Devon Dick | Pastor Sam Sharpe deserves his day

As of this year, Pastor Sam Sharpe, national hero, will get his own day, according to Olivia Grange, minister of culture. Some might argue that we have National Heroes Week in October, so there is no need for a Sam Sharpe Day. Furthermore, if we do it for Sharpe, then we will have to do it for the other national heroes - Nanny, Marcus Garvey, Paul Bogle, George William Gordon, Alexander Bustamante and Norman Manley. However, Sharpe deserves his day based on him being the greatest Jamaican ('Sam Sharpe: Greatest Jamaican' July 28, 2012). Sharpe overcame being declared a non-human, to mobilise 25 per cent of the population to be a catalyst for emancipation, and successfully used passive resistance against the military might of Great Britain.

Sam Sharpe was a leader. Some perceive Sharpe as a deacon, meaning he was a mere assistant to a pastor with no independence of thought and action. However, Sharpe was nicknamed 'Daddy', out of respect as a preacher who wielded authority and exercised leadership as a pastor among Baptists. Sharpe operated as a Baptist minister in the outstations, while Thomas Burchell, English Baptist missionary, was the pastor in the town of Montego Bay at First Baptist Church. Remarkably, Sharpe functioned as a pastor over 'several free men' who claimed that for several years the only instruction they got as Baptists was from Sharpe (Cross and Machete, p 47). Sharpe was a pastor leader.

Prayer meeting

And as pastor, he discussed with the enslaved after prayers, at prayer meeting, his strategy for protest against the atrocious conditions under slavery. He conducted the prayer meetings and his philosophy and actions were informed by a prayerful life. This pattern of seeking God's guidance through prayer before action was to be followed by another pastor, Paul Bogle. Bogle and his members prayed in the chapel before marching to Morant Bay in protest, and after the protest he returned to the chapel in Stony Gut to offer prayers of thanksgiving that God's will was done and to seek further guidance from God. This is a model worthy of emulation by today's pastors - one of praying to God, then taking action, then reflection with prayer again. Unfortunately, too many use prayers as a ritual; faith without works; just 'a bag a mout' and no action. Not so for Sharpe who, through prayer, discerned that slavery was evil and fought strenuously against it.

As pastor, he was not only concerned for Baptist members but also for the wider community. He mobilised the community of the oppressed through a massive strike. The issue was over a holiday. The enslaved got Sunday as a day off and during the Christmas season got December 25 (Christmas Day), December 26 (Boxing Day) and would restart work on December 27. Sharpe wanted what is customary in today's Jamaica, that when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, it is not considered part of the holidays. Hence, Sharpe expected to return to work on December 28. The planter class decided that they should return on December 27. Therefore, the passive resistance was slated to start on December 27.

Therefore, a fitting tribute would be to declare December 27 as Sam Sharpe Day to mark the day of the catalyst for emancipation and make December 27 as a holiday as Sharpe wanted it. Pastor Sam Sharpe deserves his day.

PS: With the death of Rev Dr Byron Chambers, we have lost the head of the Public Theology Forum which was published in The Gleaner. This was a space in which theologians engaged in public discourse on matters of public interest.

May his soul rest in peace.

- Rev Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church in St Andrew. He is author of 'The Cross and the Machete', and 'Rebellion to Riot'. Send feedback to columns@ gleanerjm.com.