Editorial

What Does God Require of the Kerala Christian Diaspora?

The Israelites after their exodus from Egypt and wandering in the wilderness for 40 years finally reached the banks of the river Jordan and looked across the Promised Land. At that important moment in their covenantal relationship with God and history, Moses put a question to the Israelites: “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?” (Deut10: 12-13).

Centuries later we hear, Micah asking a similar question to the Israelites: "What does God require of you?"(Micah 6:8). Micah asked this question to the Israelites when Assyrians destroyed Samaria in 722 BCE. This question is relevant to us today because the world is facing unsurmountable problems, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine, ego-centric politicians, violent religious zealots, millions and millions of refugees, devastating poverty, and escalating inflation. Even for the G20 group of nations, the burden of debt is frightening. Climate change, the decline in bio-diversity, destruction flora and fauna and their consequences threaten the homeostasis (natural balance) and destabilise the natural order. Under these circumstances, it is easy to fall into despair and have a sense of hopelessness. However, when we gratefully remember in our quiet contemplation, what Lord has done for Kerala Christian community in our diasporic existence, as we learnt from the testimonies of various authors in the January issue of this journal, we should be able to draw comfort, encouragement and hope to face these difficulties under the grace of God. Therefore, it is indeed a time to think silently about the question of what God require of us as a diaspora community. Before we reflect on this question, let us think briefly about our identity as Christians.

Who is a Christian?

A Christian is a child of God, created in the image of God, with an indomitable honour of being a child of God, and one who has the privilege to have a new life in Jesus Christ. St. Paul wrote: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God was making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:1721). The Christian faith crosses all boundaries of culture, ethnicity, class, and nationality. More than two billion people across the world claim themselves as Christians. People express their Christian faith in different ways, which is why there are over 40,000 different denomina- tions. But the core belief in Jesus Christ is the same, He is our saviour and He sacrificed His life for our salvation. “Jesus Christ is same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13:8).

St. Peter speaks of the Church not as a building or a tradition but being made from ‘living stones’: “As you come to him, the living Stone rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” 1Peter 2:4-5). St. Peter continues: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be his very own and to proclaim the wonderful deeds of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). The Christian Church is expected to be an at-one-ment community. The Church is also considered as a body of Christ (1 Cor 12; 25; Eph1:22-23). Being part of a Church, a faith community, is an important part of the life of a Christian. It is an opportunity to meet other believers (koinonia) and pray together and to praise and thank God, walk in obedience to God, to love God and serve him wholeheartedly. It is also a place where Christians grow in their knowledge and understanding of God and His love for humanity. But just going to Church or taking up membership of a Church does not make anyone a Christian. We should never forget that the love of God in Christ Jesus is for the whole world. Faith in Jesus Christ and having an ‘in Christ’ abiding experience is the hallmark of a Christian. St. John describes this relationship beautifully: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15: 5). Here is a real experience of a poet, Frederick Buechner wrote: “A Christian is one who points at Christ and says, ‘I cannot prove a thing, but there is something about His eyes and His voice. There is something about the way He carries His head, His hands, the way He carries His cross – the way He carries me.”

What is that God require?

God expect us to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ because of His love for the Whole world in Christ Jesus. In St. John’s gospel we read: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). Jesus did not come to abolish the 613 laws prescribed by Moses and the prophets of the Old Testaments (OT), but to fulfil them. In that process, He condensed them into two laws for us to obey: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Mt 22:37-40). This does not require any intellec- tual explanation; it is simple, but hard to practice daily in the realities of our diasporic existence. We are also expected to equip one another in our diasporic community to do God’s work as His ambassadors. Representing our God of love to others is a very responsible activity because we are expected to be God’s letter to the world; we are letters of God that the people read. Therefore, living as a Diaspora Christian, according to the will of God, is not easy.

As members of Kerala Christian diaspora, we should remember that our God is just, faithful, and loving; it is because of God’s faithfulness and love and we were able to leave countries of our birth; God has brought us to new places (countries) with a specific purpose. Seeking this God-given purpose should be the beginning of our life within the constraints of an alien community. In our new diasporic life, we are expected to act justly, love others as we love ourselves, and to live according to the will of God for establishing God’s kingdom values. Dr. George Zacharias’ article in this issue, a voice from the past, is a remainder of this truth. This fact is also reflected in the commentary of Revd Dr. M. J. Joseph on Late Professor Dr. T. M. Thomas.

