ACNS 4136 | ACO | 20 APRIL 2006
Toronto Cathedral Brings Easter to the Web
Historic Saint James' Cathedral in Toronto was the first Anglican church in Canada to show a live webcast of its Easter Day liturgy on the web. The webcast was also available for viewing after the service.
As of April 18, over 1000 people from around the world have watched the webcast and the numbers are continuing to grow. The webcast begins with an introduction to St. James' Cathedral, followed by the service. The Choral Eucharist service, which was attended by about 900 people, includes music by the Cathedral's Men and Boys Choir, a sermon by the Very Revd Douglas Stoute, Dean of Saint James, and a ringing of the Bells of Old York, the only full set of 12 change-ringing bells in North America.
"The quality of the webcast is superb and the elegance, warmth, and beauty of liturgy and music makes one proud of our incredible Anglican tradition," said Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications for the Anglican Communion, after viewing the webcast in London. "This shows how the new technology of today can assist us in our gospel proclamation," he said.
Other Anglican churches and cathedrals such as Trinity Church Wall Street, New York, Usa and Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, USA, offer their services on the web each week.
Easter Messages from around the Communion
Easter Day Sermon at Canterbury Cathedral- England
Sunday 16th April 2006
One of the ways in which we now celebrate the great Christian festivals in our society is by a little flurry of newspaper articles and television programmes raking over the coals of controversies about the historical basis of faith. So it was no huge surprise to see a fair bit of coverage given a couple of weeks ago to the discovery of a 'Gospel of Judas', which was (naturally) going to shake the foundations of traditional belief by giving an alternative version of the story of the passion and resurrection. Never mind that this is a demonstrably late text which simply parallels a large number of quite well-known works from the more eccentric fringes of the early century Church; this is a scoop, the real, 'now it can be told' version of the origins of Christian faith.
You'll recognise the style, of course, from the saturation coverage of the Da Vinci Code literature. We are instantly fascinated by the suggestion of conspiracies and cover-ups; this has become so much the stuff of our imagination these days that it is only natural, it seems, to expect it when we turn to ancient texts, especially biblical texts. We treat them as if they were unconvincing press releases from some official source, whose intention is to conceal the real story; and that real story waits for the intrepid investigator to uncover it and share it with the waiting world. Anything that looks like the official version is automatically suspect. Someone is trying to stop you finding out what really happened, because what really happened could upset or challenge the power of officialdom.
It all makes a good and characteristically 'modern' story - about resisting authority, bringing secrets to light, exposing corruption and deception; it evokes Watergate and All the President's Men. As someone remarked after a television programme about the Da Vinci Code, it's almost that we'd prefer to believe something like this instead of the prosaic reality. We have become so suspicious of the power of words and the way that power is exercised to defend those who fear to be criticised. The first assumption we make is that we're faced with spin of some kind, with an agenda being forced on us - like a magician forcing a card on the audience. So that the modern response to the proclamation, 'Christ is risen!' is likely to be, 'Ah, but you would say that, wouldn't you? Now, what's the real agenda?'
We don't trust power; and because the Church has historically been part of one or another sort of establishment and has often stood very close to political power, perhaps we can hardly expect to be exempt from this general suspicion. But what it doesn't help us with is understanding what the New Testament writers are actually saying and why. We have, every Easter, to strip away the accumulated lumber of two thousand years of rather uneven Christian witness and try to let the event be present in its first, disturbing, immediacy.
For the Church does not exist just to transmit a message across the centuries through a duly constituted hierarchy that arbitrarily lays down what people must believe; it exists so that people in this and every century may encounter Jesus of Nazareth as a living contemporary. This sacrament of Holy Communion that we gather to perform here is not the memorial of a dead leader, conducted by one of his duly authorised successors who controls access to his legacy; it is an event where we are invited to meet the living Jesus as surely as did his disciples on the first Easter Day. And the Bible is not the authorised code of a society managed by priests and preachers for their private purposes, but the set of human words through which the call of God is still uniquely immediate to human beings today, human words with divine energy behind them. Easter should be the moment to recover each year that sense of being contemporary with God's action in Jesus. Everything the church does - celebrating Holy Communion, reading the Bible, ordaining priests or archbishops - is meant to be in the service of this contemporary encounter. It all ought to be transparent to Jesus, not holding back or veiling his presence.
