A Letter from the Apostle Paul

                                   to

                   Christians in Jamaica

Paul, called to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to you who are in Jamaica, grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.   For many years I have longed to see you.   I have heard so much about you and of what you are doing as you celebrate your Golden Jubilee year of Independence.   News has come to me regarding the fascinating advances that you have made in the fields of music and entertainment, in athletics, access to educational opportunities, the number of tourists attracted to your country.   I have learned of your new highways, toll roads which make it possible to travel from one end of the country to the other in a shorter time.   I have also heard of your high rise buildings and fine dwelling houses and the latest models in motor vehicles.   I am told of your wonderful advances in the curing of many dread diseases thereby prolonging life expectancy among many.   All of that is marvelous.   You can do so many things in your day that I could not do in the Greco-Roman world of my day.   You travel distances in a single day that in my generation required days and weeks.   That is wonderful.

But, Jamaica, I wonder whether your moral and spiritual progress has been commensurate or of the same extent with your scientific, technological progress.   It appears to me that your moral progress lags behind your material progress, your mentality outdistances your morality.   I am afraid that many among you are more concerned in making money than in accumulating spiritual treasures.   God never intended some people to live in superfluous wealth while others know only deadening poverty.   God wants all of God’s children to have the basic necessities of life and God has provided in this universe “enough and to spare” for that purpose.   Therefore I would urge you to keep your moral and spiritual advances abreast of your scientific advances.

I find it necessary to remind you of the responsibility laid upon you to represent the ethical principles of Christianity amid a time that popularly disregards them.   I am told that there are some among you who are trying to rewrite scriptures in order to come up with new definitions of marriage and the family.   I am to remind you that the scripture defines the marriage God instituted in terms of heterosexual monogamy that is the union one man with one woman.   And scripture envisages no other kind of marriage or sexual intercourse for God provided no alternative.    I understand that there are many people in Jamaica, Christians among them who give their ultimate loyalty to man-made systems and customs.   They are afraid to be different.   Their great concern is to be accepted socially.   They live by some such principle as this:  “Everybody is doing it, so it must be alright”.   It is very worrying indeed to learn that one of the only places many people line-up is at the outlets of Supreme Ventures purchasing tickets for the lottery, lucky five and pick three.

Jamaican Christians, I must say to you what I wrote to the Roman Christians many years ago: “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind”.   You have a dual citizenship.

You live both in time and eternity.   Your highest loyalty is to God, and not to any man-made institution.   If any earthly institution or custom conflicts with God’s will it is your Christian duty to oppose it.   You must never allow the transitory or changing demands of man-made institutions to take precedence over the eternal demands of the Almighty God.   In a time when men and women are surrendering the high values of the faith you must cling to them and despite the pressure of a disobedient generation preserve them for children yet unborn.   You are called to be the salt of the earth.   You are to be the light of the world.

Jamaican Christians, let me say something about the church.   I must remind you, as I have told so many others, that the church is the Body of Christ .   As such Christ is Lord and Head of the church so you must be careful how you behave as members of the Body of Christ.   When the church is true to its nature, it knows neither division or disunity.   I am told that in Jamaica there are more than 600 denominations of Christianity.   The tragedy is not merely that you have such a multiplicity of denominations but that many groups claim to be the only true church.   Such narrow-mindedness destroys the unity of the Body of Christ.   God is neither Anglican, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Seventh Day Adventist, United Church or Pentecostal.   God transcends our denominations.   If you are to be true witnesses for Christ, you must come to know this, Jamaica.

I am happy to hear that there is some concern for Church unity in Jamaica.   I have the encouraging news that three denominations – Congregational, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian – have come together to form the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.   I have word that you have a Jamaica Council of Churches, a United Theological College of the West Indies and that there is affiliation with the Council for world Mission and the World Council of Churches.   All this is marvelous.   Continue to follow in this positive path.   I hope that Christians will come closer and closer together in the days ahead so that they can call the nation together, for it is indeed appalling that the entertaining world – Reggae Sunsplash, Jazz Festival etc. – can come together and Christians don’t seem able to do so at times.

But Jamaica  there is something else that disturbs me.   I am told there has been a great deal of tribalism among the two main political parties leading to acts of favouritism, violence, bloodshed, divided communities.   Oh, my friends, this is a blatant betrayal of your national motto and anthem.   So Jamaicans I must urge you to get rid of such behaviour for it scars the nation and destroys community and nation building.   The Christian teaching is opposed to all injustice and all unrighteousness.

I hope the churches in Jamaica will in the days ahead truly be the guardian of the moral and spiritual life of the nation, because the church cannot look with indifference upon glaring evils and corruption.   If you as Christians will accept the challenge with devotion and courage, you will lead the misguided men and women of your nation from the darkness of falsehood and fear to the light of truth and love.

Jamaica, may I just say a word to those of you who are the victims of injustice of one kind or another.   You must continue to work passionately and vigorously for your God – given and constitutional rights.   It would be both cowardly and immoral for you patiently to accept injustice.   You must understand that you will be scorned, persecuted when you stand up for a great principle.

But as you continue to struggle for noble ends never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter.   Let no man or woman pull you so low that you hate him or her.   By having this attitude you will keep your struggle on high Christian levels.

Jamaican Christians, I must bring my letter to a close because Silas is waiting to deliver it and I must take leave for Macedonia from which an urgent call has come requesting help.   But before leaving I must say to you, as I said to the Church of Corinth, that love is the most enduring power in the world.

Throughout the centuries men and women have sought to discover the highest good.   I have discovered that the highest good is love.   This principle is at the centre of the universe.   It is the great unifying force of life – God is love.   He who loves has discovered the clue to the meaning of life.

Jamaican Christians, you may be a super-power in athletics, a great music and entertainment centre , you may have made strides in your education an health care, in creating new highways etc.

You may master the intricacies of patois, the English language and you may possess the eloquence of articulate speech, you may ascend to the heights of academic achievements, boast of great institutions of learning but devoid, empty of love, all of these mean absolutely nothing.

But even more, Jamaicans, you may give your goods to feed the poor, you may bestow great gifts of charity but if you have not love your charity means nothing.   You may even give your body to be burned and die the death of a martyr and your spilled blood may be a symbol of honour for generations yet unborn and thousands may praise you as one of history’s supreme heroes, but even so, if you have not love, your blood is spilled in vain.   You must come to see that a man or woman may be self-centred in his or her self-denial and self-righteous in his or her self-sacrifice.   His or her generosity may feed his or her ego and his or her piety may feed his or her pride.   Without love, benevolence becomes egotism and martyrdom becomes spiritual pride.

The greatest of all virtues is love.   Here we find the true meaning of the Christian faith and of the cross.   At calvary we see the love of God breaking into time.   Out of the hugeness of His generosity God allowed His only – begotten Son to die that we may live.

In a world depending on force, tyranny and bloody violence you are challenged to follow the way of love.   I must say good-bye now.

Extend warmest greeting to all the saints in the household of Christ across Jamaica.   Be of good comfort, be of one mind, and live in peace.   It is improbable that I will see you in Jamaica, but I will meet you in God’s eternity.   And now unto Him who is able to keep us from falling and lift us from the dark valley of despair to the bright mountain of hope, from the midnight of desperation to the daybreak of joy, to Him be power and authority, forever and ever.   Amen.

Prepared by: Rev. Dr. Derik Davidson

August 19, 2012