need to go” or “I can worship on my own” or “I find God in nature.”
If you’re in that category, read Psalm 27.
King David faced adversity when surrounded, betrayed, or even exiled. The psalm says the  sanctuary is the thing he asks God for. That’s where he longs to be.
It’s in the sanctuary where he sees the splendor of God, where he’s given a new perspective on his circumstances. He seeks to “inquire in his temple” (v.4, ESV). It’s there, he will find “shelter in the day of trouble” (v.5).  And he will “offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy” (v.6).
David feared he’d be forsaken, but concluded: “the Lord will take me in” (v.10).
We can worship by an ocean or a tree. But Pastor Donison speaks the truth: we need biblical preaching and sacraments to show us the fullness of who God is.
So, dear one, go to church.

Kerby Anderson
On one of our radio programs, one of the guests argued that the government had grown so big that it’s unrealistic for anyone to manage it. His comment reminded me of a commentary I did six years ago that compared the government to some of the largest companies in America.
First, let’s look at the federal government. The federal budget six years ago was $4 trillion dollars. Today, the federal budget is $7 trillion. By the way, federal tax revenues are only $5 trillion, which is why we have $2 trillion deficit this year. How many federal employees? That number is 2.4 million (but it you count military, civilian, and contract employees, it is twice that).
No one in history has ever managed such a large organization. The current president has managed a large company, but it pales in comparison to these numbers. And remember that the two other presidents were both U.S. Senators who had never managed a company.
Let’s compare this to the largest U.S. companies. Walmart employs 2.1 million people worldwide, and about 1.6 million of them are in the United States with annual revenue of $680 billion. Amazon employs 1.6 million worldwide with 1.1 million in the U.S. with annual revenue around $637 billion.
I know that is a lot of numbers, so here is the bottom line: if Walmart or Amazon were part of the federal government, they wouldn’t even be the largest federal programs.
During the confirmation hearings, some of the nominees were asked about their experience in running a large bureaucracy. Even some of the nominees who were governors had never managed something as large as a federal department. Perhaps that is a good reason why the Department of Government Efficiency should be looking for ways to cut spending.