Why did the Good News of Jesus fail in the North and West? The Revd Dr. John T. Mathew Page 29

Ms. Divya Athyal Mathew, Boston

When asked to reflect on her journey through the tumultuous year of 2020, Natalie Manuel Lee, host of “Now with Natalie” on the Hillsong Channel says with a heavy breath, “This has been the most challenging year of my life. I don’t understand how people have survived 2020 without faith, because I’m barely surviving with faith.” Many people across the globe empathize with this sentiment, as for almost all of 2020, the world has been filled with hardship, pain, suffering, loneliness and overwhelming discomfort. Many of us have experienced a season of confronting; confronting our beliefs that aren’t comfortable relating to racial justice and discrimination. One of the most painful moments of 2020 was witnessing the senseless murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmad Arbury and George Floyd, which captured our nation’s attention, specifically putting a lens on how society and the justice system treats Black Americans. It is more apparent than ever that our country is wrestling with our nation’s troubling and painful history, and the social and economic inequities heavily ingrained in our society.

Unfortunately, racial statistic reports exemplify that many people in the United States live in very different worlds. In 2018, the average Black worker earned just 62% of what the average white worker made (Gal). Minority women die three times more often giving birth than their white counterparts. Minority poverty rates more than double white poverty rates. People of color consist of a slim minority, however they disproportionately account for 60% of those imprisoned. The war on drugs has taken a heavy toll in communities of color and they are more likely to receive higher offenses (Kerby). Tragically, people of color are incarcerated, policed and reprimanded at a significantly higher rate than their white counterparts.

What are we to do with all this despair and disappointment? What is the Christian response to discrimination and injustice? Is there reason to be hopeful in the midst of all the injustices in our society today?

The Gospel of Luke is a fitting place to look for answers because out of all the four Gospel writers, Luke was the only Gentile. Because of this, many scholars speculate that Luke was addressing a wider audience to help them understand that Jesus is the Savior for all humanity. Throughout Luke’s Gospel, he masterfully demonstrates how Jesus provides hope and comfort to those who are persecuted and who are marginalized. Within the pain of one’s current condition, the Book of Luke conveys that they can experience the everlasting joy of Christ, as evidenced in numerous parables in the Gospel of Luke. Luke’s Sermon on the Plain is parallel to Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, suggesting that the topic of inequity, disparity and systemic oppression was a topic preached numerous times during Jesus’ ministry. Interestingly, he includes women in the narrative of Jesus’ ministry in a way the other Gospel writer fail to do.

Luke 6:20-26 says, ‘And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.”

Jesus discusses two contrasting populations. In the former section of the text, He speaks of the poor, hungry, grieving, hated, and marginalized people who are on the lower end of society. Their unfortunate condition is not based on their wickedness or indulgence; however, it is derived from the systems and structures of their society that disproportionately benefit one group over the other. However, in Jesus’ Kingdom, they will be embraced with open arms and can experience overwhelming joy, happiness, and contentment. Jesus is not saying all marginalized communities are going to inherit the Kingdom because of their situation, however He is saying there is a grace for those who are poor and desire following and living for Jesus (Grace Chapel).

In the latter portion of the text, He speaks of the second group of people- the rich, the well fed, proud, people who are well educated, and those who experience the abundance of this world. Although the text does not explicitly state this, we can infer that some of these people may be enjoying these blessings at the expense of other people. In contrast to the poor, these are the callous rich. In our world today, many of us are driven by education, wealth, prestige and affection of others. Although one should pursue this in moderation, we must reflect on if we are allowing Christ to be the giver

Jesus is addressing people in power, more specifically, people who experience privilege. People who experience material abundance, approval from society, leisure and safety. Evidently, He is talking about people a lot like many of us. We forget at many times that we have more in common with the callus rich, than the pious poor. Here, Jesus is reminding and warning us that although the system may be benefiting you, it may not be working well for everyone. We are all entrusted to take action and be mindful of the inequities surrounding us, because Jesus actively championed for the marginalized and lowly. Furthermore, Christ is interested in the holistic rejuvenation that He offers, spiritually and materially, thereby transforming us to His likeness.

As Christians, it is imperative for us to have a biblical understanding of sin, thereby highlighting the origin of systemic racism and discrimination. By being born of Adam’s line, we entered this life as sinners. When we sin, we often engage in corporate sin. Structural sin affirms the corporate reality of human sin and the truth that sin invades every aspect of human life and society (Mohler). Sin infiltrates every system set in place because of our sinful human condition. Therefore, our policies, laws, institutions, systems are tainted and corrupted by sin. The American philosopher, Dallas Willard, says: “We live from our heart. The part of us that drives and organizes our life is not the physical. This remains true even if we deny it. You have a spirit within you and it has been formed. It has taken on a specific character. I have a spirit and it has been formed. This is true of everyone. The human spirit is an inescapable, fundamental aspect of every human being; and it takes on whichever character it has from experiences and the choices that we have lived through or made in our past” (Willard). Although the Bible discusses the depth of our depravity, there is also reason for hope and redemption. The Good News of the Gospel proclaims that God has won over evil and has accomplished the salvation of sinners.

Honest conversations surrounding racial inequities are long overdue, however recently, people have vehemently spoken out on social media and communities have taken to streets to protest. Many of us get defensive and uncomfortable when we confront our own beliefs, however it is important for us to step into our discomfort to deconstruct our implicit biases, notions about race, and educate ourselves on the steps we can take to advocate against racial injustice. Systemic change is imperative for cultivating a more equitable world for all and prayerfully participating in educated conversations is the first step towards making a meaningful impact. Conversations produce a more loving, intentional and Christ-honoring place of healing within the community of believers. Let us place our hope in Christ to do far more than what we can see and imagine.

We are called to be proactive and do everything in our power to expunge sin from the institutions of our society. As Christians, we recognize the justice God demands from us and recognize that the Gospel of Christ can produce discernment and a renewed heart. Our Christian commitment to Christ calls us to speak out on the justices surrounding us. Racial disparities have deprived people of color in every sector of society, calling for radical reform in our criminal justice system. At this juncture, I am reminded of the great minister and civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., who states, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Eliminating socioeconomic and racial inequities in our current system must be at the core of a renewed, recalibrated, and Christ-like society. Willard poignantly captures our pursuit in this world by saying, “The most important thing in your life is not what you do; it’s who you become. That’s what you will take into eternity” (Willard).

Sources:

1. Gal, Shayanne, et al. “26 Simple Charts to Show Friends and Family Who Aren't Convinced Racism Is Still a Problem in America.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 8 July 2020, web.archive.org/web/20210223183924/www.businessinsider. com/us-systemic-racism-in-charts-graphs-data-2020-6. 2. Kerby, Sophia. “The Top 10 Most Startling Facts About People of Color and Criminal Justice in the United States.” Center for American Progress, 29 May 2015, 3.www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/03/13/1 1351/the-top-10-most-startling-facts-about-people-of-colorand-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/. 4. Grace Chapel. “Hope in the Face of Injustice: an Honest, Open Conversation.” YouTube, commentary by Bryan Wilkerson and Jua Robinson, 24 Jan 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgS4NLE-cWQ 5. Mohler, R. Albert, et al. “Systemic Racism, God's Grace, and the Human Heart: What the Bible Teaches About Structural Sin.” Public Discourse, 15 July 2020, www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2020/06/65536/. 6. Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. Colorado Springs, Colo: NavPress, 2002. Print.

Editor’s Note: Divya Athyal Mathew is a member of Carmel Mar Thoma Church in Boston. She has a degree in Public Health and Political Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She will be attending Law School in the Fall of 2021.

Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas

The entire Bible centers on a single, surprisingly simple theme: God loves you so much that He made a way to be forgiven for every sin, so you can spend eternity with Him. That’s the essence of the gospel, and the central subject of the Scriptures. The written Word of God is intended to help us understand this “good news.” By studying the Bible, we learn that each person needs to be saved (Romans 3:23), each person can be saved (Romans 1:16), and God wants each person to be saved (2 Peter 3:9).

What separates us from God is sin. No matter how good we think we are every person is guilty of sin (1 John 1:10). Since God is absolutely perfect, no one deserves to spend eternity in heaven. Instead, we deserve to be separated from Him forever (Romans 5:16). No amount of effort, no good deeds, no money, no talent, no achievements are enough to take away this guilt (Isaiah 64:6). Fortunately, God doesn’t want us to be separated from Him, so He made a way to fix what’s broken (John 3:1617).

