Emancipation Day Message – Sunday, August 1, 2021

Brothers & Sisters,

Emancipation Day is being celebrated in many and varied ways throughout the nation and throughout the Jamaican Diaspora.  We have chosen, as a Cure, to ensure that God is at the centre of our celebration by beginning the day with Eucharist both in Church and via our Zoom link, thereby creating the opportunity for all who so desire, members and friends, to join us in a corporate expression of gratitude to our God, who is in every sense a liberating God, and the source of all true freedom.  A further opportunity is provided for a time of prayer and reflection for those who would share in the Cure Morning Prayer Monday through Friday.  Let me encourage you to reflect prayerfully on the Collect for Emancipation which is provided for use at this time in all churches throughout the Province of the West Indies:

“Liberating God, whose service is perfect freedom, Who delivered your people Israel from slavery in Egypt; we thank You for delivering the people of these lands out of enslavement into freedom:  and we pray that by Your help we will preserve our freedom, respect and defend the freedom of others, through him by Whom we are made free, Your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.  Amen.”

In thinking about freedom we can approach the issue in this way, freedom from what and freedom for what.  This way of thinking makes it clear that freedom is always accompanied by responsibility, and that those who yearn for freedom must be prepared to shoulder the responsibility that freedom brings. Failure to do so will only result in greater bondage.  Certainly, more and more people need to

understand that we are freed to serve, for it is in service, and particularly in the service of Christ and our fellow human beings, that freedom becomes complete.

Think on these things!