AoC: "...our world turned upside down, joy made possible."

I don't usually go along with him, but sometimes we can agree, even if it is only on a small bit taken out of context.

From the Archbishop of Canterbury's 2011 Easter Sermon,

"Christian joy, the joy of Easter, is offered to the world not to guarantee a permanently happy society in the sense of a society free from tension, pain or disappointment, but to affirm that whatever happens in the unpredictable world – sometimes wonderfully, sometimes horribly unpredictable – there is a deeper level of reality, a world within the world, where love and reconciliation are ceaselessly at work, a world with which contact can be made so that we are able to live honestly and courageously with the challenges constantly thrown at us. And on the first Easter morning, it is as if ‘the fountains of the great deep’ are broken open, and we are allowed to see, like Peter and John at the empty tomb, into the darkness for a moment – and find our world turned upside down, joy made possible."

(I might like to see his "can be made" changed to "has been made")

When I experience people radiating with that joy from God even during their times of challenge and pain, I think I see the world turned upside down too.

Sometimes the world is turned upside down when other improbable events occur, such as my agreement with the AoC.

Church Stats: Where have all the Baptisms Gone?

                                Water Lilies Blooming on Easter 2011

Easter used to be a traditional time for baptisms, and the season got me to thinking about the future church, what with its embrace of the new sexualities and all, and the question came to mind, "Will TEc go extinct?" I know that some may consider that to be an inappropriate thought for Easter, but to be honest,  Easter scares the devil out of me. We might be more comfortable with a God who stayed in the grave and didn't live among us, but this ever present God of Easter keeps opening our eyes to new directions, and one of the ways that we see those new directions is by paying attention to the works of God occuring in our daily lives, in the lives of our Parish, our Diocese, and our demonination.

Lo and behold, this eye opener came around last week from that usually reliable source, Statman.

From the comment section at MCJ (details in parentheses added for the uninitiated).

Statmann
April 19, 2011

"...Surely, ASA (Average Sunday Attendance) is a big problem for TEC (The Episcopal church). But Infant Baptisms are much more alarming. From 2002 through 2009, TEC lost 19.3 percent of ASA but it lost 31.7 percent of Infant Baptisms. In 2009, the following dioceses had LESS THAN ONE Infant Baptism per church: E. Oregon, N. Michigan, and W. Kansas. It is absolutely depressing to sit in church for an entire year and not observe even ONE Infant Baptism. Statmann"

I went over to the Episcopal church's statistics pages and updated the numbers using 2010 data and teased out the numbers for "domestic" dioceses.

2002 data found here.
2002 ASA 869,065 (22,425 was in non domestic dioceses)
2002 Baptisms of children: 47,232 (2,237 were in non domestic dioceses and 44,995 domestic baptisms).

2010 data found here.
2010 ASA 724,789 (41,826 was in non domestic dioceses)
2010 Baptisms of children: 33,778 (3096 were in non domestic dioceses and 30,682 domestic baptisms).

So we see

A 19.45% decline in domestic ASA from 2002-2010, and

a 31.8% drop in Baptisms from 2002-2010.

Give Statman credit once again.

The ASA numbers may not be 100% accurate since we stopped using those handheld clicker type counters long ago, but the baptism numbers are probably valid.

I went back and checked out the numbers for the Diocese of Upper South Carolina (DUSC) to include burials and marriages and got the following,

406 children baptised in 2002 in DUSC
71 adults baptised in 2002 in DUSC

309 burials in DUSC in 2002
38154 burials in TEc Domestic Dios in 2002

171 marriages DUSC in 2002
18798 marriages in TEc Domestic Dios

1.5:1 ratio of DUSC baptisms to burials in 2002

2:1 ratio of DUSC burials to marriages in 2002

ASA of DUSC was 9103 in 2002

For 2010,

377 children baptised in 2010 (down 8.2%)
43 adults baptised in 2010 (down 39.4%)

317 burials in DUSC (up 2%),
30,853 burials in TEc Domestic Dios (a drop of 19.2%)

121 marriages DUSC (down 29.3%),
11,647 marriages in TEc Domestic Dios (a drop of 39.1%)

1.3:1 ratio of DUSC baptisms to burials in 2010 (a drop in this ratio is not a good sign).

2.6:1 ratio of DUSC burials to marriages in 2010 (a rise in this ratio is not a good sign).

ASA 8337 ( a drop of 8.4%) in DUSC from 2002

People will say that the drop in marriages and church attendance merely parallels the pattern seen in other old denominations, but that is an excuse that they will have a hard time passing along to the man that just walked out of the grave.

Could it be that young families seeking a safe, God fearing place to raise their future precious young Christians are using reason, tradition, and scripture, to vote with their feet?

There are still plenty of old people left in the oldline denominations to bury, but at the current rate of replenishment, there won't be enough new old people to pay the bills fifty years from now.
Our living God is warning us that we are headed in the wrong direction. Will we listen to His call to turn from the error of our ways, and to rebuke the words of the false teachers who would take us along  paths of licentiousness and desires of the flesh?
Or will we heed his call to walk away from the way of sin and death, and instead become fruitful, multiply, and go out and gather all to Him?
Jesus' resurrection is a serious call for us to get out of our comfortable tombs and start producing flowers for His garden.

That call, to come out of my cave and walk with Him, sacres the devil out of me.

Sorry if I spoiled anyone's Easter.

collect For Easter (1928)

The Collect.

ALMIGHTY God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through the Same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

-From justus.anglican.org

Collect For Easter Even (1928)

Easter Even.

The Collect.

GRANT, O Lord, that as we are baptized into the death of thy blessed Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, so by continual mortifying* our corrupt affections we may be buried with him; and that through the grave, and gate of death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection; for his merits, who died, and was buried, and rose again for us, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

* "the continual mortifying of" in the 1786 Prop. Book

-From justus.anglican.org

Collects For Good Friday (1928)

The Collects.

ALMIGHTY God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified; Receive our supplications and prayers, which we offer before thee for all estates of men in thy holy Church, that every member of the same, in his vocation and ministry, may truly and godly serve thee; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

O MERCIFUL God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor desirest* the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; Have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics; and take from them† all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

* "wouldest" in the 1786 Proposed Book

† Have mercy upon all who know thee not as thou art revealed in the Gospel of thy Son. Take from them ... in the 1928 Book.

- From justus.anglican.org

Collect for the Thursday Before Easter Commonly Called Maundy Thursday (1928)

Thursday before Easter.

The Collect.

ALMIGHTY Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, did institute the Sacrament of his Body and Blood; Mercifully grant that we may thankfully receive the same in remembrance of him, who in these holy mysteries giveth us a pledge of life eternal; the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

- From justus.anglican.org

Collect for the Wednesday Before Easter (1928)

Wednesday before (Easter Collect added in 1928).

The Collect.

ASSIST us mercifully with thy help, O Lord God of our salvation; that we may enter with joy upon the medi-tation of those mighty acts, whereby thou hast given unto us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

- From justus.anglican.org