AS a holiday, Easter means a great deal. For some, it's a time to enjoy a long weekend with family and friends. For children, all the excitement is centred on a good haul of chocolate treats.
But unlike Christmas, which has become much more focu
sed on gifts and food, there remains a degree of reverence for Easter and its true religious and spiritual meaning.
This Sunday, many Scots will visit a church and, while some will be regulars, it will be the first time others will have gone to worship this year.
Not so very long ago, such sporadic attendance would most certainly have been frowned upon but, at a time when the numbers of people going to church has declined considerably, Easter and Christmas worshippers are being welcomed much more warmly.
"There are people who go to church occasionally and still have a warm feeling towards religion," says former Bishop of Edinburgh Richard Holloway. "They might be muddled in their own beliefs but they know there is a sacredness to life and the importance of living well and the church captures that.
"If this weekend, these people turn up – and they may not have been since Christmas – then that's fine. There are many different ways of belonging."
The need for the church to welcome people no matter how long they have been absent is echoed by the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church.
While congregations are getting smaller, there are still 600,000 people who attend a Christian church every week. Of those, 250,000 are loyal to the Kirk, while 210,000 are regulars at a Catholic church.
And while these figures only represent around a tenth of the population, Catholic Church spokesman Peter Kearney points out that more people go to a church regularly every week than go to the cinema (300,000) or to a senior football match (110,000).
"When it comes to extra-curricular activities, church-going is much more popular, but you wouldn't know it from reading newspapers," he adds.
While, overall, the statistics show a decline in church-going, the Catholic Church is seeing a resurgence. The influx of Polish migrants to Scotland has had a profound effect on congregations and if you visit St Mary's Cathedral on Sunday, you'll be lucky to find a space.
Indeed, every Sunday in Edinburgh, some 2000 Poles attend the Cathedral for two Polish-language masses.
Their strong and open celebration of faith is something church leaders hope will rub off on a Scots society that has become suspicious of anyone who talks openly about their Christian beliefs.
Morag Mylne, convener of the Kirk's church and society council, points out that fewer people attending church does not mean the institution is crumbling.
"It might be a smaller church but in many respects it will still be a healthy and thriving church," she adds.
Of course, the meaning of church life can be found on a practical level, too, and while not everyone needs the services of Christian organisations, the population as a whole would suffer if it all ground to a halt.
The scope of church services is enormous – from caring for the elderly, supporting people with addiction to helping those coping with mental illness and homelessness – and without the fundraising efforts of Christian organisations, these services may be lost.
"The point we make is if the local authorities and the state were suddenly responsible for providing all of these social facilities, it would cost taxpayers billion of pounds," says Peter Kearney.
"There's also a huge amount of social input by Christian organisations and they form the backbone of social structures – not just for those who belong to the church but for all – and none of these facilities are for profit."
Richard Holloway sums it up: "Numbers are not the main aim for Christians – it's the quality of life we live and what we can do in the service of others.
"It's a mistake to see Christianity as a market product that measures success by the number of bums on seats when the really effective stuff is about good community work and that goes on.
"A lot of believers are involved in voluntary organisations, they help their neighbours, and without them, society would be the poorer."
The full article contains 748 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
