Amitabh Sharma, Features Coordinator

Archbishop of York John Sentamu (centre) enters the National Arena for a special Anglican service yesterday, with chaplains Rev. Major Sirrano Kitson (right) and Rev. Rose Hudson-Wilkin, while a packed crowd looks on. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

The Archbishop of York yesterday urged Jamaicans to work with humility as he spoke in a special service at the National Arena.

Archbishop John Sentamu said persons should not try to be somebody else, as "God rejoices in the fact that he created each one of you".

"That is the greatest message of the sermon this morning, be yourself and don't try and be somebody else," the Archbishop told the packed National Arena, where thousands of Jamaicans had converged.

"Belief in God is not simply to believe in ideas. It is to carry about the very reality that God talks about."

The Archbishop of York said: "When I became the Bishop of Birmingham I reminded everybody else, 'when you see me as the Bishop and looking so gorgeously dressed, just do remember the day Jesus entered Jerusalem, he rode on a donkey'."

Simply a donkey

He added: "The people dressed up that donkey to take Jesus downtown Jerusalem, so when you see me dressed up like a Bishop (in) very, very funny clothes, I am simply a donkey taking my Jesus downtown Birmingham ...

"That's true, my brother Bishops, all of you are ... mere donkeys taking Jesus to places where there is no love, where there is no hope, where there is no justice."

The Sunday communion was called by the Anglican Diocese to commemorate the bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

"Have Jesus on you lips and the world in your heart," Archbishop Sentamu said. "You have been called to freedom to work with justice and to embrace responsibility."

The Archbishop, who will be in the island until October 12, is scheduled to meet with Governor-General Professor Kenneth Hall, Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller today.

For live updates, more articles and behind-the-scenes photos of the visit of the Archbishop of York to Jamaica, log on to www.archbishopofyorkinja.com

amitabh.sharma@gleanerjm.com