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GOLDEN MESSAGE: REMEMBER, REPENT, RETURN
Deandrea Hamilton | Editor
GRAND TURK, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS — In an admonition to fortify the coming 50 years and future representative government in the Turks and Caicos, a son of the Grand Turk soil delivered a fiery charge, laced with old hymns, unshakable scripture and sage advice.
It is a time of jubilee in the Turks and Caicos Islands; more specifically, a Golden Jubilee, as the country on August 31st commemorated
At the Ecumenical Service marking the historic anniversary, Canon Curtis Robinson used the milestone not simply to celebrate how far the country has come, but to challenge its people about where it goes from here.
His message could be distilled into three powerful instructions: remember, repent and return.
Robinson opened with 2 Chronicles 7, recalling God’s response to Solomon following the dedication of the temple: “If my people who are called by my name” would humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from their wicked ways, God would hear, forgive and heal.
For Robinson, the scripture was particularly fitting for a people marking 50 years since greater responsibility for governing their own affairs was placed in the hands of Turks and Caicos Islanders.
“The struggle was real then, and the struggle is still real even today,” he said.
REMEMBER
Drawing from 1 Corinthians 3:6 — Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase — Robinson cautioned against allowing five decades of development to produce arrogance.
“We must not get too hot. We can’t pat ourselves on the chest and say, ‘Look what I have done,’” he warned.
Then came the history lesson.
“Don’t forget where we come from. Don’t forget whose shoulders we now stand on. Don’t forget the people who struggled.”
Robinson recalled a Turks and Caicos of extremely limited educational opportunity, including a time when there was only one high school accommodating just 26 students from across the islands. Today’s children, he said, inherit opportunities earlier generations could scarcely imagine.
But remembrance, he insisted, must extend beyond native Turks and Caicos Islanders.
“We alone did not build this nation. We alone did not come to these 50 years by ourselves.”
He specifically acknowledged Dominicans, Jamaicans and Filipinos among those who have helped build the modern country, declaring that the Jubilee should remind the nation to “do good to all people.”
And in a country accustomed to fierce political division, Robinson had another reminder: whether one wears blue or yellow, God remains in control.
REPENT
The sermon then moved from remembrance to repentance.
Referencing Isaiah 1:18 and returning to the instruction given to Solomon, Robinson called for what he described as a “180-degree turn” — away from darkness and back towards God.
He challenged Christians to confront what he described as strongholds of sexual immorality and materialism and warned against allowing prosperity to replace the faith that sustained previous generations.
“Let us remember the awesome God who has brought us thus far,” Robinson said. “Let us remember that we did not come this way all by ourselves.”
RETURN
Then came a call that reached directly into TCI homes.
“This 50th anniversary [is] calling us back to the family,” Robinson declared.
He urged parents to pray over their children before school, teach them faith from an early age, restore respect and discipline and give their spiritual development the same commitment afforded sports and other activities.
Invoking Proverbs 22:6 — “Train up a child…” — Robinson declared: “We need to get it right. We need to get back to basics.”
His closing gaze was firmly on the future.
Turning to Deuteronomy, Robinson invoked the biblical choice between life and death, blessings and curses, urging Turks and Caicos Islanders to “choose life” for themselves and their descendants.
For the next 50 years, his Golden Jubilee message was clear: progress must be accompanied by humility; prosperity by gratitude; leadership by accountability; and nation building by a renewed commitment to remember, repent and return.