Focus January 2015

FOCUS January 2015 Vol. 3 No: 1

Mystery and Mastery of Communication, Rev. Dr. Valson Thampu, New Delhi – Page 10

Gender Equality, Cover Photo – By Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas.

A Publication of Diaspora FOCUS

Contents Women Enriching Church, Dr. MariammaThomas, Florida - Page 13

Editorial, Gender Equality - Page 3 Legacy of Apostolic Fathers, Dr. Titus Mathews, Canada – Page 14

Synopsis of Metropolitanʼs Pastoral Letters, Sabha Tharaka – October, November, December 2014 – Page 5 Impact of International Migration on Home Churches- A Review by Jesudas M. Athyal, - Page 16

Meditation - Prisoner of Your Past, Rev. Merin Mathew, Bhopal – Page 7

A Vision for Womensʼ Empowerment, Rev. Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam - Page 9

Salient, but Silent Ministry of Women, Mrs. Elzi Zac Varghese, London - Page 19

Women as Legacy Makers, Mrs. Nirmala Abraham, Philadelphia – Page 20

Editorial Gender Equality On 9th October 2012, schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in Pakistan- her ‘crime’ was to have spoken up for the right of girls to be educated. The world reacted in horror, but after weeks in intensive care in England, Malala survived. She marked her 16th birthday with a live address from UN headquarters.

She said, “I didn't want my future to be imprisoned in my four walls and just cooking and giving birth.” Most reservedly, Malala received the Noble peace prize in October, 2014, and she dedicated it to the children’s causes world-wide. Violence against women and children is a world-wide problem; it varies in intensity and degree; it includes physical and mental. On January 2014, Delhi edition of the Indian express reported that a father who did not want his 11 year old daughter to study threw a heavy stone at her head. In the Middle East and in many part of the world we read about the domestic violence against women. Some of these discriminations are based on religious beliefs. Denying women their rights and freedom to worship God in partnership with men and the whole family is also a kind of violence against the personhood and dignity of women.

It is against this back ground we should read what St. Paul wrote to the Galatians (3:28): “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” We affirm in our Holy Communion service, that we are a sharing community. “We are one Body because we all share in one Bread.” It is amazing to learn that, even now, some of our clergy are insisting that that men and women should sit separately on two sides of the church during worship service. As a church we often forget this oneness in Christ and try to divide our activities on the basis of age, gender, class, and other divisions.

However, Christian culture has provided much freedom for women in the West and feminine emancipation has now opened to women many professions that were closed to them. This has created a movement towards ordination of women in many churches; in July this year the Church of England has finally took a momentous decision to admit women to the episcopate. We welcome such understanding, but churches need to accommodate others who have strong objections to the ordination of women on

the basis of their traditional biblical understanding. The women in our church are not demanding such radical changes, but they would like to see more representational participation in worship and all administrative structures of the church. It is gratifying to note that such a change is happening in the Diocese of North America and Europe, and the Rt. Revd. Dr. Geevarghese Mar Theodosius should be congratulated for creating such gender equality to certain extent. Thirumeni seems to have opened the possibilities further by allowing lay readership of women during the 15th national Sevikasangham conference in 2014. It is a very good beginning.

It is time for the Mar Thoma Church to re-evaluate the need for age and gender-segregated activities, such as senior citizens, youth league, savikasangham and other groupings. There are very few activities now, which involve the entire family. Therefore, we have a designated family Sunday, but every Sunday should be a family Sunday. There should be a contract between generations1 to build a covenantal relationship with God and others. The decline in youth participation in our church activities is also partly due to this sort of segregation. We need to recreate the idea of family cohesion once again to make our church really a family of families. The authority of the Bible is derived from the authority of God; the church appreciates and understands her authority from the guidance of the Bible. Church break-ups and denominational divisions are also based on our limited understanding and application of the biblical authority. Everyone in Christian circles tends to claim biblical authority for their actions. Within the church we have different levels and degrees of authority. What are we looking for when we are looking for authority in the Church? Where would we find it? We find it in scripture, liturgy, tradition and reason.

When we think about authority we are often thinking about controlling people or situations. We want to make sure that everything is regulated properly, that correct theology and practices are upheld and transmitted to the next generation. Authority is the place we go to find the right answers to key questions in our lives. Do we use the Bible in a twisted sort of way to support our own views and inclinations? It is important to remember that in the Bible all authority lies with God. Some people may think that the Bible is just a rule book or a reference manual, but it is a repository of timeless truth.

It is also a narrative, a story book. Here, we have a problem, how can these stories of the ancient times be authoritative for us today? What is its relevance to us?

Here we need help in identifying and internalizing these stories in our context; we too have a relevant story to tell about our faith journeys and we are the only people who can say it authoritatively and authentically; it is our mission.

People accept various biblical stories in a literal or allegorical way; there is also an accommodative way of making us understand God’s love for us, and the created

world. The spiritual nourishment is given according to our needs and limitations too. The Holy Spirit is there to help us through. The authority of God is tempered with His love for us and our freedom to choose. As Bishop Tom Wright said, ‘God’s authority is not the power to control people, and crush them, and keep them in little boxes. The Church often tries to do that—to tidy people up.’ Therefore, we see God’s authority vested through the ‘elected and adopted’ individuals in the Old Testament such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and prophets. In the New Testament, we find that the authority is ultimately placed in Jesus Christ: ‘all authority is given to me in heaven and on earth.’ Then we see the authority is invested in the apostles and through their successors through ‘laying on of hands’ and such ordination blessings for deacons, priests and bishops. This threefold ministry has given authority to the Church. Ordained ministers are expected to use their authority under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The question for us is simply this: do we accept and value this authority? Very few people exercise this authority responsibly, which is indeed the reason for decline in the influence of Christianity and the sort of argument that we are seeing about gay marriages, sexual adventures outsides the institution of marriage, and gay ordination. Where do we find authority these days?

Catholic bishops at their Synod in Rome in October took an unprecedented step to "welcome" homosexuals and noting they had "gifts and qualities" to offer the church. As the global synod on the family entered its second week at the Vatican, the bishops released a midterm document summarizing the closed-door debate taking place between nearly 200 bishops and lay officials. While the church reaffirmed its opposition to same sex unions and marriages, the ground-breaking preliminary document said homosexuality prompted "serious reflection" and was an "important educative challenge.”

Pope Francis has changed the entrenched attitudes of the church on many issues and the Synod is just one example of this. In spite of the earlier enthusiasm during the first week of the Synod, Pope Francis has suffered a setback as proposals for wider acceptance of gay people failed to win a twothirds majority at a Catholic Church synod at its final session. Nevertheless, the door is now opened for further discussion under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

These developments should challenge the members of the Mar Thoma Church as well. We now have altar boys and covenant girls in our Diocese of North America and Europe. How long it will take for these children to develop into fully trained and consecrated lay readers? We often wrongly attribute the term lay leaders for men who assist our clergy during the worship service, but it is time that we recognize it as a fully trained and consecrated ministry of the church and we should call it by its right title, lay reader.

We should also have a conversation about allowing women to take up this position in our church. The covenant girls should be allowed to graduate into lay readership with time. We must patiently allow these issues to evolve with prayer and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

We often do not appreciate that we are part and parcel of this continually developing story of God and His people.

What do we want to say to the next generation about the authority of the Bible? The world they face is different from ours; as are the challenges and opportunities, but some things do not change. God, the gospel, and the need to live a committed life for Christ remain as important as ever.

Paul’s letter to Timothy is helpful. Paul wrote to Timothy to secure the legacy of his life’s work and ensure that the gospel is proclaimed faithfully and protected from distortion. We need to pray continually and study the Bible carefully to avoid distortions and follow the fashions and trends of the day. Conversation and dialogue are part of this process. Hence Revd. Dr. Valson Thampu’s ‘in depth’ article on ‘The Mystery and Mastery of Conversation’ is relevant and well-worth studying. He wrote: “Such communication is not a matter of education or cultural attainments. It is not a question of this language or that, or of generation gaps or of interpersonal bridges. It is a matter of depth. It is depth that distinguishes the living God from idols. Idols have just about everything, except depth. Today we communicate as idols do to idols. Words hit the surface and rebound. So, words resemble stones.”

We need serious in depth conversation about gender equality, and for establishing a just community for propagating kingdom vales.

The authority that God has invested in the Bible is a very special kind of authority that is exercised through the people of God, telling and retelling their stories of exile and return, of going away and coming back to God. This is indeed the story of the world and the story is all about healing a fractured world. The cycle will be repeated endless times until the kingdom values and God’s authority are established in this world. God has given us a ‘purpose-driven life’ to become agents of this healing process. We, in our turn, have our own stories to tell. We should empty ourselves to become a medium to carry God’s amazing grace and become His love letter to the world. Achieving gender equality is part of the process.

May God empower us to do His work.

Ref: 1. Zac Varghese; Contract between generations, Messenger, July, 2011, p29-31

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Synopsis of Metropolitanʼs Pastoral Letters in the ʻSabha Tharakaʼ October, November & December 2014 October 2014: The success of the Indian scientists and scientific world behind the successful launch of ‘Mangalyan’ in to orbit of Mars, enabled the tricolor flag our country to dwindle in the hearts of cores and cores of people in India, which is a very notable event.

Dr. K. Radhakrishnan and his coscientists deserve our appreciation in accomplishing this mission in their very first attempt with less expense compared to other countries. Mar Thoma Church has awarded the highest honor to him in 2014. God has created man not to become salves of circumstances, but to make the circumstances for the betterment of the community at large. God created man from the dust of the earth and water from the atmosphere and He created man in his own image and when man used God-given talents and creative intelligence he was able to conquer the universe.

In the book of Job, during the conversation between God and Job, God is bringing to the attention of Job different aspects and facets of his creation. After listening to God, Job replied like this: ‘My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.’ Job 42:5. This should be our response when we conquer the universe by our scientific achievements. As David sung, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands’ (Psalm 19:1). It should be our reflection also so that we may be able to glorify God and reveal the works of his hands.

Even before the ecumenism originated in the thoughts of denominations, our church and the Thozhiyoor church had a very close relationship. Mathews Mar Athanasius became the 13 Metropolitan of the Malankara Sabha after consecrated by the Patriarch of Antioch. During that time the Metropolitan of the Thozhiyoor church passed away without consecrating his predecessor and our Metropolitan came forward and consecrated the new Metropolitan for the Thozhiyoor church; this helped to maintain the apostolic succession and the relationship with the Antiochean Church.

It is with the co-operation of Mar Thoma Church that the Thozhiyoor church developed its constitution and guidelines.

