Commemoration for Sri Lanka at St Andrews Cathedral Saturday 27^th April 2019

‘Sri Lanka is dear to us all and these attacks have wounded us all’

Commemoration for Sri Lanka at St Andrews Cathedral Saturday 27th April 2019 Three Christian leaders from across denominations came together with the Sri Lankan community in Sydney for a Service of Commemoration for those affected by the bombings in Sri Lanka. More than 250 people died and around 500 were injured when suicide bombers targeted churches and hotels on Easter Day. The bombers attacked packed Easter services in the cities of Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa.

“Sri Lanka is dear to us all and these attacks have wounded us all,” said Dean Kanishka Raffel, his voice breaking with emotion as he introduced the service on Saturday 27th April at St Andrew’s Cathedral. “We renounce evil and violence. We gather to pray for freedom and peace for all.” The Dean is of Sri Lankan heritage and he was joined by two other Christian leaders, the Sri Lankan-born Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, the Reverend Kamal Weerakoon and Pastor Dilan Jayasinghe representing The Baptist Association of Churches, NSW & ACT.

Members of the Sri Lankan community led in prayer for the families of those killed, those wounded, and the nation. The congregation included Mr Lal Wickrematunga, the Consul-General of Sri Lanka and Ms Linda Daetwyler, the acting Consul-General of the United States of America, one of eight countries which lost citizens in the attack. Mr Scott Farlow MLC represented the Minister for Multiculturalism and members of the Multicultural Advisory Board, as well as Mr Khaled Sukkarieh of the Islamic Council of NSW, were official guests. The Organist was Mr Peter Ellis and the Choir was from members of S. Thomas’ College OBA NSW & ACT.

Dean Raffel based his sermon on the account of the raising of Lazarus from the Gospel of John. “Resurrection Day, Easter Sunday is the most precious of days for Christians. Many of those who were murdered last Sunday were celebrating Easter. That so many should die at a celebration, that so many should die in the act of worship – is unbearably wretched and cruel, deeply sad, and virtually impossible to comprehend. The Scriptures are neither sentimental nor naive about the wickedness of which the human heart is capable. But neither are they without hope for a broken and hurting world. Our hope is in Jesus.” the Dean said.
“Easter is the celebration of Jesus’ victory over death. If we cannot trust Jesus in this moment, there is no point celebrating him at all. So in the midst of tears, in the shadow of heinous crimes and incalculable suffering, we find our firm ground to stand on today in the truth that was proclaimed by our sisters and brothers perhaps only minutes before their death. We proclaim, ‘Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!’”
(Sydney Anglican Media)