The Archbishop of Wales will say that what today might be termed ’fake news’ became good news to the followers of Jesus.

In his Easter sermon at Brecon Cathedral on Sunday, the Archbishop, John Davies, will say that Jesus chose ‘flawed, frail, questionable people’, including thieves and traitors, to join him as disciples in his ministry.

He will continue: “It was to such people as these that, the Gospel writers tell us, frightened, startled, confused, and even perhaps angry, women told tales of their utterly perplexing experiences in that garden on the first Easter Day.

“At first the things they had to say were completely doubted and totally dismissed; treated as idle tales; greeted with absolute scorn. Put into today’s language, they were thought to be ‘fake news’!

“But it is because of the subsequent experience of all those people, that faith and certainty grew from the ashes of doubt and scorn. Fake news became Good News. And it’s because of that fact, the fact of the resurrection, that you and I are here this morning, rejoicing to be called Christians who, like those first followers, believe and proclaim that ‘Christ is Risen’.

“The response to this has to be faithfulness, courage and determination in living out the values of and revealing the sheer grace of the Kingdom of God in our day-to-day relationships and encounters; in the support we give to those who call for truth, long for justice and look for some chance of freedom from existence in the ashes of individual despair; people struggling to fight off or cope with profound darkness, darkness that can be spiritual, mental, and physical, and which can swallow up both life and hope.

“Such people are not hard to find. They are in our local communities, as well much further afield. Their needs confront us daily. Like our first brothers and sisters we should be alert to the depth of those needs, and be ready, as agents of resurrection, to support those who experience them; ready to be bearers of new life and fresh hope in the messy lives of such needy and downtrodden folk, often in that deepest darkness or at furthest margins of life.

“In the support and help we give, we bring to and share with them what resurrection means, newness of life, refreshment, light in darkness. And it isn’t always difficult. Don’t ever underestimate just how liberating and resurrecting a simple act of loving kindness can be for someone in a dark place, who is down and who can sink no further.”

The Archbishop has also paid tribute to a former Bishop of Bangor who died on Friday (March 30).

He said it was ‘poignant’ that Bishop Saunders Davies, who served as Bishop of Bangor for five years before his retirement in 2004, died on Good Friday.

He said, “The news of the death of Bishop Saunders Davies will cause sadness for many in the Church in Wales where he served faithfully for 40 years. Saunders was a gentle, holy and self-effacing individual, possessed of learning, a good mind and a warm heart. His last years were increasingly affected by Parkinson’s Disease which took an inevitably unkind toll on him. Despite the increasing grip of the disease, he managed to write to me on my election as Archbishop, and I can picture, in my mind’s eye, the card sent, which must have taken a tremendous effort to write. I was deeply touched to receive it.

“There are, in church life, often notable ‘partnerships’ of husband and wife and, in the case of Saunders, it was quite rare for him to be mentioned without mention also being made of his wife Cynthia, who supported him so fully and faithfully, and with whom he shared so very much of life, ministry and learning. To her, and the rest of the family, I extend the assurance of my love and prayers. That Saunders should leave this world on Good Friday is poignant. We pray that, free from frailty and infirmity, he will share the joy of Christ’s promise of new life.”

The service at Brecon Cathedral begins at 11am and the Archbishop’s full address will be online afterwards at http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/