But both churches stood in its own faith and practices and never changed it or interfered in other’s also. That relationship helped the Mar Thoma church when the 14 Metropolitan passed away unexpectedly, the Metropolitan of Thozhiyoor Church helped in consecrating the Titus 1 as the Metropolitan of the Mar Thoma Church. Thus the two churches are very closely related. th

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The Mar Thoma Church is using the same mooron for baptism brought from Antioch by Mathews Mar Athanasius by adding to the same. The koodassa conducted for mooron is not for the new one but for increasing the old one brought from Antioch. Even though it is unseen, we are following a very visible ecumenical relationship during the moroon koodassa. We are still following the relationship with the Thozhiyoor church without sacrificing our faith and practices. Recently, the Metropolitan of the Thozhiyoor church passed away. During his time as the Metropolitan, he was able to restore the relationship with Antioch throne, enter into new ecumenical relationships, and introduce prospective visions to the church. The bishops of our church helped recently in consecrating the new Metropolitan Cyril Mar Baselious for the Thozhiyoor church. Hope and pray that the new Metropolitan can lead the Thozhiyoor church in to new avenues. We express our deepest condolences in the demise of Valiya Metropolitan of the Thozhiyoor church.

Nov. 2014 In November we celebrate World Sunday School day.

Children are entrusted by God to each family. Like Jesus grown in wisdom with the grace of God, our children also should grow in that grace. The faith and practices should begin at families. The children should be connected to different programs of the church. Both the family and church should work hand in hand in this matter. The family should reveal itself as a sanctuary to the children. When families become fighting places and places for consumption of alcohol, the wounds created in the minds of children are deep. Today’s children are tomorrow’s promises.

Unsatisfied childhood will lead in to several wrongful acts including bribery and violence. The wrongful life patterns of the parents are responsible for the same. When trials and tribulations came and Israelites began to turn to other Gods, Joshua said ‘Me and my family will serve the Lord.’ Joshua 24:15. This declaration of Joshua helped the Israelites to follow the faith in the Lord. ‘And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey him. On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws.’ (Joshua 24: 24-25). Our families should be able to deliver the same to our community.

Church is beginning a new liturgical year in November and celebrates ‘Kudos Eetho’ (sanctification of the church) during these days. Purification is step to reformation. Like the people who returned from Egypt wept by hearing the Word of God, we should be able to go through repentance, purification and reformation. ‘Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law’ (Nehemiah 8:9). When the meaning of the scripture was taught to them they were able to understand, weep, repent, and purify themselves. This is the same thing that the reformation fathers of Malankara church did. When the

liturgy was translated from Suriyani to Malayalam, it became a new energy to the people. That new energy and reformation was possible only when people learned the meaning of the Word of God. Reformation is a continuing process and there is no end to it. Reformation is also a process of uniting the church. We are also celebrating the unity of Mar Thoma Church, C.S.I and C.N.I in the month of November. It is the need of the time that churches should be strengthened by united vision, programs.

The thoughts for the later part of November are based on the revelation to Zechariah, the priest, and also Mary, mother of Jesus. John Baptist is the promised son given to Zechariah and Elizabeth during their old age. By remembering the providence of God Zechariah said: “because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Luke 1: 78-79). We should remember that each blessing given by God is God’s amazing grace and we should use the same for the benefit of others so that our lives would be much fruitful. The revelation of Lord to Mary and her reply is very meaningful.

When asked her participation for the redemption of the world, her reply without any hesitance is to be commended.

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her” (Luke 1:38). This is the true model of submitting ourselves to the will of God. Later we see Mary visiting Elizabeth in the mountains. The submission of Mary was a choice she made through which she has taken many trials and tribulations in her life. Mary has reached before Elizabeth after overcoming, without any fear, all challenges for the sake of the world under God’s plan. We need to submit ourselves to the will of God and need to grow in community, which enjoys the grace of God. When she reached the house of Elizabeth she said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me holy is his name.” (Luke 1:46-49). The great Lord has given us also so many blessings. Like Mary we should be able to say “for the Mighty One has done great things for me, holy is his name.”

May our Lord enable all of us to live in His grace and at the same time live a life worthy to the church and the community at large.

Dec. 2014 We are eagerly waiting for another Christmas season, which could remove all the darkness in our lives and lighten it with a shining star. We can read these words spoken by the Zechariah, the priest, father of John the Baptist. “…….because of the tender mercy of our God by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1: 78-79). We are witnessing the finality of the care and providence of the creator to His creation in these words. Christ is born into this world for redeeming the human race from all its ugliness and also to lead individuals, who has turned away by sinning,

through the eternal light to the ultimate goal. The message delivered to the shepherds during the night Christ was born is also a message to the whole world. “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

(Luke 2: 10-11). The message ‘do not be afraid’ is very relevant and is able to provide us with courage, strength, and new hopes in a world, which is struggling with immorality, animosity, and disrespect. It is to be remembered that Word has become flesh, not as an adult but as a child. A child can grow in to a full human only at a place where humans are being respected. Jesus was grown and nurtured in the grace of God with human beings around Him. But the decision to destroy the children was against all human moralities. Several children were killed by sword on the basis of Herod’s decision. We are living in a world where there is an increase in cruel treatment of others and terrorist activities. Any attempt to disregard the value of human life, and the right to live freely will not be good for the entire humanity. We need to be very serious about the disrespect and mistrust among nations. Various international conferences convened to strengthen mutual understanding between countries are also failing these days to attain its goals. The attitude of protecting one’s own people, and not to care about the people of other countries is very dangerous, which are examples of selfish thoughts and cruelty.

Our reflections for December is the under the beam of the ‘morning star’, which removes the darkness in this troubled world. The meeting between blessed Elizabeth and Mary is a graceful occasion. The birth of John the Baptist prior to the birth of Jesus Christ is similar to the rising of morning star prior to the rising of sun. When angel Gabriel delivered the message about the birth of John the Baptist, instead of gathering the strength to believe the promise, Zechariah asked for a signal for its truthfulness. Hence, he received a signal to be dumb until the child is born and named. But Mary on the other hand, when the angel revealed to her about the birth of Jesus, never asked for any signal; she shared her thoughts to the angel how could this happen.

That is why she was able to submit herself and declare that ‘I am your servant Lord, let it happen according to your words.’ This should be the approach to divine tasks entrusted to each one of us. Mary has taken a decision herself to face all trials and tribulations for God’s purpose.

The message to Joseph was also able to abet him to take the decision to face the struggles ahead of him; he also had several struggles to face. We see a model family, when Joseph and Mary agree to face the struggles for the sake of the Lord. That family submitted to God’s will and has become the model family for the entire world.

(Contd. on page 21)

Compiled & Translated by Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas (An abridged version of Pastoral Letters appeared in Malayalam from Sahba Tharaka, the official publication of the Mar Thoma Church)

Prisoner of Your Past- A Meditation Based on Acts 9: 20-27 Rev. Merin Mathew, Bhopal In one of my practical assignments from seminary, I met a man in one of the churches, which I will leave unnamed. This man was a full-fledged businessman with deals in real estate and construction. He also had a drinking problem. All this accumulated in a big way and with a huge thud this man’s life came crashing down one fine day. He was arrested by the police for a fraud case in land deals. Once out on bail he had to get grip with his drinking problem. But little by little he started to pick up his life. His huge void in his life was filled by knowing Christ intimately through reading the bible and composing songs. He started prison ministries. He became very active in church which he called his ‘second innings’. He said, “I always believe that church is not a museum of righteous people but a hospital for broken and shattered people like me. But all I saw in the church was that people talking about my past and references like ‘Jail Mathai or Kallukudiyan Mathai’ were community joke. So the place that should have supported me and been a solace for me, held me captive of my past. It is disgusting.” Let me quote Philip Yancey here to give us perspective. In his classic book “What’s So Amazing about Grace” Yancey says men like these ran towards Jesus, not away from him. The worse a person felt about herself/himself, the more likely they saw Jesus as their refuge. Has the church lost the gift? Evidently the down and out, who flocked to Jesus when he lived on earth, no longer, feel welcome among his followers. What has happened?”

That is the question we need to ask. What has happened? In the portion that we just read shows the situation of the Post- Conversion scenario of Saul. Once he started to proclaim Jesus boldly as the ‘Son of God’ the expected reply came from near quarters like this “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this

name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” (Acts 9: 21) As we know that this very Saul was witness to the martyrdom of Stephen. His zealous attitude had made him a name that sent shiver down the spine.

So people definitely had their doubts and held him captive to his past. They were not convinced that a man with such notorious background could change that easily. At Nazareth where Jesus made bold declarations he too got a similar treatment.

Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” 57 And they took offense at him. (Matthew 13: 55-57a) Psychologists say that knowing a vulnerable past of a person makes him or her very manageable. This past becomes the yardstick to show the person their place. The label of the past will choke them no matter how hard they will try to be liberated from it.

When we read verse 26 we find that this man came down from Damascus, the point of his transformation, to Jerusalem, to join the disciples.

The disciples too doubted him and were afraid of him. They kept from him, a safe one hand distance.

They were like Nathaniel who asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth? (John 1: 46) In my interactions in one of the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, one of the participants shared this insight “I have had a sober life for last 8 years. But I am still vulnerable for a relapse into addiction. The greatest trouble or frustration that I have is how people look at us. They keep condemning us. Sometimes I feel it is better to be an alcoholic. At least you are suffering for what you do. By abstaining and trying very hard to lead a normal life, people still hold us captive for not what we are, but what we used to be."

Let me end this meditation with a real life story of Henry Covington. I read about him in the marvelous book called ‘Have a Little Faith’ by Mitch Albom.

Henry has a very terrible childhood with violent neighborhood, guns, street fights and broken family to deal with. He slept every day fearing rats. Slowly but surely his steps led him to murky life realities. He started to be a drug dealer, made quick money. He felt guilty, quit it, married his girlfriend. But when he saw his brother earn big bucks he entered again into the world of crime. He went to jail, had bouts of severe addiction related problems. But time and again he encountered Christ that was his rock and comfort. Finally he gave his life to Jesus and turned into a pastor. With his terrible background, there was

not much hope. But he started to target those who had a terrible past like him. He wanted a church for those where these so called scum bags would feel at home. He therefore started a ministry called “I am my brother’s keeper” Ministry. He distributed food for the homeless and gave them clothes to wear and when all other pastors shamed the people on streets for their drug addiction, Henry Covington like the ‘Wounded Healer’ would share his struggles to people like Cass and Joe who had similar problems.

