1 January 2015 A.D. Need a Sleeping Aid
Tonight? Read ABC Welby’s Press Release for the New Year
Welby, Justin. “Archbishop of
Canterbury’s New Year Message.” Anglican Ink. 1 Jan 2015. http://anglicanink.com/article/archbishop-canterburys-new-year-message.
Accessed 1 Jan 2015.
Archbishop of Canterbury's New Year Message
01 Jan 2015
Author:
Justin Welby
The National Memorial Arboretum
is a place of reflection, remembrance and prayer, dedicated to those who have
served, suffered or sacrificed for this country. To those who are remembered
here, we owe a debt of unspeakable gratitude.
This New Year is
particularly significant, marking the end of one of the longest wars that our
modern services have fought. There is a danger that the sacrifice and suffering
of those caught up in war and disaster will slip from our minds.
Each day brings its
toll of bad news, of disasters inflicted on the innocent by war and disease.
In 2014 we saw so
much of that in the Middle East, in north-east Nigeria, with the persecution of
Christians and other minorities. And in the week before Christmas itself, there
was the horrendous massacre of children in Pakistan.
There is so much
suffering that at the New Year it is tempting to look inwards in despair. But
we are not a country that turns our back on the suffering and the weak and the
helpless.
In the week just
before Christmas I was in Sierra Leone, very briefly. There I saw the result of
British generosity, of aid poured in to support a country torn apart by Ebola,
and the extraordinary dedication of British service personnel, working with
charities, funded by our aid budget.
I saw the profound
heroism of local people dealing with something that none of us understand which
makes lethal the basic instincts of touch and embrace for the sick and the
dying.
The week before
that I was in the South Sudan, and saw again the open-handedness of the British
people who have contributed to a programme that has saved one and a half
million sufferers, war-battered, from starvation.
We are a country
formed in a Christian heritage, which calls us to sacrifice and self-giving, to
open-handedness and hospitality.
In the last year, travelling
all over the world to see Anglican Churches and to meet their leaders, with my
wife, we’ve seen the impact of this country both historically and today.
When we are at our
best, living out the generosity of Jesus Christ, as that has formed itself in
our national character; when we turn outwards and use our best resources to
change this world in which we live; we see what a wonderful heritage we have -
and the hope we can bring to the poorest, and those with the greatest suffering
on the face of our planet.
So what do we hope
for in 2015? My hope and prayer is that we are the kind of country that goes on
looking outwards; that is full of a generous spirit. Because when we’re
generous we find joy and others find comfort and hope.
So may that joy and
comfort be yours in this coming year.
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