Christmas is our present to the rest of the world, says Archbishop. . .
By Ruth Gledhill and Tosin Sulaiman
From The Times
THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, spelt out the meaning of Christmas last night. “Christmas is the Christian’s Christmas present to everybody else,” he said. “Christmas, for a Christian, tells us why people matter.”
Dr Williams was speaking at a ceremony opposite the Old Vic theatre in South London to switch on the Christmas lights for Lambeth Council.
Lambeth was the first council this year to get caught up in the annual “Christmas is banned” news story, the religious equivalent of the perennial winter weather story. For fear of offending ethnic minorities, council officials had decreed last month that the lights should not be Christmas lights but “winter lights” and “celebrity lights”.
They were hastily switched back to Christmas lights after Christian councillors on Lambeth Council objected. Just to make sure that the rest of the world noticed that Christmas was not after all banned in Lambeth, the borough’s most eminent Christian resident was persuaded to join Kevin Spacey, the artistic director of the Old Vic, in switching them on.
Speaking after the Morely College Can’t Sing Choir had performed Christmas carols, Dr Williams said: “You’ve probably noticed that there has been quite a lot of fuss in the papers about Lambeth and Christmas. If you haven’t, I don’t know which papers you’ve been reading, but here is what I want to say about that.”
Christmas, he said, was the Christian community’s gift to the world, symbolising why people mattered. “They matter because God took us seriously — seriously enough to get involved with our lives, to suffer with us and change things. That is what I believe. That is what Christians believe and Christmas exists because of that belief.
“You may or may not believe that. You may think people matter for other reasons, but never mind. That is what we are saying and that is our present. That is our gift to the rest of the world.”
Speaking on World Aids Day, he asked his audience to think of people with Aids and HIV. He also asked them to remember those who are under threat in Pakistan, from where he has just returned after a week-long visit.
Speaking of the earthquake victims, he said: “As winter draws on we are all very, very conscious of what is happening over there. We are conscious of the danger to children, to old people, actually to nearly everybody there because of the cold and the likelihood of more deaths. Again, we are remembering [that] people matter over there.”
He described local examples of society’s care for those in need. “At the back of our garden in Lambeth Palace [we] can look across at St Thomas’ Hospital at the new children’s wing there, which is so tremendously well-designed. Go round the corner and you can visit Surestart in Lambeth and see what is being done for kids there. People matter.”
He continued: “I have got an answer, I think, to why they matter. It may or may not be yours, but I am glad to be able to share it with you on behalf of the Church. I am glad to be here and to wish you all the very best, and the most blessed Christmas you could possibly have, because you matter too.”
Dr Williams was asked to bless members of the crowd.
Chico's comment: Yes, yes come one come all to receive this free gift. Meet your Creator, learn how to live life to the fullest, come to a place where all human life is valued, where new converts will not be asked to blow people up.
By Ruth Gledhill and Tosin Sulaiman
From The Times
THE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, spelt out the meaning of Christmas last night. “Christmas is the Christian’s Christmas present to everybody else,” he said. “Christmas, for a Christian, tells us why people matter.”
Dr Williams was speaking at a ceremony opposite the Old Vic theatre in South London to switch on the Christmas lights for Lambeth Council.
Lambeth was the first council this year to get caught up in the annual “Christmas is banned” news story, the religious equivalent of the perennial winter weather story. For fear of offending ethnic minorities, council officials had decreed last month that the lights should not be Christmas lights but “winter lights” and “celebrity lights”.
They were hastily switched back to Christmas lights after Christian councillors on Lambeth Council objected. Just to make sure that the rest of the world noticed that Christmas was not after all banned in Lambeth, the borough’s most eminent Christian resident was persuaded to join Kevin Spacey, the artistic director of the Old Vic, in switching them on.
Speaking after the Morely College Can’t Sing Choir had performed Christmas carols, Dr Williams said: “You’ve probably noticed that there has been quite a lot of fuss in the papers about Lambeth and Christmas. If you haven’t, I don’t know which papers you’ve been reading, but here is what I want to say about that.”
Christmas, he said, was the Christian community’s gift to the world, symbolising why people mattered. “They matter because God took us seriously — seriously enough to get involved with our lives, to suffer with us and change things. That is what I believe. That is what Christians believe and Christmas exists because of that belief.
“You may or may not believe that. You may think people matter for other reasons, but never mind. That is what we are saying and that is our present. That is our gift to the rest of the world.”
Speaking on World Aids Day, he asked his audience to think of people with Aids and HIV. He also asked them to remember those who are under threat in Pakistan, from where he has just returned after a week-long visit.
Speaking of the earthquake victims, he said: “As winter draws on we are all very, very conscious of what is happening over there. We are conscious of the danger to children, to old people, actually to nearly everybody there because of the cold and the likelihood of more deaths. Again, we are remembering [that] people matter over there.”
He described local examples of society’s care for those in need. “At the back of our garden in Lambeth Palace [we] can look across at St Thomas’ Hospital at the new children’s wing there, which is so tremendously well-designed. Go round the corner and you can visit Surestart in Lambeth and see what is being done for kids there. People matter.”
He continued: “I have got an answer, I think, to why they matter. It may or may not be yours, but I am glad to be able to share it with you on behalf of the Church. I am glad to be here and to wish you all the very best, and the most blessed Christmas you could possibly have, because you matter too.”
Dr Williams was asked to bless members of the crowd.
Chico's comment: Yes, yes come one come all to receive this free gift. Meet your Creator, learn how to live life to the fullest, come to a place where all human life is valued, where new converts will not be asked to blow people up.
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