Archbishop Linda Nicholls is the former Primate from the Anglican Church of Canada. She will be participating in discussions about the Lambeth Call on Human Dignity. She shared a short reflection on the importance respecting the human dignity of every human being.
As a young priest preparing candidates for baptism I remember hearing Dr. John Westerhoff III say, “Just imagine that in front of every person you meet there is an angel with a trumpet loudly shouting – Make way for the image of God!” That sentence has stayed with me ever since as a reminder of the promise we make in baptism to ‘respect the dignity of every human being’.
We currently live in a time when that promise is being battered by the onslaught of social media that bullies and viciously attacks people with no regard to consequences; by racism that continues to spread tentacles through our communities – and even in the church; by discrimination and abuse of Indigenous peoples around the world; by human trafficking that treats people as commodities and by words and actions that deny dignity to people based on gender, race, religion, sexuality or ability.
Jesus touched lepers; spoke with women; and included tax collectors. He calls us to love our neighbour as ourselves and tells the parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate that our neighbour may well be the person hated or ignored by others.
Seeing the face of God in the other is not optional for the Christian community – it is an essential part of our baptismal commitment when we follow Jesus. I am grateful that the Lambeth Call on Human Dignity recognises this with its call for action in every part of our Communion.
What a powerful witness our churches will be when we embody respect for the dignity of all people and love our neighbours as ourselves.