Yes, the sceptic will say, all very well, but why on earth should I believe that? Especially when it comes from the mouth of a figure who clearly has a bit of a vested interest in getting me to believe it, or from an institution that doesn't always look like a model of transparency? Well, all any preacher can do is point to how the text of the New Testament actually works. Two points at least are worth bearing in mind. First, it was written by people who, by writing what they did and believing what they did, were making themselves, in the world's terms, less powerful, not more. They were walking out into an unmapped territory, away from the safe places of political and religious influence, away from traditional Jewish religion and from Roman society and law. As the gospels and Paul's letters and the difficult, enigmatic letter 'to the Hebrews' all agree, they were putting themselves in a place where they shred the humiliation experienced by condemned criminals going naked in public procession to their execution.
Second, the New Testament was written by people who were still trying to find a language that would catch up with a reality bigger than they had expected. The stories of the resurrection especially have all the characteristics of stories told by people who are struggling to find the right words for an unfamiliar experience - like the paradoxes and strained language of some of the mystics. The disciples really meet Jesus, as he always was, flesh and blood - yet at first they don't recognise him, and he's something more than just flesh and blood. At the moment of recognition, when bread is broken, when the wounds of crucifixion are displayed, he withdraws again, leaving us floundering for words. He gives authority and power to the disciples to proclaim his victory and to forgive sins in his name, yet he tells Peter that his future is one in which he will be trussed up and imprisoned and hustled away to death.
So the New Testament is not a collection of books with a single tight agenda that works on behalf of a powerful elite; it is the product of a community of people living at great risk and doing so because they sense themselves compelled by a mystery and presence that is completely authoritative for them - the presence of Jesus. They have been convinced that being in the company of Jesus is the way to become fully and effectively human. They are discovering how to live together without greed, fear and suspicion because of his company. They believe that they've been given the gift of showing the world what justice and mutual service and gratitude might look like in a world that is a very dangerous place because of our incapacity for these things. They take the risks because they believe they have been entrusted with a promise.
Whatever this is, it is not about cover-ups, not about the secret agenda of power; it may be nonsense to you, it may be unreal to you, but don't be deceived about the nature of the message and those who lived it out in the days when the New Testament was being written. And that's why if we want to know what it is about today, we need to turn to the people who are taking the same risks, struggling with the same mystery. We need to look at the martyrs and the mystics. There are still those who tell us about God in Jesus Christ by lives of intense and mostly wordless prayer; how very powerfully God was to be seen in last year's extraordinary television series, 'The Monastery', where we saw some very ordinary human beings faced with the demands of a life in which you had to be truthful, where you had to be silent, where you had to search for reconciliation at all costs. But still more important, there are those who tell us about God in Jesus Christ by putting their lives at risk. There are places in our world where conversion to Christianity is literally a matter of putting your life on the line; we have all been following with agonised attention the story of Abdul Rahman in Afghanistan, and we know that his story is not unique. We can say there with absolute certainty that whatever the gospel means in circumstances like that, it isn't a cover-up for the sake of the powerful.
But there are also places where what brings down the violence and the murderousness is simply a willingness to make reconciliation real. Nearly three years ago, during the bloody civil war in the Solomon Islands, a major part was played in peacemaking by the local Anglican religious order known as the Melanesian Brotherhood, a community of local men committed to a common discipline of praying and teaching and spreading the gospel as they travel round the villages by drama and song and preaching. Seven of them were held hostage and killed in cold blood by a rebel group. The shock of that act of gratuitous butchery jolted almost everyone involved into beginning a peace process; the brothers continue to be involved at every level in that work.
