November 22nd, 2007
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
“Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the other. Make us glad by the measure of the years in which we suffered adversity.Show your servants your works. May the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us” (Ps.90).
These words of the Psalmist is an echo of your own experience as disciples of Christ within the Anglican Communion. Because of your faithfulness to the Teachings of the Bible and the Church, you are to-day witnessing to Christ who is the way, the truth and the life.
There is now a need for all of us to set a Vision in a world in which Christians have become prisoners of secular culture. I wish here to encourage you in spite of the prevailing suffering and pain to continue in your struggle to keep the Body of Christ on the right track.
May I therefore, in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ assure you of my love and prayers. Like you, I love the Anglican Communion and there is deep pain in my heart to what is going on now. Like Nicolas Ridley and Hugh Latimer, I pray that the Anglican Communion, in the midst of suffering and death witnesses courageously to the world of its faith. I do hope that the present trials will give to all of us the ability to go from the present darkness to a new life that will proclaim in all integrity the powerful love of Jesus Christ demonstrated on the Cross. So, take the words of the Psalmist and build up our hope “Let the Lord be our refuge for we shall see his works”.
My prayers as you meet, are for you and for my brother Archbishop Venables.
With every blessing, Your brother in Christ,
The Most Revd Ian Ernest, G.O.S.K. Bishop of Mauritius and Archbishop of the Province of the Indian Ocean
20 November 2007