This week I went to the funeral of a long-standing family friend. She was 103. When last I saw her, about a month or so ago, she was still living in her own home and, although quite deaf, she was mentally very alert.

Her funeral was held in a chapel, which was large and well maintained. Within the context of a woman of such great age, it was well attended. There were not going to be any direct contemporaries at the service.

Many of us know people who have lived to celebrate their 100th birthday, quite apart from the famous examples, such as the Queen Mother and Bob Hope.

Not long ago such examples would have been far more unusual. Perhaps, after all, there is not much wrong with the food which sustains us and the health service which cures our illnesses.

It struck me how much of the fabric of our society springs from the worship of God. Possibly most of the distinguished buildings which we are used to having about were built for the worship of God. Much of the great classical music was written in His praise. When most people lived in the country, not towns, there was a strict hierarchy at the top of which were the squire and the vicar.

They were often relatives anyway, because the church was felt to be a suitable pursuit for the younger sons, who were not going to inherit the family lands.

Nearly everyone went to church at least once every Sunday. There had to be a good reason for not doing so. The industrial revolution broke this down to some extent and the twentieth century, with two dreadful world wars, saw further decline in the church- going habit and the system of beliefs that went with it.

They were not replaced by anything else. The now-fashionable pursuit of conspicuous consumption is not quite in the same league.

It is not the same because it is based on a short-term view of society. Notwithstanding the fact that people are living longer, those of us who live lives directly connected with growing things know it is not days and months that matter, it is seasons. If animals are being bred changes are made over a number of cycles, which will amount to years. The benefits are felt over the long-term, sometimes over generations. Perhaps that was one of the attractions of the Christian way of life. A philosophy which promises rewards in the next world is a long-term commitment.

The efforts of the church to attract people back into the fold are not as successful as it would like. Various ways of widening its appeal have been tried, but they all divide the church further.

We now seem more concerned with those who represent the church than with the central religious message. We forget that the members of any organisation are the organisation. If it is not working, it is the members' fault.

Perhaps those agrarian tribes in Africa and elsewhere, whom sophisticated western society regard as primitive, have got something. They worship nature, the sun and, despite huge interference from man, these have not let them down.

They do not get involved in western levels of consumption or waste but are grateful for what rewards they get from their labours.

We all know that we are not going to turn entirely away from the materialistic ways we have adopted.

But perhaps a small change of tack would be an improvement.

Updated: 10:20 Tuesday, August 12, 2003