I recently posted the whole of the controversial lecture by the Archbishop of Canterbury on Sharia law, noting that it featured one of the longest spoken sentences (147 words) I've ever come across (HERE).
Thinking I may have been a little unfair in raising the question of whether it was the most boring and incomprehensible lecture ever, I thought that maybe he'd say something a little more intelligible in his Easter Day sermon today. Interestingly, however, his own website only posts the text of the sermon (HERE), thereby preventing the masses from watching the not very great communicator in action on video.
But there is a short clip on the Daily Telegraph website, to which I've added - for clarity, you understand - a transcript of his latest words of wisdom. Having watched it several times, I still haven't a clue about what he's talking about - but maybe it makes more sense to you:
... for many of us, most of us, like the disciples at Easter, it takes something of a shock to open us up to joy, some experience that pushes its way through the inward clutter by sheer force and novelty. So perhaps part of the message of Easter is very simply, 'Be ready to be surprised; try clearing out some of the anxiety and vanity and resentment so as to allow the possibility of a new world to find room in you.'
But this means in turn that rather than battling all the time to lay hold of a happiness that we have planned according to our fantasies, we should concentrate on challenging the things that make us anxious.
3 comments:
The "new world" is a world in which we create happiness for ourselves not by pursuing fantacies or materialistic things like fame and bling, but by eliminating the things that cause us to experience negative feelings. By creating happiness for ourselves in this way, we can make the world a better place for others, which will lead to more people experiencing happiness without pursuing it.
Rowan Atkinsdon's problem is that he does not believe in "God".
Some years ago I struggled manfully to read a book on Christian spirituality by Rowan Williams but at the end felt that I had learned nothing. I turned in hope of something clearer to a book of his sermons. Again, individual words, even sentences seemed to make sense but by the end of a sermon I had no idea what it said. So I am with Max Atkinson on this. Cantuar is just a lousy communicator, as "Senior" shows by making the Archbishop's Easter message so much better.
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