Time to act on injustice says Archbishop of Canterbury
-01/01/05
In a stirring New Year
Time to act on injustice says Archbishop of Canterbury
-01/01/05
In a stirring New Year 2005 message, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has urged people not to be overwhelmed by the scale of the worldís problems in responding to human need.
He was speaking in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster in South Asia, described by the United Nations as the worldís largest ever natural humanitarian crisis.
ìThe big picture doesn’t always help, if it takes our eyes off local, individual stories,î declared the figurehead for 70 million Anglicans worldwide.
îSomeone said about the slaughter of the Jews in the death camps, ‘It isn’t six million dead – it’s one person dead, times six million’. You could be overwhelmed by that; you could feel there was no hope or faith possible.
ìBut our Christian faith talks about a God who isn’t content with the big picture alone,î he added. ìIn Jesus he comes alongside us as a human being, he shows that he is a God always involved with people one by one.î
Dr Williams was speaking at the Tate Modern Gallery in London, which is holding an exhibition of art by abused children.
ìAs we think about the coming year, let’s not spend all our time on trying to perfect the huge plans that will change everythingî, he said.
“We ought [instead] to be asking, ‘What’s the difference I can make to this situation, this person, to myself, to someone close, to someone whose face I know?’
“The biggest picture we could ever hope for is the sight of what the human heart is capable of when complete love and trust are allowed to touch it.î
Urging people to ìact locally and think globallyî, the Archbishop continued the theme of his Christmas addresses, where he recalled that the churches had played a major part in promoting the concerns of the Jubilee 2000 debt relief campaign. He asked Christians to go on displaying a ìgenerous anger about the worldís needsí.
ìCan the churches of this country do as much again in the coming year in pressing government and financial institutions towards justice ñ and in motivating their own members get involved in voluntary action, advocacy and giving? If the answer is yes, we shall have taken a step towards living in the truthî, said Dr Williams.
The birth of Christ is a profound challenge to our self-obsession and self-comfort, the Archbishop had warned in his Christmas sermon, describing the stable with the new-born Christ as ìthe engine room of universe.î
ìThe entire system of the universe, ëthe fire in the equationsí as someone wonderfully described it, is contained in this small bundle of shivering flesh,î he said. ìGod has given himself away so completely that we meet him here in poverty and weakness, with no trumpeting splendour, no clouds of glory.î
Dr Williams added that we should be shocked and troubled by this revelation:
ìÖ it ought to worry us ñ us, who are so obsessed about being safe and being successful, who worry endlessly about being in control, who cannot believe that power could show itself in any other way than the ways we are used to.î
The Archbishop said that, given the terror and violence in the world, it was no surprise that security should be a priority: ìWe struggle for a secure world; so we should. But what if our only passion is to be protected, and we lose sight of what we positively and concretely want for ourselves and one another, what we want for the human family? We are not going to be living in the truth if we have no passion for the liberty of Godís children, no share in the generosity of God.î
Failing to understand what God was telling us, Dr Williams warned, had serious implications for the way we approached global problems:
ìThe likelihood of a reduction by half of people living in abject poverty by the year 2015 is not noticeably greater than it was four years ago…Some developed nations appear deeply indifferent to the goals agreed.î
The Archbishopís Christmastide address was delivered the day before the Asian tsunami disaster which has killed some 150,000 and left millions destitute.
ìAt the time it was interpreted as an attack on Western priorities in relation to the so-called ëwar on terrorí, a church representative told Ekklesia. ìBut now the true spiritual depth of Dr Williamsí message and the immense New Year challenge it lays upon all human hearts is perhaps even more painfully apparent.î
Time to act on injustice says Archbishop of Canterbury
-01/01/05
In a stirring New Year 2005 message, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has urged people not to be overwhelmed by the scale of the worldís problems in responding to human need.
He was speaking in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster in South Asia, described by the United Nations as the worldís largest ever natural humanitarian crisis.
ìThe big picture doesn’t always help, if it takes our eyes off local, individual stories,î declared the figurehead for 70 million Anglicans worldwide.
îSomeone said about the slaughter of the Jews in the death camps, ‘It isn’t six million dead – it’s one person dead, times six million’. You could be overwhelmed by that; you could feel there was no hope or faith possible.
ìBut our Christian faith talks about a God who isn’t content with the big picture alone,î he added. ìIn Jesus he comes alongside us as a human being, he shows that he is a God always involved with people one by one.î
Dr Williams was speaking at the Tate Modern Gallery in London, which is holding an exhibition of art by abused children.
ìAs we think about the coming year, let’s not spend all our time on trying to perfect the huge plans that will change everythingî, he said.
“We ought [instead] to be asking, ‘What’s the difference I can make to this situation, this person, to myself, to someone close, to someone whose face I know?’
“The biggest picture we could ever hope for is the sight of what the human heart is capable of when complete love and trust are allowed to touch it.î
Urging people to ìact locally and think globallyî, the Archbishop continued the theme of his Christmas addresses, where he recalled that the churches had played a major part in promoting the concerns of the Jubilee 2000 debt relief campaign. He asked Christians to go on displaying a ìgenerous anger about the worldís needsí.
ìCan the churches of this country do as much again in the coming year in pressing government and financial institutions towards justice ñ and in motivating their own members get involved in voluntary action, advocacy and giving? If the answer is yes, we shall have taken a step towards living in the truthî, said Dr Williams.
The birth of Christ is a profound challenge to our self-obsession and self-comfort, the Archbishop had warned in his Christmas sermon, describing the stable with the new-born Christ as ìthe engine room of universe.î
ìThe entire system of the universe, ëthe fire in the equationsí as someone wonderfully described it, is contained in this small bundle of shivering flesh,î he said. ìGod has given himself away so completely that we meet him here in poverty and weakness, with no trumpeting splendour, no clouds of glory.î
Dr Williams added that we should be shocked and troubled by this revelation:
ìÖ it ought to worry us ñ us, who are so obsessed about being safe and being successful, who worry endlessly about being in control, who cannot believe that power could show itself in any other way than the ways we are used to.î
The Archbishop said that, given the terror and violence in the world, it was no surprise that security should be a priority: ìWe struggle for a secure world; so we should. But what if our only passion is to be protected, and we lose sight of what we positively and concretely want for ourselves and one another, what we want for the human family? We are not going to be living in the truth if we have no passion for the liberty of Godís children, no share in the generosity of God.î
Failing to understand what God was telling us, Dr Williams warned, had serious implications for the way we approached global problems:
ìThe likelihood of a reduction by half of people living in abject poverty by the year 2015 is not noticeably greater than it was four years ago…Some developed nations appear deeply indifferent to the goals agreed.î
The Archbishopís Christmastide address was delivered the day before the Asian tsunami disaster which has killed some 150,000 and left millions destitute.
ìAt the time it was interpreted as an attack on Western priorities in relation to the so-called ëwar on terrorí, a church representative told Ekklesia. ìBut now the true spiritual depth of Dr Williamsí message and the immense New Year challenge it lays upon all human hearts is perhaps even more painfully apparent.î