Do we need to capture the spirit of Paul Bogle?

Jamaica, and the parish of St Thomas in particular, will observe the 150th Anniversary of the Morant Bay Uprising, led by Paul Bogle and involving more than 200 people. In celebration of this historic event, the parish is organising a host of activities, the first of which took place on Sunday March 15 - a church service at the Trinity Baptist Church, Morant Bay, that launched the year-long activities being planned. Below are excerpts of the sermon, preached by Rev Norva O. Rodney, pastor of the Kitson Town circuit of Baptist churches, St Catherine.

Text: Psalm 126

My entire being has been held captive to the liberating and celebratory themes, which characterise this Psalm as I sought the mind of God concerning what to say to God's people on this occasion this afternoon. It has not missed me that rather than bemoaning the evils that they had suffered at the hands of their Babylonian oppressors, the writer zooms in instead on the character of God which blazed with incomparable brilliance amidst the darkness of Israel's difficult days.

We would have missed an opportunity in this continuing divine-human saga if we, gathered as we are, around the theme of "protest to prosperity...the journey continues" failed to exercise similar wisdom. So what then can we glean from this text?

My sisters and brothers, as we reflect upon and contemplate the significance of the event of 1865 in this parish of our birth let us affirm that:

Things deemed humanly impossible

point to the resourcefulness of God

The context of the Psalm may be shrouded in uncertainty but the emancipatory language is strongly reflective of post-exilic experiences. We would be well within reason, to read the Psalmist expressions as speaking to the repatriation of the children of Israel from Babylon. If we were able to go back in time and to interview any of those who had returned, they would confess their absolute shock and unqualified surprise at the liberating motifs of their compassionate God who came to their aid, in spite of...

This picture of God's resourcefulness becomes clearer when we pause to consider the character of God's involvement in the salvation story of His people. It is a story of creation, redemption and re-creation; a story that speaks to the all sufficiency and essential creativity of God. From this perspective, like the Psalmist, we can conclude that

i) No matter what befalls us, God is in total control of all earthly powers;

ii) God allows His own to go through the fire, not that we may be consumed as dross, but that we might be made fit for God's purposes.

iii) God is able to do that which is deemed humanly impossible.

Application

My Friends, such undeniable truths emerge from any credible reflection on the atrocities suffered by our predecessors in this parish. In spite of the debilitating conditions of social and economic injustice, the resultant cases of criminality and violence, tragedies of one nature or another, many features of their existence stubbornly spelled the language of freedom and hope. The inhumane and misguided reactions of the colonial powers and their cronies to the petitions of the peasants were not meant to be ends in and of themselves. We need to look at the events that occurred and with the eye of faith declare that what the enemy meant for evil, God has transformed for our good! Such ought to be our affirmation of faith going forward...

Things deemed improbable point

to the faithfulness of God

My friends, one word, which cannot be left out of any celebration of God, is that which speaks to God's sworn loyalty and commitment..."faithfulness". It is the unconditional, wholesome and abiding commitment of God to God's created order which sets God apart as Holy and beyond comparison with the gods of our human imaginations. What we are saying is that the faithfulness of the Almighty God is a matter of God's own integrity. Note Apostle Paul's assertion in 2 Tim. 2:13...God cannot fail!

The faithfulness of God is both great and gracious.

Application

Friends, God's faithfulness serves to remind us that amidst the changing vicissitudes of life, God transforms the fortunes of a repenting, remorse-filled people into a reforming and rejoicing people.

Do we need to take proper hold of those things of which we have been deprived...our unique sense of self, our claims to certain basic human rights? Do we need to participate in fashioning our people by delivering the educational project from the clutches of structured elitism? Do we need to practise better stewardship of our God given assets in this parish, becoming better managers of our exploited aggregates and rivers? Do we need to recapture the spirit of Bogle, Gordon, Webber, Edwards, Dawkins and all the other martyrs in stoutly defending our identity and our purpose? Will we during this year of celebration, champion the lobby which requires the rescinding of those Euro-centric and dated laws which only serve to denigrate and stigmatise us rather than emancipate our Afro-centric cultures and traditions from the prejudices of an ignorant minority?

For if we do, and if we die in trying so to do, we will be making a statement in repentance and hope, that the faithfulness of our God is stronger than death!

The resourcefulness of God and the

faithfulness of God invite our response

to the trustworthiness of God

At a time when trust is more spoken of than lived out, and when celebrations like this are made the spectacle of the sceptics and cynics, here is a kernel of unvarnished truth... we can trust God.

Like the Israelites, we today are being challenged as we move from protest to prosperity to trust God. We are being called to let the historical and prevailing facts of divine power and providence become the ultimate basis of our faith in and faithfulness toward God in Christ......

As we launch this celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Morant Bay uprising, let us like pilgrim in John Bunyan's classic "Pilgrim's Progress," reaffirm our faith, hope and confidence in the resourcefulness and faithfulness of God. And let us trust God. It is because of God's faithfulness that we have not been consumed. Let us discover fresh hope in God as we retell the stories of our forbears defying the odds, denying the cynics even as we dance to the liberating rhythm of God's eternal praise!