Experiencing the Fruit of the Spirit and Works of the Flesh: It’s not one or the other

Posted on June 13, 2024 by Hilda Vaughan

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.  Galatians 5:16-17

The quotation forms a part of the reading for the daily office of June 13, 2024.  I read several times over as I think that there must be some misunderstanding and there is a need for compromise. 

Paul writes to the Galatians as counter the teaching that the laws of Judaism should be kept by Christians. Paul seeks to explain that we are empowered by faith and the following Christ.

Friends, in what Paul goes on to describe as works of the flesh, as opposed to fruit of the spirit, has me baffled this morning.  Humans are both flesh and spirit. How do separate the two?. None of us is one or the other.  The works of the flesh, Paul says are fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. These are things we experience as humans from time to time.  What I do believe Paul wants us to understand is that we should be mindful that we are not extreme in what we do. – the fleshy desires, suggest that why we do these things is just as important as actually indulging in them.

For example,  When does feeling good about the kind of car you drive and taking good care of it become idolatry? Is being a neat freak idolatrous? Where does carousing begin and having good bellyfuls of laughter and  playing games with your friends stop? Paul suggests that these things are defined by the law. Yes, they are the dos and the don’ts, with respect to how we behave.  And these things are also subjective as each of us brings our own perspective. I like a good laugh where I can throw back my head, and sometimes the muscles in my belly contract and hurt from the intensity of the laugh. That kind of laugh is infectious.  Others laugh because you are laughing and they do not even know the joke.  we must really consider the why we are doing the things. That is what we need to question and are we being excessive?

 “A nuh every kin teet a laugh.”  The Jamaican proverb says. We very often we act out our internal hurt and pain in physical ways. I believe Paul was mindful of that.  Our behaviour should be guided by the good spirit within us. That we must choose not to be guided purely by instinct, or predisposition. It cannot be “a so me stay” or “a so the thing set.”

We must think before we act and not just give vent to the first set of feelings that come on us, so we do not lash out, or, because something feels good, even while we know it is wrong, or that we may be hurt by it in the long run, we continue. 

Acting in the fruit of spirit suggests that we have taken the time to cultivate a better way of interacting and living;  that we find a way of behaving where it does not seem as if all that matters is our own selfish desires. This behaviour will at the same time increase the manifestation of the fruit of the spirit within us. 

We hear this as I say it now, as we read this blog. We understand when we read Paul, but do we have the discipline and fortitude to live it? 

I can only answer for myself.  I am trying to be faithful to God’s word, to be everything God wants me to be.  That is all God asks of us, not to be condemning and judgmental of others, but do our best to live a full life guided by God’s Spirit. We do so as the strength of God pilots us, the power of God preserves us, the wisdom of God instructs us,  the hand of God protects us. the way of God directs us, the shield of God will defend us, the host of God will guard us against the snares of evil and the temptations of the world. Where God is, all is well. All will be well, all manner of things will be well.  Amen

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Rural Women are Virtuous

Posted on October 19, 2023 by Hilda Vaughan

I am not certain how many of us gathered here, know that I am a trained agriculturist, and a former vice president of the Jamaica Network of Rural Women Producers. I am an asphalt farmer, but I love country, I love bush, I love rolling hills and open fields. I love the authenticity of country life. Through the grace of God, I have worked to empower some rural women. I therefore deem it a very special honour to lead this service as we all reflect on International Day for Rural Women

Ignoring the prescribed Old Testament reading for Proper 23 of the Revised Lectionary, I chose to use instead Proverbs 31, the last chapter in the book. It is a popular reading about a virtuous woman. There are women ministries built around Proverbs 31 as women seek to become this virtuous woman. Many see the characteristics described as comely, to use another wisdom phrase. Very often when someone’s mother or grandmother die, they want it read. Verse 17 says A virtuous woman girds herself with strength and makes her arms strong. Proverbs 18:1 tells us and verse 30 implies that this strength is found in her fear of the lord.

The passage is a mother’s advice to her son King Lemuel on choosing a wife. It is a poem telling him of the traits he should look for. I find it to be sarcastic or mocking, because she asks where are you going to find a wife that is suitable. Suitable for what? His status? She even implies that the woman must make him look good among his peers. The woman must enhance the man! That rant is for another day and a more informal setting. I believe Lemuel’s mother to be asking is there anyone good enough for him because only perfection is good enough for my son.

The book of proverbs gives wise instructions and guidance for living an effective life. Yet it is only at the end the qualities of a lifelong partner is considered. Everything else comes before. Proverbs 31:10-30 many have understood to suggest who women are to be; the kind of helpmate God gave the Adam when he created humankind. The book of proverbs is not written by a woman, but by a man. So, the advice Lemuel believes his mother is giving him is seen through the eyes of a man. She says, look for a woman who is able to juggle many aspects of life. A good supervisor, a wife who will make her spouse proud. a creative woman and an entrepreneur, a good example to others and a mother whose children are well brought up. I would like to add she needs to know how to ‘tek kin teet cover heart bun’ (bear uncomfortable situations)

What is not said is how does this virtuous woman acquire these skills? How does a young girl show the potential of being a virtuous woman? What are the sacrifices this woman makes? How many times despite feeling ill she lumbers along,? How many times being 8 or 9 months pregnant with varicose veins swollen and hurting does she go into the field to ensure her family has food? that there is lunch money, carfares and school fees? How many? But she does it by girding herself with God’s strength. and making her arms strong.

As we today take the time to look at our rural women. I want us to understand that this day didn’t just ‘come so’. God through the UN is ensuring that not only the joys and virtues of rural women are noted, but that also their plight and God is saying to us do something tangible about it. Lip service, handouts and prayers are not enough. And isn’t God speaking, when this day falls on the weekend when Jamaica celebrate National Heroes Day and give honours to our high achievers? Isn’t God speaking to us when tomorrow Monday October 16 The Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] celebrates World Food Day and Tuesday, October17 we look at the Eradication of Poverty from the world. It is rural women who feed the nation but they live very humble circumstances, many bordering on abject poverty. The theme for the Day for Eradication of Poverty is Putting dignity in practice for all. And how that fits into who we are as God fearers. Isaiah 61 says The Lord has anointed me to heal the broken hearted and to set the captives free:- putting dignity into practice for all. As Christians we put dignity into practice.