That one and only way is through faith in Jesus Christ (John 14:6). God Himself came to earth, as a human, living a perfect and sinless life (Hebrews 4:15). He willingly died as a sacrifice to pay the debt for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21). According to the Scriptures, anyone can be “saved”—forgiven by God and guaranteed heaven—through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:13). This isn’t a call for blind, ignorant belief (Acts 17:11; 1 John 4:1). It’s an invitation from the Holy Spirit to submission and trust (James 4:7). It’s a choice to let go of everything else in order to rely entirely on God. The only way a person can find salvation is by accepting Jesus Christ as their savior.

The term “living the gospel” has become a popular one in the past few years, being used by people such as Tim Keller, J.D. Greear, David Platt, and many others. Many variations on the term exist: “living out the gospel,” “living in light of the gospel,” “being the gospel,” and so on. While most people probably hear the terms and skip right past them without a second thought, there are others who have repeatedly and loudly declared opposition to all such uses of these terms. (Is “Living the Gospel” an Acceptable Term? How does Scripture itself use the word “Gospel”, Joel S. | Thursday, October 11, 2012)

“The gospel is the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ; it is the declaration of how God has made it possible for men to obtain the forgiveness of their sins and the assurance of eternal life. The gospel is also a new and higher standard of conduct for Christians that we are commanded to live up to.” (Christian Citizenship: Living Out the Gospel, Robert L. (Bob) Deffinbaugh, formerly Pastor at Community Bible Chapel, Richardson, Texas)

First Corinthians 9:1–18 describes Paul's case for why he, as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, has the right to ask for financial support from the people he serves, including the Corinthian Christians. Though he could demand, Paul refuses to insist on his right. He doesn't want anything to get in the way of someone hearing the gospel. He understands that he must preach the gospel and he has no choice. But Paul wants to be able to boast about offering the gospel free of charge even though he has the right to ask for financial support. His point is for believers to pursue godliness, and the good of others, with that kind of commitment. This is called a gospel-centered life for faithful believers, living the gospel and not living on the gospel.

What is living on the gospel and instead living for the gospel? Prosperity theologians preach and practice that those who preach the gospel have the right to be paid from the tithes and offerings. They amaze millions of dollars at the expense of the faithful believers. This is happening in many denominations including in India also. The leaders amaze wealth and spend for luxurious items like cars, bungalow and luxurious living styles, but they forget the less fortunate on the street in front of his mansion. Gospel is for emptying ourselves and not for amazing what we lack. Gospel is to give and not to take. Gospel is to live and not to live on.

Living for the gospel differentiates a faithful believer from that of one living on the gospel. Gospel is the Word of God and it should be practiced and preached. The faithful should tread the less traveled roads and visit less frequented Samaritan wells with the gospel. The one who lives for the gospel, like Paul willingly give up their ''rights'' for the good of those who are weak in their faith. But the one who lives on the gospel, prospers from it at the expense of the faithful believers and at the same have a blind eye to the needy and the poor at his door.

The process of bringing people into the family of God is the work of all three persons of the Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Luke 6:17–49 echoes the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), but it’s actually a separate discourse Jesus gave “on a level place” (Luke 6:17). Luke 6:46–49 mirrors Matthew 7:21–27, and—similar to that passage—it contains a dire warning: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). The Matthew passage is even stronger: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Christ’s message is clear: If we profess to love Him, we’ll listen to and follow His commands. A quick overview of His commands is found in Luke 6:27–36: love those who hate you; be merciful; do not judge; forgive lavishly; give generously. The one who does these things is building a foundation on rock (v. 48).

Pope Francis recently said while talking about the spiritual sickness affected the American society: “We believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a "Gospel of life." It invites all persons and societies to a new life lived abundantly in respect for human dignity. We believe that this Gospel is not only a complement to American political principles, but also the cure for the spiritual sickness now infecting our society. As Scripture says, no house can stand divided against itself (Lk 11:17). We cannot simultaneously commit ourselves to human rights and progress while eliminating or marginalizing the weakest among us. Nor can we practice the Gospel of life only as a private piety. “American Catholics must live it vigorously and publicly, as a matter of national leadership and witness, or we will not live it at all” (Pope John Paul II, Ad Limina Remarks to the Bishops of

Scripture calls us to "be doers of the word and not hearers only . . . [for] faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead" (Jas 1:22, 2:17). Jesus Himself directs us to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you . . ." (Mt 28:19-20). Life in Christ is a life of active witness. It demands moral leadership. Each and every person baptized in the truth of the Christina faith is a member of the "people of life" sent by God to evangelize the world.

Let us be careful shepherds watching over Christ's flock. Let us preach the whole of God's plan to the powerful and the humble, to rich and to poor, to men of every rank and age, as far as God gives us the strength, in season and out of season, as St. Gregory writes in his book of Pastoral Instruction (Boniface, Ep. 78: MGH, Epistolae, 3, 352, 354; from Liturgy of the Hours According to the Roman Rite, New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co. 1975).

Let me quote Dr. Zac Varghese, London, from his exposition of theme for April 2021 issue: “When St. Paul met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he became a different man ‘in Christ’; he was transformed and became the Gospel of Christ. He preached the Gospel and identified with the Gospel; he said to Athenians. “For in him we live, move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). He wrote to the Corinthians: “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2Cor 2:15). The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news to heal this fractured world and we need to become the Gospel of Christ to overcome the uncertainties surrounding us, particularly in the post-COVID-19 landscape. The WCC in their exploration of the role of the laity in the Church in 1998 stated, we Christian people, wherever we are, are a letter from Christ to the world.”

So, let us be different people by living for the gospel and not living on the gospel like Paul who transformed himself as a different man ‘in Christ’. For in him we live, move and have our being (Act 17:28). Yes, we are a letter from Christ to the world and the letter should be read by others and not to be thrown in the trash. This is what means living the gospel and not living for the gospel. Let us be the aroma of Christ and enable us to heal the fractured world and to overcome the uncertainties surrounding the world in a post COVID-19 landscape. May the Lord, enable each one of us to live for the gospel and not live on the gospel by being the letters of transmission of the good news to the whole world. As people made in God’s image and called to follow His example (Genesis 1:27; Ephesians 5:1–2), this is profound. Achievement is good, titles have their place, but what really matters is how compassionate, gracious, and loving we’re becoming. This idea of being compassionate, gracious and loving is being repeated again by Jesus Christ as mentioned in the gospels. “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Mathew 25: 35-40)

God wants our lives to overflow with mercy, love, and compassion — the marks of His kingdom. As followers of Jesus, we have a choice: respond to unsettling realities in fear and withdraw, or follow Him in responding to the greatest needs of our day with love and hope. We know salvation doesn’t depend on works, but we also know that caring for those in need is evidence of a faith that changes lives. We should be doers of what God has instructed us. Pope Francis said: “Gospel calls us to feed all the hungry, clothe all the naked and visit all the sick and oppressed. In fact, doing that is living the Gospel.

In a materialistic world, the chances of being neglecting the above words of Lord is very frequent in our lives. Simple, apostolic mission to do justice to others does not require large sanctuaries or halls and lengthy pulpit preaching. It is much simpler than that just open your heart to do justice to others who are being ignored by the world around them. It means finding the living thread from one person to another, from house to house, from one town to the next. It means discovering the footsteps of Jesus Christ to see which way He went, so that we can go to the very place where He has been. Jesus didn’t make the Pharisees or other people in authority in position as His disciples, but He went and gathered those who were in the lowest strata of the society to be with Him and to do His justice in the world. He entrusted the twelve disciples to continue to spread the Good News, the Gospel, so that social justice will be served to those marginalized people.

Jesus told the people to sell everything and then follow Him. He never said, just set apart only a tithe of what they have. Our churches have become market places where you see sacraments, festivals, pulpit calls for tithe offerings; collection boxes are placed for pledge drive for building multimillion Dollar structures. They also offer privileges to the wealthy such as plaques with their names or beloved one’s names placed at the entrance of rooms or buildings. David Platt in his book, “Taking Back Your Faith from American Dream Radical” wrote: “We were settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.” When we do not live for the gospel and living on the gospel, we are settling around catering ourselves, while the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.

Revd Shibu Kurian, Bangalore*

Existence produces essences and the essences decide the quality of the existence. The Johannine community affirms the essence of their faith through the proclamation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing, one may have life in His name. This faith proclamation, Jesus is the incarnate Word of God is emphasized in the prologue (St. John 1:1-18), is in the form of a poem. It is a faith creedal hymn, which is the foundation of the Johannine gospel and the community. This faith credal hymn challenges the cosmic pre-existence of the Word and Word’s relationship to the world.

