Focus october 2014

FOCUS October 2014 Vol. 2 No: 4

Norman Borlaug - The Man Who Fed a Billion, Prof. Dr. Jacob George, Kottayam - Page 11

Cover Photo – The Legacy of St. Peter in Rome, By Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas.

A Publication of Diaspora FOCUS

Contents

Pearls of Wisdom, Dr. Zac Varghese, London – Page 12

Editorial, Legacy - Page 3 Future of Diaspora Mar Thoma Church, Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas - Page 14

Synopsis of Metropolitanʼs Pastoral Letters, Sabha Tharaka – July, August, Sep. 2014 – Page 5

Are You Born Again? Justice K. T. Thomas, Kottayam – Page 7

Roots of Reformation, Dr. Zac Varghese, London – Page 9

Abrahamic Legacy, Rev. Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam - Page 17

Legacy of Rev. M. A. Thomas, Dr. Zac Varghese, London – Page 19

Transcending God - Images, Fr. Thomas Punnapadam, SDB - Page 22

Editorial Legacy Legacy is an inheritance, heritage or endowment, something handed down from one generation to the next. A legacy is also a permanent, un-correctable, record of our life in this world. Everyone leaves a legacy of some sort–the question is what it will be.

Caine, Abraham, Moses, prophets of the Old Testament, Buddha, Jesus, apostles, early Church Fathers, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhiji, political thinkers, philosophers, scientists, Hitler, Edi Amin, Mother Teresa, our parents and grandparents left us a legacy. A legacy is much broader than inheritance of wealth and other material things from our parents; our genetic makeup itself is a legacy. It also refers to the effect a person had on others while he or she was alive. The true legacy of each human being has an effect on generations to come, and it continues to expand and has unimaginable consequences. Our personal lives may influence others, and as Christians we should understand this.

Our legacy is in Christ, "For we are Godʼs workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10). More importantly, it is with these God-centered good works that we lead a ʻpurpose –driven lifeʼ to leave a legacy. The Scripture speaks about doing altruistic things as an integral part of our salvation. Do we really think that we can live and ignore such a command, and

simply slip into a self-centered life with a ʻme-firstʼ attitude?

Often we are looking out only for ourselves and what is always best for us. In fact, we are commanded to consider others: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vein conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others"(Philippians 2:3-4).

It is true that we are saved by grace, but our continuing journey in the faith depends on not only on just what Christ does, but also what we do under His grace. As Bonhoeffer reminds us it is a costly grace. In a way, God does everything for those who love Him. However, we make decisions every moment as to whether or not we will serve Him and follow His will. And if we are serving Him, He makes it very clear that good works will be part of our lives.

In fact, if we fail to do good deeds, we are sinning for we also read in James 4:17: "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesnʼt do it, sins." If we take this to heart, and believe that we are not only commanded to do good works, but also we should desire to do them, our legacy depends on it. We will certainly make mistakes along the way, and mess things up regardless of our intentions. But if we desire to fulfil His commands, the ultimate result will be a commendable legacy.

The parable of two sons (Matt 21: 28-32) is quite relevant; a veneer of goodness can conceal a basically disobedient heart. We can think we are righteous because we have verbally agreed and have the right membership card of a church, but our commitment and compliance are poor.

It is a fact that we reap what we sow; when we look out for others, God looks out for us. When we forget about ourselves, He remembers us and takes care of us. But when we strive to save our own lives, to make everything smooth for ourselves as we disregard others, we lose His blessing. The world may say it respects those who are ambitious and do well for themselves, but in the kingdom of God it is not appreciated. The legacy that Christ left is a sacrificial legacy. Some children are unhappy because their parents would not make the quality time at home with them to play, eat and talk; these children have nothing expect Internet and social media to interact. The legacy that they are trying to build, in the final analysis, comes to nothing.

Legacy building is a lifelong exercise under the grace of God. God commanded a young Jeremiah

to take leadership regardless of his age: "Ah, sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ʻI am only a child.ʼ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 1:6-8). It is time for the young people in our Diaspora communities to think about their role in legacy building the right way. This is not easy; it may cost them some friends, and popularity. If you are taking a stand for Christ by saying you will not participate in certain activities, then you are making a difference for the good. When you go out of your way to help others, you are creating a legacy for the kingdom and kingdom values.

In this issue of the journal we have an article about the Noble laureate, Norman Borlaug, the man who fed billions through his lifelong dedication to research for improving wheat production in Mexico and India through genetic engineering and bringing forth green revolution. The lay-centered progress of the Church over the last few centuries are due to the sacrifices of people who left legacies through reformation movements of the churches and the translation of the Bible and liturgies into native languages as indicated in the article on ʻRoots of reformation.ʼ The review of the life of our patriarch Abraham and the appreciation of the life of Revd.

M. A. Thomas are further models of legacy.

We can make a choice to live our lives as if they count, as if other people matter and their problems are ours too. The inheritance that God wants us to leave for the next generation is making them understand the importance of walking with Christ.

The ultimate legacy is the knowledge that ʻit is one

God in whom we live and move and have our being.ʼ Every act we do for others leaves a profound message about the kingdom of God and its everlasting significance. Ruskin said, “To yield reverence to another, to hold ourselves and our lives at his disposal, is the noblest state in which a man or woman can live in this world.” It is time to review our life so for, and think about the legacy that we want to leave.

The season of advent and Christmas will be with us soon for remembering the birth of Jesus who came to us as a child threatened by violence, as a refugee whose family fled due to the selfish interests of a powerful ruler. It is a time for offering our thanks and praise for the gift of God's love revealed in human vulnerability. Jesus Christ has given us the great commandment to love one another and calls us to pray for our enemies. Jesus has instructed us to live for others, not to be angry and uncomfortable when the poor are seeking justice, not to obstruct justice when those who have been protected under various masks are exposed.

He has called us to seek for solidarity with the neglected and abandoned. Let us celebrate the hope of peace despite continuing violence and international terrorism, despite fear and suspicion, hatred and greed, nationalism and globalization.

