All across the world on Palm Sunday, in every place, Christians re-enacted Jesus entry into Jerusalem with crosses, processions and donkeys. It was a joy to be with the congregation of St Giles’ and St. Margaret’s in central Oxford and to walk between the two churches with a full choir and many from the congregation. Hundreds of people saw this one public act of witness. There would be scores more across the Thames Valley.
Life overcoming death
Palm Sunday offers us a story of humility, of servant leadership, of the fulfilment of prophecy. All across the world this week, the gospel story will be read as we read it in our churches yesterday. The story of God’s great love for the world, of forgiveness from sin, of reconciliation, of new beginnings, of life overcoming death.
Christians are living this message in this Holy Week in the midst of the storm and turmoil of world events. We proclaim that Christ the Servant is the better king in the face of unstable and unpredictable rulers and dictators. We proclaim Jesus who brings peace and reconciliation to the world in the face of ongoing war and conflict including the terrible rocket attack on the Anglican hospital in Gaza on Palm Sunday morning. We speak the gospel of Jesus’ love and forgiveness despite the hate speech which swirls across social media and disturbs the minds of the young. We speak of Christ’s mission of healing to the world despite the fragmentation which is all too clear. Our procession today and our reading and our presence here are acts of resistance and defiance and hope.
A quiet revival
In all the storm of all this news you may have missed a significant story. The Bible Society published research last week on Church attendance under the title: The Quiet Revival. The headlines are striking.
The report finds that the number of people claiming to attend church at least once a month in England and Wales increased by 50% between 2018 and 2024. In 2018, just 8% of people made that claim in a YouGov survey. In 2024, that had risen to 12%. The research was carried out online, and the total weighted sample sizes were over 19,000 adults in 2018 and over 13,000 in 2024.
The most dramatic increase reported is in young adults, particularly young men. In 2018, just 4% of 18-24-year-olds said they attended church at least monthly. Today, that has risen 16%, with a larger increase among young men than young women.
Turning the tide
The reports authors claim something very significant is happening across our society. After decades of decline, the tide is beginning to turn, they argue, led by the young. The state of the world, the quest for meaning, the search for identity is leading people once again to ask deep questions and leading once again to faith. You can find the published research here. It’s well worth reading.
We are still evaluating the research and will publish in the next few weeks more positive news in growth and recovery in congregations across our own diocese in 2024. The Church of England published last week encouraging statistics on a very significant increase in the search for local churches through A Church Near You. Only a few weeks ago, another mission agency, SPCK, recorded a significant increase in the number of Bibles being bought in the UK by Generation Z.
The quest for meaning
We are seeing again a quest for meaning in the lives of men and women and young people especially. A desire to understand the world and our place within it. A desire for guidance in how to live, and for community. A longing for redemption and for forgiveness and for grace. A desire to set faith and hope and love at the centre of our lives. A dissatisfaction with the answers the world is offering of wealth and power and status.
The story of Holy Week is not a story of easy answers. The story of Holy Week is not the story of a God who stands back from suffering. The story of Holy Week is of Jesus’ presence in the place of suffering and questioning and pain. The farewells to his friends’ the agony in the garden’ the trial before Pilate’ the dialogue with the thieves on the cross’ his final, public moments; the giving of his life for the sins of the whole world.
We should be confident this week as we live and tell this story. It remains the most precious and life-giving story in the world. The witness we offer is profoundly relevant to a generation looking for hope and meaning, for community and love. We should be expecting signs of God’s work calling young people to faith and looking out for those who will come. We should be humbled again as we live and tell this story and come and kneel before the cross in thanksgiving and adoration for what we have received ourselves. We should be renewed in our walk with Jesus as we live and tell this story and prepare for Easter Day.
+Steven
Based on a sermon preached in St Margaret’s, Oxford, on Palm Sunday, 13 April 2025.