He opened up his church for the homeless. His congregation was people from the streets. And this is how he preached to them. “Brothers we are all captives of our past. They just look at our past. Even we too get stuck there. Therefore we miss seeing the miracle God has done. What he can do. There are people who know my past. There are people who tell me ‘We know you, you can only cheat people’. I say to them ‘You knew me. You know that person back then. But you are not seeing the person God is making me, who I am trying to become.’ My dear brothers, God is bigger than your past. You are not your past. God is making a way in the desert, and streams by the wayside.” In Saul’s case there was Barnabas who dared to look beyond the past of Saul and was ready to embrace the new creation that God was unfolding. Let us take a moment to thank people who stood by us in our period of crisis. When people wrote us off, there were Barnabases in our lives who were able to see the people we were struggling to become. I have many such Barnabases to thank. They had every right to judge me and hold me captive to my past, but out of grace and divine love they were ready to give me a chance to become a person that God intended. I am a product of such small graces in life. I am sure it is in midst of deep pain of loneliness that Paul realized the love of Jesus and he declared “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5: 17. My dear friends the new creation is just waiting to happen. Embrace it.

Editor’s Note: Rev. Merin Mathew is ordained as a priest of Mar Thoma Church in 2011 and the Vicar of Bethel MTC, Kolar Road, Bhopal. He is author of the book "Burning Bush: 50 Biblical Meditations', which won the Malliackal M. C. George Achen endowment memorial prize for the best book written by a clergy, and the award was handed over to him during the at Mandalam in 2014 held at Thiruvalla, Kerala.

Pearls of Wisdom from Down the Ages-6 A Reading from the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World* The holiness of marriage and family: Man and woman, who by conjugal pact are no longer two but one, help and minister to each other in an intimate linking of their persons and activities; they experience the real meaning of their union and achieve it more every day.

This intimate union of two persons giving themselves to each other demands their full fidelity and argues for their indissoluble unity; so does the good of their children.

Christ our Lord abundantly blessed this manifold love which springs from the source of divine charity and forms a union on the model of his own union with his Church. For just as God once encountered his people in a covenant of love and trust, so now as the savior of the world and the spouse of the Church he encounters faithful spouses in the sacrament of Christian marriage. Moreover, he remains with them; just as he loved the Church and gave himself up for it, so do married partners, by a mutual surrender, love each other with a lasting fidelity. Full conjugal love is taken up into divine love, guided and enriched by the redemptive virtue of Christ and the Church’s saving action.

Thus, married people are effectively led to God and helped and strengthened in the sublime function of a father or mother. Christian married people are fortified in the dignity of their state, and consecrated to its duties by a special sacrament. Carrying on their conjugal and family functions by virtue of this, penetrated by the Spirit of Christ who fills their lives with faith, hope and charity, they make steady progress towards their own perfection and mutual sanctification and give glory to God in unison.

Children and indeed all those living in a family circle, will, by parents’ example and by family prayer, more easily find the way of salvation and holiness. Parents clothed with the dignity of the office of fathers and mothers will diligently carry out the task of education which is first and foremost theirs, especially that of religious upbringing.

Children, as living members of the family, contribute in their own way to the sanctification of their parents. They will respond with gratitude and affection, devotion and trust to the benefits they receive from their parents, and, as children should, they will remember their parents’ needs in time of trouble or in the loneliness of old age.

Collected by Dr. Zac Varghese from A Word in Season edited by H. Ashworth, 1974; The Talbot Press, Dublin, page 204-205.

Editor’s Note: Dr. Zac Varghese, London, U.K., was the director of Renal and Transplantation Immunology Research of Royal Free Hospital and Medical School in London. He is an Emeritus Professor and continues to be a supervisor for doctoral studies even after his retirement. He is also a prolific writer on religious and ecumenical issues for the good of Mar Thoma Diaspora.

A Vision for Women’s Empowerment Rev. Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam The subject “ A vision for women’s empowerment” is integral to various women’s’ issues such as “eco-feminism”, “impact of globalization on women”, “women and church life,” “environmental crisis and women” etc. The voices of women activists in the global context have to deal with 3 major concerns: 1) To understand and to analyze the term” voices of dissent” for women’s’ social justice.2) To gain deeper insight of the “voices of dissent” through common sharing of experiences as field workers, organizers, counselors, legal advocates and teachers.3) To respond critically to women’s issues from the angle of human rights.

The historic gender assembly of the YMCAs of India held in 2011 at YMCA New Delhi has come out with several recommendations and perspectives for gender parity. The affirmation of the support for the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the India Parliament is worth noting.

What is required today is to speak for a humane face of women’s empowerment and gender justice. For the transformation of the society, one has to speak and act for the celebration of spiritual values. In the biblical tradition of the Church, image of women most often has been modeled after Martha who was busy in the Kitchen handling mundane things than like Mary who sat at the feet of Jesus and pursued truth (Lk.10: 42). Even the very portrayal of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, has been pictured in the garb of a docile woman. In his book, Mary and Human Liberation, Tissa Balssurya, a Sri Lankan Theologian, has come out with the radical traits of Mary with new value systems for social transformation. To quote, “At a time when women wish to be full human persons in their own right in spite of long centuries of domestication, a more balanced understanding of Mary can help them to evolve their own spirituality as they face the many and new problems that life brings them.”

Mary was sharing the cross with Jesus in his confrontation with the powers whether religious or secular. She provided a note of dissent to the false spirituality that emptied people of the divine will. When we talk about gender justice we need to search for a reading of the scriptures and traditions with new eyes. The time has come before us to ask whether the Bible reads us rather than we read the Bible!. It is to be remembered that Jesus as a feminist was quite conscious of the powers which destroy the life of co-humanity in women.

He was primarily concerned about the humanization of structures. His call was the call to discipleship across gender divides. If the story of “the woman caught in adultery “ is read with a new caption like the “story of adulterous men” then the message will come out with radical concerns for social transformation.

A greater appreciation of the spirituality of women is required for social amity. In several cases, women’s causes are frustrated by women themselves due to misconceptions and lack of trust in their own potential. I remember to have read an article entitled, “Ladies First”, Derek Williams argues that the Church should give greater recognition of the spiritual values represented by them. She wrote: Look at the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19:Which sex do they remind you of? Male! She adds except Jealousy, all are generally accepted aggression of the male ego!. Even

among the fruits of the Spirit, the author argues that love, joy peace, gentleness, patience and the rest are associated with women!. Yes, there is truth in it. The basic question is this: Does Feminism provides an alternative vision for the present and the future?. In peace building process, feminist values are to be duly recognized. Eco-spirituality is indeed truly represented by women. The concept of the Earth as Mother symbolizes the divine call for upholding values represented by women. A movement from religion to spirituality is the need of the hour for social transformation.

Religion tends to be God-centered; but spirituality is people centered. In the Bible God in Christ dies for the good of humankind. According to Jesus, the life of any single human being-outcast, leper, prostitute, alien, orphan, widow, pooris more precious than the whole world, which explains God’s uncompromising commitment to justice. When we define, “justice” no gender is to be attached to it. The call to build a culture of peace is calls to all humankind across gender divide. This is possible if we entertain right priorities and options in social life. For this we need to “overcome” violence, prejudice and even traditions which suppress true humanity.” Overcoming” anything is a conscious act to alter the situation. This is what we find in Jesus conversation with the Samaritan women. The notion of overcoming means positively, peace building, reconciliation, exploring alternative methods, and even to show readiness to remain committed to truth. Defining mission in the truth of Christ is the need of the hour. As Jesus said, truth alone will make us free. But truth should first make us miserable. Truth is not given to us in a capsule. It is to be explored in each generation under the guidance of the Spirit.. The UN Global Monitoring Report-for education makes it plain that girls continue to face sharp discrimination in access to school.

Let truth speak for itself and make us ashamed. The Nobel peace prizewinner Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan has reaffirmed this.

The Focus Online write-ups in its current issue may be able to create a few ripples in the vast sea of our social and church life a ripple becomes a wave through its kinetic force. This is like the possibility of making a quilt. A vision or a perspective in the Church or community emerges out of many pieces of insights and ideas shared by the solidarity of men and women who act as agents of change and channels of grace. For development and peace, we need men and women who share a common vision for the soukhya of the community. “ Let Loka samasta sukino bhavantu” be on our lips.

Editorʼs Note: Rev. Dr. M.J. Joseph, M.Th., D. Th, is the former Director of the Ecumenical Christian Centre, Bangalore. He has also served as Professor and Principal, Mar Thoma Theological Seminary, Kottayam, India. As a former member, Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, he is widely known for his ecumenical and ecological contributions. He has served as Secretary Board of Theological Education, Senate of Serampore College (University). He currently serves as Convener, Ecological Commission, of the Mar Thoma Church. Dr. Joseph has also authored several articles, poems and books available both in English and Malayalam languages. E-Mail: drmjjoseph_65@yahoo.co.in

The Mystery and Mastery of Communication Rev. Dr. Valson Thampu, New Delhi All of us communicate. To be human is to communicate.

Other forms of life also, sort of, communicate. But in us, as human beings, communication has a special significance and a sublime scope.

The fact that all human beings communicate makes us a little blind to the mystery of communication. As a rule, we take whatever we have, or do, for granted. We become blind to them. Or, to use the word that the Psalmist used, we ‘forget’ them. We forget God’s blessings upon us (Ps. 103: 1-4). So, the Psalmist exhorts, “And forget not all his benefits”.

Why do we say that communication is quintessentially human? Actually it is not. It is only deductively human.

Communication is the attribute of God. We communicate because we are “created in the image and likeness of God”.

In communicating, we partake of (or reflect) the nature of God! This alone should make us quite wary of what, and how, we communicate. We need to speak as we ought to.

And what we ought to. Speaking, therefore, must include silence. Silence, indeed, is the seed and secret of communication. How we communicate not only reveals but also shapes who we are in a very substantial way. Abuse of the power of communication corrupts our being. Hence the teaching, “If you call your brother a fool, you will stand before the judgment seat.” It is not for nothing that we say, ‘mind your tongue’! What this means, incidentally, is also that communication is a great deal more than the wagging of your tongue. So, let not your tongue run away with, or bear false witness to, who you are. Let your tongue be your servant, not vice versa. If your tongue tries to be your master, be unsparing, says Jesus. Cut it off! Likewise with your hand, your eye, your everything.

But let us return to the question, how is communication possible at all? This question is the same as, why is it so human to communicate? Well, let us get going with this question.

I have been in the business of communication for the last four decades, at the very least. As days go by, my sense of wonder about the mere possibility of communication only increases. Think of communicating with words! Of course, we use many things else, besides words, to communicate.

