A Blessed, Healthy and Happy New Year 2010

There is an old saying in Antigua and probably in most Caribbean Islands, “New Broom Sweep Clean, But Old Broom know The Corners”. There is a suggestion here that while the New Broom gets things clean, because of its lack of experience it misses the corners. The end result is there are some areas of the House or Yard that’s not swept because the New Broom doesn’t have the experience to maneuver and navigate into those small crevices. On the other hand, the Old Broom is able with consummate ease to deal with those difficult areas. The question is, are we looking forward to this New Year 2010 with great anticipation or are we prepared to hold onto the Old Year because of what we know?

Christmas is a season to sing praises, yet in our time the reality of environmental destruction undermines the doxology of creation. Littering has become a past time. Our Ponds, Dams, Rivers and Communities have been littered with garbage. There are too many persons who seem not to care about the destruction of our environment. During the past three weeks there was a Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. We wait to see what difference this will make in a world that is destroying itself not so much by Guns and Bombs, (even though they have wreak untold damage in different corners of the world), but by pollution, emission of gasses, the wanton discarding of garbage of every kind at places that they are not supposed to be. Is there something to say about all of the new diseases that have descended upon us? As the earth suffers, so must its inhabitants. Already, the poor and socially marginalized people find it ever more difficult to lift their voices in song. For some persons, life is too difficult to sing and many ask the question, “How can we sing the Lord’s Song in a strange land?”

October 25, 2009

The Church exists in a community and serves the community. The Church therefore that neglects or forgets its Social Responsibilities is preparing itself for its own Funeral. The question is what is the Church? The Church is the body of Christ and is made up of men and women of the faith community. The Church is not a social club, though it has Social Responsibilities. The Church owes everything to Jesus Christ and it is around Him that everything revolves. What therefore was Jesus’ mission? When we as a Church understand His mission then we will understand our purpose. Jesus tells us of His mission in Luke 4: 18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord”. In this mission statement, Jesus is saying that the Church must minister not only to the spiritual, but the physical needs of the individual as well.