Rev Paul: Too many citizens feel shut out from national life

The leaders of the nation “must understand and appreciate that the citizenry must not be made to feel that they are being alienated from the national life.

“Too many of our citizens today feel shut out and alienated from life in our nation and this applies especially to the young people of the country,” according to Rev Cyril Paul, minister in charge of the Armalaya Pastoral Region of the Presbyterian church in the country. He said; “If we alienate them now, we would lose them forever and we cannot afford to do this.” Rev Paul was at the time delivering the sermon at the 131st Anniversary Celebrations of the Susamachar Presbyterian Church in San Fernando on Sunday. Rev Paul noted that within the Presbyterian Church and its leadership there are many members and young people in particular who are feeling alienated from the Church, a situation that needs to be addressed.

Rev Paul quoted from Isaiah (49:4) saying, “I thought I had been labouring in vain, spending my strength for nothing”and from Corinthians (15:58), “Your work is not in vain in the Lord,” and from Matthew (6:34) “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow”. He stressed that Isaiah’s cry of discouragement is a feeling that “holds many of our citizens in its grip today. “If Isiah was a victim of futility because of his country’s situation 26 centuries ago, what has he to say to the complex situation of the 21st century?” Rev Paul asked the congregation. Rev Paul said, “Isaiah has important things to say to us today. Although he was assailed by futility in its bitterest form, he met it head on and defeated it because he was equipped with certain inner fundamentals that came from the mind and heart of the living God.”

Rev Paul explained that Isaiah possessed the “...conviction that he had a place of significance and worth in the society in which he lived.” He also stressed that while “it is important to recognise and safeguard the rights of others, it is of great importance that the conditions of our time urgently demand that we recognise also the worth of ourselves.”He ended by reminding the congregation that, “Light requires a surface to reflect it else it is not seen, so also God’s way and will are reflected in human witness and character. Therefore, we do what is wise instead of what is indiscreet when we link our energy with the holy rather than with the profane when we commit our life to justice in place of what is unfair, when we seek truth rather than falsehood, we are on the side of God doing His will manifesting and reflecting in His glory.”