The pre-existent Word became human and challenged us for the reverence of life. This faith affirmation expelled the early Christian community from the Jewish Synagogue, because for a Jew God to become human is a negation of the Jewish faith. The community believed in Jesus the Christ in the midst of the Jewish and Roman persecution proclaimed and affirmed that Word in the creation is the Word in the incarnation. They confessed their faith that Jesus Christ is the God Himself.

1. The incarnated God is the God Himself. The eternal Word entered into the time bound world (Gal. 4:4). That means the Word is what God is and the Word does what God does. It affirms the oneness of the Word and the God. The infancy narrative is the story of God Himself. It provokes the wonder of creation, the gift of life, the power of the Word and celebrates the mystery of revelation that transcends covenantal limits of time and space. It means, He is the eschaton, the Alpha and the Omega.

Christmas is the message of the eschaton and through this celebration, the Church is looking into the eschatology, the coming of Christ. Therefore, Christianity is not an ideology, but it is a faith community which affirms Jesus Christ is “God Himself.” He is the only One in this world to be born without sin. One who is perfect and complete in the humanity. His incarnation challenges us for the reverence of life.

2. The incarnated God is the God of History. Incarnation is a glorious historical event. The Word

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becoming flesh is a decisive event in the human history. This historical event changes God’s relationship to humanity and humanity’s relationship to God. Through the incarnation human beings can see, hear, and know God in ways never before possible. Becoming flesh means en-fleshment. Flesh in the Bible refers to the whole human personality in its frailty and vulnerability. The Greek word egeneto means that a person or things changes its property and enter into a new creation, becomes something that was not before. The Greek aorist tense egeneto indicates that the becoming was a single decisive event in history. Hence history is important for a faith community. Engaging in the history is the need of the hour. The Hebrew word for Word is dabar, it is not a static word, but always active and dynamic. Incarnation, the light of the world, which is active, and dynamic, which is engaging in the history to remove its darkness. The incarnation challenges us to engage in the history with the incarnated One for annihilating the culture of death in and around us.

3. Incarnated God is indwelling among us for the

reverence of life. The word “dwelling” is a verb rich in the Hebrew Scripture. In Exodus 25:8, “and let them make a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst.” It recalls God’s promise to dwell with God’s people. God choose to live with humanity in the midst of human weakness, confusion, and pain. His self-revelation is not outside human experience but belongs to human experience. The incarnation is the source of life and light for all people. The transcendent, metaphysical, and invisible became immanent, practical, and visible for His creation. His incarnation is for the reverence of human life. In the time of the birth of Jesus the Christ, the society was under a third- military dictatorship. It was a society where everyone was coerced. The sociopolitical-religious elite has the right to enjoy life. They churned the non-elites, especially the women and the children. As an agriculture society, the farmers had no right in their crops. The life of the common people was in miserable condition because of the brutal nature of the socio-political-religious authorities. The vast majority of the community lived between the fine line of hunger and assurance of subsistence. They were stratified, based on their economic and purity pollution mapping of the religious life. The incarnated One – Jesus the Christ- through His ministry challenged the aristocratic community both in political and religious circle. He gave His life for the reverence of the life of “others.”

The existence of the Johannine community produced good essence in their living spaces. They affirmed Jesus Christ is the God Himself, He is the history and

He indwelled among us for the reverence of life. Graham Kendrick, a prolific English Christian singer, songwriter, living in Tunbridge Wells, England wrote a poem with title “Meekness and Majesty.” In his poem, he wrote “Meekness and majesty manhood and deity, in perfect harmony the Man who is God. Lord of eternity dwells in humanity. Kneels in humility and washes our feet. O what a mystery meekness and majesty. Bow down and worship for this is your God. This is your God . . .” He is explaining the incarnation, His humility, and the meekness and majesty of our God. His incarnation is for the redemption of life from the death. Today we lack Christian discipline and Christian ethics. We are celebrating Christmas without remembering the Christ event, the death, resurrection, ascension and His coming. Christmas is not a mere festival among other seasonal festivals. It is remembering and retelling the great event that happened in the history, the birth of the Messiah, the Saviour. Therefore, Christmas is the time of confessing the faith in Jesus the Christ and to celebrate the reverence of life. We are living in a world, which neglects the co-existence and praising of asymmetrical relationship.

The arrogant bureaucratic nature of the political leaders and their method of using the religious life of the people to enhance the conflict in the society where the marginalized have no right to live in this world. The gap between the rich and poor is widening. The poor farmers have no right in their agricultural products. The religious fundamentalism destroying the harmony, meaning and the life of the society. The politicisation of religion is the danger of the hour. The women are picturized as a commodity for pleasure. The socioeconomic disparity is increasing. We are living in the absence of the presence of the world. The world we are living is not responding ethically good in manner. The harmony of the society is stratified and scorned the life. In this ridiculous condition, the role of the Christian believer is to live as an aroma of Christ for the reverence of life. We are called to proclaim the human dignity in the midst of annihilation of the life. The confession of the faith will lead to protection and promotion of life.

Our responsibility is a harmonious connectedness with nature and with the fellow human beings in the world. Respecting and preserving the nature for the future, the taste of the coherence of the life and the co-existence are our pressing priorities. The God Almighty will strengthen us to confess the faith in Jesus the Christ and reverence of life for the Glory of God and the extension of His Kingdom.

*Revd Shibu Kurian is a D.Th. Student, New Testament, United Theological College, Bangalore. This paper was previously published in the NCC Review, December 2020, Vol. CXL No,11, p 638-640.

Reconciliation and Unity

Reconciliation is a major theme in St. Paul’s writings to the early churches and his letter to Philemon. The early churches in the Mediterranean basin had many theological, ethnic and sociological problems to overcome. Therefore, Paul emphasized the need for reconciliation and unity in Christ and the unconditional love of God. The power for the reconciliation comes from God’s abundant love. ‘Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity’ is the suggested theme for the next general assembly of the World

Council of Churches. Reconciliation is the first step in the relationships between God and man. Paul Says, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through

Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2Cor 5:18). This reconciliation has come to us from God through Christ and we will have forgiveness of sin, salvation and peace. The whole message of reconciliation and unity is centred around the love of

God and the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. “. . . but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus

Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Rom 5:11). Because of the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau, Jacob was blessed and was able to say to Esau, “For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favourably” (Gen 33:10). Here we see the blessedness of reconciliation and unity under the amazing grace of

God.

FOCUS April 20 21 Vol. 9, No: 2

Dr. Zac Varghese, London*

St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians of his compulsion to preach the Gospel of Christ: “. . . for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16) Where did this compulsion come from? The mandate of the risen Christ was, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mk 16:15). Jesus’ disciples did just that: “Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it” (Mk 16:20). It is this compulsion, which brought St. Thomas to Kerala in AD52 and other apostles to other parts of the world.

The gospel, the good news, is Christ himself; Christ is indeed the message and the messenger. The message is the promise of forgiveness of sin, redemption, justification, faith, hope, love and eternal life. It is in Christ that we find the fullness and flourishment of this message. Paul’s total identification with Christ made him say: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no

longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me

and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). Paul’s faith was born of an encounter with the living God on the road to Damascus, which led him to accept faith as a gift for a total commitment of his life to Christ. This gift of faith calls us to become one with Christ and have an indwelling experience; it is this experience which gives us the joy of being and becoming the gospel of Christ.

Paul preached the Gospel and identified totally with Christ; he said to the Athenians. “For in him we live, move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). He wrote to the Corinthians: “For we are to God the aroma of

Christ among those who are being saved and those

who are perishing” (2Cor 2:15). The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news to heal this fractured world; we need to become the Gospel of Christ to overcome various uncertainties surrounding us, particularly in the COVID-19 landscape. The theme for the April issue is for seeking the guidance and steps needed to become the Gospel of Christ. The WCC in their exploration of the role of the laity in the Church circa 1998 stated, “We Christian people, wherever we are, are a letter from Christ to the world.” To be in Christ, ‘En Christo’, experience is not only to live within a faith community that was shaped by the story of Jesus the Christ, but also to share that story with others by living out that experience authentically in day today encounters with others.

