The tone for the observance of Fathers’ Day in Anguilla was set by Pastor Philip Gumbs of the Church of God (Holiness) on the Queen Elizabeth Avenue on Sunday, June 19. It was the opening activity of Men’s Week and had as its theme “Fathers Blessing Generations”. The Pastor however also narrowed down the theme to “Fathers Must Bless their Children” thus bringing the subject closer to the family home.
Pastor Gumbs, who is well known for his Saturday morning “Social Solutions” programme on Radio Anguilla, stressed the importance of a father figure in the family home. He placed particular emphasis on the positive influence and admiration a father is expected to engender among his children. At the same time, he spoke about some of the pitfalls in cases where a father is absent from the home. One such example, he cited, was that “children get into gangs because they want to be accepted by the family and most of them have no father relationship.”
He said children ought to have strong fathers in the home to whom they could look up to, admire, respect, and boast about. “Fathers have a dominant influence in their children’s lives and fatherhood is all about creating and passing on a noble, Godly legacy to them,” he emphasised.
Pastor Gumbs continued: “Fathers may not have land to pass on to their children, but they have a legacy. It is not to put a bottle of beer to their children’s mouths. Their legacy is not to have their children speaking bad words. Their legacy is not to see our little children doing the dirty wine – whatever you call it. I hope that no father is proud that his daughter rolls about and bends over. Fathers, you are supposed to raise your daughters to respect themselves and teach your boys how to work hard. Fathers must pass on a legacy that when your boys and girls walk the streets people know that they are your children – and they will smile and say they belong to a good father.”
He added: “A father’s power to bless his children is greater than wealth, education, fame or rank.” He was at the time referring to the words of Jacob, the Old Testament patriarch, who, in blessing his sons, told them: “Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills”.
The service was attended by many men holding membership in the Church of God (Holiness) as well as a number of them from various parts of the community.
