THE melodious singing by various Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACOM) choirs, panpipe music by the host communities and a powerful sermon by retired Malaitan Diocesan Bishop Rev Sam Sahu and the proceeding of the historical ecumenical service echoed through the serene air from the Saint Barnabas Chapel in Sa’a village in Small Malaita on Sunday 24 November.
This ecumenical service held to inaugurate the new Southern Malaita and Sikaiana Diocese – the 10th Diocese of the Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACOM) and install its Diocesan Bishop Rickson Maomaoru, an historical occasion purposely organised to coincide with the Feat of Christ the King.
The occasion brought together devout Anglicans from across the new diocesan region, the Archbishop of ACOM, the Right Reverend Leonard Dawea, the Vice Chancellor of ACOM, Gabriel Suri, ACOM headquarter officials, ACOM Diocesan Bishops, Anglican Diocesan Bishop of Riverina, New South Wales, Australia, Donald Kirk and representatives of the Melanesian Mission Trust Board (MMTB) New Zealand, Members of the ACOM Council of Bishops and retired ACOM Bishops.
Amongst the guests at the occasion were the Governor General Reverend David Kapu and his wife, Deputy Chair to Caucus, Cathy Nori, who represented Solomon Islands Government, Malaita Provincial Police Commander Tex Tafoa and a provincial police delegation and a Provincial Medical Team.
The establishment of the new diocese was based on a decision made by the Diocesan Synod of Malaita in 1996. The decision was endorsed at the 19th General Synod convened at Selwyn College in 2021 when church leaders discussed and recognized the need for the establishment of a new diocese for this region within the jurisdiction of the Malaita Diocese to serve the diverse and geographically-challenging areas of East and West Are’are, Kwaio, South Malaita and Sikaiana island.
Reverend Maomaoru was elected as the Diocesan Bishop for South Malaita and Sikaiana by the Electoral Board of the new Diocese in June this year when he served as the Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Malaita. In his role as Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Malaita, he specifically served the southern region of Malaita and Sikaiana.
The Right Reverend Sam Sahu, in his sermon spoke of having met Right Reverend Maomaoru at the age of 21 at Veranaoso when he took a retreat for students of Kohimarama Theological College.
“Despite his young age, he was quite prayerful and visionary. At 21, Rickson was already taking seriously, talking seriously about his dream or vision, as he put it, for the people of Areare, especially those in the highland.
“That dream and we include Small Malaita, Sikaiana and all of us. That vision has been supported by the people through the proper ACOM procedures and decisions.”
With that, Rev Sahu went on to elaborate on what he termed as the Five Aspects of the Gospel, which he said are Truth, Unity, Holiness, Mission and Love, drawing from the Book of John 18: 33-37 and also the Prayers of Christ the King in John 17.
Rev Sahu said he wants to see these five aspects of the Gospel to become the foundation of the new Diocese and for all in attendance of the occasion and the rest of ACOM.
Elaborating on ‘Truth’, Rev Sahu said, “the Truth is Christ who came into the world for the mission to reveal the Truth of God to mankind but was arrested, charged, crucified but rose again.”
He said standing for the Truth can be costly as was the case of Christ who stood for the truth.
Rev Sahu said as Jesus answered Pilate when he was asked if he was the King, Jesus answered saying, ‘You said that I am a King and for this reason I was born. For this reason, I came into the world to testify to the Truth and everyone who belongs to the Truth, listens to My Voice.”
He said as Jesus said everyone who belong to the Truth listen to His Voice.
Rev Sahu said the world of Pilate is no different to the modern world, which is a world lost to the Truth found in Jesus of Nazareth.
He said the Truth is committed to Unity, Holiness and Reaching Out to the Lost with Love.
He said Jesus was a friend of sinners and that is the nature of the Mission that God sent Jesus to the world for and ACOM is continuing that same mission.
“ACOM is carrying the same mission of Jesus and his disciples – the mission of revealing God to the world
“It’s the same mission to reveal God to mankind, to make God known in the world. That’s what the Father sent Jesus for: To make God known to Palestine, to Israel and to the rest of the world, including Melanesia.
“The missionaries who came here came with the Gospel to make God known to men through preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, through teaching the Ethics of the Kingdom, through the Works of Healing and Miracles, through feeding the hungry as Jesus did, through befriending sinners to lead them to Christ and through works of good governance and servanthood leadership to support a balanced and holistic mission.”
Rev Sahu then urged that the foundation of the new diocese be firmly built on love for two reasons.
The first reason, he said is because King Jesus revealed God to the world through perfect love – Agape love.
“He demonstrated the perfect Love of God to the weak and struggling disciples. Perfect love entered the world – was born, crucified and resurrected – revealing God’s perfect love to the imperfect struggling mankind.
“For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
He said the second reason is, “because God is Love and those who live in Love, live in God and God lives in them.”
By IAN LADDS OSO
Solomon Star, Honiara
