Dear Friends,
The New York Times featured an article yesterday with an encouraging title: “Christianity’s Decline in U.S. Appears to Have Halted.” The author, Ruth Graham, cites recent survey results that are significant. It is true that over the past 30 years, the percentage of Americans who identify as Christian has dropped. But over the past several years the downward trend has leveled off. What accounts for it?
I’ve been a parish priest for 36 years now, and I confess that I gave up long ago trying to understand the patterns of church attendance. Is it the weather? Is it a long weekend? Will the street fair on Broadway bring them in or scare them away? Nevertheless, I do pay close attention to our numbers, and I have noticed that over the past two or three years our attendance is growing. Across the board, at all three Sunday services, and at our Wednesday 6 pm Eucharist, more people are coming to Grace Church than they were before the pandemic.
Graham points to a surge in interest among young adults who grew up with no faith tradition. I have wondered if the pandemic itself has something to do with it. Five years ago we all received an uncomfortably close look at our mortality, and how fragile human life is. Now that it is safe again to be in large crowds, people of all ages – but especially young people – are searching for human connections and answers to the meaning of life that are deeper than what they can find online, or along secular pursuits.
Whatever the reason, we have in our midst these days people who are unfamiliar in the ways of church. The questions we receive are as basic as they can be: Am I allowed to attend one of your services? (Yes) Is there a dress code? (Not really, although we do ask that you be sufficiently attired). I want to come to church; what do I do next? (Come to church). Then add to these initial questions our own particular customs at Grace Church. How do I open that pew door? How do I juggle the Prayer Book, the Hymnal, and the bulletin? What is Communion? Am I allowed to receive, and if so, how do I do it?
These last questions about Communion will be the subject of our Sunday Forum this week at 10 am in the reception room. The Eucharist – the Holy Communion – is one of the sure and certain ways that we encounter the presence of Jesus. But even those who have attended church for years may have experienced a great variety in how to receive. It ranges from kneeling to standing; from wine to grape juice; from the common cup to little shot glasses; from tasteless wafers to tasty unleavened bread; from sipping to dipping; from receiving the bread in the hand, on the tongue, or palming it for now and eating later in the day (not encouraged).
Come to the Sunday Forum this week as the Rev. Julia Offinger leads a practical demonstration, but also a theological discussion about how to receive Communion. Coffee and breakfast treats will be served.
See you in church. The Shrove Sunday feast follows the 11 am service!
Don