Rector of St.George Parish Church, Senator Rev. John Rogers.
An Anglican cleric has given the reassurance that God is still working.
In the midst of COVID-19 and the Hurricane Season, Rector of St.
George Parish Church, Senator Rev. John Rogers, is urging Barbadians
to never lose faith as God still has humanity in his care.
His message came during yesterday’s Trinity Sunday Service, which
coincided with the Department of Emergency Management’s (DEM) service
to mark the start of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season.
“But, the very reason there is a hurricane season, the very reason for
the seasonality of life in this world, comes because this world was
created very good and not perfect…So our hurricane season, as
treacherous as it may be from time to time, also is an aspect of the
transformative work of God, alive and at work in our lives
constantly,” he insisted.
“It is very much like volcanoes – persons would wonder why would God
cause a volcano to erupt and kill so many people. But the reality is
that God has given humanity intellect; God has infused into humanity
the knowledge on how he can avoid certain things, but that same
destructive volcano is the thing that gives new life and new lands in
our world.
"And so there is a tapestry that God is working with, a tapestry which
the human mind cannot possibly fathom in this life. In this midst of
the COVID-19 pandemic, many persons have been asking who are the real
heroes – it’s doctors and the nurses; where’s God, where’s the Church,
where are the religious leaders at this time? And again we go back to
the tapestry. God has been at work every single day in this pandemic
and so has his church. Indeed the voice of prayer has not been silent
throughout this world for the past few months as the church as been
offering up prayers, for the hands of the doctors and the nurses to be
guided,” Rev. Rogers said.
Director of the DEM, Kerry Hinds said that COVID-19 has placed an
unprecedented strain on emergency management, health and other
societal systems.
She therefore indicated that a hurricane or severe weather system will
indeed exacerbate the current strain.
“Within our communities, many are experiencing the effects of COVID-19
in so much that many of us have fewer resources at our disposal which
adds to a greater level of uncertainty. The forecasters have predicted
an above-average Atlantic – Hurricane season which for all requires a
redoubling of planning and preparedness efforts to ensure that we are
ready to face any impact as a result of a storm hazard,” she stressed.
“Planning for an above-average season in a COVID-19 environment
warrants us to conduct our planning with the guidance of the Ministry
of Health officials, ensuring that we consider physical and social
distancing, personal protection and other public health advice. You
should be acutely aware of the devastation both hazards can cause,
while we cannot stop mother nature, we can certainly reduce our
vulnerability to these hazards by performing a number of preparedness
actions.”
“Disaster management is a shared responsibility, we all have an
important part to play in preparing and safeguarding ourselves and
building resilience. Pray and prepare,” Hinds further urged. (TL)