Cedric Moss
11-29-03, - 07:39 AM
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Wise Words worth Heeding – Part 2
by
Apostle Cedric Moss
Today, I conclude my two-part commentary on Archbishop Drexel Gomez’s call for public debate on the type of country we wish to build. He made this call at the recent 103rd session of the Synod of the of the Anglican Diocese of The Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands. They are wise words worth heeding.
New Political Culture
Archbishop Gomez made a bold declaration about the need for a new political culture in our nation. He said, “For far too long we have functioned on the false premises that the politicians should play the major role in defining and determining the issues. When the issues related to the identity question have been addressed by all the stakeholders, competent leadership can be held accountable to the agreed agenda. Similarly, the agenda determines the appropriate enabling structures. These are pregnant words. They accurately assess what is perhaps our nation’s largest shortcoming to the way we have approached governance for the last 30 years. But more than just pointing to the problem, they also prescribe the solution for change-determining a national agenda for which leadership will be held accountable.
A Good Example
Archbishop Gomez made the following incisive comment that clearly makes the case for the need to have a national agenda prior to seeking to address legislative and policy issues: “One of the tasks confronting the present Constitutional Commission is the absence of an agreed agenda for the nation.” Since the Archbishop sits on the Constitutional Reform Commission, he must be speaking from first hand knowledge about the Commission’s handicap. Clearly, without an agreed agenda for the nation, the Commission is shooting in the dark. And we know even the most gifted sharp shooter will make fatal mistakes shooting in the dark.
The unfortunate reality is, in addition to making fatal mistakes, we will lose time, money and opportunities in this exercise because the Commission lacks the compass of a national agenda to accurately direct and focus its efforts.
Hopefully the Commission and the government will heed the Archbishop’s wise words and put this reform exercise on hold and instead focus efforts on facilitating public debate on what type country we wish to build.
A Head Start
Our nation’s founding fathers have given us a head start in determining the type of nation we should be seeking to build. That head start is in the form of the six national core values they penned in the preamble to our nation’s constitution. They are: self-discipline, industry, loyalty, unity, an abiding respect for Christian values and the rule of law. Our founding fathers envisioned a strong, sovereign nation built upon these foundational core values.
As we ponder this clarion call to consider the type of nation we want to build, we should embrace the head start given to us. While I am convinced that the vast majority of Bahamians affirm these national core values when they hear them, I am also convinced that we largely are unaware of their existence in our nation’s constitution. Therefore, there needs to be concerted, intentional effort to acquaint our citizenry with our national core values as the first step towards nationally living them out. Failure to do so will reduce these powerful core values to nice filler words in our constitution that are not to be taken seriously.
Pray for Our Leaders
Leadership by its very nature is challenging, and this is especially true of political leadership. However, at this time in our nation and the world, political leadership is even more challenging. And this is the lot of our current Prime Minister, The Hon. Perry G. Christie, and his Cabinet. Those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ are commanded to pray for our leaders (see 1st Timothy 2:1-4), and we must do so especially in light of the present complex environment in which they lead. So let’s pray sincerely, fervently and often for them both as our present leaders and as the present hearers of this urgent call to lead the way in facilitating public debate regarding the type of country we wish to build.
The Response
Archbishop Gomez’s wise words, one way or the other, will have a response from the government. They will heed them or, like past hearers, they will ignore them. In retrospect, I believe we can so easily see how heeding those wise words in the past would have spared us much of the national pain we have endured, and continue to endure. So let’s pray that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet will both hear and heed the Archbishop’s wise words. If they do, we’ll all be the better for it.
Apostle Cedric Moss serves as Senior Pastor at Kingdom Life World Outreach Centre. Comments and feedback may be directed to: apostle@kingdom-life.org (apostle@kingdom-life.org).
Wise Words worth Heeding – Part 2
by
Apostle Cedric Moss
Today, I conclude my two-part commentary on Archbishop Drexel Gomez’s call for public debate on the type of country we wish to build. He made this call at the recent 103rd session of the Synod of the of the Anglican Diocese of The Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands. They are wise words worth heeding.
New Political Culture
Archbishop Gomez made a bold declaration about the need for a new political culture in our nation. He said, “For far too long we have functioned on the false premises that the politicians should play the major role in defining and determining the issues. When the issues related to the identity question have been addressed by all the stakeholders, competent leadership can be held accountable to the agreed agenda. Similarly, the agenda determines the appropriate enabling structures. These are pregnant words. They accurately assess what is perhaps our nation’s largest shortcoming to the way we have approached governance for the last 30 years. But more than just pointing to the problem, they also prescribe the solution for change-determining a national agenda for which leadership will be held accountable.
A Good Example
Archbishop Gomez made the following incisive comment that clearly makes the case for the need to have a national agenda prior to seeking to address legislative and policy issues: “One of the tasks confronting the present Constitutional Commission is the absence of an agreed agenda for the nation.” Since the Archbishop sits on the Constitutional Reform Commission, he must be speaking from first hand knowledge about the Commission’s handicap. Clearly, without an agreed agenda for the nation, the Commission is shooting in the dark. And we know even the most gifted sharp shooter will make fatal mistakes shooting in the dark.
The unfortunate reality is, in addition to making fatal mistakes, we will lose time, money and opportunities in this exercise because the Commission lacks the compass of a national agenda to accurately direct and focus its efforts.
Hopefully the Commission and the government will heed the Archbishop’s wise words and put this reform exercise on hold and instead focus efforts on facilitating public debate on what type country we wish to build.
A Head Start
Our nation’s founding fathers have given us a head start in determining the type of nation we should be seeking to build. That head start is in the form of the six national core values they penned in the preamble to our nation’s constitution. They are: self-discipline, industry, loyalty, unity, an abiding respect for Christian values and the rule of law. Our founding fathers envisioned a strong, sovereign nation built upon these foundational core values.
As we ponder this clarion call to consider the type of nation we want to build, we should embrace the head start given to us. While I am convinced that the vast majority of Bahamians affirm these national core values when they hear them, I am also convinced that we largely are unaware of their existence in our nation’s constitution. Therefore, there needs to be concerted, intentional effort to acquaint our citizenry with our national core values as the first step towards nationally living them out. Failure to do so will reduce these powerful core values to nice filler words in our constitution that are not to be taken seriously.
Pray for Our Leaders
Leadership by its very nature is challenging, and this is especially true of political leadership. However, at this time in our nation and the world, political leadership is even more challenging. And this is the lot of our current Prime Minister, The Hon. Perry G. Christie, and his Cabinet. Those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ are commanded to pray for our leaders (see 1st Timothy 2:1-4), and we must do so especially in light of the present complex environment in which they lead. So let’s pray sincerely, fervently and often for them both as our present leaders and as the present hearers of this urgent call to lead the way in facilitating public debate regarding the type of country we wish to build.
The Response
Archbishop Gomez’s wise words, one way or the other, will have a response from the government. They will heed them or, like past hearers, they will ignore them. In retrospect, I believe we can so easily see how heeding those wise words in the past would have spared us much of the national pain we have endured, and continue to endure. So let’s pray that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet will both hear and heed the Archbishop’s wise words. If they do, we’ll all be the better for it.
Apostle Cedric Moss serves as Senior Pastor at Kingdom Life World Outreach Centre. Comments and feedback may be directed to: apostle@kingdom-life.org (apostle@kingdom-life.org).