We live in an age of instant communications, instant information access, and instant gratification. We’re constantly bombarded with information—and misinformation.

Our attention spans have become short and shorter. If the news won’t fit on our smartphones, we ignore it—or, worse, listen to agenda-driven talking heads telling us what we should think, because we’re too busy to make up our own minds.

This Sunday we hear the amazing story of Ezra, the priest, bringing the law before the assembly of men, women and children old enough to understand, and reading it aloud from daybreak to midday! And the people wept for joy as they heard the words of the law—before feasting together and rejoicing in the Lord.

But that was in an oral culture, where few were literate.

Would we have the patience to stand in a plaza for six hours, just to hear the word of God? Probably not. Scripture itself is no longer limited to scrolls that few can read, but is freely available to everyone, just about everywhere—except in those place where it is illegal or dangerous for Christians to worship.