Put your faith on display, Archbishop urges

Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin the Most Revd Dr John Neill today urged worshippers to publicly demonstrate their faith.

Archbishop Neill told the congregation in Christ Church Cathedral that Christians should not be content for faith to be a private matter.

He asked: “Is it possible that we do not take seriously enough the Good News that we celebrate in church today?

“If we did then secular society might even think it worthwhile to attempt to suppress us. It is very disturbing if they have simply stopped noticing.”

Dr Neill said the Resurrection has significance for every aspect of our lives.

“We succumb to the secular indifference of the modern world if we limit Easter to an area of personal faith alone,” he said.

The Archbishop contrasted the indifference to Christianity in our society with to the situation in countries where faiths are suppressed.

He asked: “What sort of Christians are we in Ireland today?

“When I have met and got to know Christians who suffered in the difficult times in the former Soviet Union, I have been humbled by how much they have suffered for their faith.

“Likewise in China today, it is quite remarkable to meet prominent Christian leaders and church members and discover that many of them have spent years in prison because of their Christian witness.”

He told the congregation: “I am reminded of that rather startling question put one time to a congregation, ‘If you were accused of being Christian, would there be sufficient evidence to convict you?”’

The Archbishop also noted that Easter did not have the same hold on people’s imagination as the Christmas.

“Easter Day, unlike Christmas, has never quite caught the public imagination. This may be no bad thing, for today the very popularity of Christmas has often obscured rather than highlighted its meaning,” he said.