Daniel_Cheung
10-11-2009, 12:49 PM
Archbishop's sermon to mark the end of military operations in Iraq
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2558
The sermon given today by the Archbishop of Canterbury at a service of commemoration to mark the end of military operations in Iraq, held at St Paul's Cathedral London:
Readings: Ecclesiastes 3: 1?8; Ephesians 6.10?17
'There is a time for every matter under heaven'. Today is a time for reflecting on the human cost of seeking for justice; on the generosity of so many people, young and not so young, in facing and meeting that cost; and on the countless mysterious ways in which such people have been equipped to meet the cost, through their relationships, through the quiet support and inspiration of those who love them and have shaped who they are. A time to reflect on the unexpected qualities of people like ourselves who, caught up in the confusions of a great international upheaval, simply got on with the task they were given because they believed that order and justice mattered.
The conflict in Iraq will, for a long time yet, exercise the historians, the moralists, the international experts. In a world as complicated as ours has become, it would be a very rash person who would feel able to say without hesitation, This was absolutely the right or the wrong thing to do, the right or the wrong place to be. The modern serviceman or woman will not be someone who has accepted without question a set of easy answers. Their obedience is anything but mindless. But it is obedience all the same, obedience that comes from recognising that others have been given a clear responsibility for certain difficult decisions. What matters is not that there is no debate, disagreement or uncertainty ? simply that everyone knows who has to answer which questions....
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2558
The sermon given today by the Archbishop of Canterbury at a service of commemoration to mark the end of military operations in Iraq, held at St Paul's Cathedral London:
Readings: Ecclesiastes 3: 1?8; Ephesians 6.10?17
'There is a time for every matter under heaven'. Today is a time for reflecting on the human cost of seeking for justice; on the generosity of so many people, young and not so young, in facing and meeting that cost; and on the countless mysterious ways in which such people have been equipped to meet the cost, through their relationships, through the quiet support and inspiration of those who love them and have shaped who they are. A time to reflect on the unexpected qualities of people like ourselves who, caught up in the confusions of a great international upheaval, simply got on with the task they were given because they believed that order and justice mattered.
The conflict in Iraq will, for a long time yet, exercise the historians, the moralists, the international experts. In a world as complicated as ours has become, it would be a very rash person who would feel able to say without hesitation, This was absolutely the right or the wrong thing to do, the right or the wrong place to be. The modern serviceman or woman will not be someone who has accepted without question a set of easy answers. Their obedience is anything but mindless. But it is obedience all the same, obedience that comes from recognising that others have been given a clear responsibility for certain difficult decisions. What matters is not that there is no debate, disagreement or uncertainty ? simply that everyone knows who has to answer which questions....