Bishop of Blackburn speaks out on Zimbabwe in Easter Sermon (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Bishop of Blackburn speaks out on Zimbabwe in Easter Sermon

6:10am Saturday 3rd April 2010 in

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THE BISHOP of Blackburn will use his Easter Sunday sermon to highlight the persecution of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe.

The Right Rev Nicholas Reade will also urge the congregation to vote at the forthcoming general election.

He gives his Easter sermon at Blackburn Cathedral tomorrow morning, where he will lead the congregation out of the cathedral onto the forecourt in an attempt to demonstrate support for the 'heartbreaking' plight of Anglicans in Zimbabwe under president Robert Mugabe, who is a Roman Catholic.

It will mirror services in London, where worshippers will gather outside the Zimbabwean embassy.

Anglicans have faced violence in recent months following the removal by the church of Nolbert Kunonga, a Mugabe supporter, as Bishop of Harare.

Canon Chris Chivers, of Blackburn Cathedral, is a close friend of his successor, Chad Gandiya, and attended his consecration in July when he was locked of out Harare Cathedral by Kunonga.

Canon Chivers said: “The situation has got worse recently. There have been public beatings outside churches. They will leave one church alone for a few weeks then go and beat up the parishioners in another one.

“We thought we would hold a congregation outside the cathedral in solidarity.”

Tomorrow Bishop Nicholas will say: “To see and hear of their joyful faith in the Jesus who broke out of the tomb and broke through closed doors, and then learn that some of them cannot worship the Risen Christ in their churches because they have been locked out of them is heartbreaking.

“In, for example, the Diocese of Harare the faithful have been threatened with tear gas and by the police, but their faith in the power and love of the Risen Christ will not stop them from turning up and worshipping outside their churches and the cathedral.”

Zimbabwean Christians had even invited their President, whose orders barred them from attending church, to join them in one of their outside services, the Bishop will say, adding: “We will stand in solidarity with them as we go outside as a congregation and pray that justice will do for them and peace brought to the Church."

Bishop Nicholas, who recently took a seat in the House of Lords, will tell people to 'apply their Christian beliefs among the jostling agendas the politicians present'.