2016 leaves world ‘awash with fear’, Anglican leader says

The leader of the world’s Anglicans was to say 2016 had left the world “more awash with fear and division”, in his Christmas Day sermon on Sunday.

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was to say the world’s values were “in the wrong place”, with economic, technological and communications progress failing to deliver justice.

Welby, the spiritual leader of the Church of England and the global communion of 85 million Anglican Christians, was to deliver his Christmas sermon at the mother church of Canterbury Cathedral in southeast England.

“The end of 2016 finds us all in a different kind of world; one less predictable and certain, which feels more awash with fear and division,” he was to say.

“Uncertainty in the midst of much, but far from universal, prosperity is a sign of our trust being in the wrong things.

“It tells us that our values are in the wrong place.

“Economic progress, technological progress, communication progress hasn’t resulted in economic justice. It hasn’t delivered glory for us.

“It is amongst those on the edge, those ignored, and amongst persecuted believers that I have most clearly seen the glory of God this year, a glory that chases away the fear of terror, the power of death, and the economies of despair.”

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