We end this editorial with a prayer: “May all who come behind us find us faithful. May the fire of our devotion light their way. May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe, and the lives we live inspire them to obey.”1 1.

John Mohr, ʻFind us faithfulʼ1988 Birdwing Music/Jonathan Mark Music.

The Editorial Board Please remember that we need your constant prayer and support to make our online ministry fruitful for the glory of God. Please send the following URLs to your friends:

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Synopsis of Metropolitanʼs Pastoral Letters in the ʻSabha Tharakaʼ July, August & September 2014 July 2014: July, with its own particular weather patterns of the onset of southwest monsoon season, is with us. We are yet to see cooler weather, and still are suffering from the severe hot weather of the summer season.

Let us pray that we may receive abundant showers so that it may fill our reservoirs so that we may have enough electricity to light our homes. We have also seen unprecedented severe tornados both in central Travancore and south Kerala. Hope that the strong central government which came to power after so many years may be able to establish strong relationships in the international sphere as well as a peaceful environment in India. Recently, we are experiencing lot of atrocities against women and children, which shows the degeneration of our rich heritage and cultural norms established over many centuries. Hope and pray that both the central and State governments may be able to take steps to stop these atrocities against women and children. We are created in the image of God so that we may have strong relationships with our brothers and sisters. It is very sad that those who should be role models have disappointed us in recent times.

We are thinking of the ministry of St. Thomas this month, who believed in the resurrected Jesus only after having a direct experience. Thus he became the apostle of resurrected Jesus and came to Kerala to spread the gospel; we are keeping the vision and mission of St. Thomas by following his teachings. When God entrusts us with talents, we need to remember that we are not the owners, but only the stewards. The talents need to be shared with others and it was our practice in the past of sharing and caring for less fortunate people. The relationship we had with the agricultural labors and farmers in the past is an example of this sharing and caring nature of ours. We use to provide the necessities for them in the past, but we lost that intimate relationship at present. It is to be remembered that a relationship is created and maintained only when we share the talents entrusted to us

by God. We need committed and dedicated persons to undergo theological studies. It is good to note that so many persons are coming forward with a calling for the ministry of the church. They are sent to different places, into the midst of

Godʼs people, so that they can be the ambassadors of God. The thoughts for this month end with the thoughts of Apostle James. The book of James contains the practical ways of leading a worthy life to people around the world.

The book of James also reminds us that our faith needs to be revealed through our deeds. ʻAs the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deed is deadʼ (Jam. 2:26). it gives us a picture that both faith and deed should move together and they should not depart each other. The church never teaches that if you do good deeds you can enter into eternity. Apostle Paul teaches that we are justified through our deeds. ʻTherefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.ʼ (Romans 5:1-2). The faith in Christ should transform us into new human beings. The transformed human will always do good deeds to glorify God. Thus both Apostle James and Apostle Paul are talking about the same thing and not contrary to each other.

In the past, influenced by the principles of reformation in the church, some church fathers even demanded to remove the book of James from the Bible. If that had happened, we should have lost the strongest principle of justice. Let us praise God for including the book of James in the Bible. Let us immerse in the faith with deeds to strengthen ourselves and also to begin new mission projects.

August 2014 The recent world football cup has prompted all the eyes to turn to Brazil and when it ended with the message that the entire world population is united together. Such a world cup has given some extreme joy and to some deep sorrow and I appreciate the German team who won the world cup. The failure of the host team has wounded several hearts. The hopeful Argentina team also failed to come to the rescue of that continent. Even in Kerala, people were watching the games day and night, which reminded that the world is united. It is unfortunate that even though the issues in Syria and Iraq have been sidelined during this period, but the issues between Palestine and Israel is painful to see. A large number of people are forced to leave their homes and village to refugee camps. It is a trend at present to occupy other countries and conquer them. This trend is seen all over the world not just in one country or countries. The world is afraid about how to make an end to these types of occupations and conquering. If we walk through the ways God has shown us, I am sure that we will be able to find solutions to all these problems.

We are celebrating Mission Sunday on August 3rd and the main theme is ʻgospel is for allʼ. During the initial stages of missionary institutions, the object is to travel from the west to the east. But later, it has changed and gospel needs to be spread from everywhere to every other part of the world.

What is gospel? According St. Paul, ʻI am not ashamed of the gospel.ʼ After resurrection, Jesus told the disciples to be

his witnesses to the end of the earth. In the modern world, this is very important. St. Mark, began his gospel by saying, Jesus is the beginning of the gospel. We are called to be witnesses of the Jesus Christ who is the gospel. We as a church begin August with this thought in mind. The disciples who considered Jesus as equal to commandments and prophetic thoughts found comfort in Him, but they became joyful when they experienced the uniqueness of Jesus above commandments and prophetic thoughts. Our Lord does not want to stay with His disciples on the mount in a tent, but they found Jesus comforting a father and a son after the mount of transfiguration experience.

This is a mission given by Jesus to us to be involved in the pain and sufferings of others and to comfort them. We continue to think about the sacrament of wedding and family is a mission entrusted by God to each one of us.

Each family should reside with Christ like the branch of vine resides in the plant and being fruitful. Children are the gift given by God, and parents have given the great responsibility of nurturing them in the fear of God and in the Christian values. Such nurtured children when they grow up will be an asset to the family, church and community. I pray that all families will be able to receive the grace of all sacraments associated with family life. Let us involve in the thoughts of the love of the Lord so that we can build up our relationship with each other.

We continue to think about the heritage of our church based on the reformation. The responsibility of the church is to govern its people through democratic principles, which is the mark of a reformed church. The Holy Communion is to remind us of that responsibility. What is the experience of Holy Communion? It is the experience of being submitted to God, held in the hands of the Lord, blessed and broken by him. Not only that, that it is the experience of which being broken is converted in to a more stronger one.

Mother Teresa said, it is through the Holy Communion that we are getting the strength to enter with peace into the pains and sufferings of others. On August 31st we are thinking about the subject, Witnessing Christ in the midst of other faiths. Being the salt and light of the earth, we can be the witnesses of Christ among others. Church has begun schools in the earlier period with this thought of becoming the salt and light of the earth. We are witnesses of Christ, and let the Lord strengthen us to walk with Christ as His witnesses so that we can be a blessing to others.

