2012 Easter Message

 

MEDIA RELEASE FROM THE ANGLICAN ARCHBISHOP OF ADELAIDE JEFFREY DRIVER

Easter calls us to find depth and meaning in a world sold out to nothingness.

The Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide has used his Easter message to call on South Australians to look beyond an "addiction to things" and to explore deeper meaning and values in life.

The Archbishop said Australia had become "infected" with a materialism that people were increasingly seeing as empty.

"The meaning systems and institutional expressions of faith that gave purpose to many Australians in previous generations have been replaced with materialism and empty acquisition."

"At the same time, the humanist belief that rationalism and the achievements of science could build heaven on earth has also been dealt a shattering blow over a century that has included the Somme, Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Rwanda, Fukushima and the Global Financial Crisis.

"With the great meaning systems of the past discarded by many Australians the tendency has been to surrender to an "addiction to things". In Australia, there is a generation of baby boomers with cars, boats, houses and superannuation who feel they have nothing of real worth and often wonder where their lives went.

"The stories of the early disciples coming to the tomb of Jesus are stories filled with questions and doubts. There is an exploratory, questioning character to these stories that resonates in these uncertain times.

"Australians may be cautious about religious institutions and their institutional certainties but they are very open to the questions of spirituality and meaning."

The Archbishop said he believed that there is a spiritual questioning among the young who are looking beyond the materialism that has taken hold. They are concerned about values and justice and about the environment. They are looking for an integrating principle in life.

"I would call that spirituality," he said.

"The Church needs to be open to a more questioning approach to spirituality; a less institutional and much more exploratory approach."

"In doing this the Church will be revisiting the story of the first Easter Day, when the first disciples came with their grief, their doubts and uncertainties to the tomb of Jesus and experienced something that began to change the world."

Any queries or for further information please contact Katrina McLachlan on 0414972537.