In the face of the recent spate of homicides on Anguilla, and in particular in Island Harbour and the eastern section of the island, Pastor Gareth Hodge was motivated to designate Monday night, September 16th, as a night of prayers of intercession. Pastor Hodge is the leader of the Hilltop Baptist Church which is a longstanding landmark of Christian service in the Island Harbour community.
Several church leaders from various denominations across the island came together as one, joining with a modest congregation — on the bleachers of the Island Harbour basketball court — to petition God for His intervention that would halt the repeated brutal crimes that have been affecting Anguilla’s closely-knitted communities.
The ministers included: Pastor William Wilson of New Life Church; Pastor Bernard Joseph of Kingdom Global Outreach; Bishop Errol Brooks and Fr. Raliville Christian of the Anglican Church; Pastor Howard Simon of the Seventh-day Adventist Church; Pastor Lucienne Daniel of Life Impact Centre; Pastor David Christmas of Faith Baptist Church; Pastor Elmead Allen of Kingdom Vision Apostolic Church; and Pastor Gareth Hodge himself.
Pastor Hodge summoned the pastors one by one to lead the congregation in prayer. The first prayer was made by Bishop Errol Brooks. As a prelude, he mentioned that Anguillians have far removed themselves from God, and therefore the important moral training of our children has been replaced with the sole quest to make a living. He observed, “We have become so busy making a living that we are losing lives.”
The last to pray was Pastor David Christmas. In his introduction, he noted that the church needs to do the work of actively shaking the salt that would preserve our generation — and believers need to clean the soot from their spiritual lampshades so that the light of Christ can brilliantly shine forth in a nation that is groping in spiritual darkness.
Prayer was not only made for God’s intervention to stop the senseless murders, but also for the healing of grieving families of both the victims and the perpetrators. Just as well, petitions were made for the church to have a change of heart towards those who have the propensity to commit crimes, and to embrace them with love and the grace of God that is sufficient to revolutionize their lives.
And fervent prayers were made for God’s Holy Spirit to inspire believers to demonstrate an urgency to go and take the gospel to “at risk” youth — and not just wait for the troubled youth to come to them.
Pastor Hodge was commended for his organizing of the prayer service, and it is intended to take the vigil to other communities in the coming weeks.
– Staff Reporter, James R. Harrigan
