In keeping with the custom of offering praise and worship to God, with thanksgiving for His favour upon their work, the management and staff of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank agency commenced their annual Financial Information Month (FIM) by attending a church service at the Christian Fellowship Church on Sunday, October 4th. A schedule of other FIM activities for October is posted elsewhere in this edition.
For Sunday’s service, ECCB’s employees, as well as Finance Officers from other institutions, including the Anguilla Development Board, the Financial Services Commission, the Ministry of Finance, NAGICO, National Caribbean Insurance, Republic Bank and the National Commercial Bank of Anguilla, comprised the visiting guests. Officers from Social Security were also in attendance.
The service began with an energetic session of worship and praise, as renowned Worship Leader Chris Richardson led the worship team in Casey J’s popular song “If God Be For Me”. Worship was complete with admirable acts of adoration and obeisance displayed by the versatile dance team. The songs that permeated the sanctuary ushered in an atmosphere of awesome jubilation — songs that did just as much to capture the spirit and warm the heart as they did to transcend worship to the Father.
As a prelude to the song “Holy, Holy, Holy”, Bro. Chris alluded to a scripture found in Isaiah 25:4 which meshes with the work and purpose of the finance officers and financial institutions: “For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.”
Adding to the fervour of the worship, the finance personnel themselves — some 37 voices strong — rendered the song “How Great is Our God”, led by Lileth Mussington, an Officer of the Anguilla Development Board, who is also a passionate
member of the church’s worship team.
Pastor Iton Connor extended a cordial welcome to the visiting guests, and — on behalf of the congregation — expressed how delighted he was for the financial teams to be part of Christian Fellowship’s worship experience. He then turned over the rest of the service into the hands of Minister Clyde Richardson, son of the church’s patriarch, the late Rev. Dr. Ambrose Richardson.
Minister Clyde was tasked with delivering the message, the theme of which was “Trust in God”. He began: “We all are no strangers to hurts and disappointments,” he confirmed in convincing tones. “We have been hurt before, but it is how we handle our hurt and pain that counts in terms of our relationship with God and our fellowman. We should never allow our pain to make us harden and indifferent. Our pain should teach us wisdom. We should not allow life’s experiences to make us bitter — but better.
“In our pain, ‘trust’ becomes an issue as we cringe at the very mention of the word —‘trust’. So we stay away from it like a life- threatening disease. Some of us have been hurt so bad that we would rather do anything else but to trust people again. And so, trust becomes the hardest thing in this life for us to do. Finding people to trust becomes a huge issue for those who have been disappointed. Many of us cannot find anyone to trust, especially after feeling the pain of betrayal that comes as a result of deep cutting wounds.
“Only he who feels it knows it,” the preacher declared. “How deep is the cut that caused your pain, only you and God will ever know. Life is indeed painful, and there will be many moments of hurt and disappointment, but we can overcome the discomfort when we trust in God to soothe our pain.”
He proceeded by drawing on the experiences of David: “In Psalm 55, we notice King David, after he was betrayed by a close friend, who was his chief advisor and a family member. In expressing his experience of hurt, disappointment and deep pain, David identifies the one whom he calls on in his time of distress. He kept it quite simple, but effective. He said: ‘I called upon God, and the Lord rescued me. Morning, noon and night I cried in my distress and the Lord heard my voice.’ Like David, if you would cast your burden of broken trust on the Lord, today, He will sustain you too.”
Then the preacher drove his points home: “No matter how much you may talk to God,” he noted, “there are some things that you have to make up your mind to go through. There is no escaping it. Relationships with people are fragile. They can be unstable. Relationships are sometimes erratic, and people can be so disloyal. They constantly change their affection and their loyalties. In one word, people are unpredictable.
“But God will never allow the righteous to be defeated by disloyal people,” he assured. “There is a security in the faithfulness of God, and we can take refuge in the friendship that He extends to us. We serve a God who is faithful and caring — and a God whom we can trust. As human beings, when we are hurt it is hard to trust; and anything that hurts we dare not trust. But we can trust in God. As Proverbs 3:5 says, ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding.’ So, trust in God.”
At the end of the sermon, the preacher requested Susan Best-Richardson, popular gospel singing artist — and a worship enthusiast of the church — to lead in singing Teena Tamar’s reggae version of “In the Valley”. That song, coupled with the consoling nature of Minister Clyde’s sermon, would have lifted the spirits of the pain-stricken.
Following the service, The Anguillian spoke with ECCB’s Country Manager, Mrs. Shirmaine Lynch-Harrigan, and asked about her views of the service. She replied: “On behalf of the Financial Information Month partners, we are especially delighted to have worshipped here today. It was a very enriching and inspiring service. We especially enjoyed the lovely singing, and indeed we were blessed to the overflowing.”
– Staff Reporter, James R. Harrigan