Sep. 2014 The month of August was filled with tensions and pains. So many people returned from foreign countries without even receiving the salary. So many people were forced to leave their countries and seek refuge in neighboring countries.

The incidents that took place in Iraq, Syria and Libya were enough to shake our feelings. The activities of the religious fundamentalists including killing innocent people under the name of religion have not only tarnished their own religions but also the questioning the existence of other religions also. The incident of firing missile at a plane and the killing of the innocent people also shook the feelings of human race as a whole. Both the United Nations and other countries are still not able to find any solutions to these

tensions and war including internal fight between different groups based on religious beliefs.

We have 35 students who completed theological studies being ordained and entered in to the ministry of the church this year. At the same 15 priests retired from the active service of the church. I pray that the service of the newly ordained priests and also the witnessing of the retired priests may be able to provide for the justice to all. When God created man and women and gave them Garden of Eden, He has given importance to the relationship between the two. The relationship between God and man is that he has given life to man, but the relationship between the man and woman is based on the fact that woman is created from the bone and flesh of man. When they disobeyed God, they have received the punishment not inflicted by God, but the punishment they have inherited by not obeying Godʼs command. We need to recognize that it was through the grace of God that He sent his only son to this world to redeem us from our sins. ʻFor you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become richʼ (2 Cor. 8:9). The richness of God was given to man, which is revealed by the fullness of the human nature given.

We can see many women in the Bible who have paved for transformation, some in to good things and some in to bad things. Eve and Isabel are examples of women who led the wrong way while Naomi, Ruth, Mary, mother of Jesus, and Eunice, mother of Timothy, led themselves in to good things. When we celebrate the Sevika Sanghom Day this year, I urge the women to think in which path they are leading themselves and their families. We are also celebrating Senior Citizens Day in September and the church is giving more importance to Ten Commandments at present. In order to live long we have to respect and honor our parents. We are also celebrating the ecumenism in the month of September and it appears that the Communion of Churches in India (CCI) created in the past among Mar Thoma Church, C. S. I., and C. N. I., has not gained popularity yet. The concluding thought of this month is the sacrament of baptism. The children who are the gift of God and through the sacrament of baptism; both the parents and grandparents have been given the responsibility to nurture them under the grace of God. We need to give importance to pray with our children and also nurture them in relationship to the church and Christ. The mother of St. Augustine prayed for him, which resulted him being transformed as St. Augustine. When the number of parents who pray for their children with tears is decreased, the children will be led to all wrongs. Bible records about Samuel who was brought in relationship with Eli and God as ʻAnd the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with peopleʼ (1 Samuel 2:26). Let us pray that our children also grow like Samuel and Jesus with the grace of God and people around them, and let us nurture them also in that direction.

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)

Are You Born Again?

Justice K. T. Thomas, Kottayam This query was darted at me by a young smart girl a few years ago. It happened during an interaction session in a meeting held at St. Markʼs Cathedral, Bangalore. I was specially invited by the organizers to address the meeting on the subject “Religious Conversions – its Constitutional angles” When I ended my speech I presumed that it would have been well received by the elite audience. But my reasoning against religious conversion through any kind of inducement was not welcomed by some of the spirited Christian listeners who attended the meeting.

The few questions raised by them were expressive of their dissent to my view on conversion, as they might have been acrimonious evangelists who believed that human salvation is possible only through baptism and penance.

The title of this article came from the audience as the last question. As I did not know what is meant by “born again”, I adopted the stratagem of subterfuge by putting the same question back to the questioner. I asked the girl “Are you born again?” Without any hesitation she answered in the affirmative. So I asked her how, to which she promptly replied “by water and spirit” I then persisted with my further questions. She explained that she underwent baptism by immersing herself in water and also by invoking the Holy Spirit. According to her, those are the means to be born again by water and spirit.

I felt her explanation was unimpressive, if not, puerile.

With a flash in my mind which provided me a new thought to understand what Lord Jesus would have meant by the expression “born again” I used the opportunity to put across what I felt about the doctrine “born again” I said the following as answer to her query.” Born again” was spelled out by Jesus when a young man approached him for help in his quest to attain “eternal life” or to reach “Kingdom of God”. Jesus told him “unless you are born again you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God” The young man would have felt what any other inquisitive person also would have felt. So he told Jesus, it is difficult to get into the womb of his mother to be born again. It was in that context Jesus made out his great philosophy “unless you are born again by water and spirit you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.” The gospel writer did not record any further elucidation that Jesus probably would have narrated to drive the point home. In no other passage of the New Testament this seemingly incomprehensible idea has been further elaborated. I think it is left to the reader to understand how one could be “born again?”

In the discourse Jesus mentioned five subjects (i) eternal life (ii) Kingdom of God (iii) born again (iv) water, and (v) spirit. As the crux is “born again”, we may look at the other four. Here one must understand without difficulty that eternal life is the cognate for Kingdom of God. .

Eternal Life is definitely different from everlasting life, as some people would mistake it. World renowned biblical

scholars have explained eternal life as “life with God” or “life divine”. So here the enquiry is how one would attain life with God. The other words “water” and “spirit” are used metaphorically as the usual style adopted by Jesus on different occasions. Here water is meant as the cleansing process in life. Cleansing what? Definitely it is cleansing the evil part in a manʼs life. The word “spirit” represents energy or power to take this determination forward in to the future. Cleansing includes shedding out, or doing some penance or doing something, which would cause apparent loss, which could be material or even physical. I do not think that Jesus would have meant when he said about “born again by water and spirit” that if one would dip himself in water in a river or tank and hysterically proclaim holy spirit, he would born again to attain eternal life. I cannot regard Lord Jesus to have deployed such cheap or small measures in order to attain eternal life.

