Pastoral Letter
Dear Friends,
Thursday May 6th represents a red-letter day in the life of our nation - the day we go to the polls.
In the build-up to this election there is much talk about us returning to traditional Christian family values. There is a story about a Christian baroness, who lived in the highlands of Nairobi, Kenya, who had a young Kenyan who was employed as her houseboy. After three months he asked the baroness to give him a letter of reference to a friendly sheik some miles away. The baroness, not wishing the houseboy to leave just when he had learned the routine of the household, offered to increase his pay. The lad replied that he was not leaving for higher pay. Rather, he had decided he would become either a Christian or a Muslim. This was why he had come to work for the baroness for three months. He had wished to see how Christians acted. Now he wanted to work for three months for the sheik to observe the ways of the Muslims. Then he would decide which way of life he would follow. The baroness was stunned as she recalled her many indiscretions in her dealings with the houseboy. She could only exclaim, 'Why didn't you tell me at the beginning!'
Christian family values are based on the ten commandments:
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.
You shall not covet your neighbour‟s house. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, oranything that belongs to your neighbour. (Exodus20:1-17)
Even though those commandments were givento us thousands of years ago they still are veryrelevant to human society today, and provide anideal framework by which human beings should live in harmony and understanding.
Jesus Christ summed up the ten commandments this way: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength'.The second is this: 'Love your neighbour as yourself'. There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:30/31)
Then he said "A new command I give you:Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." (John 15:34) And he demonstrated what he meant by washing his disciple's feet.
Christian values are really about unselfish love and concern for others, and our country needs that ideal more that ever. Elections are about many things, but maybe we should really hope and pray that this election will indeed be about creating a more caring and loving society.
May God bless you all,