In session 2 of the Jamaican church and governance, Prof. Miller spoke of the ‘moving of the spirit of God’ wondering whether, in the context of the rumbling of dried bones coming together we have in the Jamaica Umbrella Groups of Churches, there might be the starting point of such a move.
A powerful symbol of hope from its genesis as a body which emerged at a watershed moment in national life, not since 1865 had there been a national crisis of similar magnitude with armed organized assault against state institutions, nor such concentrated mass shedding of blood in just 36 hrs. There was a bloody war in Libya at the time with high-powered missiles and modern high tech military equipment such as has never ‘set foot’ on Jamaican soil. Yet more deaths were recorded in Tivoli than in Tripoli within the same time period.
The state was weak and equivocating … compromised. The private sector was insular…. disconnected and the threat of the nation caving to the powerful narco forces that had infiltrated the society and subtly undermined the gatekeeping institutions that protect the sovereignty of our nation was real.
It was then that the church, later joined by the private sector moving in tandem, rose to the challenge and came together to speak with one voice through the newly created platform that was to become the JUGC to give government an ultimatum to deal with the threat frontally.
A pattern was at least temporarily interrupted even with the usual scurrying to cover exposed nether parts by some disingenuous look-the-other- way politicians and state officials who would conveniently erase incriminating information from their memories, (I can’t recall how many times folk couldn’t recall facts during the Commission of Inquiry) and reassert postures of single minded service that mask the disposition to sell out the national interest at the drop of a hat for personal gain.
Professor Miller in both session 1 and session 2, made passionate calls to dispense with the national reflexive disposition to be morosely suspicious of its own elected leaders, and think the worst of, and describe contemptuously those who offer themselves in public service. Certainly a relationship of honor and trust between led and leadership augurs for a harmonious and productive journey. Perhaps like many, I still struggle with arguably self righteous anger and an acute sense of betrayal.
The state has resisted repeatedly various calls for truth-telling and reconciliation. Perhaps this might have helped bring the closure many of us need to embrace brothers and sisters across the many aisles of our difference, and help purge the air of the stifling stench of Iscariot that fuels our self-denigration and self-doubt.
Nevertheless, someone, somewhere must rise to the occasion to present before God and nation a clean conscience free from guilt and offence. A move of the spirit is much more than the rumbling of bones. Even with the organizational sinews and synapses all connected and in place, nothing moves forward without the right attitude motivating the march.
O that the spirit of God might course through dried up lungs and breathe life into dysfunctional relationships that we might march once again in these 14 parishes. Professor Miller wisely recognized that some changes require hundreds of years. Rome was not built in a day.
Yet even in my own time I have beheld nations born as it were in a single day, catapulted from the dustbin of history to become productive, peaceful and prosperous within a few short years as the mighty Spirit of God moved through that society from the least to the greatest.
The spirit of God certainly is a quickening force. O that he may find someone in our society. (I’m tired of writing about what’s happening on the other side of the globe). Isn’t there someone he can use? O that our mirrors could show us who that someone might be.
Have a look … or another look even if you have already watched both conversations.
YeKengalé 