The most fantastic exposition on this thesis can be discerned from the episode in which Jesus was closeted with the Customs Collector (Zacchaeus). Presumably the Collector was a corrupt officer who would have acquired disproportionate assets through foul methods. Jesus had a very purposeful dialogue with him after which the transformation in him was miraculous. At the end of the conversation the Collector made the path breaking announcement “Lord I have decided to give back all my ill-gotten wealth, not merely on a par, but with compound interest, i.e.; four fold” Here is the best example of how one could cleanse the past. Again the same officer told Jesus that “I have also decided to utilize my well gotten wealth for social justice purposes” This again is the best example of what change the spirit can bring about in a person. At the said announcement made by the tax collector, Jesus acknowledged him as being born again. “Salvation has come to him and his family.”

In the best of my thinking the above was what Jesus said and meant when he told that only through water and spirit you can be born again in order to attain eternal life. When I completed the above explanation at St. Markʼs Cathedral there was loud applause from the listeners. I presumed that it would have satisfied the smart questioner. The Presbyter Vicar of St. Markʼs Cathedral who also listened my words told me at the end of the meeting thus: I have been doing ministry for 26 years but never have I heard such an impressive explanation regarding “born again”. I told him that even I did not earlier discover this; I now believe that this was inspired by the Holy Spirit in me. Later I conveyed the above elucidation to four persons, two of them are former Principals of the Theological Seminary, and the other two were laymen biblical scholars. All of them told me that the explanation is not only impressive but could have been Holy Spirit inspired. I now leave it to the readers of the column to contemplate on this explanation of the seemingly incomprehensible theory of “born again.”

A Meditation Based on Psalm 139 P. John Samuel, Kerala [The following meditation on Psalm 139 is adopted by Mr. John P. Samuel from a book, ʻWHERE CAN I GO FROM YOUR SPIRIT by O.S. Hawkins.ʼ] Where can I go from your Spirit (Ps 139:7) There is the Wonder of the Lord's Omniscience This big word simply means that god knows everything.

Five times in this psalm, David stated that God knew him.

He began by saying, O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up...

[You] are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but... You know it altogether. - Psalm 139:1-4 So what does God know? He knows what you do. He knows what you think. He knows where you go. He knows what you say. He knows what you need. When David tried to grasp the extent of this knowledge, he became overwhelmed. Paul responded in a similar way: Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Romans 11:33–3. What a wonder! God knows you... your e-mail address... your phone number... your worries... your hurts... your fears... your dreams. And He loves you.

There is the Wonder of the Lord's Omnipresence This big word means God is everywhere. Wondering at this truth, David asked, where can I go from Your Spirit? Psalm 139:7, first he tried the heights and depths, but he discovered God was there: If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in hell [sheol, the realm of the dead], behold, you are there. - Psalm 139:8. From daylight to dark, from East to West, David could go nowhere that God was not present. No matter where we are, God is there.

Jonah attempted to flee from Godʼs presence. But to no avail. Adam and Eve tried to hide from God in the cool of the garden. But, again, to no avail. Isaiahʼs prophecy that the coming Messiah would be called “Immanuel,” meaning “God with us,” underscores this wonder-full truth that He is always with us (Isaiah 7:14). Where can we go from Godʼs presence? There is not a corner of this big world where He is not present. Because God is always present, we are never alone. And this assurance of His presence brought comfort and hope to the apostle Paul in some of his darkest hours. On more than one occasion Paul described how the Lord stood by him or with him (Acts 23:11; 2 Timothy 4:16–18). Godʼs constant presence with us is indeed a wonder. He knows you, and He is always near.

There is the Wonder of the Lord's Omnipotence This third big word simply means our God is all powerful.

Although David could have described the awesomeness of Godʼs power in a variety of ways, he chose to focus on the miracle of conception and birth. Talk about a wonder!

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my motherʼs womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made... My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. - Psalm 139:13–16 Think for a moment about this wonder of wonders. David described two microscopic pieces of protoplasm that come together and form a live human being with all the intricacies of a nervous system, a respiratory system, a circulatory system, a digestive system, a mind, a heart, a soul. What a testimony to the omnipotence of our loving God who Himself “formed” us in our motherʼs womb! As I wonder at this miracle of birth, I canʼt keep silent about the harsh reality that our once-Christian nation has legalized the murder of millions of innocent babies. After describing this wondrous aspect of godʼs omnipotence the conception of a child - David praised his Creator: "I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14).

God knows us. He is with us. He is all powerful. Having basked in the wonder of God, David ended this psalm on a note of vulnerability that is commendable and worth emulating: Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23–24.

Once we have caught the wonder of our omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent God, we will likely be moved to join David in saying, “Search me... Try me...

Know me... Lead me.” We could be in no better hands.

Editorʼs Note: Mr. P. John Samuel was the Director of Dept. of Mining and Geology of Kerala and retired in 2002. Now he is a freelance mining Geologist, but he says, ʻI get more joy in exploring the word of God.ʼ josam@asianetindia.com; jobabsam@gmail.com, Tel: 01191 471 2352395 (Land), 011-91 9846235239 (Cell)

Roots of Reformation Dr. Zac Varghese, London, UK 1n 2011, we celebrated the 175th anniversary of the reformation of the Mar Thoma church. At the heart of reformation was the principle that ʻthe church should have the authority for its fundamental doctrines in the clear teaching of the Bible which consist of its present 66 books.ʼ1 Secondly, Abraham Malpan2 from the beginning committed to making worship comprehensible by translating the Syriac liturgy into Malayalam and conducting services using this liturgy.

This is reminiscent of what Thomas Cranmer, did for the Church of England by producing the first English prayer book in 1549; ʻThe Common Prayer Bookʼ of 1662 is a modified version. There was a second wave of reformation in the 19th century through the Oxford movement. The reformation of the Mar Thoma Church was influenced by the CMS missionaries; the wind of reformation was blowing everywhere at this time.

It was in 1829 that Benjamin Bailey translated the four gospels into Malayalam, which was followed by the whole Bible in 1841. Metropolitan Chrysostom3 emphasized that the translation of Bible played a crucial role in our reformation. He said, “It cannot therefore be said that we maintained a Christian identity- may be a Christian culture. The reason for this was that our forefathers did not have any deep understanding of Christ. How is a deep understanding of Christ is possible without the study of the Bible?”

