THE EDITOR, Sir:
A MEMBER of the Family Life Ministries delivered a message to us at Mona Baptist Church recently which caused me to focus on ourselves as a nation and members of the global community: our motives, attitudes and actions.
One of the scriptures read was taken from Amos 5: 21-24: "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savour your sacred assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings, and your grain offerings, I will not accept them. Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings, Take away from me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream ..."
This led to me to think of the upcoming 'National Day of Prayer' where I suppose we are to cry out to God to save the hearts of our people and particularly those who seek only to murder, steal, extort and destroy for their own selfish gain, marring the good that is our beautiful country, Jamaica. Surely, none of us would be included in that dastardly list.
I believe God will listen if we allow justice to prevail in our land. If we love others as ourselves and be responsible stewards of the blessings that He has so graciously entrusted us with. How? From the head of the stream the Government the empty promises made to win votes, the incessant parcelling out of money not fairly earned ... propagating the 'beggy-beggy' mentality; legalising squatting through misguided attempts at relocating people from one land-owner's property to another's, free of cost!
Law-abiding taxpayers are being asked to pay more land taxes ... We all know what havoc the MoU has wrought only one side of the bargain was kept, two guesses are not needed for us to figure who was kept to their word ... where's the justice in that? The list goes on.
In the corporate world, businesses have complained about the high interest rates. The banks know the truth and continue to increase their profit margins at the expense of their loyal customers . ..and a lot of this profit is exported from Jamaica anyway where's the justice in that?
Children are sent to beg and fend for themselves on the streets. They suffer from starvation, neglect, lack of education ... all spawned from the lack of proper parenting.
Where are the parents? Do fathers know that it is their responsibility to raise their children? Do mothers know it is their responsibility to choose good and proper fathers? That it is better to use birth control rather than have an unwanted child? Do they know it is not the government?s responsibility to 'bail them out' to raise and take care of their children?
MISGUIDED CHILDREN
Alas, these misguided children, not imbued with good values and mores from their parents' shining example, are let loose on the roads to terrorise others or in schools for teachers to raise. Where is the justice in that? Our people perish for lack of knowledge ? the budget for education has been reduced yet again ... where are our priorities?
In the churches are we being good examples to all who see us? Do they see Jesus in us? Are we selfish, irreverent, lazy, complainers, gossipers, judgemental, dishonest or no less miserable than everyone else? We may not be perfect, and God certainly does not expect us to be without Him.
Let this National Day of Prayer not be only lip service, pomp and ceremony. Rather let us examine ourselves, repent and then allow it to be the beginning of integrity, love, honesty, goodness, kindness, giving due regard to our fellow man in our government, schools, businesses, communities and homes. This is what God really requires of us, and then through our earnest prayer we will see positive and continuing change.
I am, etc.,
MARISA TAYLOR
marisantaylor@yahoo.co.uk
Mona, Kingston 7
Via Go-Jamaica
