Sean Major-Campbell | Jamaica 61: Proud and Strong (Part 2)

This is a continuation of the National Independence Sermon preached in the New Testament Church of God, Waltham Park Road, on July 30, under the theme: ‘Jamaica 61: Proud and Strong’ and informed by the text of Numbers 14:6-10a. The preacher was The Most Rev Dr Howard Gregory, Archbishop of the West Indies.

… With the airing of negativity by the 10, Caleb gains a supporter in Joshua. They tore their clothes as an expression of distress at what they were hearing from the people, and offered a reframing of the situation in the words of the text. (Numbers 14:7-9):

“The land that we went through as spies is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only, do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they are no more than bread for us; their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”

The people still would have none of this. How can you come with good news and a word of hope when we are wallowing in our despair and negativity? So the text tells us the whole congregation threatened to stone them.

What Caleb and Joshua as effective leaders did was not just go with the majority sentiment, but engage the people by pointing them to another perspective from which to view their situation which transcended mere sentiment or feeling.

a. Caleb and Joshua located and interpreted the situation in terms of God’s covenant relationship with his people, reminding them that it was God who had promised them a land and a future and that he would be faithful to his promise. The odds and the outcomes were not to be defined on the basis of the limits of their efforts and perceived strength.

b. They defined the situation in terms of a reciprocal and mutual relationship in which Israel had a responsibility to be faithful in its service and devotion to God, in terms of its religio-moral culture and way of life. But, who wants to hear that kind of thing when it is so easy to project responsibility for every threat, every failure, and every wrong on leaders, God, and circumstances?

c. They foresaw the outcome of a failure of faith and nerve on the part of the people with far-reaching consequences, namely, the existing generation losing its opportunity to be a part of the settlement of the Promised Land and consequently being condemned to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

We as Jamaicans stand in this moment/juncture of transition on the road to the Promised Land, and are the ones who must not only assess the lay of the land in this 61st year of Independence, but must determine whether and how we shall venture into the heritage. And we must do so conscious of the fact that we have our spies, our crowd, our Caleb and our Joshua, and that each has a story and a perspective to share. And it is out of that intersection of different perspective and stories that the pride and the strength of this nation will be defined and given expression.

WHAT DOES THIS JUNCTURE AND MOMENT OF TRANSITION LOOK LIKE IN OUR NATION?

· The performance indicators related to the economy are of a positive nature, indicating recovery of the economy to pre-COVID-19 levels, and with the support of external agencies and voices such as the IMF, and the Financial Times pointing to positive indicators regarding the state of our nation’s economy.

· At the same time, the number-one concern of Jamaicans is crime and violence and the unrelenting, high murder statistics. We awaken each day to reports of the latest murders committed overnight. Expanded codification of the law with extended incarceration is being pursued as an alleviation strategy. And, while attractive to those who are seeking retribution, it is likely to have limited outcomes until we start looking in more intentional ways at the forces and dynamics that are generating these dysfunctional human behaviours, such as interpersonal conflicts and domestic violence, a significant contributor to the murder statistics. In one of our camps for children, we found that over 90 per cent of the campers were exposed to, or were victims of, violence and abuse in the home. If this is happening at the head of the stream of life, what do we expect to find downstream?

· The nation has now embarked on a process of constitutional review that should lead us into the status of a republic. However, what this means for us as a nation is yet to be explained and grasped by the people of this nation, who will decide the future on the basis of a referendum. Is it just about getting rid of the monarchy? Broad-based participation in the process is important for the shaping of the vision for the future of this nation in the long term.

· There is a spirit of alienation pervading the society by which citizens of various social classes and backgrounds are not seeing themselves as having a stake and a sense of ownership and belonging to the life of the nation. One disturbing trend in this regard is the level of apathy and decreasing level of participation of citizens in the electoral process in a way that threatens our democratic system of governance. When two-thirds of a nation choose not to vote in elections, there is a major problem on hand. In this regard, there is need for a recalibration of the level of trust between people and politicians of either side of the political divide heightened by the recent salary dispute…

Fr Sean Major-Campbell is an Anglican priest and advocate for human dignity and human rights. seanmajorcampbell@yahoo.com. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com