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the whole world into confusion and chaos; this is a global incident with an opportunity to feel that we are all in this together instead of relying entirely on political, economic or scientific strength to come out of this. This idea of togetherness is very important for our progress as the children of God with a God-given purpose to live this life as desired by our creator, provider and protector.

In the fifties, the war-torn and ‘shell-shocked’ Europe challenged religious, political and social systems upon which people relied. It was a fertile time to challenge the authenticity of all belief systems. It was under these circumstances existentialist philosophers thrived in France. ‘Atheistic existentialist’ such as Jean-Paul Sartre believed and propagated the idea that ‘existence is prior to essence’6. This challenged the foundational Christian principle that St. Paul lived and preached for. He told the Athenian’s in his Areopagus address: “. . .

for in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his

offspring” (Acts 17:28). ‘Being’ is a major theme of the studies in ontology, religion, metaphysics and philosophy.

The concept that we are thrown into the world and slowly and steadily build ourselves our essence, being and identity is not in accordance with the Christian thinking and the salvation through Christ. The existential thinking is that “man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up into the world––and defines himself afterwards . . . Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself.”7 I am what I am because of me, the idea of a self-made man, is an arrogant attitude. This attitude also was expressed much earlier by an 18th century English poet, “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.”8 This is not our day-

6 Jean-Paul Sartre, ‘Existentialism and Humanism’,

Methuen Publishing Ltd., 1971, page 26. 7 Ibid, page 28. 8 The Oxford Book of English verse, H. Gardner, OUP, 1972, page 792.

FOCUS April 20 21 Vol. 9, No: 2

to-day experience in the real world. Children are born under the loving care of parents; the child’s existence is not in a vacuum but has a mystical link to the creator God. A child has a God-centred past, a God-given present, future and purpose; the life is purpose-driven from the moment of gestation; it is in the loving and caring hands of the mother, the child learns his or her vocabulary, grammar and rhythms of life and living. The essence of the child is nucleated and grown within the dimensions of the motherhood. This is indeed the essence and hence ‘essence is prior to existence’ and not the other way around. Existence is determined by essence. The essence of a person is the kind of person that he or she is; it is their identity. Psalmist reminds us:

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the

strength of my heart and my portion for ever” (Psalm 73: 26).

Being is often described with words such as living, nature, existing and essence. It is also described as a state of the inner life, which gives a sort of stillness, contemplation, sufficiency, inner peace, and suspension of physical activities. Being is a state or stage; it is not a future expectation or hope or dream because it is a condition of the present; it is already here; it is in the now of our life. ‘Being’ is about being true to ourselves, about our identity, our nature and our essence; it is our unique identity and distinctiveness, which we could bring to others as a part of our relationshipdevelopment in building a family and the wider community. What does it mean ‘to be or not to be’? It means that we find reflective time for our self-discovery to think and act for the benefit of others. As a humanist, Sartre also said: “And, when we say that man is

responsible for himself, we do not mean that he is responsible only for his own individuality, but he is responsible for all men.”9

People often get confused with problems of life and get baffled and ask questions such as: ‘who they are? Who am I?’ We are often pressurised in wanting to become what others want us to be. The children are often expected to live the dreams of their parents. Trying to

9 Ibid, page 29. 23 | Page

be what others want us to be can cause many psychological, emotional and health problems that threaten our wellbeing and peace. Taking care of our being – respecting it and nurturing it – is very important because no one else can do it except our dependence on God’s amazing grace and the indwelling experience of Christ within us, as St. Paul indicated. Being makes us think of the present, the now moment; it is a sacred time, the Kairos time as opposed to chronological time, the God-given time, to do what God wants us to be and do. It is indeed the time to remove all traces of ‘I’ and remove the ‘otherness’ of others and live in an ‘I- Thou’ moment of relationship. This is the mutual indwelling, perichoresis, in other words the reality of the Trinity. It is important to realise who we are and our state of being; it is essential to have the realisation that we are the children of God and are made in his image; we are God’s image bearers. This is indeed a very heavy responsibility and honour; we need help to realise this and act on it. The choices that we make influence others. Therefore, when choosing for oneself one is also choosing for others too; it is a collective responsibility for the common good of the community. This realisation is the transformation needed for becoming.

We see this ‘being and becoming as a sign’ in the story describing the events on the ‘Mount of Transfiguration’ with Jesus, Peter, John and James (Mt. 17: 1-9; Mk. 9: 2-8; Lk. 9: 28-36). It was a critical moment in the ministry of Jesus, and it was a continuous process for Jesus and his disciples of being and becoming. Transformation is a process of transfiguration for God’s mission for healing this fractured world. This transfiguration implies a revelation of the purpose and nature of Jesus’ journey. The link between Moses and Elijah is important for us to appreciate the significance of the exile and liberation, going away and returning; it is about the oppression under the burden of sin and the freedom that Jesus is offering through his salvific action on the cross. There is an unbroken continuity in this story of God’s rescue operation for the fallen world from the beginning. What happens here is that Jesus stands revealed, and the disciples are granted a vision of God’s glory and who Jesus really is. Jesus’ internal glory and magnificence got externalised in his transfiguration. This visibility is expected in our spiritual journey also of being and becoming. It is the point of revelation of our true being, and we are becoming Jesus’ letter to the world, and we are the letter that the world sees and reads. Paul’s silent years in Arabia and Tarsus after the Damascus road encounter was his formative period. This period transformed and transfigured him for God’s mission. To the Christians in Rome Paul wrote: “Don’t conform any longer to the patterns of the world but be transformed by renewing your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is –

his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Rom. 12: 2). He urged them to give themselves fully to God (v.1). The disciples who remained in the valley of the transfiguration mount asked Jesus why they could not heal the demon-possessed boy (Mt. 17: 19, 20). Jesus said to them, “Because you have so little faith.” People do so many things in parishes and communities as busy bodies without having the real being and becoming experience of doing. Being and becoming is a prelude to mission and ministry. This is also what Jesus told Mary of Bethany. Martha was doing all the right things in the kitchen as a perfect hostess, but Mary was sitting with Jesus for having the experience of being and becoming; Jesus said: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Lk 10: 41). This does not mean that Martha’s detailed work and attention to hospitality should be ignored or left undone, but there should be a balance between physical and spiritual needs. Faith is a gift from God, but faith formation and preparation for mission is a slow and steady process for being and becoming in order to do God’s work as his image bearers. The long years of preparation for priesthood and ministry reflect this; Jesuits have eight to seventeen years of preparation for their work.

In a self-centred, greedy, and grasping world, Paul nurtured and mentored early Christians on how to live a Christ-centred life. It is in this being and becoming that we shall be able to do God’s mission of establishing the kingdom values of spiritualty, justice, relationship, hospitality and truth. Our living should be centred on the process of being and becoming in Christ, with Christ and for Christ. It is the ‘in Christ’ matrix, which will lead us to become the image of Christ. This demands a complete re-evaluation of oneself and others in relation to Christ, resulting in various acts of self-giving love. Chiara Lubich, the founder of Focolare Family, wrote:

“The world is in need of a cure, a cure of the Gospel. Because only the Good News can give it back the life it lacks. This is why we live the Word of Life, allowing it to take flesh in us to the point that

we become living Word." It is a way of being and becoming that is shaped by the gospel of Christ. This is indeed the meaning of ‘be the gospel of Christ.’ Let us in absolute humility pray for this privilege.

* Dr. Zac Varghese was the director of Renal and Transplantation Immunology Research at the Royal Free Hospital and Medical School in London and now he is an Emeritus Professor. He is also a prolific writer on religious and ecumenical issues; he continues to work relentlessly for common good of the worldwide Mar Thoma Diaspora communities.

From the Orthodoxy Cognate Page (OCP) News Service

OCP Secretary Mr. George Alexander Received by the Travancore Royal Family

OCP Secretary Handing over a copy of the book ‘Malankara Nasrani Research Papers’ to Her Highness Aswathi Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi. From (L) George Alexander, Her Highness Princess Pooyam Tirunal Gouri Parvathi Bayi, Her Highness Princess Aswathi Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi, Lijo George, and His Highness Prince Avittam Thirunnal Adithya Varma.

George Alexander (Secretary of Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE, Pan-Orthodox Christian Society) was cordially received by Her Highness Princess Pooyam Tirunal Gouri Parvathi Bayi, Her Highness Princess Aswathi Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi, and His Highness Prince Avittam Thirunnal Adithya Varma, the venerable members of the Travancore Royal family at the Kowdiar Palace during the last week of December 2020. The Travancore Royal Family was the ruling house of the Kingdom of Travancore till1949. His Highness Sree Padmanabhadasa Sree Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma is the present titular Maharaja of Travancore.

