learn to forgive

A local cleric is urging Barbadians to practise tolerance and forgiveness.

The appeal came as he delivered his Easter sermon yesterday morning at the St. George Parish Church, where Acting Governor General Sherman Moore and Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development, Dr. Esther Byer Suckoo were in attendance.

Reverend John Rogers was reflecting on the acts of violence which claimed the lives of some persons over the last week, as he lamented that there are families in our society which cannot enjoy the Easter season because “their lives are in darkness as a result of the tragedies of the last few days.

“Tragedies where persons still have problems seeking reconciliation in relationships, the reconciliation that Christ exemplified even as he died on the cross. We still find it difficult to forgive, we still find it difficult to reach out as our Lord reached out to the repentant thief on the cross… instead we run away from the empty tomb in darkness and we operate in the darkness which consumes us,” he said.

The reverend added, “As we have seen in the last few days, human life, that which we cannot give, we take away. I believe the resurrection message calls us today to look afresh at our relationships in our community, in our world.”

The tolerance message was emphasised as Rev. Rogers also took the opportunity to speak out against the insularity and “empty nationalism” being promoted by some world leaders, contending that such is not to be commended.

“Rather than sitting down and seeking reconciliation that only a risen Christ can offer, some are more comfortable with building walls and ostracising and spewing empty and dirty rhetoric at people across the world, including us. You know how our countries have been described by one who would like to believe that he is the leader of the free world, self proclaimed of course. But that’s the type of language that greets the people of the world, because many still think that might is right,” he added.

His comments came as he referred to the 1960s speech to the United Nations by the last Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, which he described as one of the greatest speeches ever made. Rogers noted that the speech brought attention to the issues of race and human rights, and warned that until those issues were tackled there would be war.

“As long as the leaders of the world continue to approach the empty tomb and run away like the disciples did, they will remain in darkness, and as a result of that darkness they will never ever be able to experience the great reconciling love that the risen Christ brought to this world. The type of rhetoric that is being spewed around the world and the empty nationalism that consumes countries around our world will continue to exist,” he said.

With that in mind, the Anglican cleric, referring to World War II, noted that there is already evidence where such “unbridled nationalism” can lead.

“Just consider Germany in the 1930s and the 1940s and you would see where Brexit is going, where the US is going and all of the others…

“It is an unhealthy sense of national pride, for it is a national pride that excludes and derides and defaces other human beings,” he stated.
(JRT)