Our poverty rate in rural areas is higher than the national average. I looked on the poverty map for Santa Cruz. It says they are about 14000 persons living in Santa Cruz and 6-7000 of them are living in poverty. That means that almost every other person in our area can be considered poor. The Planning Institute of Jamaica reports that 22% of rural persons are poor.1 Poverty is not a nice thing. It is more than just not being able to feed or tend to oneself. And many times it feels as if it is our lot. There is no way to change our circumstances. But there is.

Poverty has several layers and components and we my friends need to be aware so that we are able to identify and tackle them as best we are able. I want you all to stay with me. Poverty has 3 dimensions: Health Education and standard of living. These are further broken down into nutrition, death of children, years of schooling, school attendance, what you use to cook, wood fire gas or kerosene oil, whether you use a pit latrine or a toilet, drinking water, housing and what you own. I know we don’t like to wrap our heads around complexities, but we actually do without looking at the numbers. If we realized that we are not alone in our struggle for a better life, it might make the burden lighter. You look around and are able to learn from what others are doing instead of believing that things are hopeless. If you recognize that poor education results from not attending school regularly and not staying in school to earn a certificate or knowledge that can be used to earn a living then you will ensure that your children go to school. If you understand that the nutrition of your family contributes to their good health and wellbeing, you will look differently on meals and how you prepare them.

In 2021, there was study that said that 4 out of every 100 persons was deprived of either good health, good education, good standard of living or a some mix of all three. 38.9 percent. And when you couple that with ½ of our households are female headed you see we are between a rock and a hard place. And to add insult to injury, most female-headed households have no legal documentation of land they farm, they are limited to access to resources and the men look out for the men first. Women very often have less access to water then men. And they still practice agriculture the old way and don’t like taking risks.

The virtuous woman is a suffering woman, one to be acknowledged for her devotion to family and therefore nation building. The rural woman still maintain the old values.Rural women are indeed virtuous.

The Hebrew word used here for virtuous also means valiant like a warrior. It is the same word used for strength of the man in verse 3. It can be used in reference to military strength. And O, how rural women know that they need to be as strong or stronger than a man to overcome obstacles. Women have had to wage war for, and with their children and spouses to ensure that their households were upstanding and they didn’t have hold their head in shame. They wage war as they pinch and carve to make ends meet and still have something left over for a rainy day. They wage war as some have 1 and only 1 pair of shoes, and 2 sets of underwear. Rural women have had to fight socio-economic battles for years. Our women have had to be warriors to be successful. And they did it in the fear of the Lord.

Verse 16 says she considers and buys a piece of land. She thought about life, had a vision, devised a plan, executed it then reinvested her earnings in a vineyard. We know these jugglers, who have several sources of income. Not dependent on any one thing. One of the things we noticed in Guys Hill was that persons had access to large acreages of land, but only farmed a small portion. One of my aims was for persons to increase their acreages. We had persons and particularly women living off 1 or 2 squares of land with several things intercropped. They would supplement their income by weeding elsewhere or regular day’s work on a farm or in a house nearby. Of course, there was always bananas, plantains bordering the field and cassava. It was a plan to always have something to eat. I learnt in one place about butter soup and in another gold seal margarine or oil heated with skellion, thyme and black pepper poured over the ground provision for dinner. Yet one of these households had a child at university.

Rural women are women of virtue, in their military strength are planners, strategist for survival

In verse 3 which we did not read, Lemuel’s mother tells him using the voice translation says “Do not waste your strength on women or invest yourself in women who would destroy even kings. This virtuous woman that her son was to have as a partner, could not be guaranteed that her spouse would pay her the kind of attention she was expected to pay him. Reread the passage when you get home. Read it from a modern translation of the bible and see that nothing in the rest of the passage qualifies this treatment. It is still how men treat many of my rural women. Women who have had to be the backbone of the family.Women are still being abused.

As I read verse 23 which says” Her husband is known in the city gates, taking his seat among the elders of the land.” I can’t help thinking about our men gathered on the corner and in bars and in other places. Especially those whose pride is the graduating children whom they did little to support and the others whose spouses are the sole bread winners of the family. They like those who sit at the city gate are respected by their colleagues. Some sit in high places. They are not shunned in any way. But God has given the strength and fortitude to women to come through. The learn to trust in God, to be God fearing.

Yes life is hard for our virtuous women but God has their back. ‘She girds herself with strength, spiritual, mental, and physical fitness for her God-given task And makes her arms strong.’ This strength Proverbs 18:1 says is found in God. Clothed in this strength and dignity, with nothing to fear, she smiles when she thinks about the future and prepares for it.” (Proverbs 31:25 AMP)

Rural women are women of valour and virtue, women with military strength are planners and, strategists for survival. Our virtuous woman never leaves God out of the picture. As we celebrate International Day for Rural Women, we call on all other women, on all men, to support our rural women; to treat each other not as we deserve but with the love of God; to treat each other in a way that help us to strive to be virtuous human beings; to treat each other in a manner where we put dignity into practice.

  1. https://www.pioj.gov.jm/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/VNR_Goal_1.pdf ↩︎
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An Authentic Person

Posted on September 25, 2023 by Hilda Vaughan

Hi Blog

It has been a long time since I have posted.

But I have been meaning to write for the last 2 weeks ago. I officiated at a funeral and had another conversion of how real God is and how God can be experienced in the little things we do. The funeral service was for Claudia Samuda, a past teacher at The Hampton High School for Girls.

First off, her sister chose as the first testament reading Isaiah 61:1-3. This is the same passage of scripture that Luke speaks about in chapter 4 and verse 17. Luke says the scroll was given to Jesus and he unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

I did not ask why it was chosen, but I cannot recall hearing the passage read at a funeral service. I have often wondered why that passage from Isaiah was included. Most other readings spoke about heaven, life after death, a better day coming, new mercies, or some variant of these.

But that we are anointed????

No way!

Where is the comfort in that?????

The other passage chosen was 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. I didn’t want to preach on that. I decided to challenge myself and to read the Isaiah passage again. I do believe my sermon was good, (persons said Amen through it – means what was being said resonated with them) but it paled in comparison with the testimony of Samudaism.

The Eulogy which comes before the service starts, took the cake. No other sermon was necessary. When it was finished I had to rewrite the beginning of the sermon. The girls who were taught Sociology by Miss Samuda developed a theory called Samudaism. It was a way of being that was exemplified by this great lady and holy being.

