Archbishop of York is shorn and anointed

I don't know much about Dr. John Sentamu, but in his brief time as Archbishop of York, he has shown himself to be a person who does not do things half way. In response to recent violence in the Middle East, Sentamu has begun a prayer vigil, and he has encouraged others to do the same. He had his head shaved and anointed with oil in last Sunday's services at York Minster. For seven days, he's sleeping in a tent that he's pitched in one of the chapels.

Around my neck I wear a cross which bears the words of Archbishop Oscar Romero: "Peace will flower when love and justice pervade our environment." The events of the past weeks show how far we are, as a world and as a nation, from that place which Romero describes.

I have received letters and calls from people about this conflict, and people are asking "What can I do?" They feel helpless, they feel bewildered but they want to do something in response to the suffering that they have been watching on their televisions, hearing on their radios and reading in their newspapers. So my call to everyone is to join me in prayer, join me in fasting join me in providing a meal for every displaced person--especially women and children, medicine for the sick; and at a future date be part of the reconstruction of the areas, in both countries, that have been destroyed.

Will you join me in standing up against violence as an unacceptable means of trying to change one another's views and lives? Whether in our own skies or the skies above the Middle East, bombing and violence cannot be the way in which we seek to change that which we don't like in the world. There has to be another way. Each one of us has to be the change we want to see in the world."

You can read more in an article on the Diocese of York's website.