Nation urged to 'put God first'

COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT the nation were yesterday urged by Rev. Dr. Roy Henry, pastor of the East Queen Street Baptist Church, Kingston, to "put God first" in all their endeavours.

He was preaching the sermon at the National Labour Day Thanksgiving Service at the Jones Town Church of God, Kingston.

"It is on God that the community must build, God must be the chief cornerstone. He must be the masterbuilder. He must sustain the house. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. As a people, we must surrender our lives to God so that He can make us into a oneness that can lead to a clean community," The Rev. Mr. Henry said.

"The community must relate to God. It is not one to exist on its own, for as the Psalmist declared, 'Except the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain that build it ...'," he said to murmurs of 'Yes pastor', and 'Tell them like it is reverend'.

"We must have a positive and healthy attitude to our neighbours, and this will determine how we treat each other. We must be good and faithful stewards to the community, we must let righteousness and Godliness become our experience. We need to do justice as we would have it done to us, and not selective justice, not justice when it suits us, but justice for all. And we should resist anything that threatens to undermine that," he said.

"Let the crusade be from the pulpit to the pew, the Parliament to the constituents, east to west, north to south of Jamaica, the media, the schools, streets, lanes, towns, districts. Let the voice of goodwill to all ring out, 'One love...one community' through every corner of the community. This is our challenge, let us rise to the occasion," he said.

The theme of the Labour Day 2000 is "One Love... One Clean Community".

There were greetings from Dr. Omar Davies, Minister of Finance, Danny Roberts, vice-president of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions, Arnold Bertram, Minister of Local Government, Youth and Community Development, and Donald Buchanan, Minister of Labour and Welfare.

Prime Minister P.J Patterson read the first message, while Member of Parliament Olivia Grange, representing the leader of the Opposition, read the second message.

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