A week-long programme at home by Jamaicans who live abroad was formally launched yesterday with calls for people to put aside hatred and the desire for vengeance and retribution, and instead recognise and embrace the good that resides in the country.

“Jesus’ invitation calls for us to restructure our relationship with those we deem to be our enemies,” Rev Roderick Hewitt, the Convenor of the United Church of Jamaica and Grand Cayman, said in a sermon to launch Jamaica Homecoming 2004.

“Do not overcome evil with evil,” Rev Hewitt said at the ecumenical service at St Luke’s Anglican Church in Cross Roads yesterday. “Overcome evil with good.”

Jamaica Homecoming is a project of Hands Across Jamaica for Righteousness, which aims to unite Jamaicans across the globe to serve, work and pray together in keeping with the national motto, anthem and pledge.

As part of the celebration, which will run until October 23, Jamaican groups from the United Kingdom, United States and Canada will help out at institutions and serve the poor and destitute in several parishes.

For instance, one group, the Atlanta Jamaica Association Family Relations Committee, will tour infirmaries in 10 parishes and provide meals and care packages to the residents.

Another group from the New Life Christian Centre, England will conduct prayer walks in Jones Town and paint the Jones Town Primary School. A Pat Francis-led group from Canada will conduct a medical clinic and religious convention in Oracabessa, St Mary. In addition, parish homecoming committees will be carrying out a number of projects during Jamaica Homecoming Week as their act of service and duty to the country.

It is this spirit of caring and willingness to forgive that Rev Hewitt and Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke sought to promote in their talks at yesterday’s service.

Sir Howard urged Jamaicans to recognise the good that is in their midst, to celebrate their country’s achievements and unite to serve each other. “Jamaicans abroad are more fiercely Jamaican than we are,” he said in reference to a number of Jamaican groups that have come home for the week’s activities.

In his sermon, Rev Hewitt spoke out against “the deep hatred” and the rifts that were too often evident in the society, which manifested in how people treated each other.

“The way forward . is not to kill others,” Rev Hewitt said. “I hear even politicians using bullet language. Enmity results in mutually assured destruction. If we are going to dig a hole, dig two.”

Rev Hewitt based his sermon on the theme ‘Raise the Standard, Change the Nation’ and used as his take-off the story of Elisha and the Syrian troops in 2 Kings, Chapter 6.

In that story, a Syrian King who planned an attack against Israel was thwarted when God revealed his strategies to the prophet Elisha who, in turn, warned the King of Israel.

In a fit of anger, the Bible story goes, the Syrian King sent his army against Elisha. The prophet prayed for the troops to be blinded, then led the sightless soldiers into Israel’s camp. Israel’s king, excited at his good fortune, immediately wanted to kill the Syrians. Elisha, however, prevented such an action, insisting instead that the Syrians be treated to food and drink then sent back to their King.

This singular deed, according to the Bible story, resulted in a change of heart among the Syrians, who no longer wanted to attack Israel.

“Deep down in the king’s heart was bad blood. There is a lot of bad blood in our nation,” Rev Hewitt charged.

But like the king, he argued, Jamaica could be changed if the country embraced the vision of God and no longer wanted to encounter evil with evil.