Miss Samuda righted all wrongs the came across. One student said she found her difficult to understand, because she was different. She was chummy but there was a line you couldn’t cross. She had the gift of discernment. (my theological reflection). She summed up a situation quickly and solved the problem. Her students had to do well. She told them they couldn’t swat sociology, they had to understand and apply the principles. They were to make them come alive. She encouraged them all, removed their little or big inhibitions. When she came up on a problem, she told others how to solve it, if they were ever in a similar situation.

So I rewrote Isaiah 61:1-3 so it reflected Samudaism.

Samudaism says:

The Spirit of God is on me, because God anointed me.
He sent me: to preach good news to the poor in spirit; to heal the brokenhearted, to announce freedom to all who find themselves captive – captive in low self esteem, in need of a better approach to life tasks, God sent me to declare that we are free to be ourselves and not bound by others.
to pardon all who feel imprisoned, not only formally but in their hearts.
God sent me to announce the year of his grace—
and to comfort all who mourn or are in trouble.
God sent me to care for their needs,
to give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes,
Messages of joy instead of news of doom,
a praising heart instead of a languid spirit.

I couldn’t help thinking how Christlike Claudia was. She had found her purpose and she lived it. She felt and acknowledged God’s anointing. I never met Miss. Samuda, but in death she has inspired me to live my own purpose.

May we all find our way to God.

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The Sermon I should have preached

Posted on January 14, 2023 by Hilda Vaughan

This post is long overdue.  

On October 2, at 4:00 p.m. all over Jamaica  we gathered in civic duty to pay our respects for our departed Head of State Queen Elizabeth II and to pray for our new King. 

We affirmed the status quo, of our poor political and social systems instead of using these services to encourage a better Jamaica.  

Many stand on the side of ‘good’ schooling, money, and social standing.  We berate the monarchy for not helping us, for not apologizing for slavery, for not doing enough in 1962. We clamour for reparation and say more should be done.  Yet what have we done as Christians?  What are we doing as political leaders and ordinary citizens for a better society and a better quality of life all round? What are we doing to respond to human need, to transform injustice and to challenge violence? 

We are no different from ‘Queeny’, as we pay lip service to those in need.  But we are not bound by the same oaths and laws as the monarchy who do nothing except on the recommendation of her Prime Minister. Yet we choose to for the most part have our verandah speeches and we are all sympathetic, but there is no action. We prefer to watch the crime rate spiral out of control and employ security guards to protect us. We want no national programme that may (operative word) inconvenience us in the short term, but which will help solve our problems in the long term. 

As church we have the network and ability to be different, but we lack the will. Church was born out of being different. In my own denomination, for members of the Anglican Communion, Thomas Cranmer- Prayer Book writer, and others died because they dared to be different.  Bogle, Sharpe, Nanny and the Maroons (who I believe the British samfied), Gordon, Bedward, and Garvey, dared to be different and affected people’s lives positively. The self-serving platitudes of the Church and those with political influence do little to stand up for our oppressed people and/or living without dignity.  

Our people remain landless, forced to live in informal settlements. 19.3% live in poverty (STATIN 2017) 

Sixty years after independence illiterate persons still graduate from high school, and we boast an 87% literacy rate instead of 90 and over like some of our Caribbean relatives. Our educational system is segregationist: all schools do not have access to the same resources they require to do well. Some children will never be able to attend some schools, in the same way, if you live in a certain locale you can’t have certain jobs.  We still have schools on shift; whole communities with no access to internet and children expected to use it.  Children still go to ‘grung’ (agricultural fields) on Fridays instead of school, and in many rural schools, only half of the children attend during the last week of term. 

We have a serious problem with sexual predators and incest, yet no treatment. In a highly sexed society good moral standards are not being maintained. It is just sex, and not our business when a man gets involved with a child under 17. 

The indiscipline in our society is second to nowhere else as far as I am concerned.  Our drivers do not observe the road code.  

Queen Elizabeth II has died! Long live the King.  Our nation deliberates becoming a republic. May we recognize that changing our status makes no difference if we do not change our attitude to nation building.  It is an opportune time for us to set our face to a better Jamaica as Jesus did towards Jerusalem in Luke 9:51 Our task has always been and more so now to work at fixing our problems making sacrifices and providing our citizens with the ability to live their best lives “so that Jamaica may under God increase in beauty, fellowship and prosperity” and advance the whole human race.  

#Queeny, #Civicpride, #nationalpride,

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A Birthday Sermon

Posted on May 27, 2022 by Hilda Vaughan

Today is the commemoration of Jesus going to prepare a place for us, of Jesus leaving his disciples to be with God, to be in a better place to set us and our affairs of redemption and salvation right . It is also on a special milestone for me, so Paul’s prayers of Ephesians 1:15-23 is fitting for reflection.
The letter begins with praise and thanksgiving to God. It celebrates the spiritual “blessings” available to us as believers in Jesus. It reminds us that:
1 God acts through Jesus,
2 It is Jesus who reconciles us to God
3 We belong to him , and salvation is at work, so we wait as the rest of His plan unfolds through our faith and love of God and neighbour.

A part of it says “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe.”

The prayer reminds the Ephesians and us that our identity is in Jesus and all have been called into a life of faith. The wisdom and revelation deepens as we come to know Jesus, and understand God and how we should relate to him. This relationship comes from being constantly reconciled to Jesus and therefore to one another. Our hearts may then see the hope of what what we believe is God’s plan for us. And God has a plan for each of us. I for one am able to see it from time to time. Not necessarily as in what is going to happen, but definitely in how God has orchestrated the different things I have done which not only makes me a better person, about allows me impact others. I can see how God has provided persons in my life that I can call on for information and help as I need it. I see that God has given me connections and lifelong friends that can provide support. I see how God has prepared me and is still preparing me for every step of this earthly journey.

I invite you to reflect also so you too can see the revelation of the goodness that God has provided for you – the wisdom God gives, and the enlightenment one feels.

