Anglicans called on to offer hope in financial crisis

Anglicans must bring hope to those feeling despair because of the recession, says the Archbishop of York.

Addressing the Church of England General Synod today, Dr John Sentamu said that although bankers and the finance industry were taking the blame for the current crisis, everyone had “worshipped at the temple of money”.

“We have been guilty of idolatry … It is this idolatrous love of money, pursuing profit without regard for ethic, risk or consequence, which has led us from orientation to disorientation,” he said.

The Archbishop called for a new approach to UK and global financial regulation and appealed to Anglicans to plant seeds of hope through practical action and by offering people a vision for the future.

“Speaking prophetically is not just about condemning failures, it is about helping everyone to accept common goals which uplift the heart, moving together in the same direction and thereby enriching and supporting each other as fully as we can,” he said.

He encouraged the Church to find its hope in Christ’s exhortation in Revelation 1.17 – 18: “Do not to be afraid.”

“We share a hope, born of the incarnation, which goes far beyond economic recovery. It reaches into the heart of every man, woman and child. Yes we lament our situation, but we do so knowing that our song will finish in hope,” the Archbishop said.

The Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev Tom Wright, claimed there were schools within walking distance of his home where teachers were clubbing together to buy shoes for some of their poorer pupils.

There was, he said, a need for “Jeremiah-type repentance” at the national and global level.

“It is very ironic that we have got to the point now where we have massively bailed out big banks and car manufacturers in the States, doing for them what we have not done for many nations in the developing world,” he said. “We are in severe danger of the very rich doing for the very rich what they have failed to do for the very poor and that is shameful.”

The Bishop of Hulme, the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, warned that the recession would hit the poorest communities the hardest.

While “bankers and their world are distant, unreachable, protected and very wealthy”, Bishop Lowe said the Church had to offer a safe space for all members of the community. He urged churches to open their doors at least once a week to offer hospitality and spiritual support.

“Unemployment and poverty exclude people from society. The open church must be a place of inclusion, of supportive, unconditional relationships and friendships.”

The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, said Christians were called to discover a fresh way of trusting in God and communicating him. He suggested redundancy was a chance for people to take stock of their lives and escape the 'Crackberry' culture.

“Sometimes indeed people seem to be relieved to get off the treadmill and to be given an opportunity to reconsider what they really want out of life. One of the great implications of this turbulence for us is to re-boot our sense of what a truly flourishing human life consists of,” he said.

Other Synod members called on the Church to promote a relational approach to money and offer a radical alternative to the current global financial order.

The Rev Mark Ireland, a vicar in Wellington, said the real theological task facing the Church was “not simply to condemn greed but to promote contentment”, while the Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Rev John Saxbee, said the Church had a role to play in making people aware that “not everything that is valuable can be valued at a price”.