“We cannot be mere spectators to the plight of the oppressed. Ours is a call to righteous actions, truth-telling and holy living in nation-building. The Church must stand as a beacon of hope and light, as we call for justice, integrity, and transparency in the corridors of power, with our politicians and within the Church,” declared Bishop Christine Gooden-Benguche, president of the Jamaica Council of Churches, as she led the local Christian community in marking Easter Sunday yesterday.

Gooden-Benguche, in her Easter message, charged Christians across the island to do more, “so that Jamaica may, under God, increase in beauty, fellowship and prosperity, and to play her part in advancing the welfare of the whole human race”.

She added: “And so our race is not a mad rush to the finish line of personal accomplishment; instead, it is a race that patiently bears with the poor and marginalised. It is a race that seeks the lost and dying, that bears with understanding the plight of fellow human beings.”

According to Gooden-Benguche, we are living in a world that is “shrouded in the shadows of past injustices, falsehood, abuse of power, the neglect of human beings, hostility, and violence. Therefore, as the people whose faith is in the resurrection, we cannot close our ears to the many cries that rise from the cracks of our nation, seeking, calling, crying, ‘Save Us!’ Indeed, the Church, as representatives of the risen Christ, has been called to be beacons of light, ambassadors of truth, the voice of the voiceless, and the physical embodiment of the love and compassion demonstrated by Christ on Calvary’s cross”.

Gooden-Benguche’s call was echoed by Christian leaders in several churches across the island. Among them Bishop Dr Peter Morgan, who used his pulpit, as guest preacher at the Fellowship Tabernacle in St Andrew, to call for a national rebirth and for prayers begging God to deliver the poor from oppression, scams, confusion over gender identity, among other things, including child trafficking.

“Lord, hear the cry of the poor, they want to be delivered from their oppression. Lord, we are conscious of the crime and violence in our communities and we bring before you, Almighty God, the threat to the integrity of our family structure and the confusion over gender identity. We bring before you the very evidence of fraud, of scams, and we bring before you what we see happening with our children — the incest, sexual molestation and the rising incidents of child trafficking,” said Morgan.

“It is time for the power of the resurrection to impact our nation through every sphere of national life so that we might be reborn as a people under God. We want a national rebirth. Today, as the people of God, let us claim our nation back to our God,” added Morgan as he declared that Jamaicans ought to ensure that the leaders are held to high standards so the country can experience a resurrection renaissance.

“We need to start a campaign to tell the people not who to vote for but teach them what to look for in leaders, such as how they should look and how they behave. People are crying out for justice but we also need righteousness. We need to have crusades and large gatherings. Do you know we can call gatherings larger than any other groupings can call? We have done that in the past and we must declare that this is the kind of nation we want, one that is born again and one that is experiencing the resurrection renaissance,” said Morgan.

In the meantime, head of Fellowship Tabernacle, Bishop Dr Merrick “Al” Miller, followed Morgan’s message with a call for the Church to stand up and lead Jamaica’s transformation.

He urged Jamaicans to declare good things in their prayers for the leaders and said that fear is gripping the nation and the only way change will come is when “the power of the resurrection arises in you and you live in the life of the resurrected Christ to affect your families, your community, your place of employment, and every parish in this nation”.

Miller said it was important to re-teach the nation how to love and respect each other and how to be honest and truthful.

“The only hope to turn around Jamaica does not sit in the political arena. There are those who can contribute if they understand their purpose, but the hope to transform this nation rests with the kingdom of the living God. Let prayers be made for those in authority and not prayers against them as some are doing.

“Don’t pray prayers accusing them of being all sorts of things, although they may be. That is not our prayer. Our prayer is not judgement and condemnation of them. One of our first prayers every morning should be for those who are in authority. For those who have the rule over you, so that you may live a quiet and peaceable life. When shot a buss, every man haffi get flat. Fear grips our nation. Are you content with that?” questioned Miller.