Chine McDonald explores how birthdays offer us time to reflect on the past, present, and future. 10/11/2026

Last weekend was a significant one in both my home and work life. Saturday was my son’s ninth birthday party, and on Friday, Theos turned 20. So, birthday cakes have been a dominant theme. In preparation for my eldest’s party, I have spent an unreasonable amount of time researching how to make a Minecraft cake, complete with edible grass blocks, Creepers and Ender Dragons. And  the Theos team enjoyed a – shop–bought, thank goodness – rainbow sprinkle cake to mark our 20th birthday. As you’ll know, we’ve been celebrating big this year – and the cake was a perfect way to round off a year–long programme of events reflecting on the place of religion in our public life.

Birthdays are joyous and also offer us moments to reflect on where we’ve been, who we’re becoming, and the season, stage or time of life we’re in.

Over half term, my family and I were in France for a few days and one of the memories I’ll take away from the trip is the image of my two boys staring up at the magnificent astronomical clock that stands in Strasbourg Cathedral. It is an extraordinary thing. A masterpiece of mathematics, artistry and theology, designed to place our fleeting human lives within a longer and grander story of time.

It is the third clock that has stood on the spot – the first built in the 14th century, and the second in the 16th century. Created by Swiss clockmakers, sculptors, painters and automation designers, the current version of the machine dates back to 1842. People flock from all over the world to watch the clock’s daily main attraction: animated figures emerging from the machine representing different ages of life – a child, a teenager, an adult and an old man, who all parade past Death. There are other scenes in the display as well: the apostles before Christ, a pillar of angels and the Last Judgment.

Standing before something that has been measuring the passage of centuries, I found myself thinking about how we measure time. Birthdays, anniversaries, milestones. The things that change, and the things that endure. I’ve also found myself reflecting on the words of Catholic priest Tomáš Halík, who in his book The Afternoon of Christianity, suggests that the Church is in a new epoch in which it must renew itself in order to counter the forces of secularization, social and political distrust that mark this geopolitical moment. For Halík, Christianity must recognise it is it in a new stage of life, and must adapt accordingly. He writes: “I regard the present crisis as a crossroads where the possibility of moving into a new ‘afternoon’ epoch in the history of Christianity presents itself.”

As we’ve marked Theos’ anniversary year, we’ve found ourselves reflecting on the time we are in. Theos finds itself in a very different cultural context – both nationally and globally – than its early days. Despite the turbulence of this geopolitical moment, it also feels like a time that is more open to and more curious about religious ideas having a place in public life than in 2006 – when the New Atheists and other voices were much more hostile. When Theos began, it was thought that the subsequent decades would render religion obsolete, that people would wake up to its irrelevance for modern times. But, as we are increasingly seeing, religion – and for us, Christianity, in particular – remains attractive to a world desperately searching for re–enchantment.

This evening, I’ll be at Southwark Cathedral in conversation with scientist turned Christian apologist Professor Alister McGrath (tickets available here), who has been one of the leading voices on the meaning and relevance of Christianity over the past 20 years. He writes in his new book Rethinking Christianity, Christianity – revealed through the personhood of Christ – “affirms the importance of a transcendent world for human flourishing”. “That’s one of the reasons why Christianity remains a credible and winsome presence in the modern world,” he writes. “It answers questions that really matter to people – answers that have not been discarded or rendered obsolete with the passing of time.”

Today, we celebrate the passing of time and all that these years have held for Theos, giving thanks for the conviction that has guided us throughout: that Christianity has something vital to offer the biggest questions of our time. In a world that may not always recognise its relevance, we have sought to give that conviction a voice, one that is compelling, credible and speaks to the biggest questions of our time.

In the shadow of Strasbourg Cathedral’s centuries–old astronomical clock, 20 years is barely the blink of an eye. But in the life of an organisation founded to challenge the prevailing assumptions about religion’s inevitable decline, it’s quite a milestone. And – despite what the Guardian predicted upon our launch (Why Theos will fail, 7 November, 2006) – we’re still here, looking ahead to a future in which we not only have a seat at the table among those who shape our common life, but can offer a compelling and imaginative vision of what it is to be human.

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