GAWU 2007 Easter Message

The Christian Observance of the Forty-Day Lenten Period of Prayer, Reflection and Abstinence comes to its culmination this weekend.

The end of Lent also ushers in the Holy week of Easter. Easter means Crucifixion and Resurrection – the bedrock of the Christian Faith.

The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), the country’s largest worker’s bargaining unit whose members embrace the major faiths including Christianity, recognizes this most significant observance of the Christian community in Guyana. Guyana itself should have benefited much more from the practice of the major religions adhered to by Guyanese. These religions all preach the virtues of good over evil, of man’s sacrifice, in pursuit of his own and his neighbours well-being and through their major founders and protagonists, their stories, history, myths and parable the eternal search for truth, justice and love.

GAWU feels that it is perhaps a measure of how true devotees are to their beliefs which yields the realities of our existence here and elsewhere. Man’s genuine practice of all that is good in his religion results in various levels of his spiritual well-being and all that flows from that.

GAWU understands that Jesus Christ was amongst all other virtues, a representative of the lowly working-class. He sought to challenge imperial, repressive authority aided by a powerful Divine mandate. In the end – but as predicted by Holy Prophets – He was compromised by his own and by the grateful Powers – that Be.

The Story of the Resurrection which Christians hold dear, however, submerges the Crucifixion on the Cross. Whether the Resurrection is myth or reality, the powerful Message of Hope, the Guarantee of Life of the Risen Lord, motivates a huge proportion of humanity to hold fast to a faith of sacrifice for the Greater Good.

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GAWU enjoins Christians at this time to spread the message of the Resurrection to all Guyanese. Sacrifice and Hope, as in other religions, flow freely from that Old Rugged Cross. Even as all Guyanese join Christians in the more celebratory aspects of Easter – from Cross Buns to Kite Flying, GAWU urges the celebrants Not to waste the Promise of the Resurrection.

Confirm to the conditions and behaviours demanded of those who are beneficiaries of Christ’s pre-ordained ultimate sacrifice. There can still be an abundant, everlasting life for all of us to share. A Reflective and Happy Easter to All.