As in all of Paul’s letter he remembers his various congregations in prayer and in thankfulness for their continued faith and love. Paul undergirds them with his prayer and we too must constantly undergird each other in prayer. Paul hears about their faith, which means it is seen by others. It is active. It is not kept to themselves. He also hears of their love for others which again would be seen and active. The implication here is that transformation is taking place. And so Paul prays for continued wisdom from God to walk in the way they have started; That they will continue to allow God to work through them for the good of their community, so that the community will know God’s wisdom, riches, hope, and power; that this will be seen in and through their relationship with others; as they express God’s justice loving-kindness mercy compassion and walk humbly before God praying this same prayer for others.
Today on my birthday, and the Feast of Ascension, I in particular and we in general are reminded that our task is to walk in their footsteps. We too must hear the faith and love of others, we must show our faith and love so others can hear it and come to know the same faith and love too. We must continue living in thankfulness. We must continue to seek God’s wisdom as we come to know him more and more, as we are constantly being brought back to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord and he is in charge. Let us acknowledge that God guides and we just need to put our hands in his, our faith in him and allow God to lead.

I pray for myself and for all of you as Paul prayed for the Ephesians
I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation as we come to know him, so that, with the eyes of our heart enlightened, we may know what is the hope to which he has called us, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. May we understand that God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. That God has put all things under Jesus making him the head of his body the church, the fullness of him who fills all in all. May we seek to understand how to live this more and more. Amen.

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Reggae the Message of Resilience and Triumph – A theological reflection

Posted on March 3, 2021 by Hilda Vaughan

Last Friday February 26th, 2021 we commemorated Jamaica Day under the theme ‘Celebrating Jamaica: ‘Reggae the Message of Resilience and Triumph’.  Reggae does express the resilience of the Jamaican people.  this theme provides us with an opportunity to theologically reflect on where God is in our culture. While many will say God is counter-cultural, today, I would like to delve more into the theology of our indigenous music being an authentic expression of the divine spirit within us.  

The first Genesis creation story tells us that God made everything. It lists all life forms as being made by God. chapter 1 vs 29 says: ‘God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.  The second creation story in Genesis chapter 2 tells us that God blew God’s breath into us. We should therefore understand that God is the source of all life. As Marcus says God gave us a mind to use. It is this mind that give rise to creative expressions such as reggae.

Resilience and triumph smacks of resistance and transformation, which is the life that our Lord Jesus Christ led, while on earth.  They also speak to recognizing that all is not well, be it with us as individuals, as a community or as a nation.  We stop, take stock and take corrective action. Theologically we refer to this as repentance and redemption.

Music is a cultural art form that shows the authenticity which we are called to show as children of God. Yes, I will admit that not all music is reflective of God, but we shouldn’t throw out the baby with the bath water, but seek to understand where is God in the music.

Reggae music represents the struggles of the people as they lament and seek an understanding of what is happening to them. No different from some psalms which were the songs of the Jewish people. For example Psalm 22:2 I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.   

Reggae has placed Jamaica on the world stage and causes persons to come in droves to study our culture.  Bob Marley’s album Exodus was declared by Time magazine the album of the 20th century. His One love song reflects the openness of the Jamaican people and is reflective of how Marley understood the bible even though the word God is not in the song.  It says everything will be alright. Our challenges with COVID 19, online learning, money worries, we will be overcome. Love of fellow man is a central theme of the Bible. Jesus gave the Commandment to love one another. He said in Matthew that every relationship in life stands on loving God and our neighbours as ourselves. One love seeks to bring peace and harmony, exemplifying love as a transformational tool that is redemptive and doing as Jesus would have done.

Queen Ifrica’s Daddy don’t touch me there reflects the incest which is rampant in our society and is taken as normative in some communities.  Judy Mowatt, I think in the movie Children of Babylon, sings, “I was born a woman accident of birth. Learn to cook, leave the books, I’ve got to prove my worth”, This reflects how women have been generally viewed and is still being viewed in our very patriarchal society.

Derrick Morgan’s Betta must come was so expressive that it was used as a political slogan in the 1970’s. Better mus’ come captured the mood of Jamaica in 1971.  One writer says  “it gives voice to the long-suffering Jamaican populace, and the rhythm expresses in music the toughness and tension simmering in the island.” Since independence, the masses were seeing little improvement in their lives. Betta mus’ come reflected the suffering of the large numbers of poor who though they worked hard saw little or no change in their economic situation. The music reflected the anger being felt at that time and the urgent and desperate desire for a life where they are valued. The song says “I’ve been trying a long, long time, still I can’t make it, Everything I try to do seems to go wrong, It seems I have done something wrong, But they’re trying to keep me down, Who God bless, no one curse, thank God I’m not the worst Better must come one day

 Couldn’t these be the words of a modern day Jeremiah or the psalmist who says in Psalm 27:9 Hide not Your face from me, nor turn away Your servant in anger. You have been my helper; do not leave me or forsake me, O God of my salvation. Or Luke 18:7 Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help? How does this song differ from the song made popular by Martin Luther King “We shall overcome, deep in my heart I do believe that we shall overcome some day”.

The book of Hebrews starts using the translation that remains popular among in Jamaica (King James) says “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.” In chapter 12 it refers to a crowd of witnesses living and departed who help us to see God and understand our lives as a reflection of God in the world. Reggae is representative of a cultural form that bears our crowd of witness. The witnesses are our forbears, coming from our Akan, Coramante and other African traditions, our Kumina which we have allowed those who choose not to understand to promulgate a false doctrine about it, through to mento, our digging songs,  our folk songs, ska until it morphed into Reggae, giving us the greats of Peter Tosh, (if we are able to look past the expletives), Bob Marley, and Buju Banton,  

Shine head’s Strive encourages persons to do their best, which Jesus says he came to earth to do – show us the way to a better life. Sly and Robbie who have played for several musical giants. These are people on whom reggae stands – the crowd of witnesses. I once said Bob Marley is a prophet and there was silence in the room.  But I do not think we truly and really understands that God sends persons with various talent to point the rest of us t God. As Hebrews 1:1 says speaks to us through others. Bob Marley looked at what was happening around him, sang about it and gave the rest of us insight and hope.

Reggae is creative – it is the rhythm of a people who understand God as referred to in the pledge in which we promise to work diligently and creatively. This is what our reggae artists and musician have done. They have been and are using their talent thinking generously and honestly, sometimes speaking about the harsh realities of life, other times speaking sweet melodies which encourage and give hope so that Jamaica may, under God, increase in beauty, fellowship and prosperity, as they play their part in advancing the welfare of the whole human race.  

