WESTMORELAND:
THE JAMAICA Cultural Development Commission's (JCDC) Westmoreland Parish Office and the Westmoreland Parish Council jointly hosted a Heritage Week ecumenical service at the Wesleyan Methodist Church Savanna-la-Mar on Sunday, under the theme, "Recommitting to Nation Building Through the Preservation of our Heritage."
The first lesson was read by Yvonne Lawrence, Chairperson of the Westmoreland Cultural Development Committee, while the second was read by Balvin Leslie.
In delivering the sermon, host pastor the Rev. Hyacinth Daley reminded the congregation that there were two gates: the broad and the narrow. The narrow leading to Christian life, while the broad leads to destruction.
The Rev. Daley went on to mention some of the things that have taken place on the "broad" way nowadays, including ill-clad people. "There seems to be no distinction between what people wear to church and to the dancehall. Some persons dress with parts of their bodies that should be covered," she said.
Vulgarity is on the increase both in speech and dress, said Rev. Daley. Illicit drugs and casual sex were now part of the "broad" road and these were on the increase as most persons were doing what everybody else was doing, the wrong thing, said Rev. Daley.
She then implored the audience to get rid of selfishness, lying and gossip if they intend to go on the "narrow" road. A musical item was performed by the church's youth group.
Among those in attendance were Mayor of Savanna-la-Mar Ralph Anglin, Deputy Mayor Winston Comrie, Patricia Sinclair-Stair, secretary-manager of the Westmore-land Parish Council, Hilma Tate, the Parish Council's disaster preparedness co-ordinator, Gillian Lawrence and other officers of the JCDC Parish office. Cub Scouts, Brownies and their leaders, emergency medical services, officers of the Savanna-la-Mar Fire Department were also in attendance.
