‘PLAY YOUR PART’

Saddened by the number of young people that have lost their lives tragically thus far for the year, a local Anglican leader is appealing to all religious groups to play their role
in building an environment in the country where children can live and grow in the knowledge and mercy of God.

Reverend John Rogers, who referred to two incidents that took place last week where two young people lost their lives under tragic circumstances, said it was evident that some young people in society have been getting caught up in troubling situations, and are in need of guidance, love and support.

He said that members of all religious denominations on the island should each play their role in helping to create an environment where the youth can benefit from a society that is filled with sound morals and values that lead to a peaceful nation.

“I would like all Christian denominations to do what is best to ensure that we have the type of environment in this country where children especially can live and grow up in the mercy of God. We must all play our role because our young people are living in some serious times,” Reverend Rogers said.

Sometime after 7 p.m. last Friday, 16-year-old Chante Natasha Yarde of Mission Road, Brittons Hill, St. Michael was found hanging from the rafters of her home.
Just hours before Yarde was discovered by her mother, 18-year-old Michael Omar Edwards was gunned down at his Bartlett Tenantry, Sargeant’s Village, Christ Church home.
“These are all indictments on us as a community in general because they are all our children in some way and we are all connected. Barbados is too small for us to think that there is us and them.

“So everything that happens, we must ask ourselves, how have I contributed to this, is there something I haven’t done, is there something I haven’t said? When a young girl would feel it necessary to take her life, these are serious times in our society,” he said.

Reverend John Rogers was speaking to The Barbados Advocate, shortly after he delivered the sermon at the St. George Parish Church, yesterday, where he reminded the congregation that as Christians, they should be the salt and light of the earth.

He urged them to follow through with their responsibilities of being good disciples of the God they serve and ensuring that justice and ethics prevails.

He stressed that Christians must embrace those non-believers in their communities, recognising that there is good in everyone that should be encouraged to flourish and become greater.

“The message is being the salt and the light of the earth. So often, we look at it in the sense that we shouldn’t mix with people and we shouldn’t become diluted.

“But the reality is also that we shouldn’t become so excessive that we can’t even recognise the good other people are doing simply because they are not doing it our way or they are not a part of us,” the Anglican leader said. (AH)