But we do talk of ‘verbal’ communication, don’t we? Words are mere symbols. And all of them are arbitrary symbols.

There is no law that prescribes that the word ‘book,’ for example, should mean a rectangular object made of paper.

We have come to agree that it should. So it does for those who consent to that correlation. For someone outside that association, the sound ‘word’ could mean, say, a piece of wood or a sliver of cheese. In another language, likewise, the same object –what we call ‘book’ could be known by another symbol. Yet, the words I utter serve as the link between my mind and yours. In speaking, I produce some sound waves corresponding (by sheer convention) to these words, or symbols. They reach you and, in the mystery of things, you interpret these sound waves to mean what I mean!

How is this possible?

If human beings were like straight lines, there would have been no communication. Two straight lines cannot ‘hold’ anything. To communicate, quite literarily, is to ‘hold’ things together. If you keep two poles side by side, or end-to-end, they cannot ‘hold’ a body. You need to not only place them side by side but also connect them with something; a piece of strong fabric, for example. Now you no longer have just two poles, but a stretcher. But a stretcher is no longer two straight (or crooked) lines. It is a rectangle, so to speak. You have created horizontal space (length + breadth), in addition to distance, which is only length. But a stretcher can ‘hold’ only a still body. And communication is not a ‘still’ thing. It is a moving, wave-like, dynamic thing. Communication is like a flowing river, not a stagnant puddle. Our words resonate.

They ascend and descend. They crisscross. They leap, they run, and they trot. Also, they can be, so to speak, more than what they appear to be. Words, in communication, have not only length and breadth. They also have ‘depth’. Now, depth is the hallmark of life. Death is the forfeiture of depth. A corpse has length and breadth. It has no depth. Depth belongs to Life. It stems from God. To be created in the ‘image and likeness’ of God is to be imbued with depth, in particular the depth of Life. (Are you surprised that the words of the godly have ‘power’?) The “fullness of life” that Jesus offers needs to be understood in this light. How can there be ‘fullness’ of life, if we choose to remain ‘shallow’? (If you want to take this thought further afield consider the Rich Young Man in St. Matthew 19: 1624. Shallowness was the affliction of this man of material

abundance.) Yet that is what most Christians choose. They think that the gleanings of ‘depth’ can be picked, somehow, from the paddy field of shallowness. It is a clever thing, isn’t it, to have the best of both worlds. But those who fall between two stools really do not look very smart.

Now think of St. John 12: 24. The grain of wheat must fall down and die. This death is quite different from the death that our body suffers. It is death to two-dimensional life. The outcome of this death is that the grain of wheat is shifted from the two-dimensional to the three-dimensional life. On being sown, the grain of wheat is relocated in a new horizon of possibilities: that of depth. Spirituality is all about depth.

The Spirit is the domain of the Depth of Life. That is why, in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, we cannot communicate, in the true sense of the word (or concept) without the Spirit.

We can make noise and create noise pollution. But we cannot communicate.

Why do you think Jesus rebuked the evil spirit that pretended to bear witness to him (St. Mark 1: 21-28)? Jesus was admonishing communication as it should not be, or demonic communication. (For there is such a thing!) He was denouncing communication as mere noise. In the words of St. Paul, communication as “sounding brass and tinkling cymbal” (1Cor.13:1-2). So we can speak without communicating. Well, that is what we do most of the time!

God alone knows what we mean when we say, “Good morning,” or what others understand when we utter those words. Or, what we mean when we pray and praise God, preach and propagate, utter expressions of gratitude, appreciation, assurance and so on…. A great deal of our ‘communication’ is no communication at all. It is sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. God is insulted by this. Hence the terse instruction from Jesus, “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’, ‘no’”. “Do not,” he said, “use too many words when you pray”. Do not think, that is, that your “sounding brass and tinkling cymbal” makes a sweet-sounding spiritual orchestra!

Jesus is the Word. In him we experience the mystery and mastery of communication. “If only you’ll say a word,” a Roman Centurion, once said to Jesus, “my servant will be healed”. Well, the Centurion would have sensed something!

Whether he understood what he was saying well enough, I am in no position to avow. Very likely, he knew the import of his words deep below the level of sound. The dead body of Lazarus heard that voice. At that voice demons flee. The voice of the Word cleanses lepers, opens the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf. The Word communicates and, in so doing, gives us an experiential, or incarnate, idea of what it means to communicate.

One thing is sure. The power of communication stems from the depth. Well, I have heard musicians say pretty much the same thing. Bring up your voice, they’d say, from deep within. If you don’t, all your technical perfection will hit the ceiling in no time. Without the resources of the depth, there is only ‘this far’ that you can go.

If so, the next question: what is the bridle path to that depth? Why do we remain, or how do we become, shallow?

St. John has an answer that we better take seriously.

The Word, John says, ‘became flesh’ (St. John 1: 14). The simplest understanding of this rather poetic and evocative expression is that the Word embraced the world of experience. Not any kind of experience; but experience that expresses its essence. The biblical (Hebraic) worldview, unlike the Hellenic, is dynamic. The Greeks perfected the art of abstract thinking as nobody else could. The Hebrew genius found an experiential, not exclusively contemplative, expression. The Jews contemplated -or sought, if you likethrough experience. Experience, as life teaches us, is the unfolding access to the depth. It is the bridge being built under our feet. Even as we walk. Only if we walk. It is the landscape that reveals more of itself as we walk. The Psalmist, for instance, links experience with the light of the Word (cf. Psalm 119: 105). The Word is the lantern to one’s feet, the light to one’s path. A lantern is less than a lantern in the hands of one who has no intention to walk. The light of the Word is relevant only to those who wish to walk in the way of faith, or to experience it. Truth to tell, our very being is instinct with this thirst for experiential depth. How can we meet the thirst for the depth of life, except through experiences? Can a paralytic, who lives horizontally (and has no experience of depth) assuage his existential thirst by living stretched out on that bed forever? Shouldn’t he ‘take up his bed and walk’? Saying “take up your bed and walk” is true communication in its context. (And not uttering sentimental nonsense like “Oh, what a pity”, “Poor man, this should not have happened to him,” “I’m so sorry, this has befallen you,” and so on.) Who, except one who has spiritual eyes, can ‘see’ this truth, as Jesus did (St. Mark 2: 5)? Who else, but the Word, could have said, “Take up your bed and walk”?

Now, the mark of a paralytic is ‘dependence’. Sadly, that is what our materially empowered ‘secular’ life or worldview has reduced us to. We are at risk of becoming (if we have not reached there already) existential paralytics. We are so dependent! On entertainment, on sex, on alcohol, on drugs, on sleeping pills, on this accessory or that amenity of life…

Let the newspaper not arrive, the cable/DTH network not function, the power fail or the taps run dry… even for a day…

And now consider John the Baptist. Why did he live free from all these? Was there any connection between the fierce simplicity of his lifestyle and the fiery power of his words?

Remember, he was the ‘voice crying in the wilderness’. We are at danger of becoming the ‘voice of the wilderness’.

And that makes all the difference. The voice of the wilderness cannot communicate. As I write this, I hear the heart-breaking cry of the ‘lady typist’ in T. S. Eliot’s poem, the “Waste Land”. “Why don’t you speak to me,” she pleads with her husband, “Speak to me, speak”. Her man does not speak. He had nothing to say. As a denizen of the wasteland, he could have had nothing to say. Yet nothing is more desperately needed than communication. Also, nothing is more despairingly impossible than communication. Mistake not, for God’s sake, the sound and fury raging out there in the public space as communication!

Communication makes the difference between the Waste Land and the Promised Land. The Waste Land is the Promised Land sans communication; for communication is what transforms union into communion. But then, what is union that falls short of communion? Jesus, in the context of

the wedding of Cana of Galilee, turned water (union) into wine (communion). Stale marriages –don’t tell me you don’t know this- bristle with the violence of silence. Marriages as ‘one-flesh’ mysteries (Gen. 2: 24, Ephesians 5: 32) are awash in the wine of communication.

Such communication is not a matter of education or cultural attainments. It is not a question of this language or that, or of generation gaps or of interpersonal bridges. It is a matter of depth. It is depth that distinguishes the living God from idols. Idols have just about everything, except depth. Today we communicate as idols do to idols. Words hit the surface and rebound. So, words resemble stones. “Will anyone, if his son asks for bread,” queried Jesus, “give him stone?” Well, of course. That is what we do most of the time! What is bread, once it has lost its depth? How is it any better than a stone? Stones can yield only stones. So we have a pelting of words –some mild, some wild- that we are unlettered enough to call communication.

The mystery of communication is encoded in the grammar of life. We cannot become better communicators by trying to enlarge our vocabulary, bolster our language base, brush up our idioms or turns of speech, replenish our information bank or refine our sentiments. We have to become human and not remain living corpses (or, ‘whited sepulchers’ of life).

We must re-learn the lost art of loving to the point of dying.

We must return to life. We must –and now you must let me use the word that Jesus used, for there is none better‘repent’. We must go back home, as the prodigal son did, from the ‘far country’. Return from the way of death to the way of life (St. Matthew 7: 13, 14). Communication is the privilege of the living. It is into life that God calls us. Return to life and communication will take care of itself.

There is, believe me, no other way. In the end, mystery is not in communication. Mystery inheres in life. Mystery, as Kierkegaard pointed out, denotes the presence of the divine.

Mystery is not man’s portfolio. Life is mysterious only because it is God’s invention. It is from life, and from life as profound experience enfolded in the will of God, that words derive the power of mystery. The mastery of communication can happen, hence, only by surrendering ourselves to the mystery of Life, even Life in all its fullness (St. John 10: 10b) Editorʼs Note: Rev. Valson Thampu is an Indian educator, and Christian theologian, who is the present Principal of St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi, Delhi, since 2008. He is an ordained minister of Church of North India and a member of the National Minorities Commission in India and Delhi Minorities Commission.

Thampu pursued Ph.D. in theology from Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences. He can be reached on his email id vthampu@gmail.com

ETERNAL PEACE, ITS ROOT Dr. K. K. Mathew, Kayamkulam, Kerala Shining clouds sailing high in the sky!

Doves in white fly everywhere!

His spirit is flowing incessantly!

I saw it in a dream.

When I peep out, the sky looks threatening!

Darkness spreads everywhere!

Thunderstorm strikes!

Lightning cuts through bombards.

How my dream comes true, I thought, !

Never is it, my heart whispers. !

Love is invisible, selfishness rules !

Earth is burned and wretched.

Passion rules man, they pull him down!

Disquiet prevails, it is hell!

Hatred is man's creation it is folly!

When God guides, he wins over the senses !

And he is at peace, immortal.