The Royal Family has historic relations with the Malankara Church and the Malankara Nasranis. Malankara Metropolitan is the ecclesiastical and legal title granted to the head of the Malankara Church, by the Government of Travancore and Cochin. After a lively discussion of 30 minutes (on various topics), OCP Secretary presented bilingual copies of the book ‘Malankara Nasrani Research Papers‘ to the members of the royal family. George also provided a brief overview of the book and responded to the specific questions put forward by the members of the Royal family. The Secretary was accompanied by OCP Associates Lijo George and Ajin V C.

Revd Dr. Joel Edwards CBE*

[From the Churches Together in England (CTE) Newsletter. This article first appeared in CTE-Newsletter December 2020and January 2021, published by Churches Together in England.]

More than any other year I can recall, 2020 has been a global year. We all sat in a global pandemic-induced isolation to watch a black man saying, “I can’t breathe”, being murdered by a white man in a police uniform. And the world became intoxicated with the idea of justice.

So, of all the virtual meetings this year, meeting with the CTE family to explore the idea of being missionary disciples in a Covid climate was one of my most meaningful events.

To be sure, lockdown has presented Christians with challenges and opportunities for vibrant witness and we have seen more news items of churches doing good than I can recall in a long while. Learning to Zoom will be important for years to come, but I am fascinated by a bigger picture.

There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, whatever you make of ‘mission’ and its association with ‘discipleship’, you simply cannot ignore the fact that all Christians, everywhere have a global mandate to witness to Jesus across all the imaginable ethnic and cultural communities. Jesus did say that we are to go everywhere making disciples of all ethnic peoples.

Secondly, missionary discipleship presents us with a tricky task: how do we do missionary discipling across the kaleidoscope of cultural distinctives without some people dominating other people and running the risk of new forms of colonial or cultural control? This has always been the challenge of the global task. And we have not always done it well.

Much of our witness has been tarnished by a kind of ecclesial discipling, which means we have been inclined to spread our own Christian brands while spreading the good news about Jesus. But as the theologian Dallas Willard said, what Jesus meant was, ‘Go therefore into every ethnic group and help them become my students.’

In the heat of stifling injustices where Romans oppressed the Jewish people and the Jewish authorities were often indifferent to the common people, the search for justice was all around them. And as they talked about Jesus beyond Judaism, the early disciples had to grapple with unfair treatment of its Hellenistic widows, a Roman centurion, and Gentile Christians from the new power base of Antioch in Syria.

Similarly, 2020 has been an important setting for our mission because, in the popular mindset it has been supremely about how crushed people experience justice.

Diversity and injustice were big issues for disciples from a small town who were learning to be global witnesses. When you think about it, the disciples were learners helping other people to learn about Jesus.

So thirdly, discipleship was a kind of ‘learnership’. They had to come to terms with the fact that God was teaching them through people who had a very different cultural and theological backgrounds. Samaritans, a Roman soldier called Cornelius, and a group of gifted people in Antioch where disciples were first called Christians.

I suspect that what kept them on course was that their discipleship was shaped by the fact that they had been close to Jesus. That’s what the people said about them. Which leaves me asking, how do we discipleship people in such a way that they feel they really know Jesus?

But equally, they had learned about dealing with otherness from Jesus. Jesus was always at the centre of their global enterprise. So, when they started calling disciples ‘Christians’, I suspect it was another way of saying, ‘Anyone can be a disciple, but only the people who know him and learn from him can be Christians’. ** Revd Edwards is a freelance broadcaster with the BBC, a writer and international speaker on a wide range of areas including bible teaching, issues of justice, leadership, faith and society. He is a Visiting Fellow at St John’s College, Durham and is also involved in a small number of consultancies and personal mentoring.

Revd Joel ’Edwards’ wide range of experiences includes 11 years as General Director of the Evangelical Alliance UK and 10 years leadership in Micah Challenge International - a global faith-based response to extreme poverty. Watch Rev Edwards' keynote message at the CTE Learning to be Missionary Disciples conference in November 2020.

Chhotebhai

I find the word “denominations” abominable. In an era of competition between different churches, the term was used to distinguish between them. In today’s ecumenical era, the term becomes redundant. I would rather call them “Sister Churches”. Did not St Paul write to the churches in Corinth, Thessalonica, and Ephesus etc.? Does not the Book of Revelation talk of the Spirit speaking to the churches (in plural) not in the singular. So, shouldn’t we too be comfortable with the plurality of churches, rather than insisting on the singularity or superiority of one’s own particular church?

History is replete with instances of churches being critical, hostile to and in open competition with each other. If in 1302 the 189th pope, Boniface VIII, summarily declared that there was no salvation outside the Catholic Church; there are even today, several churches, mostly from the Evangelical stream, that are merrily sending all unbaptised “pagans” to hell. I do not believe in a God that is hell-bent on packing “sinners” off to hell.

As a Catholic myself, I will restrict myself to the current teachings of the Catholic Church, especially in the postVatican II era. It was a watershed moment in the life of the Church. With its changed self-understanding, it also brought about a tectonic change in its relationship with other churches, religions, the natural and behavioural sciences and the world at large.

This change is most evident in the events of 1054 and 1965. The first was the “Great Schism of the East”, when the western churches based in Rome and the eastern ones based in Constantinople (Istanbul today) ex-communicated each other. It took 911 long years for those ex-communications to be lifted by Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagorus, when they met, warmly embraced and lifted the sanctions in 1965.

The Catholic Church, in the post Vatican II era has come a long way from the sad events of 1054 and 1302. Before that the Catholic Church was like the cat’s whiskers, steeped in its own pride and exclusivity, a head and shoulders above other “lesser” mortals. Now it very humbly calls itself “an initial budding forth of God’s kingdom” (LG No 5), not a full bloom basking in the sun. She “embraces sinners in her bosom” (LG No 8), not a rarefied puritan, and admits that it is still “a pilgrim”, not one that has arrived at its destination. From absolutism it has moved to relativity. This is a crucial change reflected in its attitude to others, including the Sister Churches. Of them it says, ”The church recognizes that in many ways she is linked to those who, being baptised, are honoured with the name of Christian” (LG No 15). This is the official dogmatic teaching of the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, there is a yawning gap between precept and practice.

There are many Catholic priests and bishops in India who are uncomfortable with the relativism and inclusiveness of Vatican II ecclesiology. They are more at ease with the fundamentalist, absolute, binary preVatican ecclesiology of Me or You; not Us. That black or white binary refuses to recognize the various shades of grey.

Jesus’ last prayer included an impassioned one for unity. “May they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me” (Jn 17:21). Jesus is linking unity with witness value. Conversely, Christian disunity or division is the greatest stumbling block to Christian witness and evangelization. This is evident in colonial India, where each western church came with its own theological baggage, confusing those who had never heard of Jesus. In contrast, the apostle Thomas in Kerala and St Francis Xavier in Goa were successful, partly because of a unified message. There was no counter witness. We will revert to the Indian church later.

For now, let us return to apostolic times. Those who oppose organized religion, derogatorily referred to as churchianity, point to the early Christian community. “The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, as everything they owned was held in common” (Acts 4:32). This was too good to last. Shortly after, there was a division among Hebrew speaking Christians and the Greek speaking ones (cf Acts 6:1). The second dispute arose between circumcised Jews and proselytes (circumcised Gentile converts to Judaism) and non-circumcised converts on the other. St Peter had to step in to breach the divide (cf Acts 11:118). There are several other instances of both Sts Peter and Paul admonishing the neo-converts for their ethnic divisions and personal loyalties.

If in the first flush of apostolic times, when the Holy Spirit was powerfully manifest, unity was at a premium, then how much more difficult is it for us today; bombarded as we are by multiple messages and factors in both history and the present all-pervasive media? It requires both prayer and humility.

The history of Christianity in India is different from that of the west that suffered persecution for 300 years till Emperor Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 312 CE, effectively making it a State religion. It was also spared the ignominy of being subjected to Roman, Byzantine, French, German and Spanish emperors, as also the scars of the Crusades. The infamous Inquisition was limited to a section of Goa.

