'Carry Jesus', Archbishop tells believers
by Jennifer Gold
Posted: Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 11:02 (BST)
The Archbishop of Canterbury told believers on Tuesday to carry Jesus with them wherever they go so that those they encounter will taste the joy that comes through meeting the Lord.
Dr Rowan Williams made the comments in a sermon delivered at Lourdes as part of the Roman Catholic Church's celebrations marking 150 years since a peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous, said she saw apparitions of the Virgin Mary there.
He said in his sermon that true mission was marked by a readiness "to be surprised by God".
"Bernardette's neighbours and teachers and parish clergy knew all they thought they needed to know about the Mother of God - and they needed to be surprised by this inarticulate, powerless, marginal teenager who had leapt up in the joy of recognition to meet Mary as her mother, her sister, bearer of her Lord and Redeemer," he said.
"Our prayer here must be that, renewed and surprised in this holy place, we may be given the overshadowing strength of the Spirit to carry Jesus wherever we go, in the hope that joy will leap from heart to heart in all our human encounters, and that we may also be given courage to look and listen for that joy in our own depths when the clarity of the good news seems far away and the sky is cloudy."
Dr Williams encouraged Christians not to give up in their task of carrying Jesus, saying that their encounters with non-believers would bring about a "movement of life and joy".
"And if we are faithful in thus carrying Christ with us, something will happen, some current will stir and those we are with will feel, perhaps well below the conscious surface, a movement of life and joy which they may not understand at all," he said.
"And we may never see it or know about it; people may not even connect it with us, yet it will be there - because Jesus speaks always to what is buried in the heart of men and women, the destiny they were made for. Whether they know it or not, there is that within them which is turned towards him.
"Keep on carrying Jesus and don't despair: mission will happen, in spite of all, because God in Christ has begun his journey into the heart."
Dr Williams told believers that the story of Mary's encounter with Elizabeth demonstrated the way in which Jesus is always constantly and silently at work in his followers as well as those yet to recognise him, "seeking out what is deepest in us, to touch the heart of our joy and hope."
He urged them to remember "Christ who is at work unknown and silent, reaching out to the deeply buried heart of each person and making the connection; living faithfully at the heart of the church itself, in the middle of its disasters and betrayals and confusions, still giving himself without reserve".
Copyright © 2009 Christian Today. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The comments below are readers' personal opinions and are in no way intended to reflect the editorial opinion of Christian Today.
Added: Thursday, September 25, 2008, 21:41 (BST)
Just what is going on here??
The Archbishop is at Lourdes acclaiming the 'visitation' of a being calling herself 'Mary, Mother of God/Jesus', and is declared by the RCC as the 'Queen of Heaven' - the very same title that Semiramis took, the wife of Nimrod - who set up the first one world government and religion, and built the Tower of Babel, with it's inevitable results - who was his witch-queen and set herself up as the mother of the reincarnation of her dead husband (later Isis and Osiris), in her son, Tammud, and required, upon pain of death, for all people to worship him as the 'son of god'!! (Satan's idea of heaven, and coming soon!)
Despite their denials, the RCC still encourages people to pray to HER! This is to ask her to intercede to an 'angry Jesus' (who wants to punish us for our sinfulness) for us, as He does not have, apparently, any shred of humanity, and cannot now understand our condition.
This does not gibe with what both Scripture states, and the what the core of the Gospels is all about.
So why is the Archbishop of Canterbury, a defender of Protestant tenets, of which Wycliffe and his peers died for, in denying the assertations of the RCC, acknowledging this obvious lie and heresy? This sort of issue may cause as much damage to the CofE as the homosexuality issue has done.
However, 'Carrying Jesus' is a good and right concept for Christians of ANY denomination to do, but consider this - as a committed Christian, infilled by the Holy Spirit, we ALREADY carry the essence of the Living Christ within us. We need to acknowledge that fact each day - it's what the Bible teaches. And by His Power, we live each day presenting the Living Christ to the world in all we do, like the disciples, Paul and the other apostles did in Acts.
We do this despite the fact that we are still stuck with our fallen natures. Only Yeshua was the Perfect Person, the only true sacrifice acceptable to God, on our behalf, and offers the free gift of salvation with no strings attached. No other person was, or is, since Adam, and he screwed up!
Paul writes about the dichotomy we carry in Romans, so check it out.
The Archbishop will assert that his visit was not about focussing on Mary's role, a bit-part at best, but a way of encouraging people to realign themselves with Yeshua.
But his actions speak louder than words. First, he accept the imposition of Sharia Law on Britain, and British Christians, and now is implicitally encouraging Mary-worship! Interfaith at work, the beginnings of the One-World Religion being restablished, and a lie of the enemy. As Christians, we're not to be ignorant of the wiles of the enemy, but careful not to fall for them.
He should, I think, step out of his ivory tower and rethink his position, with God and the CofE. As soon as possible, as time is shorter than we might realise.
Chris Maguire, ventnor, IOW, UK