Again, I saw Him in majesty!

I cling on with adhesive, so strong it is!

Darkness all vanish, sun shines!

So cool the breeze that blows!

Passions all dissolve to nothing!

I relish calmness at its height!

The peace at its best, the stillness with perfection !It is pure and holy!

The world becomes heaven.

When I look through Him !

The world looks different!

I see every one, my dear ones!

As He guides me, I am to follow Him only !I take the agony of others as mine !It is my service of all times.!

I stand bold in tribulations!

The life with Him is the finest ever!

It is sublime tranquil!

And I am at peace forever.

http://www.un.org/disarmament/special/poetryforpeac e/poems/mathewk/ (published previously) Editor’s Note: Dr. K.K. Mathew is one of the distinguished and talented physicians and author of several books and short poems. He has also received several distinguished awards including from IBC, Cambridge and Manava Seva award of Mar Thoma Church in 2013. He has a high degree of spiritual content in life and professional work. In his profession as a physician, he has introduced a new concept, the ‘Healing of the Soul’, and his book ‘Spiritual Medicine: a Doctor’s Confessions’ (2006) has acquired special recognitions.

He can be reached at drkkmathew@gmail.com

Women – Enriching the Church Dr. Mariamma Thomas, Florida St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians (3:28) says, that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” This was a lofty ideal set before the neo-converts on the day of their initiation to Christianity through baptism. We affirm in our Holy Communion service, that we are a sharing community. “We are one Body because we all share in one Bread.” As a church we often forget this oneness in Christ and try to divide our activities on the basis of age, gender, class, and other divisions. The idea of women enriching the church emerges from the background of this division; we should be enriching each other and together should be enriching the church and society.

segregated activities, such as senior citizens, youth league, savikasangham and other groupings. There are very few activities, which involve the entire family as a family. Therefore, we have a designated family Sunday, but every Sunday should be a family Sunday. As Dr. Zac Varghese wrote in the Messenger there should be a contract between generations to build a covenantal relationship with God and our brothers and sisters.

Many women in the Mar Thoma Church have contributed much for the growth of the church and they have done it quietly without shouting for gender equality and the institution of feminine theology.

Feminine emancipation has now opened to women many professions that were closed to them. This has created a movement towards ordination of women in many churches; in July this year the Church of England has finally took a momentous decision to admit women to the episcopate. The women in our church are not demanding such radical changes, but they would like to see more representational participation in all administrative structures of the church. A great deal of the work of a priest is pastoral and requires the gifts traditionally associated with women. We are not meant to be clones of one another, but rather to discover riches in our diverse talents.

We recognize that the family is the school of faith and mothers provide the most powerful influence on the faith formation of children and teenagers. We are also aware of the tremendous changes the family life has undergone over the last fifty years, and the present day diversity in family structures and relationships. In many instances women have become income providers and means for facilitating movements of immediate and extended families to various parts of the world.

Women in this respect contributed much in building the Diocese of North America and Europe and they continue to do so in many ways.

God has given women special talents for suffering silently and gracefully, listening, multi-tasking, and providing much needed servant-ministry and hospitality. It is the women who provide the emotional shelter for our communities. In the wilderness of our diaspora existence, we need shelter; we need the shelter of the community, its interdependence, shared wisdom, respect and trust. A mother’s God-given instinct of sheltering her children is equally applicable to the church community. It is in this sheltering aspect women provide the greatest contribution for enriching the church.

Families are stretched and stressed from many directions. Shared family activities such as eating together and finding time for conversation and prayer have suffered because of busy work schedules and a rise in the mindfulness in keeping isolated individual spaces and activities. There is demonstrable decline in family religious practices at home and participation of young people in the life of the church. In addition, parents increasingly become inadequate for sharing our Christian traditions with their children.

Unfortunately, our church has contributed to the problem by over-emphasizing age and gender-

Editor’s Note: Dr. Mariamma Thomas is a graduate of the Ludhiana Christian Medical College and has worked in hospitals in the UK and the United States of America since 1960. She is a founder member of the Association of Physicians and Dentists of the Mar Thoma Church, in the United States of America. She is a founder member of the FOCUS and a member of its international committee.

Legacy of Apostolic Fathers Dr. Titus Mathews, Calgary, Canada Apostolic Fathers were a group of early Christian church leaders whose writings are the most important sources to understand the developments of the three pillars of Christianity namely: the cannon of scripture, the creed and the clerical hierarchy. There are ten or eleven authors whose works are included in the collection of these writings. They are a diverse group of people from Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Smyrna to the Shepherd of Hermas and cover a broad range of issues. They cover a time frame from the writings of the New Testament to the development of creed, specifically the second century of Christian era. The books st included in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers are: 1 and nd 2 Clement; letters of Ignatius, of Polycarp and of Barnabas; Martyrdom of Polycarp; Didache, Papias and Shepherd of Hermas: and letter of Diognetus.

Antioch in the early second century. There was persecution of Christians and Ignatius was condemned to be martyred in Rome. He wrote his letters on the way to Rome. His concerns were disunity in the church and false teachings.

There would be unity only when there is obedience to the bishop. Doceticism, that is, Jesus only appeared to be human, and Ebeonite arguments that Jesus was only human were both false to Ignatius. He also opposed Judaizing, the argument that Christians ought to be Jews first through circumcision and obey Jewish law.

Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor. From the request of the church in Philippi it is clear that he was a revered church father. It is clear from Polycarp始s letter to Philippians that he is concerned about false teachings and immoral living by some of its members (theft of church funds). Polycarp died as a martyr when he was an old man.

A detailed account of his martyrdom is given in the collection of the writings of Apostolic Fathers. Polycarp was a victim of the instigations of the mob and he calmly faced his execution by burning at the stake. nd

2 Clement is anonymous sermon and not a letter from the th bishop of Rome. It was discovered only in the 17 century. nd Scholars date it to the first half of the 2 century from a theological perspective. The sermon involves and exposition of scripture and urges appropriate behavior.

It is an important document because it reveals how Christians nd worshipped during the middle of 2 Century.

1st Clement is a letter from the Church of Rome to the Church of Corinth about the overthrow of elders in an ecclesiastical coup pleading to reinstate them. It was written towards the end of the 1st century. The letter recommends orderly transition in leadership through apostolic succession.

It clearly points to the development of structures in the churches set up by Paul as charismatic communities in which spirit alone was in charge. Secondly it is clear evidence of the Church of Rome trying to exert its influence over another church. The Church in Rome was the largest at the time and Rome was the capital of the empire. In due course it became the pre-eminent church, with its bishop becoming the Pope.

Letters of Ignatius were written to several (seven) churches in Asia Minor. Ignatius was the bishop of the church of

Didache is an anonymous document, which gave information about several aspects of Christianity during the late first and early second century of Common Era. A copy of the book th was discovered in the 19 century in a library in Constantinople. It addressed the practical questions of living a Christian life such as how they should behave, how should they practice their religion, what should they believe and who should they follow. As much of Jesus始 teaching was of ethical nature, his followers ought to live an ethical life. The book gave clear instructions about how to perform baptism, how to conduct prayers and fasting and how to practice Eucharist, the periodic thanksgiving meal that commemorated the Last Supper. It also gave instructions about how to deal with itinerant preachers, who were exploiting local congregations. It urged election of bishops and deacons. Didache obviously represented a transitional phase in the development of Church offices. The earliest Christians were apocalyptically oriented, i.e., they believed the end time was near and this continued for some time.

One of the popular writings of the Apostolic Fathers was the Shepherd of Hermas. The book gave account of a series of visions of a prophet named Hermas. It is not clear who he was as some claimed he was a brother of the bishop of Rome and others as a companion of Paul. The visions were interpreted to him bay an angelic figure who appeared as a shepherd. The book is clearly apocalyptic in nature, similar to St. John始s Revelation. It concerns instructions about how to live in this world, a list of commandments and a set of parables. In one of the visions a church is being built of different stones (different kind of people?) by angels. In another vision there is a terrifying monster representing

tribulations the Church is facing. In another, the Shepherd comes to live with Hermas and gives commandments from God. The book Shepherd of Hermas is a very long book.

First Communion and Confirmation: A Historical Ecumenical Event in London

The letter to Diognetus is a Christian apologetic, i.e., a defense of Christianity. As the number of Christians grew they brought opposition of locals practicing their religion and increased persecution. The Church was able to defend itself because the number of intellectuals joining the church could argue for its validity, its moral practices and its superiority.

Christianityʼs defenders included Origen in Alexandria, Tertullian in Carthage and Justin Martyr in Rome. The anonymous letter to Diognetus was unknown until it was discovered in Constantinople in 1436.

The members of the St. Georgeʼs Anglican Parish in north Harrow and Sinai MTC, North London came together on Sunday 26th October, 2014, to give glory to God through a joint Holy Communion service using Mar Thoma liturgy. This was a very significant historical event in the intercommunion relationship with the Church of England, which started in 1936 and solidified through various stages over the last 78 years. This service is a milestone event because three children from the Anglican parish of St. Georgeʼs came forward for the confirmation and the first communion with 16 children of the Mar Thoma Church.

The vicar of the St. Georgeʼs parish, Father Stephen Keeble, and the vicar of the Sinai Mar Thoma Church, Revd Dr. Thomas Philips, should be congratulated and thanked for their prophetic vision and leadership.

Though these books are ancient, they were collected together only in modern times. Most of them were forgotten through the centuries and even during the reformation era.

However, during the seventeenth century there began curiosity about early Christian writings partly due to the discovery of new manuscripts. In Britain there was debate between the bishops of the Church of England, who argued for apostolic authority and radical puritans who wanted to abolish ecclesiastical structures.

As a result of these debates there arose an interest in collecting early noncanonical writings. The ʻWritings of Apostolic Fathersʼ is the result.

What Christians believed was clearly stated in the Nicene Creed, which was finalized during the first three Councils of Nicaea, Constantinople and Ephesus. The canonicity of the New Testament books was established only in the fourth century. It was the bishop of Alexandria, Mar Athanasius, who first gave the list of twenty-seven books of the New Testament. This was not contested by other bishops of the day. The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers were earlier than both the creedal statement and the New Testament. The legacy of the Writings is that it shows how Christians lived and practiced their religion during the early centuries.

What is the relevance of these writings to Mar Thoma Christians? We claim our reformation was to remove all the beliefs and practices, which crept into the church life over the centuries and return to the purity of early Christian churches.

Studying the Writings of the Apostolic Fathers should enable us to examine whether our Church has accomplished this.

