ANGUILLA DAY SERMON by: Pastor James R. Harrigan "Building On A Solid Foundation"

The following is the text of the sermon delivered by Pastor James Harrigan at the Anguilla Day Thanksgiving Service at St. Mary’s Anglican Church on Sunday May 25.

Pastor Harrigan is from the “No Walls church” in The Valley.

The main text for this message, as given by the Lord, is found in 1 Corinthians 3:9 – 11. “For we are God’s fellow-workers and you are God’s field; you are God’s building. According to the grace which was given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let everyone take heed how he builds. For there is no other foundation that can be laid than that which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

I reckon that the key word here in this theme is the word “foundation”. The key question in this sermon is twofold. It would be: “how have we built; and what is the condition of our foundation now, since we began to build.” Let us bear in mind that Paul in his letter to the Corinthians focused on the building by warning thus: “Let everyman take heed as to how he builds.” Paul was aware of the fact that the kind of construction that one carries out on a building is likely to have a definite impact on the qualities of the house. Building is therefore a very serious venture and a taxing task. The consequences of faulty building practices can be detrimental.

In terms of a sermon, we are not necessarily applying our focus on our economic well-being; neither are we conducting a social forum, or a political evaluation. No! Our focus right now is away from our economic position, our affluence or our prosperity. Here is where we direct our focus exclusively on our spiritual house, and particularly the spiritual condition of our foundation. So, since we are here in God’s house, let us turn our attention toward listening to what He has to say to our spirits, as He speaks into our lives.

See, my friends, God is not so much impressed by the political and economic strides that we have made over the past 41 years. Remember this: It is through His blessings and His gracious kindness that we are such a bountiful country. “It is He,” the bible says, “who has given us the power to be wealthy.” So, He is not really concerned about our affluence, neither is He surprised by how wealthy we have become. The cattle on a thousand hills belong to Him, and so He has graciously blessed us. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all that dwells in it.” But, how concerned is God about the state of our spiritual foundation today? Certainly, He is absolutely concerned.

In order to do justice to the notion of our foundation, we must reflect precisely upon our relationship with God. As such, we must seek to examine what the state of the foundation is now since we began to build, and especially since we have attained such steady economic success over the years.

Prior to forty-one years ago, in the era preceding our national revolution, our old forefathers and our ancestors who were influenced by post-slavery missionaries, worked hard to establish for us a foundation approved of God, and ordained by Him. That foundation was built upon a ground of truth, godly fear, and wisdom. It was constructed from precious building blocks such as love, honesty, manners, kindness, decency, proper moral and ethical standards, as well as a sound, faith-based spiritual respect for God and our fellowman. These were the components which constituted a solid foundation.

This foundation was reinforced in 1967 by the selfless compassion and concern of James Ronald Webster. It was God who furnished him with the intellectual wherewithal, the grace, and the bravery to bring liberation to us, a humble, modest people who had been for so many years subdued by the will of our cruel oppressors.

Through the heroic actions of Mr. Webster and the other brave warriors who accompanied him in the fray of the “fight”, our foundation was accented with the element of trust – trust in our God who was able to deliver us. Back then, and of course in the years prior to the pivotal revolution, we couldn’t help but trust in God. We had to trust in Him for the next meal, no matter how scant. Every day, we had to trust in Him to take us through the dusty heat and the hardships of another dreary day. Day by day we were required to rely upon God’s mercy and upon His provision, no matter how meager such provision might have been.

Moreover, when Webster set out to deliver us we were made to actively trust God because, for the most part, we were unsure and rather fearful as to where his valiant actions might have led us. We hardly knew what our plight would have been, so many of us were fearful and apprehensive. As it were, we were almost gambling with our luck to support our freedom fighters. But thank God, in time He brought us out, “with a strong right hand and a mighty arm”.

Webster, along with the other patriots who waged the blood-less fight for our freedom, influenced us as to how we can posses a spirit of forbearance for our fellowman. Through their example, we were able to portray a spirit of togetherness: “one for all and all for one.” Through Webster’s leadership, we reinforced our unity, and we strengthened our love – not just love for our fellows, but more so, love for God. In a short time, we were no more fearful, for according to 1 John 4:18, “perfect love casts out all fear.” Yes, love abounded. It was upon this foundation of fundamental love, faith, and godly values that we courageously built. Our foundation was firm; our resolve unswerving; our principles were those of modesty and piety which provided us with the virtues of serene peace and innocence.

Webster was our hero. We gratefully looked up to him. And God, who had always been our help in ages past, was to be our hope for the years to come. Definitely, sacred respect and adoration for God was prominent in Anguilla’s society back then.

