My fellow Anguillians:

It is an honour and a distinct privilege for me to be given the rare opportunity to address the people at this most significant Christian season of the year.

Honourable Hubert Hughes

In Her Annual Christmas Message, Her Gracious Sovereign Lady, Queen Elizabeth The Second, as Head of the Commonwealth of Nations, and Defender of the Christian faith, is always expected to relate to the most significant national and international issues occupying her immediate or urgent concerns.

As the longest serving Elected Member of the Anguilla House of Assembly, I can almost anticipate Her Majesty making reference to the many international conflicts especially in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, where British soldiers are engaged in peace efforts to end the conflicts there. She will no doubt restrict her concerns and comments to the most pressing issues occupying her mind at this particular period.

Basically, I will be restricted in my considerations as I do not have the same responsibilities as Her Majesty. But we can rest assured that the issues which concern me as being most relevant to Anguilla this Christmas, are no less critical than those issues which Her Majesty finds relevant in her address as Head of the vast British Commonwealth of Nations.

My main preoccupation and concern this Christmas is the poor state of the Christian Church in Anguilla, as so much of what the coming of Christ represents is no longer the concern of our Christian community. To my mind, and I guess that is the view of quite a few more thinking and observant Anguillians, the state of the Christian Church today in this island is very close to the poor state of Christianity in Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. And when I speak of the Church I mean not just the Ministers of Religion, but all those who profess to be Christians.

The first glance we have of Christ we see that great virtue of humility which throughout His life was never lost. Jesus, as we learn, is an heir of King David, but here is a Prince who was born in a cow pen – a manger. Here is a Prince who never lived a privileged life, but whose associations were always among the under-privileged, the poor, and lonely. “He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away hungry.”

Early in His ministry Jesus made these notable statements: “Blessed are you who are poor; blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied; blessed are you who weep, for you will laugh; blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil.”

I am very concerned that we, who call ourselves Anguillians, either consciously or unconsciously, give great favour to the rich who migrate to Anguilla and who are spending their Christmas among us, while we are not so kind and tolerant to our poorer Caribbean children who must spend their Christmas with us.

Jesus said that as children of God, we must be our brother’s keeper. The reason for this season is Christ’s coming: so we must be more Christ-like in our relationship with His children who are coming from the neighbouring islands and who deserve our goodwill.

I am troubled about so many things in Anguilla today. I am seriously concerned at this Christmas about the direction our young men in particular have taken. The senseless slaughter of young lives of mothers’ children from Anguilla or wherever, should be of concern to all of us.

Recently, I attended the funeral of an 18-year-old young man in South Hill. As I watched his parents in deep grief, I could not contain my own tears as a parent of three young sons. To my mind there is a real cause to all this inhumanity among our youth.
Where is civil society in Anguilla in all this and much more? Is the false prosperity and unsustainable development going on in Anguilla no concern of civil society, including our Church leaders? Our Christian culture is under serious threat as developers are being allowed to fill our fragile society with people of strange cultures. I must confess that I will be forced to make a big effort to enjoy this Christmas due to all the sad influences which occupy my thoughts at this time.

Nonetheless, I pray God that all of us who call ourselves Anguillians, as well as God’s children, who will be spending this Christmas in Anguilla away from their respective homes, will equally have a good and blessed Christmas. I also take this opportunity to especially wish my own constituents of Blowing Point and South Hill, a most joyous Yuletide Season.

May God bless us all as we look forward to a most stable and prosperous New Year.

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