The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, challenged people in his Easter sermon on Sunday to accept the inevitability of death but also to receive the newness of life after death that only God can give.
“Celebrating Easter is celebrating the creator - celebrating the God whose self-giving purpose is never cancelled and who is always free to go on giving himself to those he has called,” he said.
“And resurrection for us is that renewed call: when we have fallen silent, when we no longer have any freedom to respond or develop, God's word comes to us again and we live.”
He pointed to a culture in which the thought of death had become “too painful to manage”.
“Individuals live in anxious and acquisitive ways, seizing what they can to provide a security that is bound to dissolve, because they are going to die. Societies or nations do the same.”
Dr Williams challenged people to instead believe in the promise of Jesus of eternal life and not to settle with the conviction that death is the end.
“We must prepare for [death] as people of faith by daily seeking to let go of selfish, controlling, greedy habits, so that our naked souls are left face to face with the creating God.
“If we are prepared to accept in trust what Jesus proclaims, we can ask God for courage to embark on this path.
“We don't hope for survival but for re-creation - because God is who he is, who he has shown himself to be in Jesus Christ.”
He added, “Death is real; death is overcome.”
The Pope, meanwhile, called for an end to injustice, hatred and violence around the world and particularly in Tibet, Iraq and Darfur in his twice-yearly "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message delivered after Easter Mass.