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The Christmas Story according to Luke Part II

Posted on January 5, 2021 by Hilda Vaughan

Joseph as a witness

Joseph must have said to himself, ‘but is what this on me though Father?’ It has been said that Joseph was much older than Mary. Being pregnant without the benefit of marriage left Mary and Joseph in an awkward position. What we are certain of is that he had a compassionate heart. Matthew 1:19 tells us that Joseph was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose Mary to public disgrace, and so had in mind to divorce her quietly.  Joseph knew what needed to be done and did it. Even if the people around him must have thought he was a fool.  He would certainly have been gone for at least 8 days and a lot can happen in a week.

We as individuals can be very harsh and unforgiving about the things people do in their own lives which really have no impact on our own lives. But we judge and condemn them, nevertheless. In this instance some of us would take offence because  Mary had brought shame on her parents.   Mary had to live with the knowledge that she was different, she must have been a little self-conscious about it, maybe even a little embarrassed and uncomfortable. She would always be remembered as Mass Joachim daughter who was pregnant before she was married.  Joseph understood that. 

Many teen mothers today probably feel the same way and must learn to live with this constant embarrassment and rise above it. But our response to persons who are in that and other difficult situations should be like Joseph’s. We should be empathetic and then protective as best we know how.  

Reflection

People will always throw our insufficiencies at us by what they say or don’t say, by what they do or don’t do. And we gauge or value ourselves against these. It is one of my many sins – being highly critical, yet being quite aware of my sameness and many insufficiencies. A constant reminder is ‘There go I, but for the grace of God’.  It is not easy to say that, because, it is not easy to empathize when you see all the missteps so glaringly and ask how come? How could you have gone down this road. Self-preservation should have stopped you. But for some, there is no light shining into their darkness, so they go deeper into the dark. The carol O little town of Bethlehem says:

Yet in the dark street shineth The everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight.

We as individuals walk along many metaphorical dark streets. It is the divine light that we bear that shines in, through and out, allowing our hopes to be lived out, and our fears to subside. 

At a time when we recall God becoming human, we must remember why he came: – to show us a better way of life. To dispel the darkness. To allow us to understand that no matter what we are going through at this time, he is walking with us. He has promised to never leave us.  In that first Christmas, God signaled the beginning of a process for us to live better.  He began the process of wiping out idolatry, Satan, (who we give so much credit), demons (which some seem to recognize in all things), injustice, exploitation, oppression, violence, and death. He began making a new world of worship, justice, mutual support, lovingkindness, freedom, mercy, and ultimately eternal life.

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The Christmas Story according to Luke Part 1

Posted on January 3, 2021 by Hilda Vaughan

Mary as a witness to Jesus

Peace on the earth, goodwill to all.

 Christmas is a happy time. It’s a time when I like to walk the plazas on Constant Spring Road in Kingston, Jamaica, looking to see how the place is dressed up, I drive through areas where the yards are nicely decorated and feast on the stories being told.  It’s a time I want to be with my family. A time of merry making much fun, laughter and eating.   

This Christmas Eve service we feast on the first witnesses Mary and Joseph on that first Christmas and learn from them how to be witness ourselves. We come to God, to church, to life from many different perspectives. Each of us, have many things going on in our various lives. For each of us, there is a crisis in which we ask ourselves ‘what do I do?’  We each go on the best way we know how, and that is what the persons in the Christmas story do. Live their lives the best way they know how. We come with our various struggles. For some of us, we are resentful. Others come confused or in grief. What to do? What do we do that COVID has robbed us of so much? Some have smaller incomes but the debts remain high.  How to live without a husband or wife or dear friend who has just died. 

Our Old testament (Isaiah 9:2-7) and Gospel (Luke 2:1-14) readings seem to describe similar times even while being several ages apart. Both groups of persons live in a world of hardships. Isaiah describes the situation as dark, while Luke sets a political stage of colonial masters dictating how one must act.

There is however a silver lining – a light comes to dispel the darkness, and new ruler is born who though not political changes the view of the political landscape.  It is that light, that ruler that we reflect on today.  It is the same one who still shines darkness into our lives and through whose lens we must view our world in this day and age.

Every year at this time we recount the story of Jesus being born and I dare say, we think we know the story any which way it is told. Yet each time we hear it, we should seek to understand it’s deeper meaning, by shining a light deeper into our individual and communal hearts until no darkness is left in it.  Sometimes the light wavers and so the story rekindles the light. 

A question I have always asked myself, is why did Joseph take his pregnant girlfriend with him to Bethlehem. In those days it wasn’t so important to know how many women and children existed. Very often we read the statistics in the bible specifying that women and children were not counted.  Luke tells us that it is, he Joseph who must be counted. Why did Mary have to go? The story doesn’t say how they travelled, but it certainly would not have been easy for a woman 9 months pregnant to travel. Most likely it was by donkey on a treacherous 90 mile journey with exposure to wild animals, and robbers for at least 4 days either way. Mary as a poor Jewish girl would have been no stranger to hardships. She would have been helping to care for her household maybe even working up to 10 hours a day. She probably would not have been exempt from this even though she was pregnant. I do believe that Mary still bore the scorn of her neighbors even though Joseph stood by her.  We read all the time of how unforgiving the people in the bible can be. The Jewish laws penalize those who err. Their life was governed by over 600 rules of how to live in community what and how to eat and how to relate to each other.

So, I believe she had to go because Joseph had to keep her near to him.  She had to be protected from the harshness of others. Being pregnant and unmarried was a death sentence.  May even still have been, as if I understand people, some relative of Joseph was still offended for him.  Some relative couldn’t let the supposed disgrace go. The bearer of God therefore, had to be kept as safe as it was humanly possible, until God could be made manifest.  

As persons made in the image of God, we too are God bearers. We all have a divine side to us, and we need to protect and care for it.  It is the light that dispels our own dark times, it is what rule our hearts and makes us look at the world through the lens of Jesus. We need to nurture it in the womb of our souls, give birth to it and manifest this divine side in our own lives.