Last summer, a number of the brothers visited England, taking their songs and their drama into churches and schools in a number of areas. Everyone who has seen them at work will remember it all their lives. One of the things they did was to perform a passion play; and this is what one of them wrote about it.
'This passion was our own testimony to our seven brothers who were murdered in 2003. For Christ-like they became the innocent victims of the violence they had worked so hard to stop. They were beaten and mocked and tortured and recorded on tape recorders in the sickening mockery of a trial before their murderers...They were put to death for the sins of the people. And they live on. I wish I could show you these men and their goodness and their innocence. And when we see real evil we must recognise it too: the opposition, the true sin of our world where brutality of this nature becomes a cause to be justified."
'Our story of the Passion of Christ took place 2,000 years ago but it is still taking place throughout our world today. But we have been changed. We did not travel from the other side of the world to preach a death but to preach a resurrection. For we know where we stand and we know who we belong to. And we believe there is a choice in all this, a choice to belong to the life giver.'
'We know where we stand and we know who we belong to'. Beyond all the history of confusion and betrayal that surrounds a lot of the Church's history, beyond the power games that we still play in the churches, this one rocklike conviction remains, the conviction that drove the writing of every word of the New Testament. Nothing to do with conspiracies, with the agenda of the powerful; everything to do with how the powerless, praying , risking their lives for the sake of Christ and his peace, are the ones who understand the Word of God. And to accept that is not to sign up to the agenda of a troubled, fussy human society of worried prelates and squabbling factions. It is to choose life, to choose to belong to the life-giver.
(c) Rowan Williams 2006
Easter Message from the Archbishop of the Church of the Province of Uganda
Why Empty is Good!
When we are told the water tank for the Archbishop's Palace is empty (which it often is!), we say, "That is not good." When my wife, Mama Phoebe, discovers that the food store is empty, we say, "That is not good." When my driver tells me that the fuel tank in my vehicle is empty, I say, "That is not good."
If you are like me, most of our associations with the word 'empty' are negative. We think, "empty is bad, and full is good."
Yet, Easter challenges that assumption, because it is an empty cross and an empty tomb that are central to our faith. The resurrec-tion from the dead of Jesus Christ sets him apart from all other human beings throughout history and especially all other religious teachers. Buddha is dead. Confucius is dead. Mohammed is dead. Jesus and Jesus alone has returned from the grave, never to die again. Jesus is alive today! Empty is good!
Death is the most destructive force in the world and no one else in the whole world except Jesus has overcome death by rising from the dead! That means that those who are "in Christ" can also overcome death and all the other destructive forces at work in the world today. In Christ, we can have victory over negative attitudes, over self-destructive behaviours and habits, over hurtful experiences, over damaging relationships, and over devastating circumstances. Empty is good!
We are not powerless to deal with these issues in our lives! Jesus has conquered death; He is victorious. And, through Him, we too can be conquerors and victorious.
Are you strugglingwith anger? Through Jesus, you can conquer anger and be victorious! Are you struggling with alcohol? Through Jesus, you can conquer alcohol and be victorious! Are you struggling with lust? Through Jesus, you can conquer lust and be victorious! Are you struggling with envy or jealousy? Through Jesus, you can conquer envy and jealousy and be victorious! Are you struggling with feeling inferior to others? Through Jesus, you can conquer inferiority and be victorious! Are you struggling with fear? Through Jesus, you can conquer fear and be victorious! Are you struggling with pride and arrogance? Through Jesus, you can conquer pride and arrogance and be victorious! The empty cross and the empty tomb are good! Jesus "is not here; he is risen!" (Luke 24.6)
As a country we struggle with resolving regional conflicts, especially in the north and northeast. But, through Jesus, we can be victorious over conflict and be the inheritors of peace. I call upon the LRA to stop shedding innocent blood. Lay down your guns and come back home to peaceful living and build a unified Uganda. I call upon cattle raiders to lay down your weapons and let Jesus turn your "swords into plowshares." (Micah 4.3) Through Jesus, together we can all be victorious.