Therefore, translating the Bible into native languages has greatly helped the missionary movements throughout the world. The encouragement for the translation of the Bible came from some unexpected sources. The Bible became available in English after the work of William Tyndale in 1526. He was burned at the stake in 1536 for translating the Bible. There were other obstacles to translation as I have discovered while reading ʻBoswellʼs work on the life of Johnson.ʼ In 1766, William Drummond, a bookseller in Edinburgh, wrote to Dr. Johnson of his dismay at the attitudes of some members of the ʻSociety of the Propagation of Christian Knowledgeʼ in Scotland against translating the Bible into Gaelic language. It is just an interesting

coincidence of History that this William Drummond might have been a relative of the East India Company surgeon, Robert Drummond, who in 1749 made an effort in codifying Malayalam grammar. In Response to Williamʼs letter, Dr. Johnson wrote the following memorable letter supporting such translations. Dr. Johnson had enormous admirers in the literary and royal circles and hence his letter had a significant Impact.

A Letter dated 13th August 1766 from Johnsonʼs Court at Fleet Street in London: 4.

“Sir, I did not expect to hear that it could be, in an assembly convened for the propagation of Christian Knowledge, a question whether any nation uninstructed in religion should receive instruction; or whether that instruction should be imparted to them by a translation of the holy book in their own language. If obedience to will of God be necessary to happiness, and the knowledge of his will be necessary to obedience, I know not how he that withholds this knowledge, or delays it, can be said to love his neighbor as himself. He that voluntarily continues ignorance, is guilty of all the crimes which ignorance produces; as to him that should extinguish the tapers of a lighthouse, might justly be imputed the calamities of ship wrecks. Christianity is the highest perfection of humanity; and as no man is good but as he wishes the good of others, no man can be good in the highest degree, who wishes not to others the largest measures of greatest good. To omit for a year, or for a day, the most efficacious method of advancing Christianity, in compliance with any purposes that terminate on this side of the grave, is a crime of which I know not that the world has yet had an example, except in the practice of planters of America, a race of mortals whom, I suppose no other man wishes to resemble.

The Papists have, indeed, denied to the laity the use of the Bible; but this prohibition, in few places now very rigorously enforced, is defended by arguments which have their foundation the care of souls. To obscure, upon motives merely political, the light of revelation, is a practice reserved for the reformed; and, surely, the blackest midnight of Popery is meridian sunshine to such a reformation. I am not very willing that any language should be totally extinguished. The similitude and derivations of languages afford the most indubitable proof of tradition of nations, and the genealogy of mankind. They add often physical certainty to historical evidence; and often supply the only evidence of ancient migration, and of the evolutions of ages, which left no written monument

behind them. Every manʼs opinions, at least his desires, are a little bit influenced by his favorite studies.

My seal for language may seem, perhaps, rather overheated, even to those by whom I desire to be well esteemed. To those who have nothing in their thoughts but trade or policy, present power, or present money, I should not think it necessary to defend my opinions; but with men of letters I would not unwillingly compound, by wishing the continuance of every language, however narrow in its extent, or however incommodious for common purposes, till it is reposted in some version of a known book, that it may be always here after examined and compared with other languages, and then permitting its disuse. For this purpose the translation of the Bible is most to be desired. It is not certain that the same method will not preserve the Highland language, for the purpose of learning, and abolish from daily use. When the Highlanders read the Bible, they will naturally wish to have its obscurities cleared, and to know the history, collateral or appendant. Knowledge always desires increase; it is like fire, which must be kindled by some external agent, but it will afterwards propagate itself.

When they once desire to learn, they will naturally have recourse to the nearest language by which that desire can be gratified; and one will tell another that if he would attain knowledge, he must learn English.

This speculation may, perhaps, be though more subtle than the grossness of real life will easily admit. Let it, however, be remembered, that the efficacy of ignorance has long been tried, and has not produced the consequences expected. Let knowledge, therefore, take its turn; let the patrons of privation stand awhile aside, and admit the operations of positive principles.

You will be pleased, Sir, to assure the worthy man who is employed in the new translation, that he has my wishes for success; and if here or at Oxford I can be of any use, I shall think it more than honor to promote his understanding.

I am sorry that I delayed so long to write. I am, Sir, your most humble servant. Sam. Johnson.”

This amazing letter has literary merits, and is written in a style we do not see these days. These exchanges in the 17th and 18th century are relevant to us today to understand the debate that is going on about the translation of our liturgy into languages, styles and idioms for making Sunday worship comprehensible to of our younger generations living in various regions of the world.

References: 1. Juhanon Mar Thoma Metropolitan. Christianity in India and a brief history of the Mar Thoma Church; 1952.

2. Zac Varghese and Mathew A. Kallumpram. Glimpses of Mar Thoma Church History; 2003.

3. Metropolitan Chrysostom. Mission in the Market Place; 2002.

4. James Boswell. The Life of Johnson; 1897.on: Oxford University Press, 1959.

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 has co-authored Medical textbooks and published extensively on Transplantation, Nephrology, Inflammation, and lipid-mediated vascular injury.

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; he continues to work relentlessly for the ʻcommon goodʼ of the worldwide Mar Thoma Diaspora communities.

A RELIGIOUS WORSHIP OR WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH Rev. Dr. K. V. Mathew, Kottayam As and when the human realizes the relational reality of God/the covenant God, worshipful moments begin.

They are really moments of acknowledging/realizing divine presence of a God-with-us experience with the human – a kind of imminence of the Transcendent with us. It can be a single, personal awareness of an intense experience of the presence of the Eternal in the ephemeral human context.

The ideal worship is in communion with God and the community/others. It may be with spontaneous rituals i.e. bodily postures, archana or silent meditation on the awesome wonder – the inexplicable presence of the ultimate reality, the ground of all existence.

Constructing permanent structures to make the deity indwell with us is a foolish act – a futile ritual to express formal religiosity. Such religious centers may be used for meditation and worship in a cacophonic world. Such worship need not and cannot be in spirit and in truth.

