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Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby cancels Christmas Day sermon over 'severe cold'

Archbishop Justin Welby was due to give a service at Canterbury Cathedral at 11am

Heather Saul
Thursday 25 December 2014 11:22 GMT
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Church of England head was expected to remind worshippers that Jesus did not arrive "to take us into some fantasy kind of happy ever after."
Church of England head was expected to remind worshippers that Jesus did not arrive "to take us into some fantasy kind of happy ever after."

The Archbishop of Canterbury will not be delivering his annual Christmas sermon today because he has a "severe cold", Lambeth Palace has announced.

The most Rev Justin Welby was due to give a service at Canterbury Cathedral at 11am.

The Archbishop was expected to remind worshippers that Jesus did not arrive "to take us into some fantasy kind of happy ever after" when he spoke this morning.

He was also expected to urge them not to reduce the story of Christmas to something "utterly remote, about lives entirely different, fictional, naive, tidy".

Delivering his Christmas Day sermon, the Archbishop was due to remind worshippers that the infamous battlefield detente between German and British troops a hundred years ago was all too brief.

"At Christmas 1914, soldiers took the risk, crossed a battleline and kindled an evening of friendship and football," he was expected to say.

"It is the moment all have picked on this year, whether in adverts or sermons."

Rev Justin Welby's sermon would go on to stress "fairytale" endings do not represent the true spirit of Christmas.

"The truce illustrates something of the heart of Christmas, whereby God sends his Son, that vulnerable sign of peace, to a weary war-torn world.

"The problem is that the way it is told now it seems to end with a 'happy ever after'.

"Of course we like Christmas stories with happy endings: singing carols, swapping photos, shaking hands, sharing chocolate, but the following day the war continued with the same severity.

"Nothing had changed; it was a one-day wonder.

"That is not the world in which we live, truces are rare."

Additional reporting by PA

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