Editorʼs Note: Dr. Titus Mathews is Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Educated in U.C. College and Madras Christian College, he received his Ph.D. degree from University of London (Imperial College) in 1962. He joined the University of Calgary in 1966 and has served as Professor and Head of Physics Department and also as Associate Vice-President (Academic). He has been awarded the Good Servant Medal

by Canadian Council of Christians and Jews, Out Standing Service Award by India-Canada Association and Alberta Government. He is also the recipient of Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee medal for service to the University of Calgary.

Rt. Revd Dr. Thomas Mar Theethos of the Mumbai Mar Thoma Diocese confirmed the children, gave them their first communion, and blessed them. This happened because of the ecumenical understanding of our Metropolitan, Diocesan Bishop, Rt. Revd. Geevarghese Mar Theodosius, Bishop of London, area bishop of Willesden, church wardens and the executive committee of two parishes. It was a God-given opportunity to welcome Bishop Theethos to North London to mark such a milestone in the faith journey of the young people of both parishes taking Communion for the first time, to be confirmed and to celebrate our sharing of the Gospel across denominational, national and cultural boundaries.

Over 400 people participated in the service, choirs of both parishes contributed to the beauty and serenity of the service under the leadership of the organist, Mr. Huw Jones. We look forward for more such fellowship and worship services through the grace of God.

The Impact of International Migration on Home Churches: The Mar Thoma Syrian Christian Church in India (Article by Prema Kurien in “Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion” 2014. 53(1):109-129) A REVIEW by Jesudas M. Athyal, Boston (First Part) Prema Kurien’s article, “The Impact of International Migration on Home Churches: The Mar Thoma Syrian Christian Church in India” makes an important contribution to discussions on concepts such as migration and locality that have gained complex new meanings in political discourse as well as in social and religious studies. National boundaries, patriotism, attachment to a homeland and its symbols are today being re-defined by the transnational cultures and symbols of communities that defy the borders of official territories. As Kurien argues, immigrants, with their mere presence in their new locations, re-articulate the discourse and introduce newer perspectives. Within the specific context of the Mar Thoma Church – which has deep roots in the Southern hemisphere but today is a fast growing Christian group in North America -, the author examines how migration to the North, especially during the last few decades, posed a severe challenge to the religious and cultural identities of this ancient Indian Christian community.

That is the account of a traditionally pluralist society rediscovering itself in a modern pluralist society, in the process raising pertinent questions about the migrants' long-term transnational attachments to their country of origin, challenging conventional notions of assimilation into host countries and relating them to questions of religious organizations. The immigrant Christians have often been called upon to strike a balance between the faith and practice of their new homes and the values they bring along with them. In the midst of these changes, the members of the Mar Thoma Church (MTC) in the Diaspora seeks to relate their familiar traditions and cultures to the challenges of the new context. Kurien’s article explores the contours of such a movement.

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While the article deals with a subject of at most relevance, it also raises several questions that demand a fresh look and that is what this review will attempt to do.

Theoretical Framework of Analysis Kurien’s article seeks to study the Mar Thoma Church “based in Kerala that now has branches around the world” and whose policy and priorities are determined by the parent 2

1

See, Solange Lefebvre & Luiz Carlos Susin (Ed.).

Migration in a Global World (London: SCM Press, 2008).

2 Prema Kurien. “The Impact of International Migration on Home Churches: The Mar Thoma Syrian Christian Church in India” in, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 2014. 53(1). p.

110 (Subsequent page numbers cited in this review refers to this article).

church in India. Further, the impact of migration on the “Home” countries and churches is seen primarily on financial terms where the churches in the Diaspora function as “the branches” to generate considerable resources for the parent church. This review will examine these assumptions primarily by placing the Mar Thoma Church within the larger milieu of “the coloring of American Christianity” and secondly, in the light of the Church’s own history, theology and sociology. It will also be argued here that studies such as this by Kurien, done within the framework of religious economic theories, while welcome, must not miss the larger social and spiritual movements and inner dynamism that propel religions.

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Prema Kurien’s assertion that “the tremendous growth in southern Christianity is also a consequence of transnational religious connections of these churches with the global North, particularly the United States” may be an inadequate starting point. For one, recent studies have shown that immigrant forms of religion, more than impacting their countries of origin, are fundamentally redrawing the religious demography of the host countries. Through migration, ethnic cultures penetrate nations and reconfigure societies with their values, their religions, and their ways of life. Religion “very typically serves as a foundation for the social structures of newly arrived minority communities in host societies” . The newcomers inject significant amounts of spiritual and dynamism in the host society. As the traditional Anglo-Saxon forms of American Christianity are moving culturally to post-Christianity and undergoing varying degrees of secularization, the intense and growing religiosity of the immigrant communities seems to be redrawing the religious map of America.

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Prema Kurien’s efforts to study, from a scientific and theoretic perspective, the transnational migration of the 3

In the light of the radical demographic changes happening in American Christianity, Stephen Warner, Raymond Williams and others had spoken of the ‘coloring of American Christianity’. See, R. Stephen Warner.

“Immigrants and the Faith They Bring” http://www.religiononline.org/showarticle.asp?title=2946 (Cited, September 25, 2014) and, Raymond Williams. Christian Pluralism in the United States: The Indian immigrant experience (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996).

4 P. 109 5 See, Paul Bramadat. “Religious Diversity and International Migration: National and Global Dimensions” in, Paul Bramadat and Matthias Koenig (editors): International Migration and the Governance of Religious Diversity, 1-26.

Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2009.

members of the Mar Thoma Church is a significant approach and carries valuable lessons for all of us, both practitioners and students of religion. One must, however, be careful in choosing the tools of analysis as significant initiatives and movements of non-Western origin cannot be missed.

Several scholars have found a postcolonial approach as a helpful framework to understand the complexities involved in studying the mobility of highly pluralistic societies such as those from India. Postcolonial studies help us to understand the Diaspora life as an experience of hybridity, which rejects the mono or single identity in favor of multiple cultural locations and identities. Homi Bhabha considered hybridity as signifying ‘the third space’ or ‘in between’ which provides the possibility to live on multiple sides without allegiance to any. Arjun Appadurai, on the other hand, sees the Indian Diaspora, particularly in North America, as an attempt in ‘plural belonging’ - of being American while remaining somehow Diasporas.

argument” to understand the identity and mobility of the Mar Thoma immigrants, especially to North America, has serious limitations. While recognizing the accumulated historical and cultural resources that we have imbibed from several quarters, many immigrant religious groups in the Diaspora today are chalking out their own course that is distinct from both the parent body back “home” and the “global North”.

As this review argues, the Mar Thoma Church in North America may, very well, fit into such a mold.

How ‘Syrian’ are we?

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The frequent use of the term, “Syrian” as well as the highly Kerala-centered structure for the Church outlined in Kurien’s article, may pose problems from theological, historical and sociological perspectives. As the author rightly points out, the dominant Christians of Kerala are called “Syrian” primarily because they “follow the Syriac rite in their religious services” . When, however, she further states that these people “claim an upper-caste, Syrian Christian heritage” , the caste-connotations of ‘Syriac’ become unmistakable.

While it is true that the term, ‘Syrian Christians’ is popularly used in such a sociological sense, it is also important to note that the Mar Thoma Church has consciously been struggling to overcome ‘the upper-caste connotation’ of the term. The very principle of Reformation that led to the formation of the Church involved a commitment to mission and outreach, which were understood by the Church as transcending the barriers of caste, race and language. There is a long history to justify such a commitment. With the mission work among the Dalit communities (the “Untouchables”) in Kerala for over a century resulting in several Dalits joining the Church and with mission work outside Kerala that resulted in thousands of Christians of non-Kerala origin joining , the Church - no doubt, with numerous failings - has been trying to live up to the spirit of reformation.

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With reference to the identity construction of the Mar Thoma Church, M. C. Thomas notes that as transnational migrant communities, the lives of the Marthomites in the Diaspora are not knotted between two ends - the ‘homeland’ (Kerala) and ‘host land’ (North America and elsewhere). Rather, “it is located within the complex ‘transnational circuits’ of global scapes of people, money, goods and information. Therefore, the identity-construction of the contemporary Mar Thoma Diasporas communities is not taken as a simple and linear process. Rather, the constitution of their identities is truly complex which must be located within the multidimensional and complex web of interactions.” Countering the efforts to reduce the identities of people in the Diaspora to a linear process, Thomas affirms that a single person can have attachment and connections to a range of places at the same time or he/she can keep multiple belongings simultaneously. Such diversity that the modern Diaspora living provides, along with its relationships at multidimensional levels, can enable us to overcome the rigid boundaries of caste and ethnicity.

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To sum up this part of the discussion, it can, perhaps, be argued that rather than Kurien’s approach to depend on religious economic theories as an analytical framework to study the migration of Indians, a postcolonial approach may provide the needed theoretical tools to analyze the phenomenon of transnational migration. And, as we will discuss further down in this review, the “economic 6

George Zachariah. “Identity and Social Distinctions among Indian Christians, at Home and in the Diaspora: Some Theological Reflections” (Keynote Address delivered at the AAR workshop in Chennai, India on July 19, 2004 – unpublished paper).

7 Arjun Appadurai, “Patriotism and its Futures,” Public Culture, 5, (1993). p. 422.

8 M. C. Thomas. “Diaspora, Mar Thoma Church Identity and Mission: Theoretical Considerations” in, Mar Thoma Church: Identity and Mission in the Context of Multiplicity.

Edited by Rev. K. E. Geevarghese and Dr. Mathew T. Thomas (New York: Diocese of North America and Europe, 2014). p. 56.

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The commitment of MTC to review its heritage as an institution with a “Syrian” tradition was not accidental but emerged from a concern to remain true to the spirit of Reformation. In his book, Churching the Diaspora, Discipling the Families, Geevarghese Mar Theodosius challenges the popular notion that the church is an ethnic community. While the overwhelming majority of the members of the Church are indeed, ‘Syrian Christians’ of Kerala origin, he affirms that for over a century the Church has reached out to people beyond its own geographical and cultural comfort zones. In this context, he warns the members against the danger of clannishness that can erode the spirit of Reformation: “When a community withdraws itself and lives like a caste or communitarian group, they are making the Church insulated

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P. 113 Ibid.

11 In the Chennai – Diocese of the Church, the majority of the parishes and congregations are of non-Kerala origin.

12 The letterhead of Philipose Mar Chrysostom, when he was the Metropolitan (head) of the Church, merely stated, “Mar Thoma Church” without any reference to “Syrian”!

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and isolated and thereby taking away from the spirit of reformation”.