The God of our worship is always in motion – a migrating God with the migrating people in a moving universe. It is up to us - Godʼs children and servants – to realize the divine presence and move forward in life.

Norman Borlaug- The Man Who Fed a Billion Prof. Dr. Jacob George, Kottayam This year is being celebrated as the birth centenary of Norman Borlaug.

The question may naturally arise; ‘Who is Norman Borlaug?’

As Nobel peace laureate, father of green revolution, agriculture’s greatest spokesperson, winner of US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Padma Vibhhooshan of India, and as one who almost single handedly fed a billion, he should have been a household name. Unfortunately, we the thankless have forgotten him. And he never went after name or fame. His sole concern was to bring world peace through food security.

Dr. Borlaug was born in the US in 1914 to parents who migrated from Norway. From the age of nine to seventeen he was deeply involved in fishing, hunting, raising pigs, corn and chicken in the 103 acres farm in Iowa. There he attended the one-teacher one-room school through eighth standard. Thereafter he decided to pursue his higher education when his grandfather told him, ‘you are wiser to fill your head now if you want to fill your belly later’. To finance his studies, he had to put his education to hold often. At that time to earn enough money, he even worked for the US forest stations, which are the most isolated wilderness of the country. After having degree in biology he secured his Ph. D in pathology and genetics in 1942 from the University of Minnesota. Then he worked for Dupond from 1942-’44.

At the invitation of Mexican government he left to work there with funding from Rockefeller Foundation, leaving behind his pregnant wife and 14 months daughter. This was in 1944. There he concentrated in soil development, maize and wheat production and plant pathology. The goal was to boost wheat production in Mexico, which was at that time importing large portion of its wheat.

During the sixteen years of project in Mexico, he could successfully breed high-yield, semi-dwarf diseaseresistant wheat variety. This period he sometimes refers to as ‘quiet revolution’ During mid- sixties, the Indian subcontinent immediately after India- China war was experiencing widespread famine and starvation. As a schoolboy of that era, I still remember the intensity of the famine and also remember with gratitude the valiant efforts made by our mothers to feed four or five children of theirs. The prayers of those mothers must have reached heaven

and the Lord sent Norman Borlaug to India at the invitation of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. After intensive testing Borlaug’s team began their efforts by importing about 4500 tons of dwarf varieties of wheat seeds. Initial harvest was a huge success. In 1966 India imported 18000 tons of wheat developed by Borlaug from Mexico, the largest world import of any seed at that time. The yield produced enough seeds to cover the entire nation in the following year. The outcome was overwhelming.

Observing the great imbalance between population growth and food supply in the mid-sixties, the noted biologist Paul R. Enrich in his best- seller’ The population bomb’ predicted that in 1970 s and 1980 s hundreds of millions of people in the Indian subcontinent will die of starvation. By the time his book was released in 1968, Borlaug and his team had already done the miracle.

India and Pakistan became self-sufficient in wheat. From a mere 12.3 million tons of wheat in 1965, India harvested 76.4 million tons in 2000. A similar increase occurred in rice production also due to the efforts of Borlaug and his team. Since 1970s food production has increased faster than population growth thanks to the vision and hard work of Norman Borlaug. This has helped India to preserve much of its forests. The famous ‘ Norman Borlaug hypothesis’ says that increasing the products of agriculture in the best farmland can help control deforestation by reducing the need for new farmlands.

In 1970 Borlaug was given Nobel Prize for peace since there is no Nobel award for agriculture and also since peace is closely associated with food availability. His statement’ you cannot build peace on empty stomach’ is quite famous. He knew that as long as there is one hungry stomach, world peace cannot be established and put his entire heart and soul to eradicate famine and food shortage till his end. He had a peaceful death in 2009 at the ripe age of 95. While we enjoy today the richness of food, we have to remember with gratitude this great man, Norman Borlaug.

Editor’s Note: Prof. Dr. Jacob George is former head of Chemistry Department, CMS College, Kottayam, Kerala and former convener for Ecological Commission, Kottayam Kochi Diocese of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church. He can be reached at his email: jgozhathil@gmail.com

Pearls of Wisdom from Down the Ages - 6 A reading from St. Augustineʼs commentary on the Psalms of ascent to the Temple (Psalm 130: 1-3). * [St. Augustine (354 – 430 CE) was a very influential theologian; he is considered as one of the most important Church Fathers. His most important works are ʻCity of Godʼ and ʻConfessions.ʼ Believing that the grace of Christ was indispensable to human freedom, he helped to formulate the doctrine of original sin, and made seminal contributions.]

My brothers, I have often warned you in my sermons on the Psalms not to listen to the Psalmistʼs voice as though he were an individual singer, but to take it as the voice of all who belong to the body of Christ. Since all are members of his body, he speaks as a single person. He himself is one and manifold, for his members are many among themselves but one in him who is unique. This is mystery of Godʼs temple; the apostle says of it that ʻthe temple of God is holy and the temple you areʼ–all of you, that is, who believe in Christ and whose faith expresses itself in love. For believing in Christ means, loving him. The demons believed without loving and so, in spite of their belief, they demanded: What have you to do with us, Son of God? But ours must be a faith that leads to love. Not for us the cry: ʻWhat have to do with us?ʼ Rather let us say: We belong to you and you redeemed us. All who have this kind of faith are like the living stones that are built into the temple of God, or like the incorruptible wood used to construct the ark no flood could submerge.

Men themselves are the temples where Godʼs gifts are asked for and received. The gift of eternal life is only granted to those who pray in the temple of God; but the man who prays there is the man who prays within the peace of the Church, in the unity of the body of Christ, which consists of the multitude of believers throughout

the whole world. Such a man gains a hearing, for he prays in spirit and truth. To pray in the temple of Jerusalem gave no such assurance, for that temple was the scene of a symbolic action in which the Lord drove out men because they were bent on their own end, frequenting the place for the purpose of buying and selling. However, if that temple was a figure of the true one, which is the body of Christ, it is apparent that even here men can be found who have only their interests at heart, and not that of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the lord made a scourge of cords with which no drive such traders out of the temple.

