– PM tells Moravian brethren

By Shauna Jemmott
GUYANESE Christians have been urged to use religion as a force for reconstruction and moral rejuvenation, and not as an instrument of destruction.

Acting President, Moses Nagamootoo, delivering an address during the opening worship service of the Third Biennial Provincial Conference of the Moravian Church in Guyana, said although religions have gone astray by extremism and violence, Christians should, with confidence, fight against the evils which continue to plague our society.

“Religion might have gone astray by extremism and violence in the world. That is unacceptable, inhumane and cruel. But we still have to stand up, not only to set our religion right, but to make sure that it is not an instrument of destruction, but is a force for the reconstruction of our society; it is a force for the moral rejuvenation of our people, especially our young people,” he said.

The church is on a campaign to spread righteousness through the life and work of Jesus Christ, who is proclaimed Lord and Saviour; and this year, its conference, held at the Queenstown Moravian Church in Georgetown last Sunday, has adopted the theme “The Church: Empowered by the Holy Spirit for Enhanced Mission and Ministry”. The conference ends tomorrow.

Nagamootoo said that although Moravians make up just a small part of the Christian society, their conviction, morality and work inspire strength.

“You are not judged by your numbers. It is not the numbers that bring about the strength; it is the conviction; it is the morality; it’s that your works can change lives; it’s that you bring about improvement in the human condition,” he posited.

He encouraged his audience to use the conference to address some internal problems within our society, which result in major social ills.

“The problems of stress and depression; the problems of losing confidence in ourselves for many reasons; that we fell prey to drugs and alcohol, and the evils around us; that we’re falling victims of depression that results in suicide, results in crime…” he declared.

He said society calls many times for change, and people often hope that someone else would bring about the change they are searching for; but he said that even the Bible tells believers to believe in themselves, since change lies in every individual.

“The Good Book says that we’re always looking for the Messiah, but it also said we must believe in ourselves… We are in fact the change that we’ve been waiting for. We are here; the change is happening, and therefore we must have greater confidence in ourselves as we go along,” he exhorted.

He said the church has to tell itself and its listening audience that there is, inside of them, a better angel which makes them better than they believe; and “we ought to be better than we think we are and we are.”

He said they should spread the “Word” with vigour, leaving the biennial conference motivated “that you are part of the change”.

“It was always a fight against evil; it was always a fight against the thieves, and the robbers, and the plunderers, and those who dominate people… those who oppress,” he said.

He said the APNU+AFC coalition had long realized that the fight was against evil at the political level here, and for that reason had staged a crusade and revivalist movement, instead of a political campaign, proclaiming that change was possible and evil shall disappear.

“When I tabled the motion of no confidence in the parliament last year, that triggered the election, I chose ten words: “That this National Assembly has no confidence in the government”; and those ten words were symbolic, because it was motivated by the Ten Commandments,” he said, adding, “The reason that we wanted to bring about change, the reason that we wanted symbolically something that says that evil cannot survive, was because there was unlawful spending of the people’s money, which should go towards the people’s welfare. And we said very clearly that we were motivated by one of the commandments — “Thou shalt not steal!”

He said that since change in leadership has been effected, one can feel that change, even in walking around the capital city; and with a similar zeal, within churches, there can be greater changes still.

“There is a new energy that you feel. There is an energy of righteousness… and if we can change from outside, we certainly can change from inside,” he posited.

He assured the Moravians that government will be supportive of their efforts to take their work forward and put behind them a “miserable” past.