wfn.org | ACNS Archbishop - Solomon Islanders' choice between bitterness

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

ACNS 3858     |     MELANESIA	  |	26 JULY 2004

Archbishop - Solomon Islanders' choice between bitterness and love

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Rowan Williams, on an
eight-day visit to the Solomon Islands, has urged islanders to become a
model of reconciliation for the wider world. In an address broadcast
live in the Solomon Islands and delivered to more than six thousand
people gathered for an ecumenical service in a football stadium in the
capital, Honiara, Dr Williams praised the role of the churches following
extensive inter-communal unrest, and challenged the islanders to use the
experience of their suffering to help others.

"This nation has been through great and real suffering. People have
known division, uncertainty and fear; some have been uprooted and many
have felt that they do not know where to look for guidance. But by God's
good grace and by the faithful witness of Christians from many
traditions in this place, people have begun to see the hope that God
holds out," he said.

"A history of suffering and division, need not teach us to be bitter; we
can let God use it so that there may be restoration. Whenever we carry
our cross, when we accept and use our suffering for the glory of God to
make peace with others, then the world begins to change."

Earlier Dr Williams spent time with members of an Anglican religious
community, the Melanesian Brotherhood in Tabalia. He preached at a
service of Holy Communion and led prayers at the graves of the seven
brothers from the order who were killed in the Islands' conflict. Dr
Williams planted a tree at the gravesite in commemoration.

Dr Williams was sworn in as a Companion of the Melanesian Brotherhood.
Companions commit themselves to support the order, especially in prayer.

www.archbishopofcanterbury.org

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