The Archbishop of Canterbury joked about the BBC spoiling this year's sermon before reflecting on the darkness in the world this Christmas.

Justin Welby told the congregation at Canterbury Cathedral this morning about his trip to Beni in the Congo, a city suffering the second worst outbreak of Ebola in history and infiltration from militia groups.

He said: "A local resident called it the heart of darkness. The butchery and cruelty of the militia groups defies any other description.In the Ebola treatment centres I visited, the patients were in air conditioned plastic cells. They could be seen and could see out, but there was no danger of spreading the infection.

"Darkness is a monster that lies. Its growling claims seem to call out with a louder volume than the love filled whispers of light. We see the shadows out of the corner of our eyes.

"They may be violence as in the Congo or on London Bridge. They may be political. They may be purely personal, from family feuds, relationship problems, illness.

"The darkness within us that sometimes seems to threaten our certainty and hope. And whether solid or illusion, they are the reality with which we live.

"By contrast we do not see light, but we do see truth in light.

"Its growling claims seem to call out with a louder volume than the love filled whispers of light..."

"As Christians, we are called to be the hope-creating witnesses to light, life and love. Not hope in ourselves, or in our own efforts, or in our strength or our wisdom, or even in our goodness and virtues.

"In fact, the closer we get to the light the more our imperfections are revealed."

He called on his fellow Christians to help and love one another and 'recieve the light'.

The Archbishop said: "When we neglect the poor, the weak, when we judge those different to ourselves rather than love, when we do things to people not with them, we defy the example of the light of life, Jesus himself, who in love came to them, with the poorest and most vulnerable. He did not come to the wealthy.

"The true light that is Jesus brings hope.

"If the darkness presses in from within you or without and menaces your existence what do you want? You want Life.

"If the darkness overwhelms your sense of identity, what do you need? You need Love.

"In our country, in our world light, life and love, bearing hope on their wings, are the gift we are given by Jesus Christ; they are gifts to be opened to all the world through our actions and words.

"John starts his gospel with that reading we heard, a prose poem of light, life and love. Catch hold afresh of the gift offered by this baby. Let us catch it afresh.

"Receive his light; it is there to be received. Feast on life and love, even when all else is dark and grey.

"And so, being filled with the hope of Christ, let us as God’s people show the dark that its pretensions are vain, for the true light has come into the world."

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