SENTAMU CALLS FOR GENEROSITY TO CHANGE SELF-ABSORBED SOCIETY
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/5006

By staff writers
9 Apr 2007

The Anglican Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has used his Easter
Day message, prayers for missing BBC Gaza journalist Alan Johnston,
and an article in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper to encourage
Christians to "celebrate life" in their words and actions.

The archbishop, who last week decried the church's obsession with
homosexuality and said that acts of generosity were needed to
redirect a self-absorbed society, also spoke out for those seeking
freedom in Zimbabwe - drawing upon his own experience under the
tyranny of former doctator Idi Amin in Uganda.

In his newspaper article this weekend, he declared: "The reality of
faith is the reality of love. You can't smell, touch, taste or hear
love, but you can see its effects in the acts born from it, in the
relationships built upon it, the art inspired by it and in the lives
transformed by its goodness. So it is with faith. The reality of
faith is visible in those millions of daily acts of kindness and love
that are borne from it. Acts done not in self-interest, not as a down
payment for a ticket to the life eternal. These are the selfless,
costly, grace-filled, Christ-inspired acts that make our lives richer
than that of any number of lottery winners."

Dr Sentamu continued: "In Christ we see the ultimate expression of a
love turned outwards, facing the whole of humanity in a self-giving
act made real on the Cross. The challenge is in our response to this
act: whether to also turn our love outwards to the world or to turn
love in on itself, to become self-obsessed. The aria of "Me! Me!"
and "I! I!" has become the most unattractive opera of our time. It is
a sad paradox borne of the "me" generation that those who turn their
love in on themselves are often also the unhappiest."

The Archbishop, who has claimed that an aggressive form of secularism
is quenching spiritual values in wider society, also highlighted the
plight of the young in an intense consumer environment.

"Coerced by the culture around them, our young people in particular
are at risk of becoming spiritually empty vessels, transfixed by a
drug-induced narcissism. The beauty industry that turns our teenagers
into anorexics, where a perversion of physical perfection is more
important than health; our celebrity-obsessed media that elevates
notoriety above worth, and the unending pursuit of wealth, while our
children rank among the unhappiest in Europe: these are some of the
symptoms of a society that needs to re-discover the beauty of the
mystical and the joy of the spiritual."

He coninued: "Make no mistake. Inviting God into your life means
being open to the possibility of renewal and change. Sometimes this
can be costly. As the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Zimbabwe has
recently reminded us, faith contains an imperative to challenge
injustice and dictatorship. In the words of Archbishop Oscar Romero –
gunned down whilst celebrating mass – 'Peace will flower when love
and justice pervade our environment'."

Dr Sentamu often wears a cross crafted by communities in El Salvador,
where Romero was killed by a death squad as he celebrated a pre-
Easter Mass in 1980.

He concluded his Telegraph article: "The Cross and the Resurrection
show us that the call, the invitation of God, powerfully present in
Jesus Christ, cannot be silenced by anything. Easter is a call to
accept God's invitation to become one of his friends."