March Pen residents to seek divine intervention
Churches seek collaboration with MP to conduct nightly prayer meetings
Published:Friday | June 10, 2022 | 12:05 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
In hopes of bringing the community of March Pen in Spanish Town, St Catherine, closer together, local churches have sought to collaborate with Andrew Wheatley, member of parliament for St Catherine South Central, where the community is located, to conduct a prayer session in the area.
The session is to be held nightly, where busloads of Christians are to descend on troubled parts in the constituency which have in previous times experienced criminal activities, said Bishop Omar Ricketts of Harmony Gospel Chapel in March Pen.
Wheatley informed The Gleaner last Thursday that this would be the third staging of the event as it had to be put off over the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scheduled to be held sometime in the summer, Wheatley said that it was important to facilitate events such as this, so as to engage the youth at a community level.
“That is a very important outreach for us because often times we talk about developing infrastructure and the community, as elected representatives, but we don’t spend much time on the spiritual development of the constituents,” he said.
He noted that just as how individuals invest heavily in education, Jamaicans must not forget the spiritual aspect of life, which is equally important. He added that it is through spiritual awareness, which offers enlightenment to individuals, that a greater sense of appreciation for themselves and their community is fostered.
“Sometime you need that level of calm and that level of understanding of one’s self,” he said, which can also aid in stemming the vicious cycle of crime and violence.
“I am glad that the churches in my constituency have partnered with us to deal with that aspect,” he added.
Bishop Ricketts told The Gleaner that it is the community leaders’ hope as well to target at-risk youth and offer counselling sessions, effective and healthy family life and parenting methods, while also praying for a change of the “spiritual temperatures” in the community.
A health fair is scheduled to be held, with healthcare workers – medical doctors, nurses and dentists – coming in from Canada to offer assistance and dispense drugs, where necessary.
A vocational bible study will also be hosted to facilitate up to 500 children in the constituency.
“If we would have more heart, more social grace towards each other, more spiritual understanding of what is happening with each other, then we would be a far better country; but we only concentrate on the physical things of the constituency,” Wheatley said.