wfn.org | Archbishop of Canterbury - Christians need to "witness boldly and clearly"

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Archbishop of Canterbury - Christians need to "witness boldly and clearly"

Posted On : March 31, 2010 11:49 AM | Posted By : Webmaster
ACNS: http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2010/3/31/ACNS4696
Related Categories: Lambeth

In his ecumenical Easter Letter to fellow church leaders, the Archbishop of 
Canterbury urges those living in politically secure environments to offer 
practical support as well as prayers for suffering Christians around the world, 
particularly in Zimbabwe, Mosul, Egypt and Nigeria:

?We need to keep our own fears in perspective. It is all too easy to become 
consumed with anxiety about the future of the Church and society. We need to 
need to witness boldly and clearly but not with anger or fear; we need to show 
that we believe what we say about the Lordship of the Risen Christ and his 
faithfulness to the world he came to redeem?

> Full text of the letter:

When St John tells us that the disciples met behind locked doors on the first 
Easter Day (John 20.19), he reminds us that being associated with Jesus Christ 
has never been easy or safe. Today this is evident in a wide variety of 
situations ? whether in the terrible communal violence afflicting parts of 
Nigeria, in the butchery and intimidation of Christians in Mosul in recent 
weeks, in the attacks on the Coptic faithful in Egypt, or in the continuing 
harassment of Anglican congregations in Zimbabwe. As we mark the thirtieth 
anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador, we 
acknowledge that Christians will never be safe in a world of injustice and 
mindless fear, because Christians will always stand, as did Archbishop Romero, 
for the hope of a different world, in which the powerful have to let go of 
privilege and rediscover themselves as servants, and the poor are lifted up 
into joy and liberty.

This hope is rooted in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. His rising from the 
dead shows the world that death does not have the last word ? whether the death 
of love, the death of security, even physical death itself. On the first day of 
the week, the first day of the new creation, God walks once again in the garden 
and begins to re-shape the whole world of our experience and our possibilities; 
the Second Adam wakes under the tree of the cross and promises fresh life, 
freedom and forgiveness, to the entire human world.

Wherever fear prevails, this promise will be seen as dangerous. But people 
still have the courage to identify themselves as Christians because they know 
that the resurrection demonstrates that Jesus is beyond all human power and 
violence, that ?all authority in heaven and on earth? is given to him (Matthew 
28.18). The Christian may suffer and die witnessing to this truth, but death 
itself cannot extinguish the abiding power of Christ to transform and renew; 
the martyr knows this and fixes his or her eyes on that joyful vision.

We who live in more comfortable environments need to bear two things in mind. 
One is that fellow-Christians under pressure, living daily with threats and 
murders, need our prayers and tangible support ? by personal contact, by 
continually reminding our governments and media of these things. To a Christian 
experiencing these threats, it matters more than most of us could imagine 
simply to know that they are not alone and not forgotten. But the second point 
to remember is that we need to keep our own fears in perspective. It is all too 
easy, even in comfortable and relatively peaceful societies, for us to become 
consumed with anxiety about the future of Church and society. We need to 
witness boldly and clearly but not with anger and fear; we need to show that we 
believe what we say about the Lordship of the Risen Christ and his faithfulness 
to the world he came to redeem.

The world will not be saved by fear, but by hope and joy. The miracle of the 
joy shown by martyrs and confessors of the faith is one of the most compelling 
testimonies to the gospel of Jesus. In whatever way we can, we must seek to 
communicate this joy, however dark or uncertain the sky seems. All authority 
belongs to Jesus, and into his wounded hands is placed the future of all things 
in heaven and earth. To him be glory for ever.

> Rowan Cantuar: +

> ENDS