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'Don’t Be Content with your faith being a private matter' - Archbishop Neill's Easter address
Preaching at the 11am service in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on Easter Sunday the Archbishop of Dublin the Most Revd Dr John Neill will argue that Christians should not be content for ?faith to be a private matter for people ?who like that sort of thing??. By contrast, he will say ?the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is the event that has significance for every aspect of our lives. We succumb to the secular indifference of the modern world if we limit Easter to an area of personal faith alone.?
Asking ?what sort of Christians are we in Ireland today??, the Archbishop will contrast the ?indifference? or ?relegation of faith to a very private realm? in a secular society to the situation in societies ?which have been, or indeed still are, antagonistic to Christian faith?. He will say ?When I have met and got to know Christians who suffered in the difficult times in the former Soviet Union, I have been humbled by how much they have suffered for their faith. Likewise in China today, it is quite remarkable to meet prominent Christian leaders and church members and discover that many of them have spent years in prison because of their Christian witness. I am reminded of that rather startling question put one time to a congregation, ?If you were accused of being Christian, would there be sufficient evidence to convict you???
Concluding the Archbishop will pray that ?It is in the celebration of Easter however that we can experience once again something of that infectious joy, that sense of purpose and mission to which God calls us. May God, who anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, empower us serve him more effectively. May God, who was with Jesus, be with us to transform us into signs of his power and his love. May the God, who raised Jesus on the third day, raise us to that life which truly is life ? life filled with the life of God himself.?
The full text of the Archbishop?s Easter Sermon follows
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Address by the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr John Neill on Easter Sunday in Christ Church Cathedra,l Dublin
EASTER started out as a very private event ? its significance was not immediately realised in any of the accounts that we have. It left the first witnesses confused as much as joyful, bewildered as much as rejoicing. But Easter did not remain private for very long. Easter quickly came to be seen as the key event for the followers of Jesus of Nazareth. It has since become for those who grasp its significance life-changing in its implications. Easter is the most important day in the year for Christians. Each Sunday is indeed a reminder of its significance. On this day, Jesus was raised.
Easter Day unlike Christmas has never quite caught the public imagination. This may be no bad thing, for today the very popularity of Christmas has often obscured rather than highlighted its meaning.
Easter means little for many in a secular society such as we have in most of Europe today, including in Ireland. The fact that a major national commemoration was arranged on Easter Sunday morning in our capital city simply reflects our changing society.
In a secular society such as we have, there may be little antagonism towards Christian faith. It is more a matter of either indifference, or the relegation of faith to a very private realm, with the underlying assumption that it has very little to do with the real world. This is to be contrasted with those societies which have been, or indeed still are, antagonistic to Christian faith. On a recent visit to China, I was made very aware of the vast growth in the number of Christians, and the manner in which this was being watched with disquiet by the State, where religious freedom was publicly proclaimed, but not widely experienced. A society which is apparently hostile to Christian faith is a society which realises something of its power.
In a secular society, such as we experience, Christians may be comfortable, and feel that nobody really minds them doing their own thing. But what sort of Christians are we in Ireland today? When I have met and got to know Christians who suffered in the difficult times in the former Soviet Union, I have been humbled by how much they have suffered for their faith. Likewise in China today, it is quite remarkable to meet prominent Christian leaders and church members and discover that many of them have spent years in prison because of their Christian witness. I am reminded of that rather startling question put one time to a congregation, ?If you were accused of being Christian, would there be sufficient evidence to convict you??
The affirmation that Christ is raised is not something private that can be shut away in a corner for people who like ?that sort of thing?. The Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is the event that has significance for every aspect of our lives. We succumb to the secular indifference of the modern world if we limit Easter to an area of personal faith alone. The message of the early Church that has been the message of all those who spread good news ever since, is that all that we are and all that we can become is transformed by the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
In the first days of the Church, in the Roman city of Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast, in the house of a centurion, Cornelius, the apostle Peter preached about the significance of Jesus of Nazareth and his Resurrection from the dead. He made three claims about Jesus which are at the very heart of the Gospel, the Good News.
In each of these claims, he shows that God took the initiative ? that everything about Jesus had to do not with any new philosophy or idea, but rather with God?s intervention in the world. In Jesus, the creator of the universe, the one who gives us life and existence, is active in a very special way. Indeed all that God is and wants is focused in this Jesus.
The first claim that Peter makes is that ?God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power?.? (Acts 10:38). The whole ministry of Jesus, healing, teaching, caring, loving are seen as God?s initiative in this world that he made and loves. Jesus is the one in whom the Divine Spirit, Holy Spirit, is powerfully at work. To ignore this Jesus is therefore to miss what God is saying and doing.
The second claim made by Peter is very simple: ?God was with him? ? God was with Jesus of Nazareth. When Jesus is there, God is there. When Jesus reaches out, God is reaching out. This is a very powerful claim, but it is the context in which we make the Easter affirmation.
The third claim made by Peter, to which I point you, follows naturally: ?God raised him on the third day? (Acts 10:40). The Resurrection is God?s activity, present in Jesus from the very start, reaching its natural conclusion. As Peter reminds his listeners ? Jesus was put to death by hanging on a tree, but in God?s purposes that could not be the ending of the story ? God raised him triumphant from the dead. The conclusion of all this is expressed by Peter in a few crisp sentences: ?God commanded us?.. to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead?..everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name?. (Acts 10:43).
Christians shaped by Easter, which is indeed what we are all called to be ? God?s Easter people, are not content for faith to be a private matter for those who like that sort of thing. Easter shows us that God intends that at the centre of our understanding of life stands Jesus. Easter shows us that at the centre of the way that we live life stands Jesus. Easter shows us that we have a message for the world out there that there is no space for us each to make a god of our own choosing, for God has shown that Jesus is the one ordained by him as judge of all humankind ? and that in him is to be found that forgiveness that a broken world so badly needs. Is it possible that we do not take seriously enough the Good News that we celebrate in church today? If we did then secular society might even think it worthwhile to attempt to suppress us. It is very disturbing if they have simply stopped noticing.
It is in the celebration of Easter however that we can experience once again something of that infectious joy, that sense of purpose and mission to which God calls us. May God, who anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, empower us serve him more effectively. May God, who was with Jesus, be with us to transform us into signs of his power and his love. May the God, who raised Jesus on the third day, raise us to that life which truly is life ? life filled with the life of God himself.
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For further information contact:
Mr Garrett Casey,
Diocesan Communications Officer,
Dublin and Glendalough,
Tel: +353 1 6106447
Mob: + 353 87 2356472