God is our therapist says Archbishop of Canterbury
-18/11/04
The Archbishop of Canterbur
God is our therapist says Archbishop of Canterbury
-18/11/04
The Archbishop of Canterbury, has likened God to a ‘therapist” in his Christmas message to the Anglican Communion.
“Christ does not save the world just by his death on the cross” Dr Rowan Williams said, “we respond to that death” and “we let ourselves be touched and changed.”
The message is a contrast to previous ones from Lambeth Palace during the Christmas period.
Last year Dr Williams used his Christmas message to address the divisions and factions within the Anglican communion.
Shortly after his enthronement in 2002, during the Christmas period the Archbishop urged the government to pull back from the brink of war with Iraq, likening “strategists” to the ‘Three Wise Men’ who told King Herod about the birth of Jesus on their way to Bethlehem, prompting a massacre of children.
This year however, he has taken up the theme of disability, talking of his discussions with those working with children suffering from Autism; “the kind of disorder that seems to cut people off from ordinary communication and shows itself in strange repetitive behaviours and sometimes in violent outbursts”, the Archbishop said.
Likening God’s work to the work the therapist who identifies with such children, the Archbishop said; “we should think of God watching us moment by moment, mirroring back to us our human actions – our fears and our joys and our struggles – until he can at last reach out in the great gestures of the healing ministry and the cross. And at last we let ourselves be touched and changed.”
“That’s what begins at Christmas. Not a doctor coming in with a needle or a surgeon with a knife, but a baby who has to learn how to be human by watching; only this baby is the eternal Word of God, who is watching and learning so that when he speaks God’s transforming word we will be able to hear it in our own human language.”
“He is God so that he has the freedom to heal, to be our ‘therapist’. He is human so that he speaks in terms we can understand, in the suffering and delight of a humanity that he shares completely with us. And now we must let him touch us and tell us that there is a world outside our minds – our pride and fear and guilt. It is called the Kingdom of God” the Archbishop said.
God is our therapist says Archbishop of Canterbury
-18/11/04
The Archbishop of Canterbury, has likened God to a ‘therapist” in his Christmas message to the Anglican Communion.
“Christ does not save the world just by his death on the cross” Dr Rowan Williams said, “we respond to that death” and “we let ourselves be touched and changed.”
The message is a contrast to previous ones from Lambeth Palace during the Christmas period.
Last year Dr Williams used his Christmas message to address the divisions and factions within the Anglican communion.
Shortly after his enthronement in 2002, during the Christmas period the Archbishop urged the government to pull back from the brink of war with Iraq, likening “strategists” to the ‘Three Wise Men’ who told King Herod about the birth of Jesus on their way to Bethlehem, prompting a massacre of children.
This year however, he has taken up the theme of disability, talking of his discussions with those working with children suffering from Autism; “the kind of disorder that seems to cut people off from ordinary communication and shows itself in strange repetitive behaviours and sometimes in violent outbursts”, the Archbishop said.
Likening God’s work to the work the therapist who identifies with such children, the Archbishop said; “we should think of God watching us moment by moment, mirroring back to us our human actions – our fears and our joys and our struggles – until he can at last reach out in the great gestures of the healing ministry and the cross. And at last we let ourselves be touched and changed.”
“That’s what begins at Christmas. Not a doctor coming in with a needle or a surgeon with a knife, but a baby who has to learn how to be human by watching; only this baby is the eternal Word of God, who is watching and learning so that when he speaks God’s transforming word we will be able to hear it in our own human language.”
“He is God so that he has the freedom to heal, to be our ‘therapist’. He is human so that he speaks in terms we can understand, in the suffering and delight of a humanity that he shares completely with us. And now we must let him touch us and tell us that there is a world outside our minds – our pride and fear and guilt. It is called the Kingdom of God” the Archbishop said.