wfn.org | ACNS3407 Archbishop's pastoral letter to the Christians of the

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ACNS 3407     |     MIDDLE EAST     |	  14 APRIL 2003

Archbishop's pastoral letter to the Christians of the Middle East

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has issued a pastoral
letter to Christians in the Middle East. Dr Williams read out and presented
the letter to the Rt Revd Riah Abu El-Assal, the Anglican Bishop in
Jerusalem, during a dinner with the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem. Dr
Williams visited Israel last week and preached at the Palm Sunday service at
the Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr in Jerusalem.
The text follows:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Even ten years ago, few people would have thought the day would come when
the peace of the world would depend so directly on the peace of Jerusalem.
But for the last few months, with all the suffering and fear they have
brought, it has been so painfully clear that without peace and justice for
all the peoples of the Holy Land there is small hope of lasting
reconciliation in the wider world.

Jesus, says the Apostle, makes peace by the blood of his cross (Col. 1.20).
No one else makes that lasting peace between God and humanity and between
one human community and another. All we say as Christians about peacemaking
must ultimately point us to that deepest and strongest ground for hope, and
we must never cease in our witness to this. But from the work of Jesus we
may also conclude that God's way of peacemaking has something clear to say
to all human attempts at reconciliation.

Peace never comes without cost; so the deepest enemy to peace is always the
spirit of grasping and clinging to what makes us feel safe - while the truth
is that we shall only be safe when others are not frightened of us, when
others do not feel silenced, despised or suffocated by us. Again and again,
we have to return to the question, 'How do we speak to each other words of
hope that will take away the fear?'

Meanwhile, those who love violence continue to keep the wounds open.
Disproportionate, indiscriminate force, applied not only by weaponry but by
constant harassment; the insane butchery of terrorism, dressed up as
heroism - these things serve only to keep the door firmly closed to any hope
of taking away fear.

And now, with the repercussions of military action in Iraq still echoing
around the region, new fears have been aroused in the hearts of many. Yet
Christ says, 'fear not' to his disciples. We can only hear this by taking a
risk; we can only say it in his name by taking a risk. This Easter, we pray,
for the sake of the whole region and the whole world, that those who hold
power may know how to take the risk of giving it away for the sake of
greater peace; and that those who have no power may take the risk of
stepping out of helpless resentment into something new. And we pray very
specially that God will touch the hearts of all our leaders, in the Holy
Land and in the wider world, so that they will feel strong enough for such a
risk. Only so will the power of the resurrection be once again visible among
us.

We are praying specially for Bishop Riah and all other Christian leaders,
that they may continue to be touched with the strength of the Risen Christ,
even in times when despair seems almost unavoidable. We pray too that the
leaders of the great faiths in the region may continue to give steady
witness that violence is not the only option, and may work with passion for
the good of the Land which we all call Holy.

May God stir up in all of you endurance in your sufferings and courage to go
on seeking renewal in justice and peace.

+Rowan CANTUAR

__________________________________
For details about the Enthronement of the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury,
the Most Revd Rowan D Williams, visit http://www.anglicancommunion.org/

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