#Godbearer; #MarymotherofGod; #Christmas #Luke2:1-14; #Mary1stwitnessofJesus

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The Use of Black Images in the Diocese of Jamaica

Posted on October 7, 2020 by Hilda Vaughan

         The #BlackLivesMatter movement which causes one group in society to feel inferior to another has caused many to question the use of cultural and religious icons. Black Lives Matter is an organized movement originating in the United States advocating for non-violent civil disobedience in protest against incidents of police brutality against African-American people.
        There is a big global discussion about removing statues of persons who were involved in the transatlantic slave trade and who were seen as having promoted white supremacy. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the honorary head of the Anglican Communion on the BBC Today Programme on June 26, 2020 said that the church should reconsider its portrayal of Jesus as a white man. This has sparked much discussion about the use of culturally relevant icons in Church and Christianity. The Archbishop affirmed that “many Anglican churches did not portray Jesus as white” and that “Jesus is portrayed in as many ways as there are cultures, languages and understandings.”
         Culturally relevant images have been used from the beginning of Christianity for example the symbol of the fish forming the word Christos, meaning Christ, which helped Christians identify each other. The cross, the dove, the shepherd were all symbols in the early church pointing to God, by those who chose to reflect on their significance.
       Icons were widely used up to the Reformation. They were very important in the Middle Ages and in times and places where persons were illiterate, as the pictures, friezes, or sculpture would tell the story. Thus, Biblical stories, and the Sacraments could be found on the walls of ancient cathedrals. They are still being represented in our stained-glass windows and in the drawings of Mary, Jesus and the Saints.
        An icon is a religious work of art, which depicts, Jesus, Mary saints or tells a biblical story. These icons are not worshipped but when viewed, should bring into focus the presence of God and point persons to some truth about God. These icons were sometimes used to teach and assisted in developing piety as they were reverenced when persons encountered them. Reverencing or venerating is honouring, which is not the same as worship. We worship only God. We however honour the things of God, things we consider sacred and treat them distinctly different from other things as they point us beyond themselves to God. Even in Judaism, there were paintings and other artistic representations such as cherubims (1 Kings 6: 27) and bible stories which were used for the same purpose.
        Westminster Abbey, England, which has a statue of Martin Luther King at its entrance has, in the Statesmen’s Corner, a black carving as a part of weeping figures surrounding the statue of Charles James Fox (1749-1806). Brooke-Hunt (1902) says Fox “powerfully championed” the ‘negro’s’ cause. The monument (Figure 1)

Monument to Charles James Fox in the nave of Westminster Abbey. By Sir Richard Westmacott. showing 'Negro'

Monument to Charles James Fox in the nave of Westminster Abbey. By Sir Richard Westmacott.

by the sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott, was installed in the Abbey in 1822. It shows “the dying Fox resting in the arms of a female figure representing Liberty. A slave (or perhaps a freed slave) kneels at the deathbed – the kneeling posture has been taken to represent both mourning and gratitude in reference to Fox’s support in Parliament for the cause of the abolition of slavery. The female figure behind the kneeling man (partly draped over Fox) represents Peace.” (Tony Trowles 2020). At St Margaret, Thrandeston in Suffolk there are corbels of a “negress” (Figure 2) and a “Moor”.

         Black cultural images have also been used locally for a long time. At The Cathedral of St. Jago de la Vega in Spanish Town, corbels were placed on the building when the new Chancel was erected circa 1849-1853. Two of these corbels are black persons representing the newly emancipated ‘negro’. Thus, the Church has recognized the importance of other ethnic groups and the dignity of all persons.
         In Jamaica, traditionally, the churches which use icons (ikons) have been the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Roman Catholics and Anglicans. Icons used are of Jesus, Mary, other religious figures, and Bible stories. They have been portrayed as black by several artists and it is understood that they are not to be white.
         In several Anglican Churches there are black icons or representations of Christian stories. Several Churches use black or culturally relevant images on their bulletins/newsletters. Most of these were commissioned in the 1970s, an era of heightened black awareness, pride and in the words of Prof. the Hon. Rex Nettleford, the ‘smaddytization’ of Jamaicans. These icons were all created by local artists.

Known Black Icons 
        The pieces of art mentioned here is not an exhaustive list of black icons in the Diocese. Some of these works were controversial at the time of erection. One such piece is the crucifix at St. Jude’s, Stony Hill, by Christopher Gonzales (Figure 3) below:

In 1973 Bishop Alfred Reid, then the Rector, commissioned a crucifix for the new Church. It is customary in an Anglican Church to have a cross behind the Altar. This one is more of a resurrection scene. The bird at the top represents the Holy Spirit, commonly expressed as a dove. In this work it is represented as a figure looking more like a screech owl (Barn Owl). Even Jesus’ image is controversial.
         Rev. Khan Honeyghan, the current Rector, explains: “Jesus is coming out of the grave. He is triumphant and his hands go up in the air and it joins with the wings of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is a black man with broad nostrils, his hair and beard looking more like a Rastafarian. The ripple effect on the sides represent bolts of lightning as he emerges from the grave, representing the significant and powerful event of the Resurrection. There is a snake on the left. At the bottom are two heads. One immediately below Jesus and another on the right representing the people. Jesus is pulling out of Hades with him.” Persons objected to the imagery of the ‘Rastafarian’ Jesus and the dove looked ghostlike, they contend. St. Jude’s has several other black icons such as:

  • “Black Jesus”, signature of artist illegible
  • Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus fleeing to Egypt  
  • Black St. Jude – Barry Watson
  •  Mary – Barry Watson (Figure 4)

         At The Church of St. Thomas the Apostle, commonly called The Kingston Parish Church, there are 3 pieces:
•  ‘Piet’ by Susan Alexander – A triptych (Figure 5)
•  “The Angel”, by Edna Manley and
•  “Mother and Child” – Osmond Watson 
The ‘Piet’ depicts the women anointing the body of Jesus for burial, and the ‘Mother and Child’ are currently located in the Lady Chapel.

        The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, which was pastored for forty years by Liberation Theologian Canon Ernle Gordon boasts two Marianne figures, and a depiction of the Resurrection by Barry Watson.
        Karl Parboosingh’s last artistic work is a mural behind the Altar at the Church of the Resurrection in Duhaney Park, Kingston. For some time, this was covered as members of the church community objected to it.
         In At All Saints’ Church, West Street is a sculpture “The Crucifix” by Edna Manley which hangs over the Altar.  In 1976, Neville Alexander gifted the newly built Church of the Holy Spirit, Cumberland, Portmore with a painting “Jesus” which stands behind the altar. (Figure 6) Painted by his wife Susan Alexander, Neville presented it on behalf of his faithful employee, Enid Brown.

