Archbishop of Canterbury remembers Queen's example in Christmas message

In his first Christmas sermon since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the Archbishop of Canterbury will praise the late monarch’s life of service.

The Queen “put her interest after those of the people she served”, Justin Welby is expected to say.

His sermon will also remember those suffering “immense” hardship in the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.

And despite darkness around the world, there is “unconquerable hope” in the birth of Jesus Christ, he will say.

The archbishop is also expected to reference the “desperate struggles of hospital wards” as well as those people who make perilous journeys in small boats, when he delivers his annual Christmas Day message later.

Mr Welby will say the late Queen “in obedience to the Christ-child lived a life of service and put her interest after those of the people she served.”

In his sermon at Canterbury Cathedral at 11am, he will also praise those who have acted with love and service towards others over the past year – including a 10-year-old girl volunteering at a food bank in Canterbury, people who have welcomed refugees into their homes, NHS staff and life-boat crews.

The archbishop will express his concern for those struggling with “immense anxiety and hardship” during a cost-of-living crisis across the UK.

He is expected to say: “In Jesus Christ, God reaches out to each one of us here; to those who like his family have no resources, into the dark cells of prisons, into the desperate struggles of hospital wards, to those on small boats, to the despairing, and even to the condemned and the wicked, and says: ‘Take me into your heart and life, let me set you free from the darkness that surrounds and fills you, for I too have been there.

“For in me there is forgiveness, hope, life and joy, whoever and wherever you are, whatever you have done.”

Mr Welby will also address global war and conflicts and say that despite the darkness we see around us in the world, the light of Jesus Christ cannot be overcome.

Referring to suffering of millions facing famine amid fighting in South Sudan and the ongoing war in Ukraine, Mr Welby is expected to appeal to the leaders of both countries to bring an end to violence so that they can “bring hope to millions”.

He is expected to say: “Even if the world forgets injustice, pays no attention to a war, God is present through Jesus in the world… In this child God shows God does not give up on us. When the darkness feels like it might overcome, we are tempted to look inwards. But God does not give up on anyone, ever.”