Rising threats in the world
In his Easter sermon preached in both Aberdeen and Braemar the Rt Rev Dr Robert Gillies addressed the rising threat of militant extremism in all parts of the world and will reflect on a world which he says is one increasingly characterised by a deepening sense of foreboding.
Citing the massacre at Garissa University in Kenya last Thursday Bishop Bob says “The reality is, and none of us can hide from the fact, that the world is becoming a deeply more dangerous place than it was a generation ago. Globally, there is a worrying cocktail of discrimination and intolerance marked by persecution and potential elimination; and this is the actual life experience of many for whom, not all that long ago, peace was the norm.
“It is the characteristic of the Christian never to lose that sense of hope which even in life’s darkest moments yields something to hope for.”
In his sermon he parallels the way in which people are facing this current situation with the desolation faced by the small group of women who, in the bible accounts of Jesus’ death, walked in darkness and in fear to his grave uncertain of what lay ahead of them.
Bishop Bob will conclude his sermon by saying “to walk on in darkness in faithful obedience to do what needs to be done even when hope seems non-existent is what has to be done, for no other reason than this is what faith requires.”
