Attendance figures are assembled each year and published in the Statistics for Mission report in the following autumn. This year, however, preliminary figures were released by Church House on Monday. They provide “a snapshot of the overall picture”, and are based on returns from more than 11,000 churches, a statement said. “The totals could be revised as further figures come in and checks continue.”

The returns received so far suggest that average all-age weekly attendance, which includes Sunday and midweek services, increased from 654,000 people in 2022 to 685,000 in 2023: a rise of 4.7 per cent. The number of children (defined as anyone under the age of 16) attending weekly rose from 87,000 in 2022 to 92,000 in 2023: an increase of 5.7 per cent.

In 2021, average all-age weekly attendance was 605,000 people, compared with 345,000 people in 2020 (when churches were closed during periods of national lockdown), and 854,000 people in 2019….

Read it all (registration or subscription).

Archbishops take comfort from small signs of growth in church attendance https://t.co/bHTPyymClZ

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) May 20, 2024

The new tariffs President Biden announced last week aren’t economically significant. Symbolically, they are huge.

The U.S. buys almost no electric vehicles, steel or semiconductors—all targets of the tariffs—from China. But, by adding to, rather than rescinding, tariffs imposed in 2018 by former President Donald Trump, it signals that the decoupling of the Chinese and U.S. economies is becoming irreversible.

More important, the tariffs are the final piece of an economic strategy for competing with China.

This strategy is a three-legged stool. The first consists of subsidies to build a viable technology manufacturing sector, from clean energy to semiconductors. The second is tariffs on Chinese imports that threaten those efforts. The third is restrictions on access to money, technology and know-how that could help China compete. A fourth leg, a unified economic front with allies, remains unrealized.

Read it all.

Biden's new tariffs round out a three-legged strategy for competing with China. Leg 1: subsidies to build a viable technology manufacturing sector, from clean energy to semiconductors. 2: tariffs on Chinese imports that threaten those efforts. 3: restrictions on access to money,…

— Greg Ip (@greg_ip) May 20, 2024

‘The Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit that has always intrigued me. They called Him An Geadh-Glas, or “the Wild Goose.” I love the imagery and implications. The name hints at the mysterious nature of the Holy Spirit. Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed.

An element of danger and an air of unpredictability surround Him. And while the name may sound a little sacrilegious at first earshot, I cannot think of a better description of what it’s like to pursue the Spirit’s leading through life than Wild Goose chase. I think the Celtic Christians were on to something that institutionalized Christianity has missed out on. And I wonder if we have clipped the wings of the Wild Goose and settled for something less—much less—than what God originally intended for us.’

–Mark Batterson, Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God (New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2008), pp. 1-2, quoted by yours truly in this past Sunday’s sermon

Today is Pentecost. This 16th c. devotional card showing the Holy Spirit descending on the Virgin Mary and the Apostles is sewn into LPL's copy of Thys prymer of Salysbury use (Paris, 1534) [ZZ]1534.46 #pentecost #whit pic.twitter.com/c37Q5Fflup

— LambethPalaceLibrary (@lampallib) May 19, 2024

[At Pentecost Peter] intendeth to prove…that the Church can be repaired by no other means, saving only by the giving of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, forasmuch as they did all hope that the restoring drew near, he accuseth them of sluggishness, because they do not once think upon the way and means thereof. And when the prophet saith, “I will pour out,” it is, without all question, that he meant by this word to note the great abundance of the Spirit….when God will briefly promise salvation to his people, he affirmeth that he will give them his Spirit. Hereupon it followeth that we can obtain no good things until we have the Spirit given us.

–Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles

The Pentecostal descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church is connected with his descent on Christ at baptism: the mission of the Church, the community of God's children, in the power of the Spirit is a continuation of the mission of Christ, the eternal Son.@keblelib Ms 39, f.111v pic.twitter.com/IE6SaYCFZA

— Vir Desideriorum (@VirDesideriorum) May 19, 2024

Eternal God, who gives good gifts to all people, and who teaches us to have the same spirit of generosity: Give unto us, we pray thee, hearts that are always open to hear thy word, that following the example of thy servant Lydia, we may show hospitality to all who are in any need or trouble, through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

“Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira listened and the Lord opened her heart.” -Acts 16:14

“The Baptism of Lydia” by Marie Ellenrieder (1861) Alte Nationalgalerie pic.twitter.com/B7DKLGgiQF

— Lady of Good Counsel (@ofgoodcounsel) May 23, 2022

Almighty and everlasting God, who in days of old didst cause thy Word to grow mightily and to prevail: We praise and magnify thy holy name for the manifestation of thy presence in this our day, and we beseech thee to pour out thy Spirit upon the Church, that thy way may be known upon earth and thy saving health among all nations; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Holy Spirit is a living fountain ("fons vivus", Veni Creator) in God's Church. When the apostles visibly lay their hands on people when administering the sacraments, they are invisibly filled with the Spirit.@CdeChantilly Ms Fr 71,f.25
Heures d'Étienne Chevalier (J. Fouquet) pic.twitter.com/aePq2vuCGa

— Vir Desideriorum (@VirDesideriorum) May 20, 2024

Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction,
and be attentive, that you may gain insight;
for I give you good precepts:
do not forsake my teaching.
When I was a son with my father,
tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,
he taught me, and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
keep my commandments, and live;
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
Get wisdom; get insight.
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.

–Proverbs 4:1-7

Sunny start and clear skies – Skye Bridge, Kyleakin, Isle of Skye #Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 21/05/24 @angie_weather @StormHour @ThePhotoHour @VisitScotland @carolkirkwood @BBCScotWeather pic.twitter.com/iXMmmA1o5b

— James MacInnes (@Macinnesplant) May 21, 2024