However, with colonialization came missionary expansion and various white missionaries toeing the line of the churches of their native lands. It was this conflict that greatly contributed to the failure of Christianity to make its presence felt in India. When I was in Jyotiniketan Ashram, Bareilly, we had an ecumenical meeting. I recall the words of Rev Kenneth Sharp of the Brotherhood of the Ascended Christ, an Anglican order. He said that we may be divided in thought or belief, but we can always be united in service where there is no room for dispute. Some years later when I had organized an ecumenical meeting under the aegis of the Kanpur Catholic Association, the main speaker, Dr. A.B.K. Sebastian of Christ Church College, said that in India there was no need to perpetuate the divisions of European Christianity. Words of wisdom.

It is for this reason that Pope Francis refuses to get sucked into theological hair splitting. He prefers to directly reach out to people, saying that we should leave the debates to the theologians. In a joint gathering of Catholics and Lutherans somebody asked him a tricky question – “Whom do you prefer – Catholics or Lutherans?” Pat came the reply, “I equally dislike lukewarm Catholics and Lutherans”. It reminds one of how the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus by asking him if it was proper to pay taxes to Caesar? (cf Mat 22:21).

Pope Francis has repeatedly adopted a pastoral, rather than a dogmatic approach to complex issues. He gave the telling example of the field hospital in battle. You don’t stop to check the injured soldier’s cholesterol or sugar levels. You first bandage his wounds. In his latest encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” he talks at length about the This doesn’t mean that Christian churches may do as they please, often pulling in opposite directions. St Paul gave us two beautiful analogies of the church as a body and as a bride (cf I Cor 12:12-30, Eph 5:23). Both indicate some kind of organic unity and bonding, if not exactly organizational. Interestingly, Jesus himself never used the word “church”; though some English translations use it (cf Mat 16:18 & 18:17). The actual Hebrew word used by Jesus was “qahal” that meant a community or assembly of believers. The Greek word “ekklesia” from which the English word “church” is derived, also has the same meaning.

However, there is an evolution discernible in the New Testament itself. In the Acts of the Apostles the word “church” is used 23 times, and in the Pauline letters 65 times! So obviously, as the community grew, it needed to be better identified. For those critics of churchianity that say that Jesus never founded a church and personal discipleship would suffice, I give the example of a human embryo. It is just a few cells, with no head, hands or feet. Yet it bears all the intrinsic qualities of a baby and later an adult. So too with the church. It grows and evolves and sometimes mutates because of external influences. This should not detract from the reality that Jesus wanted his disciples to have some form of spiritual, organic and organizational unity.

This can never be fully achieved. If the apostles failed with small numbers and no excess baggage, then we have a slim chance of getting there. This should not deter us from moving forward as pilgrims seeking to convert the bud into a full bloom, while embracing sinners in its bosom.

Management gurus teach us about areas of concern and areas of control. I may be concerned about the world economy, over which I have little control. But I do have control over my own domestic budget. Instead of bemoaning my inability to transform the world, let me first address what is within my control. Many Christians may feel that they are facing insurmountable odds in climbing the treacherous mountain of Christian unity. They then despair. Let alone the Evil One, even sociologists, psychologists and political pundits tell us that despair is the easiest way to accept the inevitable (like a Trump or Modi) and be resigned to one’s fate. However, the Holy Spirit spurs us to action. That is why I reiterate that humility and prayer are pre-requisites for Christian unity.

Like Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagorus let us begin by warmly embracing each other and stop seeing each other as antagonists. There are two steps that we can adopt immediately. The first is to stop criticising

each other. The second is stop “sheep stealing”, grabbing disgruntled or dissatisfied members from sister churches, especially from what are described as the “mainline” churches like Catholics, CNI/CSI and Methodist. They are soft targets for preying evangelical churches. Not that they are the only culprits. Catholics do the same with their superior organisation and financial resources. This has been widespread in the Punjab, Uttarakhand and North East regions. It must stop. If at all some of us are determined to increase the number of Christians through conversions, then let them go out and share the message with those who have not heard it, rather than sheep stealing.

I became starkly aware of the divisions among Christians when I visited the Holy Land in 1980. Not only were there divisions among Christians, Jews and Muslims; there were scores of them among Christians themselves. The worst example of this was the Holy Sepulchre. The six feet slab has three altars; one belonging to the Catholics and the other two to different Orthodox churches, possibly Greek and Armenian. When celebrating the Holy Eucharist at these altars the respective priests must ensure that their hands do not extend beyond their allotted two feet. It is scandalous.

Nevertheless, I would like to end on a positive note, again from Jerusalem. I had been invited there by the Anglican archbishop, at the behest of Rev Murray Rogers, the founder of our ashram in Bareilly, who had since relocated to Jerusalem. It was during Holy Week itself. On Holy Thursday we attended a Catholic service. It was presided over by a bishop of the Melchite (Greek) Rite. The choir was led by French speaking Vietnamese nuns. Rev Rogers was an Englishman, a pastor of the Anglican Church, who wore ochre robes and lived like an Indian. He was vegetarian and regularly used Hindu texts in his own liturgy. And there I was, an Englishspeaking Indian of the Latin Rite! Could that congregation have been more catholic (universal)?

For the Easter vigil we again attended a Catholic service presided over by an African cardinal. Later during coffee there was a blackboard on which people from different countries wrote Easter greetings in their native languages, mostly in the Roman script. I wrote in Devanagari script in Hindi at the top of the board “Jai Sri Yesu”. It caught the eye of the cardinal. He immediately asked me where I was from and was thrilled to know that I was Indian.

After coffee we proceeded to the Russian Orthodox Church presided over by the Patriarch himself. At that time Christianity was still banned in the communist Soviet Union. A ninety-year-old retired army general was playing the organ. It was about 3.00 a.m. but the service was still warming up for the few elderly people there. I could not but wonder at some churches’ inability to adapt to the times. Many of us fossilised Christians are in urgent need of perestroika, glasnost and aggiornamento (opening up and updating to change).

In this season of Advent let us prayerfully and humbly listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches (Rev 3:22), for denominations are an abomination for the disciples of Christ today.

* Much of this information is contained in the writer’s forthcoming book “The Jerusalem Code”.

A Meditation by Patriarch Ignatius IV of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and all the East (1920-2012)

Church and the Holy Spirit

Source: The Uppsala Report: Official Report of the Fourth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, July 4-20, 1968

Bishop Ignatius became Patriarch of Antioch in 1979 and served until 2012.

Church Without the Holy Spirit:

God is far away, Christ stays in the past, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is simply an organization, authority a matter of domination, mission a matter of propaganda, liturgy is no more than an evocation and Christian living a slave morality.

Church with the Holy Spirit:

The cosmos is resurrected and groans with the birthpangs of the Kingdom, the risen Christ is there, the Gospel is the power of life, the Church shows forth the life of the Trinity, authority is a liberating service, mission is a Pentecost, the liturgy is both memorial and anticipation, and human action is deified.

The Rev. Dr. John T. Mathew (The United Church of Canada)

The Christian faith brought into being on the day of Pentecost by a gathering of over three thousand frightened believers from communities in and around Palestine two millennia and two decades ago is the world’s largest faith community with over two billion followers. The 18th century dawn of the age of enlightenment turned out to be the end of the triumphalist European Christendom.

Ever since the outbreak of the deadly virus over a year ago, life on our fragile planet has stomached seismic ups and downs at home, at work and in the global community; the season of Lent, began in the last week of February and with no Easter in sight to celebrate. During Lent most theologians were running crazy racking their brains for a rational response. Time magazine approached an unsuspecting Anglican bishop - New Testament scholar Tom Wright, to find a magic bullet. Wright replied: “Christianity offers no answers about coronavirus; it’s not supposed to.” Why didn’t editors of the magazine, who misguidedly prefigured that Christians probably had a loftier response, approach a Hindu or Buddhist or Muslim scholar for their feedback?

It could well be either our hubris or stuck-up claim as if God trusts us to solve this conundrum more than our neighbors who might belong to other faith traditions. No one religion is in charge; no one person speaks for God or temple or church or mosque! Fly-by-night theologians are no different from Chicken Little: The sky is falling!

It might be a warning? God is angry! Insurance business calls it ‘an act of God’? Then, is COVID19 a sign of end of this world? It is not nice or prudent to mess with Mother Nature. As Pope Francis prophetically said in his “urbi et orbi” (to the city and to the world) address during the Holy Week: “We ignored a world that had gotten sick, thinking we would never get sick ourselves.” He also repeated an old Spanish proverb — “God always forgives, man sometimes forgives, but nature never forgives”.