As a country we struggle because our children die prematurely from easily preventable diseases. But, through Jesus, we can be victorious over premature death. I call upon all families to build and use pit latrines or toilets, to boil all drinking water, and to observe good principles of personal hygiene and community sanitation. Through Jesus, we can be victorious!
As a country we struggle with changing weather patterns, which cause drought and lead to untold human suffering and pain. But, through Jesus, we can be victorious. I call upon every village and community to start planting trees and to pray daily for rain to replenish our lakes and our land. Through Jesus, we can be victorious!
As a country we struggle with debilitating diseases like HIV/AIDS, high blood pressure, and diabetes. But, through Jesus, we can be victorious. I call upon every man, woman and child in Uganda to abstain from sex before marriage and to be faithful to one partner in marriage. I urge every cook in every family to prepare low-fat, low-salt, and low-sugar meals with lots of vegetables and fruits. Through Jesus, we can be victorious!
As a country we struggle with low self-esteem. But, through Jesus, we can be victorious. I call upon every Ugandan to open your eyes, your mind, and your heart to see the wealth of natural resources God has given to Uganda - fertile soil, natural beauty, lakes, mountains, plains, temperate climate, minerals, and hospitable and hard-working people. We have been given much, and Jesus said, "To whom much has been given, much will be required." Through Jesus, we will be victorious!
We send greetings to the President of Uganda, H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, both new and returning Members of Parliament, all other newly elected officials, and all the people of God in Uganda.
I wish you all a joyful Easter full of personal and national victory through Jesus. The cross is empty and the tomb is empty. Why? Because Jesus has conquered sin and death and been found victorious. Through Jesus, we, too, can conquer our personal and national struggles and be found victorious! Empty is good. Happy Easter!
The Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi Archbishop of the Church of Uganda.
Extract from Archbishop of Ireland's Easter Sermon St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh
"Two pictures dominate the Christian experience of Good Friday and Easter Day. From the Cross at Calvary Jesus spoke words of forgiveness. Central to the Resurrection on this day is hope.
Those two words are the core of the Easter experience for those who are rightly called 'the Easter people'.
But those words are central to the Christian Easter today. Forgiveness is bound up in the hope of the Resurrection.
Despite all the difficulties and set-backs things are changing in Northern Ireland. There is hope as we see what was unimaginable even a few years ago becoming a reality. But true reconciliation cannot be enforced. Forgiveness is part of reconciliation. Forgiveness demands much - in fact too much for some. But understanding encompasses both hope and openness to each other. In that process we as a community can and must move on. The Resurrection experience demands nothing less..."
Easter Message from the Primate of the Church of Nigeria
My dear People of God,
Living the Resurrected life
Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ who overcame death through the endurance of the cross, that we may henceforth live a new life to the glory of God Almighty.
Having been enabled by God to meditate on the passion of our Lord during the holy season of lent, it is hoped that the lessons of love, perseverance, humility, and absolute trust and dependence upon God have been learnt.
As we celebrate Easter, we write to encourage you to meditate on the resurrection message. There is a need to appropriate and apply its lessons to ourselves; else, Easter is devoid of its true meaning.
By the death of Christ, we learn to let go of all our claims to power and glory, humbly submitting to the will of God. In his burial, we are to put far away from us all the sins and weights which so easily beset us, such that in the resurrection, we will be raised to new life of peace, joy and the love of Christ.
Beyond the resurrection, we must continue to pray for our nation that God will raise us up from the abyss of religious commercialisation and intolerance, economic and financial manipulations, all fraudulent practices as well as wicked political calculations and permutations.
May God raise us all up to sit with him in the heavenly realms. Amen.
The Grace of God be with you.
Signed Most Revd Peter J. Akinola DD, CON. Primate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion); National President Christian Association of Nigeria.
Easter Message from the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the
USA
Alleluia! Our Easter song is more than a word. It is, as St. Augustine tells us, a way of being "from head to toe."