The Book of Micah is very relevant to our diasporic realities. In this book, we see the Israelites forgetting their loyalties and duty to God. Instead of punishing them, God showed them mercy and gave them the hope for expecting a ‘Shepherd - King’ from Bethlehem to restore His covenantal community. The Israelites had broken their covenant with God at numerous times and Micah is asking them to defend themselves before God. In the end, there is absolutely no defence for the faithlessness of His people. Despite the unfaithful, rebellious nature of the Israelites, God remains faithful and just. I am sure that each of us has similar experiences of the faithfulness of a loving Fatherly God.

What God requires from us is not outward expressions of religiosity and piety. God desires holiness in our lives and our relationship with others. We often seek ‘benefit without relationship.’ C. S. Lewis1 thinks of this as need- love. Most of the time we express our love for others in terms of benefits that can be obtained from such interactions. Even in our prayers we simply express our needs; our worship, and other expressions of piety are for obtaining various needs from God. This need-love should be contrasted with the gif-love of God. God desires our self-less love and not outward expressions of fake dramatic expressions of faith with a’ born-again’ zeal stamped on the forehead. God desires a relationship with us, not a ‘white washed’ hypocritic- expression of faith and obedience.

In the text I quoted in the beginning from Micah, and the question I raised about what God does require of our diaspora community, God gives three answers: act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. It is up to each of us to examine our lives and see whether we are living according to God’s expectations of us in these three areas.

1. What does it mean to act justly?

God’s justice is universal and it is one of the kingdom values. It is not about writing and talking about justice or to make other people to act justly. We often tell other people how to practice justice and act rightly in various life situations. Responsible governments have an inalienable duty to provide distributive and retributive justice. Jesus was not teaching about ‘an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth’ type of justice. Jesus asked us to put on the attitude of the Beatitudes (Mt 5: 3:2-12) and love our neighbours as ourselves. Jesus also added that it was not good enough that we love our neighbours, but we must love our enemies as well: “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Mt 5:43-48). Jesus’ teachings call us to inspect our own lives to do what is right. Sometimes, what is right is not what is easy or desirable. Sometimes, to do the right thing we have to put aside our own desires and “think of others more highly than ourselves” (Rom 12:3). This is love in action: doing good for others, giving them justice. An example of this can be found in the mission outreach of O. C. Abraham, Nirmala Abraham and their fellow-workers in their engagements with Native American Indian Communities in Alabama and in Dulac, Louisiana. The Mexican mission of the Mar Thoma Church is also worthy of our consideration. Such acts of justice that Jesus spoke of will make a positive influence on providing justice impartially throughout the world.

2. Loving God

People of all religions seek favours and benefits from God and it is just seeking ‘benefit without a relationship,’ it is the need-love as mentioned before. Our relationship with God should be rooted in our constant self-less love for Him. As children of God and as created in the image of God, we must have that self-less unconditional love for our creator within our being. We are expected to love God in every moment second of our lives; it is to express our loyalty and faithfulness to God. Jesus told His disciples that it is by their love for one another that we world would know that they are his disciples (Jn 13:35).

Love is not a walk in the park; Queen Ellizabeth II said, “Pain is the price we pay for love.” Sheldon Vanauken’s book2 ‘A severe Mercy’ is an amazing true love story. In the end, it became a love triangle involving them and God. It is the untimely death of Vanauken’s beloved wife, Davy, made C. S. Lewis tell him: “You have been treated with a severe mercy (title of the book). You have been brought to see that you have been jealous of God. So, from US you have been brought to US and God; it remains to go on to US and God.” Davy’s death was God’s severe mercy and love, “a mercy as severe as death, a severity as merciful as love.” They realized the triangle of love and jealousy involving two of them and God. They in the end realized they cannot just live for themselves. They were made for God and in God for their neighbours. This is the true need of our diasporic existence; it is only by unselfishly loving one another within our community and outside the restricted boundaries of culture and traditions that the world will know that we are Christians and we are true disciples an ambassador of Jesus. This is the answer that Chrysostom Thirumeni was expecting to the question that he put to the participants of the FOCUS seminar in 2003, “Will the diaspora community ever become the local community?”

