The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby, delivered a sermon of hope at the St Georges Cathedral in Cape Town on Thursday night.
Welby drew on his experience visiting Robben Island as an example of bringing light into a world full of atrocities.
“We take the gifts we have from God in our churches around the world in the Anglican community. We use them with daring and risk-taking to bring light into the darkness. You know that infinitely better than I do. For you did it. And you are still an example and a call for all the problems that have been. You are still an example to which people point day after day around the world. Robben Island speaks of that,” he told churchgoers.
Welby’s visit forms part of post Lambeth Conference activities, where bishops from across the world come together to discuss global, religious and ethical concerns. The Lambeth conference has been held every 10 years since 1867 and is presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Lambeth Design Group appointed to plan the conference is chaired by South African Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.
Earlier in the week, Welby visited the Igreja Anglicana de Mocambique e Angola and his next stop will be Ukraine.
He told TimesLIVE it was the moral strength of the Robben Island prisoners that inspired him.
“It was a most remarkable experience. I've been before but I think what struck me this time was the attitude of the prisoners, both Muslim and Christian. It wasn't a physical battle. It was a moral battle.”
After Welby’s sermon, Makgoba said, “He can see that humanity left to itself can lacerate and destroy itself so he was clearly putting a mirror before us to say there is pain, there is brokenness but the word of God should endure and remind us we are created for good.”
Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini was due to attend the sermon but instead Zululand mayor Thulasizwe Buthelezi was in attendance.
TimesLIVE
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WATCH | ‘Robben Island is what comes out of the darkness’: Archbishop of Canterbury
Image: Jonathan Brady/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby, delivered a sermon of hope at the St Georges Cathedral in Cape Town on Thursday night.
Welby drew on his experience visiting Robben Island as an example of bringing light into a world full of atrocities.
“We take the gifts we have from God in our churches around the world in the Anglican community. We use them with daring and risk-taking to bring light into the darkness. You know that infinitely better than I do. For you did it. And you are still an example and a call for all the problems that have been. You are still an example to which people point day after day around the world. Robben Island speaks of that,” he told churchgoers.
Welby’s visit forms part of post Lambeth Conference activities, where bishops from across the world come together to discuss global, religious and ethical concerns. The Lambeth conference has been held every 10 years since 1867 and is presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Lambeth Design Group appointed to plan the conference is chaired by South African Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.
Earlier in the week, Welby visited the Igreja Anglicana de Mocambique e Angola and his next stop will be Ukraine.
He told TimesLIVE it was the moral strength of the Robben Island prisoners that inspired him.
“It was a most remarkable experience. I've been before but I think what struck me this time was the attitude of the prisoners, both Muslim and Christian. It wasn't a physical battle. It was a moral battle.”
After Welby’s sermon, Makgoba said, “He can see that humanity left to itself can lacerate and destroy itself so he was clearly putting a mirror before us to say there is pain, there is brokenness but the word of God should endure and remind us we are created for good.”
Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini was due to attend the sermon but instead Zululand mayor Thulasizwe Buthelezi was in attendance.
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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