The voice of the psalmist, then, belongs to the temple, which is the body of Christ, and it is here, not in that temple built by hands, that Godʼs gift are sought and received in spirit and truth. The old temple was only the place of foreshadowing; it has now been demolished. Does this mean that our house of prayer has been destroyed? Certainly not! How could that the fallen temple be the one that was called ʻa house of prayer for all nations?ʼ For you know that our Lord Jesus Christ said: ʻIt is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples, and you have turned it into a robbersʼ denʼ. Now the men who wanted to make the house of God a den of robbers surely did not intend to destroy the temple. Those who live evil lives within the Catholic Church are like them; they do their best to make the house of God into a robbersʼ den, but they not on that account destroy it. The time will come when they will be driven out with the scourge of their own sins.

But as far the temple of God, which is the body of Christ and the assembly of the faithful, it chants this psalm of ascent with the voice of a single man. We have already heard him in psalm after psalm; let us listen to him again now. If we wish, his voice is ours; we can listen to his music and sing it in our hearts. But if we refuse, we shall be like the traders in the temple of old, pursuing our own selfish interests. We may indeed enter the church, but it will not be in order to seek what is pleasing to God. * A Word in Season edited by H. Ashworth, 1974; The Talbot Press, Dublin, page 229-230 Editorʼs 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.

Future of the Diaspora Mar Thoma Church Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas Introduction: Mar Thoma Church has members at present all over the world including parishes and even dioceses outside India. This was not the case 50 years ago, it was mostly a church for members living in Kerala or at the most living in major cities in India like Bombay, New Delhi, Madras, Bangalore and Calcutta. We had small Mar Thoma communities in Malaysia and Ceylon for nearly 100 years. What will be future of the Mar Thoma Church after next 50 years especially those parishes and dioceses situated outside India? Mar Thoma Church will be there for sure both in India and outside, but will there be an increase in membership or in the number parishes outside India? I do not want to speculate on this matter, but would like to point out how we can keep our membership and keep our parishes at least in the same numbers as we have now, after next 50 years.

The United States is one of the leading countries where majority of the Marthomites are being settled during the past 50 years. More and more people are migrating to United States every year to different cities, where they associate with the parishes already established. In some cities they form new parishes. For example, in Dallas since 1976, there was only one parish until 1989. By 1996, there were three parishes and in 2004 a fourth one was formed. The number of Mar Thoma families in Dallas increased from about 60 families to 600 families during the past 30 plus years. Will this trend is going to continue here or elsewhere in this Diocese, by more and more people immigrating here and later establishing more and more parishes in this city or elsewhere in this Diocese? The majority of the people immigrating to United States are either as married children of U. S citizens or brother and sisters of U. S citizens. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIR), which is pending before the American Congress has provisions to eliminate these two main family categories. If the law is passed by Congress and becomes law, the flow of the people may stop in about 10 years. The church is mainly depending upon the people immigrating here from Middle East and India.

If that flow is to be stopped after about 10 years or so, what will be end result?

Another negative factor, which is going to impact the membership in the parishes, will be the re-settlement of the early immigrants back in India, who came and established parishes here. Most of them are retired and few of them have already returned to India for leading retired life over there with the income they are receiving by way of social security and the pension fund for those who worked and contributed to the same. A few are living here only for half of the time in a year and they live half of the time in India, especially during the winter period. Those who live here are no longer interested in the affairs of the parish or the church as a whole as they used to be. They feel at times that they are being sand-witched between the church and the subsequent generations. As Salman Rushdie rightly said: “Sometimes we feel we straddle two cultures; at other times, that we fall between two

stools.” They are worried about their generations not attending our parishes or actively taking part in the affairs of the parishes.

The majority of the second and third generations (children and grandchildren of the first immigrants) have already left the church. They are either not attending any church at all or attending main denominational churches or nondenominational churches. According to study conducted only about 25% of the first and second generation is attending our parishes on a regular basis. The 75% are considered as ‘Religious Nones’ of the Mar Thoma Church. There are no studies conducted also about the number and reasons for those who do not attend our parishes. If the flow of Marthomites immigrating from outside especially from Middle East and India is stopped, and the earlier immigrants ceased to exist either by death, resettlement, the church will end up with the 25% those who are born and brought up in this country after about 10 years or so.

Is the church ready to cater to the needs of the subsequent generations? It seems that this question has not bothered the church much at all until this time.

I feel that the church should address the issues discussed below in order to effectively stop the exodus of the future generations and keep them in the faith journey of the church.

Adequate provisions should be made for learning the faith and practices of the church: The Mar Thoma church claims that it was founded by St. Thomas, apostle of Jesus Christ in A. D. 52 in Kerala. It keeps its own faith, practices and traditions handed from generation to generation for the past 2000 years. Are we able to pass on them to our generations living outside India effectively especially in this Diocese? It appears that the church has failed in this effort to meaningfully teach the future generations about its rich heritage, faith and practices and instill in them a sense of belonging to the church. It is the duty of the church and the older generation to teach the same to the subsequent generations.

Instill a desire in the generations to learn about the rich heritage, faith and practices of the church: Simply forcing the generations to learn the rich heritage, faith and practices of the church may not work. At least that is what we are experiencing for the past 40 years in this part of the world. In order to instill a desire among the generations towards the church, its older generation, clergy and other leaders should maintain a high quality spiritual life and minister to the second generation. At present, it seems that church attendance is just considered as an occasion to meet with others especially relatives once a week. Some consider attendance in church is mainly to participate in the Holy Communion. If we fail to live a life worthy to our Lord by engaging in meaningful mission and ministry of the church, we may not be ale to instill a strong desire among the generations about the church. If we fail to instill such strong desire, they are less inclined to study its rich heritage, faith and practices.