3. Walking humbly with God

The third answer to Micah’s question is to walk humbly with God. Humility is the most desirable quality of life. Pride destroys our God-given personhood. There is a Malayalam proverb: “Thana nillathe neeru odu, aviday Daivam Thuna cheyu.” It means, water follows from a higher to a lower level, God’s blessing reaches out to humble people. In this issue of the FOCUS, we are blessed with an article from Mrs. Chinnamma Baines on the theme of humility. In the ‘Beatitudes’ we read: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Mt 5:3). Humility is not virtue signalling; humility is not false piety or self-pitying. To be meek or humble means to express goodwill toward other people; it means to show reverence to God; it means our total dependence on God and admitting our vulnerabilities. William Barclay3 describes meekness as “the willingness to accept the guidance of God and the providence of God, and never grow resentful and bitter about anything which life may bring and have the certainty that God’s way is always the best and that God is always working all things together for good.” St. Paul confirms this: “And we know in all things God works for the good of those who love him. Who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).

The former Archbishop of York, Stewart Blanch,4 quotes Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the following way about Beatitude: “The meek renounce every right of their own and live for the sake of Jesus Christ. When reproached they hold their peace, when treated with violence they endure it patiently, when men drive them from their presence, they yield their ground. They are determined to leave their right to God alone. But Jesus says ‘that they shall inherit the earth.’ To those powerless and disenfranchised, the very earth belongs. Those who now possess it by violence and injustice shall lose it and those who here have utterly renounced it, who are meek to the point of the cross, shall rule the earth.” Jesus told His disciples that it is by their love for one another that we world would know that they are his disciples (Jn 13:35). Many conflicts in our Churches are the result of people wanting what they want or trying to control the outcome of something for personal benefits. We must be very careful to live the way God wants us to live – to live humbly, to live faithfully, and to live obediently to our Father in Heaven.

Conclusion

Jesus is inviting us to walk with him in humility and to be part of a faith community without walls. Faith is friendship, and love is living within the life of ‘the other’, and ‘the other’ is a gift from God. Let us accept ourselves for who we are, we are the children of God. Accept ‘others’ around us as God’s gift to us. Experience the joy of bringing new friends into Kerala Christian diaspora community and into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Let me conclude with George Mac Donald’s poem:

“What God may hereafter require of you, you must not give yourself the least trouble about. Everything He gives you to do, you must do as well as ever you can. That is the best possible preparation for what He may want you to do next. If people would but do what they have to do, they would always find themselves ready for what came next.”

Most importantly, the members of the editorial board of the FOCUS are very grateful to Mrs. Nirmala Abraham for agreeing to join the editorial board of the FOCUS. Mrs. Nirmala Abraham and her husband Mr. O. C. Abraham and their family are early settlers in the USA and contributed much to various stages of the growth of the Mar Thoma Church (MTC) Diocese of North America and Europe. Their contributions to various mission activities of the Diocese are very significant, especially the ‘Native American Indian Mission and the Mexico Mission.’ She has given exemplary leadership to women’s causes, ecumenism, also by representing women in the Sabha Mandalam, the Sabha Council and the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches, as a member of the MTC. We thank God for her presence in the editorial board of the FOCUS, which will be a blessing for the FOCUS family.

Finally, I sincerely thank all our contributors of the two issues of the FOCUS on the theme ‘Kerala Christian Diaspora’ on behalf of the editorial board. May God Continue to bless everyone with the riches of God’s kingdom, and keep you safe.

References:

1. C. S. Lewis, ‘The Four Loves,’ Fount paperbacks, 1977, ISBN 0 00 620799-5 page 19.

2. Sheldon Vanauken, ‘A Severe Mercy,’ Harper and Row, New York,1977, ISBN 78 79 80 81 82 10 98 765, pages 209-210.

3. William Barclay. ‘The Beatitude and the Lord’s prayer for Everyman,’ Harper Collins, 1975, ISBN 00 606 03933, page 38-39

4. Lord Stewart Blanch, ‘The Way of Blessedness,’ Hodder and Stoughton,1985, ISBN 0 340 34643 4, page 117-118.

Dr. Zac Varghese

For the Editorial Board