Desmond HenryTREASURE BEACH:
THE PICTURESQUE St. Peter's Anglican Church in the deeply rural district of Pedro Plains, St. Elizabeth, had one of its most enduring never-to-be forgotten moments in its spiritual life recently, when an overcrowded congregation heard an authentic sermon from, guess who, the Governor-General of Jamaica, His Excellency Sir Howard Cooke. And this was not a delivery of platitudes written for him by some bureaucrat, but an honest-to-goodness spiritual message drawn from scriptural references and rendered from the pulpit. It was history indeed, and proved to be one of the most rewarding psychological residues from this year's St. Elizabeth Homecoming celebrations. It was just right, and outa sight.
Apart from his ability to reach rural hearts, Sir Howard is a deeply spiritual man. He speaks openly and proudly of his faith, and uses language and inferences of forgiveness as part of his personal outreach.
In this respect, he is neither a fake nor a person of insincerity. At this service he climbed the pulpit like any ordained cleric in the Anglican movement would have done, and brought the prestige and honour of his high office to a parish and its people, in a gesture that will be remembered for generations to come. It was received in awe, and still now is being discussed with reverence and pride.
Such is the rewards of a movement that is almost magically, helping a proud parish to refurbish itself.
The St. Elizabeth Homecoming Foundation was started seven years ago for the expressed purpose of using the tools of celebration and reward, to motivate the citizens of the parish towards self and community development. It sets aside the last week of November each year, for a set of week-long activities highlighting the achievements of the parish and its citizens, and defining programmes of future development through which all St. Elizabethans can contribute.
It has been doing wonders for the parish practically, emotionally, psychologically. And so when the GG accepted the invitation from the planning committee to preach the sermon at this year's commemoration service, it raised the bar of notoriety a few notches higher. By sheer coincidence it also achieved another first.
Not only was the GG himself present at St. Peter's but, by a stroke of fate, his sometimes deputy, Canon Weeville Gordon, Custos of Kingston was also there not just as a member of the Homecoming Executive, but as a graduate of that same rural church. Growing up as a boy, Canon Gordon's home was just a stone throw (literally) from St. Peter's. Its early influence on his mother's life played a major part in directing his professional life towards the laity.
Pomp and circumstance
Added to that, the Canon's early coaching came under the influence of the late great Rev. E.V. Kitson-Walters who served the Pedro Plains cure sometime in the mid-1940s; and who led the redesign and rebuilding of this little statuesque rural church. Thus from a memorable point of view, not only was the GG present but his sometimes deputy was there as well along with three government Ministers, the Mayor of Black River, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, parish notables and local celebrities.
It was authentic pomp and circumstance. Enough to make the current cleric Rev. Carlton Tulloch, his executive and the entire congregation beam with deserved pride. This incidentally, is the same church which, a few years ago instituted the practice of celebrating a community memorial of the area, instead of a national memorial on Memorial Sunday each year. That too, has worked wonders for the church, its members and the community.
And so in an area of Jamaica where its citizens can tell you more about dry weather, watermelon growing, and goat rearing for one memorable day they got a full dose of this country's ceremonial officialdom. They are not likely to forget it for a long time. It is all part and parcel of a people's effort to paint a portrait of a parish.
THE BOTTOM LINE:
The problem with most self-made men, is that they spend too much time worshipping their creator.
Desmond Henry is a marketing strategist based in Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth.
