Church message in Europe is peace and welcome, says Archbishop
-05/10/06
Preaching at
Church message in Europe is peace and welcome, says Archbishop
-05/10/06
Preaching at a Union of Utrecht Eucharist for a service of thanksgiving in Freiburg, Germany, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said that the message of the churches within a changing Europe should be one of peace and welcome.
Dr Williams quoted the words of Jesus in the Gospel, sending out his followers on a mission: ìWhatever house you enter, first say, ëPeace to this house!íî
The Archbishop declared: ìThe disciples of Jesus are told that they must knock on the doors of the towns they visit and ask for hospitality. And when they have received a welcome, they are to stay with the people who have welcomed them, and not to be constantly looking around for somewhere better to be. It is a powerful image of the life of the Christian Church.î
He went on; ìThe preaching of the Gospel does not begin with a settled community inviting others to come in and be made welcome ñ though it soon comes to work in that way. It begins by imitating Jesus himself, a man who has no secure place to lay his head, and who shares his grace by inviting others to invite him in to their homes, as he does most famously with Zacchaeus in Luke 19.î
Declared the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion: ìJesus challenges those he meets by saying to them: ëYou have the freedom to give; you have the dignity of making others welcome. You are a place where the grace and love of God delights to make a home.íî
Applying this to the current situation in Europe, Dr Williams said: ìJesus Christ tells us to say ëPeace!í ñ not in a tone that suggests we are happy with all that Europe is or has become, not as though we thought Europe the measure of human excellence. We simply say, ëPeace!í- meaning that we seek the welfare of this society, its justice and stability and honesty, and that we believe it is a society capable of hearing and being transformed by the Word of grace.î
ìWe live out our commitment to this society that is still (perhaps rather grudgingly these days) prepared to welcome or at least put up with our presence; we involve ourselves in the debates that are shared across our continent about power and identity and local autonomy and migration. We join in this with our minds and hearts shaped by what Jesus has made possible, by the reality of the apostolic community that is his Body, and the relations of mutuality and love that grow in this Body.î
Said the Archbishop: ìWe do not write off Europe and look for somewhere else, literally or metaphorically, to inhabit. We may hear and understand the critique of Europe from America or from the developing world or the Muslim world ñ that it is a tired culture, over-complicated and morally confused, living on its past. But this will not make us unwilling to engage. We know that Christ makes all things new; that, so long as we have voice within the culture, it is still possible to ask questions that are potentially life-giving ñ to remind people that the source of their vitality and creativity is not in themselves but in the creating Word.î
Freiburg is a city in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, in the Breisgau region, on the western edge of the southern Black Forest. The city was heavily bombed during the Second World War. In 1940 German planes mistakenly dropped approximately 60 bombs near the Freiburg train station.
An Allied bombing of the city in November 1944 destroyed a large part of it. Freiburg has become a symbol of reconstruction, and of reconciliation among Catholics and Protestants.
[Also on Ekklesia: Archbishop highlights the role of faith in Europe’s future; Archbishop of Canterbury commends secularity to faith communities; Bishops urge re-engagement of citizens with ‘European project’; Remaking Europe: Gospel in a Divided Continent; Should God get a name-check? Ekklesiaís Simon Barrow on Christendom and the EU constitution]
Church message in Europe is peace and welcome, says Archbishop
-05/10/06
Preaching at a Union of Utrecht Eucharist for a service of thanksgiving in Freiburg, Germany, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said that the message of the churches within a changing Europe should be one of peace and welcome.
Dr Williams quoted the words of Jesus in the Gospel, sending out his followers on a mission: ìWhatever house you enter, first say, ëPeace to this house!íî
The Archbishop declared: ìThe disciples of Jesus are told that they must knock on the doors of the towns they visit and ask for hospitality. And when they have received a welcome, they are to stay with the people who have welcomed them, and not to be constantly looking around for somewhere better to be. It is a powerful image of the life of the Christian Church.î
He went on; ìThe preaching of the Gospel does not begin with a settled community inviting others to come in and be made welcome ñ though it soon comes to work in that way. It begins by imitating Jesus himself, a man who has no secure place to lay his head, and who shares his grace by inviting others to invite him in to their homes, as he does most famously with Zacchaeus in Luke 19.î
Declared the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion: ìJesus challenges those he meets by saying to them: ëYou have the freedom to give; you have the dignity of making others welcome. You are a place where the grace and love of God delights to make a home.íî
Applying this to the current situation in Europe, Dr Williams said: ìJesus Christ tells us to say ëPeace!í ñ not in a tone that suggests we are happy with all that Europe is or has become, not as though we thought Europe the measure of human excellence. We simply say, ëPeace!í- meaning that we seek the welfare of this society, its justice and stability and honesty, and that we believe it is a society capable of hearing and being transformed by the Word of grace.î
ìWe live out our commitment to this society that is still (perhaps rather grudgingly these days) prepared to welcome or at least put up with our presence; we involve ourselves in the debates that are shared across our continent about power and identity and local autonomy and migration. We join in this with our minds and hearts shaped by what Jesus has made possible, by the reality of the apostolic community that is his Body, and the relations of mutuality and love that grow in this Body.î
Said the Archbishop: ìWe do not write off Europe and look for somewhere else, literally or metaphorically, to inhabit. We may hear and understand the critique of Europe from America or from the developing world or the Muslim world ñ that it is a tired culture, over-complicated and morally confused, living on its past. But this will not make us unwilling to engage. We know that Christ makes all things new; that, so long as we have voice within the culture, it is still possible to ask questions that are potentially life-giving ñ to remind people that the source of their vitality and creativity is not in themselves but in the creating Word.î
Freiburg is a city in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, in the Breisgau region, on the western edge of the southern Black Forest. The city was heavily bombed during the Second World War. In 1940 German planes mistakenly dropped approximately 60 bombs near the Freiburg train station.
An Allied bombing of the city in November 1944 destroyed a large part of it. Freiburg has become a symbol of reconstruction, and of reconciliation among Catholics and Protestants.
[Also on Ekklesia: Archbishop highlights the role of faith in Europe’s future; Archbishop of Canterbury commends secularity to faith communities; Bishops urge re-engagement of citizens with ‘European project’; Remaking Europe: Gospel in a Divided Continent; Should God get a name-check? Ekklesiaís Simon Barrow on Christendom and the EU constitution]