LONDON – The spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican Communion stressed the need to protect the environment in his Christmas sermon Tuesday.
Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams said "human greed" is threatening to distort the fragile balance of the earth and that the message of Christmas is about God's love for creation, according to the Press Association.
"The whole point of creation is that there should be persons ... capable of intimacy with God – not so that God can gain something, but so that these created beings may live in joy," the archbishop said in his sermon in Canterbury Cathedral in England.
"And God's way of making sure that this joy is fully available is to join humanity on Earth so that human beings may recognize what they are and what they are for."
Speaking on the environment, Williams said, "More and more [is] clearly required of us as we grow in awareness of how fragile is the balance of species and environments in the world and just how our greed distorts it.
"When we threaten the balance of things, we don't just put our material survival at risk, more profoundly we put our spiritual sensitivity at risk – the possibility of being opened up to endless wonder by the world around us," the archbishop added, according to the Press Association.
Williams encouraged people to show reverence to God's creation and to each other.
"The delight and reverence we should have towards the things of creation is intensified many times where human relationships are concerned," he said.
"And if peace is to be more than a pause in open conflict, it must be grounded in this passionate amazed reverence for others."