Rev: Church not here to condemn others

IT is time to stop setting up barriers; instead, focus more on pro-claiming the universal message of light and truth.

This was the message Rector of the St George Parish Church, Reverend John Rogers, delivered to his congregation yesterday as he ministered to them during their weekly Sunday service.

Reverend Rogers also noted that Christians must preach about Christ so that those who have not been saved do not feel condemned and as though they are an outcast, but free to experience salvation.

The role of the church is not to judge others and determine that they must be excluded from the kingdom of God because of their way of life, he declared.

“And if we are going to build that barrier here on earth, we must recognise that there can be no barriers in this kingdom, and that all persons must be brought wholesome and be embraced in this fellowship. For we are the family of God, and the church, and our community, and our nation, and our world.
Just like our little nuclear family will have their challenges, there will always be persons in the family who rebel against the norms of the family.

“There will be persons within the family who do not walk in the same path that others have, but it doesn’t make them any less members of the
family. What it tells us is that it calls the rest of us to bring them closer to Christ. To hold them close to us so that they can be nurtured in the ways of the family. The same thing is true for the Christian church. No one must be considered lost, no one must be considered an outcast… Jesus did not do that in his time, we are told he had compassion on the people,” he said.

The man of God also referred to the fact that there are many people in the community who are like sheep without a shepherd. He said there are also some in the church who are also like sheep without shepherd.

He further stated that “there are many amongst us who are shepherding, who need to be shepherded as well.

“It is the nature of our existence as human beings. It ought not to be seen as some designation by which we judge each other, but just something that challenges us to express even more, our human love and com-passion towards each other.

“For just as God has reached out to us, and in the greatest act of love sent his only begotten son for our sins, we too must reach out to each other so that we can all play our citizenship in the kingdom of God.

“…The church is being challenged in our time, as it has always been challenged, to preach the message of Christ,” Reverend Rogers said.
(AH)