It might be fun for some to thrash bucolic landscapes and forests, which are natural habitats of animals and plants and unknown species of organisms. Cut down the trees; carnage or cage the animals; rub eco-systems the wrong way and chase viruses from their natural hosts – you guessed it – they need a new host. Predictably, we are it. There is bad news all around us. Thankfully, we have good news within us. In the midst of this day in, day out dreadful encounter that sucks the life of everything we established, our duty is to remember, retrieve, reclaim that small shred of resolve, tenacity which sustained us hitherto. In that inexorable struggle, we must transcend the bad news and hold on to the good news within us. Is this COVID19 battered days are not a god-send opportunity for us to do some soul-searching?

The European church history infers that Flavius Constantine, the first Roman emperor to credibly confess to the new Palestinian spiritual configuration, was the prime promoter of the Good News of Jesus. His baptism on his deathbed by Eusebius of Nicomedia probably was the formal beginning of European Christianity. All the major religions emerged in Asia; therefore, the newly instituted faith flourished in the European spiritual vacuum. Perhaps that is why western churches insist that they have uncovered and snatched a whole new deeper perception of Christianity!

The emperor demanded his people to accept this freshly marketed faith in the declaration of the Edict of Milan in 313. He also built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the claimed site of Jesus’ tomb in Jerusalem and the convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Therefore, Christianity which emerged in the forlorn Palestinian forts out of the blue became a European religion! Originally ‘evangelical’ – mid 16th century Latin evangelium, from ancient Greek for ‘good news’ or gospel was similar to television updates or amber alert – an imperial ‘breaking news’, which has nothing to do with Jesus, his teachings or the Bible. However, this spanking new faith turned out to be another spoil like the whopping Kohinoor from India, or oil from the Gulf region, or spices and tea from Darjeeling, Kerala and Sri Lanka.

When I was a teenager my mother, gazing at the land she brought in from her family, redrafted King Philip’s

words to Alexander, “my son, look out; Macedonia is too little for thee”. So, I walked off outside the Apostle Thomas birthright of Malabar with my tamed Bucephalus and strolled by the statue of John Knox in Edinburgh for three years. Yes, a reformed breath of fresh air of European Christianity looked tantalizing then.

Now, fast forward to 1969 – the year when the first humans - American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin landed on the Moon on Sunday, July 20th. A few weeks later that year in the refreshing autumn temperatures the progeny of colonial trailblazers of affluence and power returned to the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society residence. An unknown tropical tyro from an ancient Nasarani heritage joined them at breakfast. Our matron Eleanor Thompson graciously asks: “Would you like some more English tea, Mr. Mathew?” My response was: “Where on earth is tea grown in England?”. Viscerally unimpressed, Eleanor dashed off to the kitchen cupboard and returned with a tea box. She read the label on it: “Oh, Indian Tea packaged in Birmingham!” And she cackles: “Goodness, gracious; there is no such thing as English tea.”

Later that day after my classes, I heard an earful on the European reformers, predominantly Luther’s defiant act of posting his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517 and of course more on the Disruption of 1843 when 450 ministers left the established Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. Phew! Both my professors and my classmates suffered from a myopic theological worldview because of their lack of diversity with the global community. The reformers such as John Knox and Thomas Chalmers were like eagle parents who carried narrow doses of ‘prey’ to their nest to feed their chicks. They fed the people who were rescued from the Roman hegemony by tearing off pieces of food and holding them to the beaks of the newly morphed Presbyterian eaglets. Like the little chicks, they breathed, moved and had their being in whatever Knox regurgitated from his learnings in tumultuous Geneva. Therefore, they never heard of my first Century (52 CE) St. Thomas apostolic full-blood Nasarani pedigree and heritage of Malabar! Characteristically nostalgic and a bit naïve being there, I said to myself: “There is no European Christianity.”

However, this ignited a fire inside me to investigate at least five fundamentally theodemic events in the younger European Christianity. In Jeremy Bentham’s phrase, the five demons or monstruous crashes of Chicane in and around the church punctured the socalled triumphalist Christian Europe are the unholy Crusades, Colonialism, Holocaust, Apartheid and Slavery – all made in Europe! In fact, the former missionary denominations are flattened before our eyes. What a dismal spectacle of a cataclysmic collapse of 20th century of Western Christianity! Whatever happened to the church that sang, “Onward Christian soldiers!” and fired the fabricated flow of personnel to convert the heathens? As Martin Luther King Jr. put it: “I came to the conclusion that there is an existential moment in your life when you must decide to speak for yourself; nobody else can speak for you”.

Crusades

This appalling word ‘crusade’ ought to be erased forever from the ecclesial wordlist as it had absolutely little to do with the imperial cross of Jesus. Perspectives of historic experiences differ from the victor who records them and those of the vanquished left speechless on the sidelines.! The authors of the Bible and the Quran outrageously exculpate atrocities imposed on women and minorities relegated the margins. Most students probably never questioned why the Middles Ages in Europe were the Dark Ages! The affluent landlords who promoted a fatuous theocratic rule, which did not originate from the Holy, that inflicted hideous brutalities and terrorism including the Crusades in the name of faith.

Colonialism

No nation on earth gained anything from colonialism except the colonial powers who destroyed the economic future most nations in Africa, Asia and South America. The so-called ‘third world’ of poverty was created by 450-year-long colonialism. In spite of the fact that the older Asian cultures never surrendered to the fabricated European superiority, the missionaries as conceited agents of hard-line expansionism, except a few exceptional servants of God’s people such as C. F Andrews and Stanley Jones, brought with them a mindset of a moral condescension which Mahatma Gandhi staggeringly crushed soon after the second World War. Over the years many in Europe tried to tell me how generous the colonizers were in improving the

lifestyle of the people around the world. Previous to the four-century long British domination India, the world leader in manufacturing producing most of the world’s industrial output, was the richest nation on the planet during the medieval times. However, they forgot how they wiped out the native peoples of North America and Africa albeit ancient Asian cultures were impermeable. The British monarch, the head of her church, should consider returning the stolen crown jewels as well as offer an apology for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh genocide.

Holocaust (Shoa)

A few Protestants openly opposed the Nazis. Disgracefully, Pope Pius XII and his church preferred a policy of neutrality during World War II. Abraham Heschel in his book, Israel: An Echo of Eternity states: “Our people’s faith in God at this moment in history did not falter… We all died in Auschwitz, yet our faith survived. We knew that to repudiate God would be to continue the holocaust.”

Apartheid

This 18th century racial segregation, enlarged on the premise of baasskap or white supremacy, was cooked up in the Dutch Empire to keep the minority Europeans in South Africa and Namibia cloistered from Asians, Coloureds and the native black Africans. Abraham Kuyper being one of the patriarchs of apartheid, the model was ‘christened’ within the Dutch Reformed Church to experiment in the distant colony! No one described it better than Desmond Tutu, “When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray. ... When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land”.

Slavery

Woefully the outbreak of slavery has been part of our human condition in all cultures and faith traditions. The Ottoman Middle Ages captured Christian slaves. From the seventh to the twentieth century, Western and Central Asia, North-eastern Africa, Europe and India had Arab slaves. The Christian Europe and several African kingdoms promoted the Atlantic slave trade for centuries since 1600 CE. However, endorsed by the self-made apostle Paul the early church did not raise a red flag as it hailed the clampdown of slaves, especially women, created in the image of the Holy One! Fifty years ago, as a student at first it was interesting to visit British castles or palaces in almost every hamlet. They were made of freighted hard wood from my backyard in India and loaded with stolen trinkets and costly works of art from far way colonies. The weirdest thing was that there nothing English or Scottish about them except the locale. I felt being mugged twice when I had to pay to enter these fabulous estates where my family inheritance was ensconced and elegantly built by the sweat and blood of slaves. The Good News of Jesus encapsulated in the Song of Mary and in Jesus’ first sermon recorded in Luke’s Gospel (4:14-30) offer both grace and judgement: comfort and contentment for the oppressed and caveat and concern to the oppressors. Such an imperative news of titanic daring against despair, energising radiance against darkness, galvanising liberation against captivity will never fail. However, the thing called Christianity, the church and its protagonists have been fading.

