A Sunday reflection

Today is sometimes nicknamed "Low Sunday" which is the Sunday after Easter, where the attendance at church is usually contrasted with the peak attendance the previous week.

To be honest, this morning it didn't feel like that. There were not quite as many people at St James' Church Whitehaven this morning as there had been on Easter Sunday - which had been the best attendance I remember seeing since the start of the pandemic but it was still a respectable turnout by the standards of the last few years - higher, I would say, than the post-pandemic average.

Christianity is embedded deeply into the culture and society of Britain, to such an extent that Britain's leading atheist, Professor Richard Dawkins described himself recently as a "cultural Christian." Needless to say he took quite a bit of flak over those comments but I'm not going to add to it - it is perfectly possible to be influenced by a religion and find some of its' values and cultural practices and even rituals attractive without believing in the tenets of that faith.

It is an issue that attendance at church and active support for the churches ahs been falling away even among those who still consider themselves Christians - and I mean believers, not "cultural Christians." Among the present generation of young adults and even younger middle-aged people, going to church is not something which fits with their lifestyles, partly because they see few people there of their own age (though that would not have been the case at St James' church this morning.)

Hope springs eternal and the bible says that "Nothing is impossible for God." (Luke chapter 1, verse 37, similar comments in Matthew Chapter 19, verse 36 and Mark, Chapter 10, verse 37.)

It will be a challenge, but the church really needs to find ways of reaching out to a wider range of people, particularly those below the age of 60. And I believe that it can and will.

Funnily enough, this same challenge seems to be face all the religious, political, charitable and social organisations which I find myself part of! So perhaps it says something about society today, not just about the church.

Human beings are social animals and we need contact with other people- and not just online. We need to make sure that the social, cultural and other organisations which help society to function are able to refresh and renew themselves in the digital age. 

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