Christ rises in every particle of our being and through baptism we are part of him: limbs and members of his risen body and ministers of his deathless, reckless reconciling love.
May we be given the grace to embody our Easter song for the sake of the world.
Frank T. Griswold
An Easter message from the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
As we move through this holiest of weeks towards the victory of the cross, I greet you in the name of the Risen Christ.
In February this year, with 12 other Canadian Anglicans, I attended the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches. It was held in Latin America for the first time (in Brazil) bringing together 4,000 Christians from more than 350 churches, along with observers and interfaith partners. The theme, and the prayer, of the Assembly was God in Your Grace Transform the World.
Stories from every part of the church gave witness to the transforming love of God in the living Christ. Stories of hardship, suffering, sacrifice and even martyrdom gave evidence of the servant Christ walking the way of this Holy Week among his people. He continues to accept the consequences of human brokenness and sin to the point of death on the cross, and in that sacrifice offers forgiveness to all who will receive it. "He is wounded by our transgressions, and by his stripes we are healed." As we move more intentionally into that reality once again, pray for yourself, pray for the Church, and pray for the world.
Easter breaks upon us with the new light, life and hope that transformed the disciples, and is Christ's gift to the church forevermore. May the victory of the Risen Christ bless you and your household, bless his family the church, transform the world for which he gave himself, and make us agents of that transformation.
Yours faithfully, Andrew S. Hutchison Archbishop and Primate
Extract from Archbishop of Wales's Easter Sermon at Llandaff Cathedral
Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Alleluia. He snatches victory from the jaws of defeat and despair and death and suffering can just be swept aside. And that view of things chimes in with our world for, when it comes to stories, most people apparently prefer happy endings.
Jesus died a terrible and gruesome death. He himself knew how awful it might be and so asked God to spare him and when he died he cried out to God in desolation and asked him why he had forsaken him. The resurrection does not reverse all that or wipe it out as if it hadn't happened. The resurrection isn't just the next stage in the story of Jesus as if one could forget everything leading up to it, for to view it like that is to trivialise his death and indeed his life because he died because of the kind of life he lived.
What happens at the resurrection is, as someone put it that, 'God embraces all that Jesus has been, the whole story that stretches from birth to the cross, and gives it meaning'. And the significance of the resurrection of Jesus for us is not about forgetting everything that has gone on before but rather a gathering up of all that we have and are into the infinite possibilities of God's own life, love and future. The resurrection does not deny the tragedy - but transfigures and transforms it. It was the resurrection of Jesus, that gives us hope because God endorses his values and his way of living.
The resurrection of Jesus however is God's seal of approval on the life and values of Jesus - the life of vulnerability, compassion, love, service to his fellow human beings and to God - which is why of course he suffered and was put to death. The eternal God is like Jesus who sought and embraced the weak and the lost. Those who had been ostracised socially, religiously, morally, physically - were invited by him, to his table. All those rejects of society - losers if you like, Jesus touched and embraced and endorsed in the name of God, and those values were endorsed by God at the resurrection.
And that is why resurrection is not the end of the story but the beginning. If you and I are in Christ and are members of his body then his values too have to be our values and we know, do we not, that most of the time we fail to live by them. Resurrection is primarily not just about life with God beyond this one after death - a happy ending after all. It is about trying to live out the life and values of God in our everyday lives now as Jesus' followers and disciples. For if the values of Jesus are the values of the kingdom, we need to try to live by them now.
We need to show now that we have been raised with Christ or else resurrection is just a doctrine we say we believe in with our lips but has no effect on the way we live out our lives. People need to begin to see meaning in our words when we say we believe in the resurrection of Jesus - for to believe in the resurrection of Jesus is to be committed to the values of Jesus.
Most Rev Dr Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales
___________________________________________________________________ ACNSlist, published by Anglican Communion News Service, London, is distributed to more than 8,000 journalists and other readers around the world.
For subscription INFORMATION please go to:
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/acnslist.html