The heart and soul of our faith keep moving from Jerusalem and Nazareth to Alexandria and Malabar, from Antioch and Istanbul to Rome and Athens, from Geneva and London to New York and Toronto, from Maramon and Singapore to Busan and Shanghai, from Hamburg and Stockholm to Tokyo and Invercargill. Therefore, the 21st century church with its epicentre in the south and east is alive and well. The northern and western ways of life of Greece and Rome are no more required to prosper and preserve the old Palestinian faith. No matter how the church prospers or plunges, the Good News of Jesus will always weather the high winds of time and place. No one faith tradition can contain all of divinity. No one denomination displays the humanity of Jesus in its fullness. Deeply enthralled by the Upanishads and the Good News of Jesus, T. S. Eliot reminds us:

“We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.”

The Rev. Dr. John T.

Mathew is an ordained minister in The United Church of Canada. Besides serving several urban and rural congregations in the province of Ontario, Canada since 1974, he also taught in the Department of Religious Studies, Huntington/Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario. He also served at St. Machars’s Cathedral, Aberdeen (Church of Scotland) as Ecumenical Minister (2010) and as Interim Minister at St. Andrew's Parish, Gore, Southern Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (2015-2017).

RAINBOW OF REMEMBRANCES (ENGLISH AND MALAYALAM) Author: REV. DR. M. J. JOSEPH, PRINCIPAL (RETD), MAR THOMA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, KOTTAYAM.

CSS BOOKS, TIRUVALLA, Pages 292, Price INR. 350/USD $20 Available at: CSS Book Shop, Tiruvalla.

“Rainbow of Remembrances”, containing fascinating memory lanes and inspiring biographical insights into eighty-one lives, will answer your questions about famous and less known men and women, who radically redirected their lives and contributed richly to the social, intellectual, ecological, ecumenical and theological life of the church and society in India and abroad. In an age of failing memory, this amazing documentation of up-todate, meticulously reserached and reasonably argued scholarly biographical sketches supersede autobiographical descriptions and shines bright like a candle to guide generations. In his book, “RAINBOW OF REMEMBRANCES” Rev. Dr. M J. Joseph tries to explore brilliantly the prophetic, pastoral, theological and social concerns of his friends, celeberate their contributions and present them as icons of building bridges in the church and society through their dazling and erudite career. One feels that one is traveling on a parallel track with a moving cine camera that captures the life and mission of Rev. Joseph’s friends, and various frames are clearly and well focused in this book.

Rev. M. J. Joseph’s academic, literary and artistic description, full of information, insight, prolific oratory style, amazing writing skills and ecological expertise are evident in this book. This book also reveals authors’ brilliant research skills of comprehensive and interdiciplinary research method including the articles about his friends that had already been published in the NCC Review, Sabha Tharaka, Diaspora Focus, People’s Reporter, and ECC. Two types of articles can be identified here: Smaranajali and Felicitations. The Smaranajali refers to the obituary tributes that Rev. Joseph offers in honour of his friends’ lives who completed their life journey. Rev. Joseph’s felicitations on various occasions aimed to celebrate his friends’ pastoral, theological and ecumenical concerns that radically influenced the Church and society in India and abroad is the content of this book.

Selfdiscipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments according to the American author Jim John. “The Power of Ambition”, a notable work of Jim John, which needs no further testimony than the life story of the author Rev. M. J. Joseph – a New Testament professor, writer, ecumenist and environmentalist of international repute. His unique calibre of keeping the files and letters is evident as he handed over more than 300 hand-written personal letters from eminent personalities, stretching a period of more than five decades, to be kept at the Seminary Archives in 2020. This book is also a testimony to his brilliant research quality of invaluable documentation – a key to delve deep into his friends’ biographical routemaps, thought world and field of work. Fr. Dr. T. J. Joshua’s foreword and Prof. Dr. Zac Varghese’s appreciation to this book illustrate the thrust of this work.

Rev. M. J. Joseph’s journey from ‘Seminary’ to the ecumenical and ecological horizons, where he endeared his life-long friends was indeed a long one of more than half a century. And it had necessarily to pass through various social, economic and political interfaces. The author weaves the journey beautifully and it adds a third strand in this tapestry. One is tempted to describe this book as ‘thriveni sangamam’: a man, his friends and a concept, being brought under a single scanner without loss of focus.

Walking the first mile is not optional but mandatory; every Jew under Roman rule had to, if called upon. Walking the second mile is what we have been called to. Often we tend to see this second mile only in terms of social, ecumenical and theological initiatives. I believe that the theologians have to try to walk the second mile intellectually. (Incidentally that is one of the many points which make me a fan of Rev. M. J. Joseph, my favourite benchmark, who has already commenced that journey.) From the second mile perspective, Rev. M. J. Joseph’s attempt to chronicle analytically the life contributions of his friends is an effort in the right direction.

Review by: Rev. Dr. Joseph Daniel*

*Rev. Dr. Joseph Daniel, Professor, Mar Thoma Theological Seminary, Kottayam; Research guide and Head of the Department of History of Christianity, ‘Federated Faculty for Research in Religion and Culture’, (FFRRC), Kottayam; Dr. Habil research scholar, University of Bern, Switzerland.

Mr. T. T. Verghese: One of the Endearing Pioneers of the Mar Thoma Community in the UK and Europe.

Dr. Zac Varghese, London

[The following is an atypical, occasional article, a story, in honour of a pioneer of a Mar Thoma Diaspora community in the UK and Europe. I write with the hope that it will encourage others to appreciate contributions of people who helped to build communities, not for exclusion but for inclusion. Community isn't a private club to be separated and defended against those who do not belong to it. Rather, it is an inclusive space, a space to enjoy the gift of the other.]

It is an unfortunate idiosyncrasy that we often only acknowledge the contributions of people after their death. We criticise and damage people’s reputations while people are alive and then say all sorts of wonderful things about the same people after their death. Realising this quirk in our nature, I thought it would be a good to appreciate and thank Mr. T. T. Verghese, one of the pioneers of building a Mar Thoma Community in the UK from 1957. I am writing this tribute to Mr. T. T. Verghese (known as TT) because I just came to know that he is 96 years old and he is having some age-related physical disabilities. Let us support him through our prayers.

One of the people from the Malayalee community that I first met when I came to London for postgraduate studies in the early sixties was Mr. T. T. Verghese. He introduced us to half a dozen other families in London who used to meet once a month for a Mar Thoma worship service at the Indian YMCA under the pastoral care of late Revd Dr. V. V. Alexander. Late Mr. O.V. Alexander of the Indian YMCA, Dr. John Thomas MBA, Dr. Titus Mathew, Mr. Mathew Joseph, Dr. Benjamin Pulimoodu, Dr. Mathen, Mr. John Thomas, Mr. Mathew Koshy and their families were part of this nuclear group. There was also an Indian orthodox family of late Mr. I. John. Deacon K. G. George of the Orthodox Church, who was studying at Cowley Fathers of St. John the Evangelist; he also conducted occasional services from 1963 to 1972; he later became bishop Geevarghese Mar Ivanios. Mar Ivanios was a saintly person, his life was immersed in prayer and sadly passed away in 2013. Fr. Allunkal who became a bishop of the Jacobite Church was also very helpful to us during this early period. Thus, this early group slowly evolved into an ecumenical worshiping community of all Kerala Christians and functioned as such until 1978.

Mr. T. T. Verghese arrived in the UK in 1948 and he and his family were integral part of the Kerala Christian Community until 1993. He had a very successful utilities store, television repair service and rental business. He then decided to return to Kerala and settle down in Cochin. His wife, Ammini, and daughter, Roshini, remained in London. Verghese continued to visit his family and friends in the UK until 2009. Verghese hails from the Thoppil family of Uthimoodu in Pathanamthitta. He was born on 11th October 1925.

As the number of Kerala Christian families in London were very small, we built an ecumenical fellowship with the Indian Orthodox, the CSI church and other denominations until we decided to express the Mar Thoma identity more clearly by establishing an official parish in 1978. Verghese was the treasurer of the Mar Thoma Congregation that was established in 1957; he remained so, as he kept a bank account in the name of the Mar Thoma Church from that time onwards and until we became an official parish of the Mar Thoma Church in 1978. We moved from the Indian YMCA to St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Newington in 1978 through the kindness and hospitality of Revd Dominic Walker OGS who later became the Bishop of Reading and later the Bishop of Monmouth. It is good to remember the help of late Bishop Mervyn Stockwood, bishop of Southwark, for allowing us to worship at St. Mary’s church.

Verghese gave effective leadership for the Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1982 under the magnificent guidance of Late Thomas Mar Athanasius Suffragan Metropolitan. This event was very significant because of the presence of fourteen Anglican bishops who had intimate knowledge