Episcopal News Service Friday, September 15, 2006
Archbishop of Canterbury expresses renewed concern for Darfur
Williams publishes prayer for September 17
[ENS, Sources: Lambeth Palace, NCC] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has joined other faith leaders in expressing renewed concern for Darfur, Sudan, and has published a prayer for Sunday, September 17, designated as an international Day of Prayer for the region.
Thousands of Americans will gather in cities across the United States on September 17 calling on nations to prevent further genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, while the Save Darfur Coalition is supporting rallies in more than 18 states, the National Council of Churches announced.
A rally in New York's Central Park (East Meadow, 2 p.m. EDT) is planned as the centerpiece of the global day of action. Rallies are also being planned throughout the world.
Information on Sunday's rallies can be found at the SDC website [http://www.savedarfur.org/content] or you can link from www.councilofchurches.org.
Williams reflected on his visit to Sudan earlier this year.
"In my visit to Sudan in March I saw people who had endured so much hatred and harm, and yet with the end of war in the south sought to return home, to rebuild quickly and work again for the future of their families and communities," he said. "It was their faith that sustained them, and the concerted efforts of faith communities, aid agencies and governments together that enabled truce first and then peace to be agreed."
"We do well to reflect on that experience of southern Sudan as we pray for Darfur. We are all under judgment in how we exercise the power we have, whether it is great or small. When in Matthew's gospel the disciples asked Jesus when they visited him in prison, or when they saw him naked or hungry, he replied, "When you clothed, visited and fed the least of your brothers and sisters you did so to me."
"So my prayer as a Christian is that we may live internationally as we seek to live locally: that we are all children of God, with no more or less value in the eyes of God than those whose names and villages we do not know."
Full story and Williams' prayer: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_77854_ENG_HTM.htm
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