wfn.org | Message from the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

ACNS 2646 - ANGLICAN COMMUNION OFFICE - 12 September 2001

A message from the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion

To the Faithful gathered in St George's Cathedral, Jerusalem

12 September 2001

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46)

As so often the Psalmist offers the words that we cannot find to express
what is in the depths of our very being, so now the Psalmist comes to our
aid as we struggle to articulate our response to the images of desolation
and destruction seen yesterday on television screens around the world.
Today, as we reflect on the cruel and violent deaths of countless numbers of
citizens caught in the vile deeds of wicked men and women in the skies over
the eastern seaboard of the United States of America, people of faith are
gathering together to express their shock and horror and their sense of
helplessness in the face of evil.

As people of faith, we recognise evil for what it is, and we know our utter
dependence upon the love, mercy and compassion of God as we confront those
forces with prayer and in simple acts of kindness and hospitality. While
others will choose the weapons of war and destruction in the pursuit of
reprisal and revenge, we know that it is in the Cross that we will find the
strength to stand firm, to keep vigilant in prayer, and to turn the hearts
and minds of men and women to the ways of God's justice and righteousness.
As you are gathered in the Cathedral of St George the Martyr in the City of
the One who claims that "vengeance is mine", know that your brothers and
sisters in the Anglican Communion are holding you in our prayers as you pray
for justice and peace, trusting that the groaning of all our prayers will be
heard.

John L Peterson

_________________________
The ACNSlist is published by the Anglican Communion Office, London.