In many ways, Webster would be virtually synonymous to the old patriot Moses, whom God chose to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt’s cruel bondage. For forty years, Moses and the people traversed through dusty desserts; through mountains and plains; through wilderness and valley. Moses was not just called to lead for the sake of leading, He was not just called liberate for the sake of liberating, but he was assigned by God to build a foundation of faith and loyalty between God and the people. In time, God Jehovah brought them out with a strong right hand too.

Now listen to the wonderful promise which God gave the Israelites, according to Exodus 29:45. “I will dwell among the children of Israel and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God who have brought you out of the land of Egypt. Yes I will dwell among you.”

Sadly though, both God and Moses must have been disappointed by the actions of the Israelites later on. One day, while Moses was up in Mount Sinai communing with God, the Lord told him “Look! Get down quickly, for this stiff-necked people whom I have brought out Egypt have made unto themselves another god in the form of a calf. And look! They are worshipping it. As Moses quickly ran down and came to where the congregation of people were assembled, he was appalled to see what they were doing – actually worshipping a golden cow.

Moses felt like all the efforts he had made in building a foundation of faithfulness between God and His people were in vain. His frustration caused him to destroy the tablet of the very Law that God had handed him at Sinai. O what loss! Initially, this was to be a covenant between God and his people, the very first line of which read: “thou shall have no other God before me.”

So, how far have we gone today? Have we, for the past forty-one years, continued to consistently honor God and His son Jesus Christ who should be the very cornerstone of our foundation? Obviously, the precepts by which we governed our lives in generations past were all based upon His divine characteristics. So have we been truly loyal to these Christ-like precepts? Have we been faithful to Him who has brought us out of our misery by His own mighty arm? Or have we, on the contrary, taken to the worship of idols, like the Israelites, thus compromising the foundation upon which we have built? Oh yes, we have built alright! And our house appears to be sturdy and strong – a great and beautiful edifice of impeccable charm – the envy of our Caribbean neighbours, as we sometimes say. But it is apparent that certain degrading elements in the materials with which we have built have trickled down to our foundation to weaken and defile our spiritual base. So what is the state of our foundation?

For sure, we have built upon a foundation that was solid. But like Israel, the chosen and blessed of God, it would seem like we have now forgotten both our Moses and our God. We have, over the years, gone after idols of our own making. Sad to say, some worship idols of materialism. “Things” have become the center of their concern. The greedy drive to make money and… more money, and the craving for self-reliance and self-sustainability have caused many to take the focus from gratitude to God and to shift it upon the wanton promotion of themselves. So what is the state of our foundation?

Similar to Israel, when “the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play”, our people have utilized God’s day of worship and prayer for the fun and frolic of sporting activities in an environment of vulgar “music” which is nothing short of spiritual delusion and noise pollution. So what is the state of our foundation?

Today our youth, for the most part, are estranged to the values that once made us a polite and modest people – when we could travel just about anywhere and others could tell by our humble mannerisms that we were… “Anguillian”. Nowadays though, adverse spiritual elements have made a profound impact on our people: the values of Scripture and religious knowledge have been removed from our schools; pornographic expressions in our youngsters vocabulary go unchecked; respect for parental and school authority is at an all time low; habitual illicit sexual trends have taken the place of chastity; there is no longer a pride for young ladies to be virgins; senseless fights broke out regularly on our school grounds; profanity hits the airwaves freely with hardly any notice, let alone rebuke; and night-spots are scenes of unrestricted immoral and antisocial conduct. So what is the state of our foundation?

Like He required from the children of Israel, God is calling us to repentance. After their rejection of Him, God addressed the House of Israel, a host of stiff-necked people. How does he see our house today? Well, in any case, due to the manifold riches of His unsearchable grace, He says that He is not willing that any should perish, but that we all come to repentance.

In view of all this, the church today has a great responsibility. As agents of God, we are duly accountable to Him for the repair of our once-solid foundation which signified the relationship between ourselves and the Saviour. That old renown hymn once composed by Samuel Stone and Samuel Wesley declares:

The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord,
She is His new creation by water and the blood,

From Heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride,

With His own blood He bought her and for her life He died.

May we then adopt the urgent and arduous task of transferring the qualities and virtues of this noble house, the House of God, back into the spiritual foundation of the wider society. Our goal must be one of restoration and renewal. Our focus must be on revival. And, may we be keenly aware that “there is no other foundation that any one can lay than that which is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” As Christians, let’s see to it that the principles of a Christ-based foundation be restored in our nation. May the Lord bless us all.