Tear walls of hate down says Archbishop in first Remembrance sermon

THE new Archbishop of York used his first Remembrance Sunday sermon to call for political walls to be torn down on both sides of the Atlantic and a “vision for peace and health which is beyond warfare and divisions”.
The Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell is the Archbishop of York.The Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell is the Archbishop of York.
The Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell is the Archbishop of York.

The Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell also used his landmark speech to appeal to politicians to show “wisdom and restraint” as he addressed President Donald Trump’s election defeat in the United States – and the latest Covid-19 lockdown here.
He suggested President Trump’s original election in 2016 – and headline promise to build a wall along America’s southern border – owed much to a societal “failure to love each other, not just our need to be secure” as he compared this to the social isolation being endured over Covid-19.
He went on: “As we remember all those who died because of the failures that ended in war and as we consider the growing divisions and binary arguments and fake news and hate speech that separate us from each other in our world today, how can we establish peace? 
“And where should our allegiances lie? To those whose side of the wall we happen to share? Or to those who care for peace so much that they are prepared to tear walls down?”
The Archbishop acknowledged that the second lockdown “is going to be hard” for many and that he shared the pain of war veterans, and worshippers, who were unable to attend Church services on this symbolic weekend.
“Although we must abide by the law and do all that we can to stay safe and support our Health Service, we also need a vision for peace and health which is beyond warfare and divisions and can even begin to see what a different, more peaceful and collaborative world might look like beyond the horrors of Covid 19,” he went on.
“We also pray  for our sisters and brothers in the US as their election concludes and for a peaceful transition of power.
“Such a vision is given to us in Christ. Working for this vision and letting our communion with God inspire and equip us, is the best way of honouring those who died to secure our peace and whose sacrifice we remember today, and the best way of building a different sort of world.” 
The Archbishop ended his address by declaring: “If we want to know the truest human instinct, then we must look to Christ. For he shows us that it is not security, but community that brings us peace; not alienation, but forgiveness; not conquest, but sacrifice.
“None of us wants to have to fight for these things. And war must always be a very last resort. And politicians must learn wisdom and restraint, for it is not them who go into battle. And better than anyone, if you want to know about the horrors of war, ask a soldier. And every war begins with human greed and human failure.”

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