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A radical review of its social past by the Mar Thoma Church was also a response to the strong critique of the subaltern Christian communities that affirmed that a casteist society and Christianity are non-compatible with each other. As V. Devasahayam put it, “After all, what is a church? To me the church is a place where we celebrate our identities in Christ as the primary identity. If we still want to hold on to our social and cultural identities, I do not know how it will become a church of the Christ where the primary identities need to be withdrawn in terms of our relations, in terms of our faith to Jesus Christ”. While speaking specifically of the Mar Thoma Church in the Diaspora, Philipose Mar Chrysostom too reiterated the universal character of the Church: “The ethnic church therefore is really a contradiction in terms. If you are saying that this church is only for people from Kerala, then that is not the church of God. Even those who marry outside the Kerala community should be seen as missionaries”.

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It must also be stated that historians have linked the origins of migration and the formation of Diasporic communities to the urge of the Dalits for liberation and just living. Calling Dalits the “Pilgrim Parents of Migration”, George Oommen points out that it was “none other than the weak and the “wreathed of the [Kerala] earth” who dared to make the first migratory forays into far-flung areas of Kerala.” While their initial numbers were relatively small, the Dalits heralded a significant change in the Kerala society’s attitude to dispersal, thus setting in motion a process of global migration that brought radical changes to all sections of the state’s population and was spread over the entire spectrum of the twentieth century.

Migration”) and in Malaysia and Singapore several generations ago. Later, there was significant migration to the Middle East as well. The migration to North America was among the last in this long history and a substantial number of those who arrived on the American shores, mostly from the 1980s onwards, came either from the various Indian metropolitan centers (outside Kerala) or from the Middle East. Many of them, consequently, had not lived in Kerala; nor was Malayalam their first language. A substantial number of immigrants, therefore, affirm their multiple identities - of growing up in a Malayalam speaking household located, perhaps, in a Hindi speaking society and now living in an English speaking environment. From Chennai, situated in the neighboring state of Kerala, to Farmer’s Branch in Texas and beyond, many Mar Thoma immigrants whose ancestors left Kerala several generations ago, retain today at best a romanticized sentiment about Kerala where, perhaps, they can name a distant cousin. It is true that many other immigrants to the U.S. still come directly from Kerala and their cultural context too is important. The point, however, is that virtually all who come to the U.S., come with a one-way ticket. From henceforth, for them and their children, America is ‘home’. With every passing generation, links to India and, in particular, to Kerala, grow blurrier. In response to these changing realities, the Mar Thoma Diocese of North America and Europe had adopted, “Identity and Mission in the Context of Multiplicity” as a theme for study during the year 2014.

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Kerala: “Home” for the Immigrants?

Prema Kurien’s key argument that Kerala is “home” to the Marthomites in North America, that the Church all over the world is a highly centralized structure and that the headquarters in Kerala depend heavily on the financial contributions from America merits a closer scrutiny. In the long history of migration from Kerala that goes back over a century, sizable numbers of Marthomites, as the other Kerala Christian communities, primarily settled down in the major metropolitan centers of India (“Indian Internal 13

Geevarghese Mar Theodosius. Churching the Diaspora, Discipling the Families. Tiruvalla: CSS, 2013. p. 141.

14 J. John and Jesudas Athyal (editors). Religion, State and Communalism: A Post-Ayodhya Discussion. Hong Kong: CCA, 1999. p. 112.

15 Jesudas Athyal & John Thatamanil (editors). Metropolitan Chrysostom on Mission in the Marketplace (Tiruvalla: CSS, 2002. p. 119.

16 George Oommen. “Re-imagining a Migratory Self: A History of Malayalee Migration” in, Malayalee Diaspora: From Kerala to the Ends of the World (edited by Sam George & T. V. Thomas) (New Delhi: Serials Publications, 2013). p. 4.

(Second Part to be continued in the next issue in April 2015) Editorʼs Note: Dr. Jesudas M. Athyal is a Research Fellow at the Boston University School of Theology. He is the Editor of Religion in Southeast Asia: An Encyclopedia (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2015) and, The Indian Presence in the Ecumenical Movement in the Twentieth Century (Geneva: WCC, 2014). He had served as the Associate Editor of Oxford Encyclopedia of South Asian Christianity – 2 vol. (New Delhi: OUP, 2012).

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For a discussion of the Kerala migration to Madras city see, Migration and Ethnicity in Urban India: Kerala Migrants in the city of Madras, 1870-1970 by Susan Lewandowski (New Delhi: Manohar, 1980).

18 According to demographer K. C. Zachariah, the Syrian Christians of Kerala who migrated out of the state in large numbers during the last century, coupled with declining fertility and in-breeding habits, could soon experience the “Parsi Syndrome”. See, “The Syrian Christians of Kerala: Demographic and Socioeconomic Transition in the Twentieth Century” by K. C. Zachariah. http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/123456789/3027 #.VCUiEvldWO0 (Cited, September 26, 2014).

19 See, Mar Thoma Church: Identity and Mission in the Context of Multiplicity. Edited by Rev. K. E. Geevarghese and Dr. Mathew T. Thomas (New York: Diocese of North America and Europe, 2014).

Salient, but Silent Ministry of Women Mrs. Elzi Zac-Varghese, London Family is the primary sphere of a woman’s activity and the most important source of her fulfilment. The book of Genesis gives two accounts of creation of humans; in the first account we read: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27). There is no agreement as to how man and woman share the image and likeness of God. The image possibly refers to the mental and spiritual faculties of having a loving relationship with the creator. Humans are also given the responsibility to care for the created world. This is in sharp contrast to the second creation account, where woman has a domestic function as a helper, while man has a public function. The goodness of creation is only fulfilled in having the unity of man and woman (Gen 2: 18). We often forget this fundamental fact when we divide our functions in our daily living. If being a woman is in the image of God, then there is a feminine dimension in the Trinitarian reality of God. Father is the unchallenged head of the patriarchal Israeli family as described in the Old Testament. Male dominance is prominent in the Old Testament narratives; women and children are considered as part of man’s property as we read in the book of Job. Woman is also presented as a source of evil, and the harm that a man can do is often ignored. There are few great women, who appear as saviors of people. The stories of Deborah, Ruth, Judith and Ester are important in the history of Israel. We have three books in the Old Testaments that bear their name, and yet none of these women are remembered elsewhere.

Jesus’ attitude to woman was a departure from Jewish tradition of the day. He did not feel threatened by woman in any way; he was at ease with Mary, Martha, Simon’s mother-in-law, Mary Magdalene, the Samaritan and the Syrophoenician woman. In Jesus’s relationships and dialogues with women we see him crossing a variety of geographical, ethnic, gender and theological boundaries.

Women played a significant role in the life and ministry of Jesus, especially at the time of crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. It is with this background we should look at women’s place and contributions to the Mar Thoma Church of the Diocese of North America and Europe.

Our understanding of a good wife is the one who is silent, listens to her husband, looks after the children, add to the income of her husband, kind to the poor and needy, friendly to neighbors and provide hospitality. Keeping the family together is the greatest task for a woman, and God has given her a multitasking talent to cope with all these demands on her. As mothers they give the greatest contribution in the faith formation of the children through telling and retelling them faith-filled stories of their good times and bad times in settling in a new country and its

diverse culture. As a result of this our children are mostly well educated and contribute to the common good of the community and the society. Post baptismal faith formation is a neglected area in our thinking and execution; mothers have a very great role to play here.

Most of us are what we are because of the influence and prayers of our mothers. Our women are emancipated and have done well in giving leadership in many caring professions, education, and IT- related industries.

It is time that we changed our attitude towards separate sitting arrangement for men and women during worship service; I do appreciate Theodosius Thirumeni bringing more women into the decision making processes of the Diocese. It is also encouraging to see a photograph of a national Sevikasanghom meeting in the USA where two women joining Theodosius Thirumeni during the Holy Communion Service as lay readers. This is indeed an important and welcome break with our traditional attitudes towards women. We should also try to remove compartmentalization, age and gender-segregated activities to build a cohesive Mar Thoma community.

Women from all the Mar Thoma Diaspora regions provided leadership for the three FOCUS seminars at Santhigiri, Alwaye, from 1999-2003. These were historically significant conferences for creating an awareness of our mission in the world stage as a global church.

Dr. Nirmala Mathew of the Sinai Mar Thoma Church, North London, was awarded the medal of the ‘Member of the British Empire (MBE)’ by the Queen for her outstanding contribution for providing treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease. The skills of our women are not arguing for gender equality, but for silently providing a shared mission and ministry by bringing women’s intuitions, empathy, and talents for the total organic growth of the church. Jesus valued the poor widow’s two copper coins more than the public contributions of the rich because ‘she put in everything– all she had to live on.’ Women provide a salient, silent, servant ministry, for establishing kingdom values. May they and their families be blessed through their work.

Editor’s Note: Mrs. Elzi ZacVarghese is a fellow of the Medical Sciences Institute and was the chief scientific officer at the Royal Free Hospital and Medical School, London, for over 40 years. She was an active participant and speaker at the FOCUS seminars at Santhigiri, Kerala. (A version of this article first published in the October Issue of the Mar Thoma Messenger)

WOMEN AS LEGACY-MAKERS Mrs. Nirmala Abraham, Philadelphia Each of us, at the end of our faith journey, will likely leave a legacy. A legacy is something that is handed down from an ancestor or from the past. We all know that in order to leave a worthwhile spiritual legacy, we have to know what legacy is and live out the legacy we want to leave.

In order to figure out our legacy, let us take a look at the women in the Bible, women in our families, and women in our communities, who have helped us in our faith journey. Their stories have transformed us and made us fruitful, so we, in turn can pass our faith traditions to the next generation. The women of scripture are remarkably varied. They range from prophets to prostitutes, military heroines to musicians, deacons to dancers, widows to nurses, and rulers to slaves.

According to Edith Deen, the word “wife” is mentioned 400 times, “mother” 300 times, “daughter” 200 times, and “daughter in law” about 20 times, in the Bible.

Zelophehad were right and a fair decision was handed down.

The laws of property rights for women were changed at that point in time. The courage of these five young women to seek justice is noteworthy. Their legacy of standing up for justice lives forever.

I remember a similar story of a courageous woman from our community. Her name is Mary Roy. She had the courage to challenge the ancient inheritance law of the Syrian Christians of Kerala, where only the sons inherited their father’s property.

Like the daughters of Zelophehad, she was able to get the law changed.

