It’s been half mockingly but half seriously remarked that the last surviving U.S. Episcopalian is likely now among us. In the 1960s The Episcopal Church’s membership peaked at 3.6 million. It’s now down to a mostly ageing 1.6 million, declining fast. Like the Unitarian Church, it’ll likely endure as an institution almost indefinitely thanks to considerable financial assets, even without many people. But its demise, with other Mainline Protestant denominations, has been dramatic. Although never huge in numbers, the Episcopal Church across centuries served as America’s religious finishing school, educating our leaders, and providing liturgies for our national life.

The Episcopal Church is part of the global Anglican Communion, a spiritual fraternity of many national churches that descend from the Church of England, which itself is fast shrinking. A recent poll of Church of England clergy found most saying Britain is no longer a Christian nation. While their church remains the official state church, fewer than half of the British now identify as Christian. The Church of England’s average worship number on a typical Sunday is only about half a million. Its pageantry shines during British public rites, such as funerals, weddings, and coronations. But its direct impact on most British people is sadly minimal.

Anglicanism is vibrant in Africa, where most of Anglicanism’s 70-80 million adherents now live, especially in Nigeria. But everywhere in the white majority Anglosphere, Anglicanism is in steep decline, from North America and Britain to Australia and New Zealand. This decline, absent direct divine intervention, is likely irreversible in majority European societies.

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Protestantism is a constant churn & we needn't grieve for the demise of some denominations as other movements rise. God presides over all His churches. https://t.co/slnp1RPCgN via @theird

— @markdtooley (@markdtooley) September 6, 2023

The unexpected deficit surge, which comes amid signs of strong growth in the economy overall, is likely to shape a fierce debate on Capitol Hill about the nation’s fiscal policies as lawmakers face a potential government shutdown this fall and choices over trillions of dollars in expiring tax cuts. The Senate will return this week from August recess, and the House will be back the following week. Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) approved a deal in June to raise the nation’s borrowing limit, but it did little to alter the long-term debt trajectory.

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🇺🇸 U.S. deficit explodes even as economy grows – Washington Posthttps://t.co/IAXBFZ66WK pic.twitter.com/AEnOvk8hVP

— Christophe Barraud🛢🐳 (@C_Barraud) September 4, 2023

The ability of the Church in Wales to bring people together in good conversation and partnership should never be underestimated, the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Andrew John, told the Church’s Governing Body on Tuesday.

In a presidential address that drew parallels with the story of Nehemiah, and focused on challenge and opportunity, he announced the Church’s hosting of a two-day all-Wales climate summit in the second part of next year. It will draw together academics, activists, pressure groups, and stakeholders to discuss the health of the country’s waterways, and the impact of industry, agriculture, and residential domestic use on its landscape.

Wales had the opportunity to redesign its approach to energy, water, land use, and the sustainability of food supply at every level, Archbishop John said. “We are not the experts, save we know what good signposting looks like, and what human flourishing involves. We have a role as people of neutrality that invites confidence.

“Our capacity and commitment to show what human society could look like is well understood and appreciated. We have seen that church must mean much more than gathering and breaking bread on Sunday; that our commitment to justice, to the creation, to the poor might take us into uncomfortable places. That is what the Kingdom of God invites and involves.”

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The ability of the Church in Wales to bring people together in good conversation and partnership should never be underestimated, the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Andrew John, told the Church’s Governing Body on Tuesday https://t.co/bJUxYcLzBw

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) September 6, 2023

Imagine yourself seated at a fashionable London dinner party in 1789.

The women are wearing hoops several feet wide, their hair dressed nearly as high and adorned with fruit or feathers. In between hips and hair, bosoms overspill. The men sport powdered hair, ruffled shirts, embroidered waistcoats, wool stockings, and buckled shoes. Politeness and manners reign around a table laden with delicate, savory dishes.

As guests wait for the after-dinner wine to arrive, a handsome but demure woman pulls a pamphlet from the folds of her dress. “Have you ever seen the inside of a slave ship?” she asks the natty gentleman seated next to her. She proceeds to spread open a print depicting the cargo hold of the Brookes slave ship. With meticulous detail, the print shows African slaves laid like sardines on the ship’s decks, each in a space so narrow, they can’t lay their arms at their sides. The print will become the most haunting image of the transatlantic slave trade””as well as a key rhetorical device used to stop it.

The woman sharing it is Hannah More.

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Writer & anti-slavery campaigner Hannah More (1745-1833) of Bristol was one of the original Bluestockings: 18th century women championing the inclusion of women in intellectual discussions. Hannah established schools in Somerset so less fortunate children could be taught to read. pic.twitter.com/zKwibdlvYW

— Women of Wessex (@WomenOfWessex) July 29, 2023

Almighty God, whose only-begotten Son led captivity captive: Multiply among us faithful witnesses like thy servant Hannah More, who will fight for all who are oppressed or held in bondage; and bring us all, we pray, into the glorious liberty that thou hast promised to all thy children; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Episcopal Church today also commemorates Hannah More, Religious Writer and Philanthropist, 1833

After success as a fashionable playwright, More became a religious writer, penning popular 'improving tale' tracts

Portrait by HW Pickersgill (1822), © National Portrait Gallery pic.twitter.com/0IyQ88lzOx

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) September 6, 2023

O God, who hast brought life and immortality to light by the gospel, and hast begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead: Make us steadfast and immovable in the faith, always abounding in the work of the Lord, who died for our sins and rose again, and now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, world without end.

–The Rev. James Mountain (1844-1933)

Do not forsake me, O Lord!
O my God, be not far from me!
Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!

–Psalm 38:21-22

The most incredible sky this morning. Taken from Glastonbury Tor about 20 minutes after sunrise. Glastonbury is a very special place and today was a reminder of that. pic.twitter.com/4Akfo1nnTx

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) September 6, 2023