Archbishop talks of Easter lesson

Dr Rowan Williams is head of the Church of England

Religious services have been held across the UK to mark Easter Sunday.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has told the congregation at Canterbury Cathedral the resurrection means that no one is forgotten by God.

He spoke of the genocide in Rwanda ten years ago and said the destitute in British society should be cared for.

Meanwhile, at Saint George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, the Queen and Prince Philip have been attending the traditional Easter Sunday service.

Do not forget

Dr Williams said in his sermon that the lesson of Christ's resurrection was that every life was valuable.

Speaking on the tenth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda that left 800,000 people dead, he said the world must not stand by while tragedy takes place.

"It is not that we wielded the weapons; but the nations of the world stood by in indecision and distractedness while the slaughter went on.

"Some lives, it seems, are still forgettable; some deaths still obliterate memory for those of us at a distance," he said.

Dr Williams went on to say that there were still parts of the world where people were dying needlessly and the media were not taking enough of an interest.

"As I speak, the carnage in Northern Uganda continues; and most people here are not aware of the nearly one million displaced persons in that region living in continual fear," he said.

Dying alone

The Archbishop also told the congregation that they should also remember those in our own society.

He talked of those who die "alone and unloved", mentioning the aged with no family, the homeless addict, the mentally disturbed and people who have been isolated from ordinary human contact.

But he said the goodness of the resurrection was "most obvious" to those who had lost loved ones to "incomprehensible evil - the tragedies of dementia, the apparent meaninglessness of accident, the horrors of violence or injustice".