In looking at the women in the Bible, not all women left a positive legacy. Miriam, Moses’ sister, is an example of how the character of a great woman with gifts of leadership can take a sharp contrast later in life and experience a spiritual down fall. Let us take a peek at Miriam’s life: We see her as a courageous young girl on the bank of river Nile, taking care of baby Moses. Later we see her triumphantly leading the women of Israel in crossing the Sea of Reeds. Yet lo and behold, in the Sinai desert, Miriam falls prey to anger and jealousy. At one time protecting the life of her brother, we see her rebelling and murmuring against her beloved brother Moses. She became a victim to God’s punishment and ended up with leprosy. Ultimately her pride caused her failure.

When comparing the two very different sets of women in the Bible, they made choices when faced with challenges.

Whether they walked in reverence or in defiance, in submission or in pride, their actions left a legacy. Their choices are not at all different from the choices that we have to live with every day. However, in order to live a godly life and leave a positive legacy, we need to have core spiritual values based on the word of God. The biggest challenge is to lead a life that is consistent with Godly values.

When faced with making difficult choices, how do we respond? Do we stand up for justice like the daughters of Zelophehad? Or do we use our leadership to turn our group against a leader chosen by God? Should we follow the path of other biblical women who have responded favorably in times of crisis? Women like Esther who advocated for the people, or Abigail who showed wisdom and understanding, or Lydia who provided hospitality?

Let us look at a specific example in the Bible and form a mental form a mental image of the wilderness of Sinai and reflect on the five daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27: 1-3).

Their father had just passed away and they marched to the tent of Moses, stood before the priest Eleazar and the congregation and stated their case publicly stating, “Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he has no sons?” This happened at a critical time in Israel when a census was taken prior to the entry to the Promised Land. According to the law, daughters could not inherit their father’s property. We see the five daughters declare their rights to the property of their father Zelophehad.

The case is brought before Moses and Moses asks God for his opinion. God’s response was that the daughters of

In our everyday life, our faith must be put into action. Our children and grandchildren will remember our actions more than our words. Values are caught, not taught. One of the best ways to maintain and pass on our values to the next generation, is by sharing our stories; stories of God’s mercy and love to our ancestors in the past. Stories help us identify who we are and it reflects our gratitude to God for His blessings. ‘Remember’ is a key word in the Bible. We can identify with Moses what he told the Israelites thousands of years ago, “Remember how the LORD your God led you all

the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands” (Deuteronomy 8:2).

On a different note, let us go back to our childhood and the time we spent with our grandmothers. I would like to share a story about my maternal grandmother. She is one person that has left a lasting legacy in my life. My grandmother lived in a small village in Kerala. She had four daughters; the last two were identical twins and one of them was my mother. To have four daughters and no sons in the early 1900’s must have truly been a humbling experience. However, this woman of faith truly believed that men and women were created equal and she was smart enough to figure out that education was the only way for women to get out of the rut.

Although she had never been outside her village, she sent all of her daughters to College in Trivandrum, Kerala. My grandfather was a teacher whose salary was not enough to support their household expenses. So, my mother raised cows, buffalos, sold their milk and was resourceful enough to get her daughters through College. My mother and her twin sister graduated from the University as the first twins from the Syrian Christian community. The year was 1940. What a legacy? I am sure all of you have stories of mothers, grandmothers, and others who passed their legacy to you. What stories have helped you in your faith journey? What will be your spiritual legacy to the future generations?

Mother Teresa is one of my favorite people who left her legacy as a great humanitarian, a Nobel Prize recipient, and a Saint. Many books have been written about her life. However, when it came to choosing an epitaph for her tomb, they chose her favorite quote, a very simple statement, ‘We cannot all do great things in life but we can do small things with great love’.

In conclusion, let us remember the words of a famous theologian John Maxwell, “someday people will summarize your life in a single sentence. My advice is: choose it now”. At the end of our journey in this world, how would you conclude your life in a single sentence?

Editor’s Note: Mrs. Nirmala Abraham, wife of Mr. O. C. Abraham, is one of the earlier immigrants to U. S. A. She is an active member of the Philadelphia MTC. She has served the Diocese of North America in many capacities including Diocesan council member, delegate to WCC conference in Harare, Africa, Mission Board Convener, Native American Mission Coordinator,etc.

She has attended many global conferences including UN conference on Wiomen in Beijing ,China and ecumenical conferences. She is interested in Women's issues especially in the areas of gender equality and education. Nirmala is a graduate of Women's Christian College,Madras and University of Delaware.

Metropolitan’s Pastoral Letters for Oct., Nov., Dec. 2014 (Contd. from Page 4) We are celebrating Dec. 21 as Mar Thoma Church day. On that day, we are meditating the gospel portion ‘I am the way and truth’ as declared by Lord to St. Thomas. Church is the body of Christ, who is the way and truth. Through church and its different servant ministries, we should be able to find Jesus Christ. Let this year’s church day may enable us to rededicate our lives. We are celebrating the birth of Jesus as ‘yeldo’ festival. The birth of Jesus and its influence still lead us to new hopes and aspirations. We should not lessen the importance of birth of Jesus by just celebrating the same. On the other hand, we should be able to experience the birth of Jesus, its glory, and the salvation that has come to us through His death on the cross, and then only Christmas will be a real event in our lives. We continue to read about Jesus Christ often reminding to His disciples to be awake. We should be able to remain awake ourselves, awake in the divine calls given to us, and also should be able to awake others. The hope of the Church is of the second coming of our Lord; it is when He rewards each one of us according to our deeds.

We need the grace of Jesus Christ to stand without any allegations before the Lord. Let us glorify God for the grace within us. Let us enter in to a new year with the new life and new vision provided through His birth. Dr. Stanley Johns was asked on his 86 birth day, what is his hope about the New Year, and his reply was very thought provoking: “I am not eager to know the experiences of the New Year, but I am sure for one thing that where ever I am, I will be in the hands of my Lord.” We should enter in to the New Year with the same belief because God is assuring us: “The eternal God is your refuge, ! and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemies before you, ! saying, ‘Destroy them”(Deuteronomy 33: 27). With every good wish for Christmas and the New Year. st

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Episcopal Silver Jubilee of Mar Theodosius, Mar Athanasius, Mar Coorilos

Focus wishes and pray that our Lord may continue to shower His abudance blessings up on the jubilarian Bishops Mar Athanasius, Mar Theodosius, and Mar Coorilos to continue the faith journey of the Church, who have completed 25 years as Episcopas of Mar Thoma Church on Dec. 9, 2014.

The Empowerment of Women in the Church Dr. Zac Varghese, London It is timely to discuss the issues relating women’s freedom in our parishes when a decision is made in the Church of England for the consecration women bishops, which has the potential to break the Anglican Communion. The Mar Thoma Church has full intercommunion with the Church of England and various provinces of the Anglican Communion. Therefore, it is time that we addressed the questions about the empowerment of women in the Mar Thoma Church too.

In the secular world there is enormous awareness about gender equality and women have shown their leadership qualities in national and international scenes. In politics, academic scholarship, arts, literature, and businesswomen’s contributions have brought amazing benefits. Generally speaking girls are doing much better in their educational attainments.

We should be grateful for the ‘Women’s Christian Temperance Movement’ in the 19 Century (Annie Wittenmeyer) and Emeline Pankhurst for the voting rights for women in the UK; these inaugurated the modern liberation struggle for women. It is in this context we should think of the Biblical Women Shipurah and Puah (Exodus 1). The story of the deliverance of Israel is marked by the brave and prudent acts of the courageous women, midwives, Moses’ mother, Mariam and Pharaoh’s daughter. th

It may be of interesting to think of women who made a difference. Joan of Arc, Annie Besant, Florence Nightingale, Madame Curie, Ida Scudder, Indira Gandhi, Mrs Bandara Naikye, Golda Meir, Mrs Thatcher, Mother Teresa, Karen Armstrong, Teresa of Avila, Hilary Clinton, Arundhathi Roy and so many others contributed much to the wellbeing of humanity. All these women stood up and claimed their inheritance as children of one God and made in the image of the Father. Nobody is going to handover freedom; one has to fight for it. Moses’ mantra was ‘let my people go’, and let our slogan be ‘let gender bias go.’ We should work for gender equality in the church. There are many stories of women who stand up, speak out, dig in, organise, connect, and network of peaceful resistance and alter the course of history.

Compartmentalisation is doing harm to women’s cause (Contract between generations, Messenger, July 2011, page 29-31); maybe it is now time to think of our parishes as a whole family without these parish organisations and divisions. It had a use at one time, but it is dividing the family. Sevikasanghom (Women’s auxiliary organisation) should address this question. Man and woman should come together to appreciate fullness of creation.

In the sacred Scriptures woman represents wisdom. In St. John’s gospel seven women are mentioned, and seven means abundance too: Mary (mother of Jesus), Samaritan woman, Martha and Mary, Jesus’ mothers

sister, Cleofas’ wife and Mary of Magdala. Each one was part of Jesus’ ministry. Although Paul had a bad press with women, they were integral part of his ministry too.

Jesus calls the Bent woman as a daughter of Abraham, and by this he underlines her birthright to participate in all aspect of Abraham’s covenant with God and blessings.

She is liberated as a full member of the Jewish community of her time. Bent woman is representative of voiceless, powerless, and oppressed women of the world, but Jesus gave all of them the status of daughter’s Abraham. This should be celebrated in our church too.

Through Sabbath healings Jesus liberated people from the tyranny of legalism attached to the Sabbath.

Feminist aggression does more harm than good; this is not about woman wearing trousers and woman becoming man. It is all about woman keeping her divinity, motherhood, sisterhood, and dignity in every sphere of human activity. Mary’s magnificat is beautiful song of liberation. She is a powerful symbol for the emancipation of women of today. We should think of her as mother, sister, and an intimate fellow traveler in our efforts to oppose all social evils. The march towards the dignity and equality of women is an unstoppable march in the civilizing process of humankind. This march has been sustained by the courage of many women and men throughout history; it is our combined struggle. St. Paul’s advice is worth emulating: “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you are called in one body; and be thankful” (Colossians 3: 1215).

Some Practical Suggestions: 1. Christianity is a story telling faith, mothers are good storytellers. Christian education starts in mothers lap.

Therefore, most important aspect is maintaining the purity of motherhood.

2. In liturgy, we should use gender-neutral terms. Stop using brothers and men; instead use brothers and sisters at all times.

3. Reintroduce family prayers and family meals. Learn to listen, and make a conversation.

4. Do not show any favoritism to boys at the expense of girls 5. Build organic partnership, growing together, sitting together in the pews, etc. are helpful.

6. Use reverential terms for addressing God, please do not use derogative words like ‘nee and ninte’ in Malayalam liturgy.

7. Do not distort body as a ‘living sacrifice’ to please men; feel self-esteem and dignity at all times.