        The Church of the Transfiguration in Meadowbrook, boasts a stained glass window with black figures in it. (Figure 7) This was done by Mrs. Charmaine Thompson, the wife of Bishop Robert Thompson.

Other known images are:
• ‘Christ Ascending’ – St Andrew Parish Church in the All Souls’ Chapel
• The Chapel of Intercession – at the United Theological College of the West Indies, is a painting by Edna Manley
• ‘The Real Last Supper’ at Hillcrest Diocesan Retreat Centre.
• A statue at the entrance in the Chapel at The University of the West Indies, Mona

        It is important to note that it is not only in the Anglican Church that bible stories or biblical persons have been depicted as black. The Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Cathedral has black saints in its stained-glass windows. Mallica “Kapo” Reynolds of the Revival Church is well known for his depictions of biblical stories using black people. The Rastafarians have always depicted Jesus as black.

Reasons for not recognizing Jesus as black
         A lot of work has been done depicting Jesus and biblical characters as black, but we have chosen not to pay attention. The reasons may be many. Among them are:

        • We have failed to understand that theology is contextual. Each person and each culture experiences God differently and we have allowed others to teach us or to suggest how God should be experienced. As a people we bought into a “correct” way of worshipping God and a “correct” way of practicing faith. That right way dictates a white God. We have failed to assert or even acknowledge our African heritage which is one of the main reasons for our failure to appreciate that Jesus can be black like us and that God has no colour or gender except those we give to God in an effort to better help us understand God’s action in the world.
        • It may be that we have been brainwashed or indoctrinated in white supremacy and privilege. Many of us are still in a place where the higher one’s skin tone is perceived to be, the better you are as a person and so should enjoy better opportunities. There is a story of a European artist painting The Last Supper and using a young handsome man as Jesus. Several years later he wanted to depict Judas. He went into the prison and found a man whom he thought represented Judas. In time he realized that his Jesus had run afoul of the law and he had chosen him to be Judas.
        • Many of us have been cultured to believe that anything black cannot be good and is therefore unacceptable. In the 1930s, the congregation at All Saints Church, West Street in Kingston rejected Canon Walter Brown, its first black rector. The Bishop told them he would not be assigning another priest, so they were forced to accept him.  In 1783, George Leile (also spelt Lisle), a former enslaved African American, came to Jamaica and established what we know today as the Jamaica Baptist Union. The East Queen Street Baptist Church was dedicated 1822 to yet its first black pastor, Rev Leo Rhynie, who was only appointed in 1958.
        •  Perhaps, for us in Jamaica since we were taught Christianity by white persons who had indigenized Christ in their culture beginning with Leonardo DaVinci’s “Last Supper”. This made Jesus reflect their white self. We then acquired their thinking of Christ without developing our own. White Jesus is everywhere, on Christmas cards, on easily accessible imported photographs, the pictures which hang in our grandma’s home, and the free calendars given as gifts every December. Some of us have never really given thought to the colour of Jesus. Few of us would ever question these depictions. Others have refused to think differently particularly since our theological focus has been on our sins and our unworthiness. As we struggle to keep ourselves from hell, we think of nothing else.
      Conclusion        
    •         We learn our values vicariously from what happens around us, pictures, movies, our friend’s worldview, and the same happens in religious circle. How we view Jesus matters, as this determines how we view persons who are different from us. Every tribe and nation can make Jesus their own as each was made in the likeness of God.  Further, the incarnated Jesus reflects each of us as we are with our idiosyncrasies. When we acknowledge this, then each person, people, race, and community can be proud of who they are. We can then be comfortable in our own skin, and also give to each other the respect and dignity each deserves.

REFERENCES:
Brooke-Hunt, Violet. (1902), The Story of Westminster Abbey, London. James Nisbet & Co. Ltd.
Please note that this article was prepared with the generous assistance of:
• Mr. Tony Trowles, Westminster Abbey, London, England;
• Reverends. Khan Honeyghan and Leslie Mowatt
• Dr. Trevor Hope, Mr. Bill Poinsett, Mrs. Margaret Mais,

Amateur photography was contributed by these persons: Rev. Khan Honeyghan, Mr. Bertram Gayle, Dudley McLean, and Herschel Ismail.

     

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    A Father’s Day Message

    Posted on June 22, 2020 by Hilda Vaughan

    Happy Father’s Day  to all the persons who have raised children. I do hope you all have a great day and feel thankful for the contributions you have made to the next generation.

    Genesis 21:8-21 tells the story of Abraham and Hagar with two examples of fatherhood.
    Firstly we see Abraham, who chooses between his sons. If we look at what we know about Abraham we recognize that he does what he understands to be in his best interest. When he went to Egypt and the Pharaoh wanted to have relations with his wife Sarah, Abraham did not stand up for her because he may have been killed. One might say she was property but the other man did not see her as such.

    In Genesis 18:1-15, we see Abraham running to greet three men and inviting them into his tent before any other person could offer the same hospitality. Hospitality was a big thing. These early tribes lived in groups so it was unlikely that Abraham would have been the only head of household. Traders and other nomads would often come in contact with semi-nomads like Abraham from time to time. Semi-nomads because they did not always stay in one place. They moved as there was land to graze the animals and grow grain. These persons often left parting gifts for the hospitality or extended a blessing. And they sure did, they blessed Abraham with a son. but Sarah laughed.

    Abraham’s need for an heir was so strong, he spoke to God about it. He desperately wanted to leave his inheritance to an offspring, but he had none. Sarah too wanted to take shame of barrenness out of her own eye. Sarah and Abraham decided that the Egyptian slave girl Hagar would be the surrogate. She had the child. While she was pregnant, she ran away because they treated her badly. God convinced her to go back. She had the child and for a while everybody was happy. Sarah then became pregnant sometime after. Sarah was not having Ishmael share in Abraham’s wealth. She saw both children playing one day, the older laughing and teasing the younger as children often do, particularly when one is a little older than the other. Ishmael, was sixteen (16) and Isaac about three (3) as that was the time of weaning according to their custom. Sarah was having none of it. Neither the rough playing nor was Ishmael going to inherit what was rightfully hers. The word and tense used could also mean that Ishmael was always mocking Isaac, allowing Ishmael’s actions to be interpreted as abusive, but it was not so. She forced Abraham to send them away. Verse 9-10 tells us ‘when Sarah saw the son, Hagar (the Egyptian girl) bore for Abraham laughing and teasing her son. She became jealous and demanded of Abraham: Throw this slave woman and her son out right now! The son of this slave is not going to share the inheritance along with my son, Isaac, if I have anything to do with it!’

