Archbishop of Canterbury’s Xmas Message: God is our Therapist

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rev Rowan Williams has made his Christmas message to the Anglican Communion. In it, Williams likened God to a ‘therapist’. “Christ does not save the world just by his death on the cross...we respond to the cross...we let ourselves be touched and changed,” said the Archbishop.

This current year message stands in great contrast with the previous Christmas message he delivered last year. Previously he used the opportunity to address the divisions and factions within the Anglican Communion.

Dr Rowan Williams was enthroned in 2002, and in the Christmas period following this enthronement he urged the government to pull back from the brink of war with Iraq. He compared “strategists” to the ‘three wise men’ who told King Herod about the birth of the Christ on the way to Bethlehem, which prompted the massacre of children.

However, the theme of disability has been engaged with this year, and the Archbishop commented on his discussions with those working with children affected by autism: “The kind of disorder that seems to cut people off from ordinary communication and shows itself in strange repetitive behaviours and sometimes violent outbursts.”

He likened God’s work to be similar to the work of a therapist that identifies these children, and Williams said, “we should think of God watching us moment by moment, mirroring back to us our human actions – our fears and our joys and our struggles – until he can at last reach out in the great gestures of the healing ministry and the cross. And at last we let ourselves be touched and changed.”

“That’s what begins at Christmas. Not a doctor coming in with a needle or a surgeon with a knife, but a baby who has to learn how to be human by watching; only this baby is the eternal Word of God, who is watching and learning so that when he speaks God's transforming word we will be able to hear it in our own human language.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury said, “He is God so that he has the freedom to heal, to be our 'therapist'. He is human so that he speaks in terms we can understand, in the suffering and delight of a humanity that he shares completely with us. And now we must let him touch us and tell us that there is a world outside our minds - our pride and fear and guilt. It is called the Kingdom of God.”