Luminous Darkness

On Sunday morning I had the pleasure of hearing a sermon delivered by Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales, who was delivering one of the University Sermons at King’s College Chapel. While hunting around online, I discovered that the Archbishop had recycled the sermon he delivered on Easter morning at Llandaff Cathedral for us, but I was not greatly worried by this since it means that I can link the text of the sermon, and also because it was an very good message. His main theme was the idea that, as he put it:

The suffering risen Jesus is to be found in the midst of suffering and in solidarity with all those who suffer. He is to be found amongst those who are cast out and crucified.

He went on to explore the concept that this suffering Jesus continues to exist in the world through our human actions towards each other, and in the end, tied this to some of the problems facing the Anglican Communion:

The Anglican Church worldwide has something to learn from this. There are people who seem to think that before you can be in communion with others your beliefs have to coincide or your personal morality has to be of a certain standard or you have got to be willing to sign up to certain minimum requirements be they scriptural, moral or doctrinal or publicly repent of your sins. On this view of things, one can only receive communion with and from those who think like us, behave like us or identify with the causes we hold dear or the beliefs that we subscribe to. The resurrection of Jesus is the total opposite of such ways of thinking and behaving. He takes people as they are, knowing the full extent of their betrayal of him and assures them that his friendship with them is undiminished. Communion is unbroken.

I encourage you to read the whole text of the sermon, as trying to summarize his message is not really feasible. However, the thing that caught me the most was his description of an particular image:

The Eastern Orthodox Church has a marvellous icon of the risen Christ behind barbed wire trying to tear it down, symbolising at one and the same time his destruction of death and captivity but with the palms of his hands bearing the marks of crucifixion symbolising his suffering and his identification with all those who suffer.

I have put a picture of this icon online so that you can see it. I would particularly like have an actual icon with this image so if anyone knows where I might obtain one, please let me know. Edit: See comments — I have now identified the artist.

In light of all the current debate in the church about marriage, this article in the Washington Post gives quite a good summary of some of the recent research that has been done into the history of marriage and how much it has changed over the last several hundred years. The author, Stephanie Coontz, teaches family history at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, USA, and is author of the recently published book, Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage.

This quote from the article summarizes one of her main arguments:

The origins of modern marital instability lie largely in the triumph of what many people believe to be marriage’s traditional role — providing love, intimacy, fidelity and mutual fulfillment. The truth is that for centuries, marriage was stable precisely because it was not expected to provide such benefits. As soon as love became the driving force behind marriage, people began to demand the right to remain single if they had not found love or to divorce if they fell out of love.

I am certain that many people will disagree with a number of her conclusions, but the article is definitely good food for thought.