    In Chapter 15:19 God tells Abraham that the covenant and promise of nations comes through Sarah’s son Isaac and not Ishmael. Sarah does not seem to know this and so she thinks Ishmael threatens what is due to Isaac. All children were inheritors once they were recognized by the father. Further if a slave bore children she was not to be sold or expelled.
    For a peaceful life Abraham sends them away. God tells him not to worry because He would take care of Hagar and Ishmael. What grabs me though is that Abraham sends them away with literally nothing. Where they lived was not like the Jamaican countryside where there were fruit trees growing wild or untended, no banana to cut off a hand. Abraham sent away his son with only a loaf of bread and a container of water into a deserted place. Some translations say a skin of water – a pouch made from animal skin, or maybe a bladder. They left with very little to sustain them. It may have been enough to get her to the next water hole or set of tents but certainly not enough to get her to her homeland Egypt. Ishmael was left to the mercy and kindness of others.

    Does Abraham’s personality look or sound familiar to you?

    How many times do we know of men having children, only to abandon them when their wife finds out?

    How many times have you heard of a current woman preventing a man from looking after the children he had before she and her children came along?

    How many times have we heard of men giving their children less than what they need to survive?

    Let me say this. Its not only men who treat their children badly, women do it too.

    While we bear these things in mind we will not dwell on them, because there is another father in the story. One we know very well. God! God is the Father of all fathers. The story of Abraham and Hagar points to the caring character of God. God was with both families. God kept his promise to Abraham while at the same time, God never left Hagar and Ishmael. Ishmael grew into a well-adjusted adult. We are told He and Isaac buried their father together.

    When we talk about God being father, we aren’t talking about him in the earthly sense of Fatherhood. God is father because he created the world and we with him are co-creators. It therefore means that we should be looking to take on the character of God. The person-hood of someone who cares despite the situation. When Abraham and Sarah took things into their own hands, God did not abandon them, but in time, what God had promised came to be. God found a way to bring into fruition what God wanted.

    Even while Hagar was considered property by Abraham, to be used as he felt, and thrown away when she no longer had use, God did not abandon her. Can you imagine what would have happened if soon after Ishmael was born Sarah became pregnant? Hagar would have been sent away with a young child who would not have been easy to care for?

    On this Father’s day what characteristic do we need to hone for better family life and community. From our story I would say Compassion and commitment. With all of Abraham’s missteps God had compassion on him. We too should strive to be people who have compassion. Many times persons find themselves in situations and cant even figure out how they reached there. There is a young man who lives somewhere in Manchester. He came one evening for help to make a decision, – To go to town or stay in Manchester. He had a job in Kingston, lost it and has been spiraling downhill ever since. His question was not why me. But ‘how did I reach here?’ He has no mother, no father but an aunt who allows him to live rent free. His parents abandoned him a long ago. He says nobody speaks to him. And when he tries to engage other people he wonders if they think he is mad, because of their response. God accepts people as they are. God does not judge, God does not decide who they are or what they will do based on what they have done before. God has compassion.

    Compassion according to the dictionary means having a sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it. That’s God. That’s what Fathers do. They make sure their children are alright. That they are in a good place. Sometimes we don’t like their methods, but they usually are acting in our best interest. God always acts in our best interest. He shows us opportunities to live our best lives just as he showed Hagar the watering hole. Poor soul dehydrated and hungry, she couldn’t see straight. She though she was going to die, but God kept her. He didn’t let go. He doesn’t let us go either.

    We very often focus on what is happening in the world outside our families our households. But fathers day is about family. Its about acknowledging our parents particularly our father. With 45% of our households being female headed, we have one parent acting in both roles. Being a father does not have anything to do with reproductive organs or the gonads God gave us when we were born. It has to do with being an individual that nurtures in a way that compliments Mother. A father is usually the disciplinarian. A common phrase in Jamaica was ‘wait till yu father come’

    Yes the task of living as a youngster in a father-child relationship is sometimes painful. We don’t always react as expected. For some, our father annoy us with their strong sense of self and how they want us to be. We resent it. Oh yes! We cry for hours, thinking bad things and being sorry at the same time. We feel hate this minute sometimes even to the point where we think we would be better off if they were dead or absent from your life. But there is love lurking at the back of our minds. We don’t quite get it, that Dad wants the best for us. He wants us to have what he didn’t, particularly if he is able to afford more than his parents. Hopefully in time we will all get to that understanding.

    Then there is Dad who doesn’t understand that we have to be our own person and literally crushes us. He wants us to be all that he wasn’t. we have a difficult time conforming. Its painful.

    Some constantly long for their father to talk to and with them; and not at them, to do things with them. Sometimes these fathers live in the same home, but they don’t understand the role they should be playing. Many believe that by providing physical things is enough. There is little or no emotional support or spiritual guidance. There is no, what we call, quality time spent with the children. We miss out on a bond that we later wish we had.

    But life doesn’t have to be that way.

    A father is usually the one who while protecting, allows you to explore and find yourself. Dad is usually not as fearful of the world as Mom. It is said that ‘the presence of a loving father greatly increases a child’s chances of success, confidence and resilience’. This confident successful resilient person is who we are all sent into the world to be. But we cant be that person if we do not open ourselves to understanding what is happening. If we always choose to have our own way like Abraham. God told Abraham he would father nations through Sarah, but he was willing to give her away to another man, and to have a child by another woman.

    God shows us the way. God sent Jesus to show us the way. We have all the prophets, the disciples, the early Christian communities, the early church fathers, even our own parents, who have shown us how to father others. The church has always used a method of discipleship of showing compassion as Jesus did.

    We, God’s children have a responsibility to our family and community to nurture others as God nurtures, filling in the gaps that will make for wholesome well adjusted individuals. We must have a father’s compassion for all. It is the Jesus way. I do hope we can all find it in our heart to be compassionate and father-like, Godlike in our behaviour to others. (June 21, 2020) #proper7YearA

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