Liturgy should be in understood by them:

a

language

that

can

be

The second, third and even in some places fourth generations only speak the English language, which is not often understood fully by the older generation and clergy. In the course of time language develops more and more colloquial terms and new words and slangs, which are not often understood by most of the older folks and clergy. The liturgy we are using no doubt is rich in meaning and symbolism, but most of our generations fail to understand the rich meaning and the symbols used in our liturgy. Our liturgy is very lengthy and most of the priests try to repeat everything in the liturgy. It was fine about 50 years ago, when people were doing agricultural jobs in fields and found time to spend in the church on Sundays. But this is not the case now, where people even work during weekends to meet economical needs, they do not feel comfortable to spend about 3-4 hours in the church during the Sunday morning. The liturgy should be modified in the language of the future generations and it should be shortened so that the service can be finished within a short time. Anyone attending our Holy Communion service without understanding the full meaning of the liturgy may feel it boring.

our churches especially in Kerala, women are seated separately on the south side, while the men are seated on the north side of the church. Hence, when the curtain of the Madbaha is opened from south to north, automatically the Thronos will be visible to women first. Another example is that why the color of the curtain should be red and it should not be hung from the roof to the floor? Why there should be space above the curtain and the roof? What is the meaning of Thuyaba service? What is being done behind the curtain? In most of the parishes people greet and meet each other and talk about important events or matters happened in the past week or going to happen in the future. They do not pay any attention to what is going on behind the curtain during the Thuyaba service. Anyone who attends our Holy Communion service without understanding the meaning of the symbols used will definitely feel bored during the whole time.

Sermons delivered from the pulpit should be relating to the life events of the younger generation: Unfortunately, the sermons delivered from our pulpits in our parishes are not related to the life events or situations being faced by our generations. Most of the Achens use the same sermons with stories they used in the parishes in India. It is just like using the same “Slayippu” to climb both the Coconut tree and Adackya tree in Kerala. Our priests should be trained to deliver meaningful sermons in the shortest time possible. Some deliver the sermons for 30-45 minutes, and most of the second and third generations are spending their time on the Internet through their cell phones. At least some of the priests are just printing out sermons available on the internet and just read it while on the pulpit. Such reading of the sermons will not serve the purpose and it should flow from their hearts through crisp and clear language, which can be understood by the generations.

Need for assimilation and integration of cultural competence and cultural heritage:

Symbols used in the Holy Communion should be made understandable to the future generations: Eastern churches including Mar Thom Church use lot of symbols during the Holy Communion Service. But the church often fails to teach the future generations about the importance and meaning of the symbols. For example, they ask why girls are not allowed to assist in the alter like the boys. Whey the priest is washing his hands after the confession prayer? Why the priest gives kiss of peace to the other clergy first and then only later to the lay leaders? Why the lay leaders stand on the south side of the Madbaha? What are the meanings of the symbols used in our Holy Communion? For example, most of the older generation knows why the curtain in the Madbaha is opened from south to north. But the new generations do not know it is opened from south to north because, when the curtain is opened, the Thronos, where the presence of resurrected Jesus should be seen first by the women. It is because it is the women who saw and met the resurrected Jesus first. It should be remembered that our churches built in such a way that the Madbaha faces towards the east in most

According to a study conducted by Catholic Church in U S A titled ‘Ministry in Multicultural and National / Ethnic Parishes’ cultural competence and cultural heritage is defined as follows: ‘Cultural competence refers to the ability to interact comfortably and confidently with others in a particular cultural frame work by appropriately utilizing or referencing the assumptions, customs, values, and symbols of the culture.

Cultural heritage on the other hand refers to the language and culture of a person’s ancestors, whether or not the person is able to communicate comfortably and confidently with people of that culture in the present.’ In order to avoid the conflict between the culture and cultural heritage of two different generations (the older generation and the young generation) we need to operate from an ecclesiology of ‘one parish, one community’. According to this theological vision parish unity is best exposed when all parishioners participate harmoniously in the life of the parish. We do not have this ‘one parish, one community’ theological vision in our parishes. There is always a conflict going on between the older generation and younger generation and neither wants to open it up or discuss the issues in open forum and to sort out the amicable ways to move forward. The leadership of the church also keeps a closed eye towards these serious cultural issues.

Ecclesiology of the parish must be ‘a community of communities’: An alternative theological/pastoral vision for ministry in a multicultural (generational) parish is to consider the parish as community of communities, rather than as a single community.

In our parishes it seems that the Achens are transferred from India for catering to the needs of the older generation to a certain extent, but they fail to understand the needs and issues of the second and third generation. Thus they are unable to consider the parish as a community of communities, but only as a parish predominantly of Malayalam speaking people.

Whenever there is a failure to recognize and address the needs of one group, the ministry fails in itself, which results in exodus of that group from our parishes. Actually, on diocesan level, we do not have any research or studies conducted to address these issues. There is need to have serious studies conducted in this area immediately in order to find out the ways, how to integrate the multicultural groups within our parishes.

Appointing youth chaplains to address the needs of the second and third generation is a positive one, but we need to look in to that ministry in order to see how effective it is. If it is not able to address the issues of the second and third generations, we need to find out the ways how we can transform the youth chaplaincy ministry in to a meaningful one.

Some youth chaplains have a wrong notion that if they have a social media account, they have a wrong notion that an effective communication is established with youths. It appears that the ministry of Youth Chaplaincy is going to end in our Diocese within couple of years by parishes requesting for Assistant Vicar to cater the needs of youths.

Administration at the parish and diocesan level must be transferred to younger generation: This is an area where we still lagging behind because the older generation still think they only can manage the administration of the parishes and diocese. Recently, I have come across an incident in which an older generation first immigrant explaining how to do the accounting works of the parish to a secondgeneration youth who is elected to the position of the accountant of a big parish in our diocese. This second generation youth is holding a high level managerial position in the accounts department of a large multi million company. This is our view about the whole parish and diocese and we need to change that attitude. Our youths are highly qualified and talented and they know how to run multi million dollar companies with hundreds of employees, still we think that they are incapable of running a parish with about 100 or 200 families. Our younger generation is not often given the opportunity to hold the positions in the parishes and diocesan levels. In the recent assembly elections in several parishes our young people have to contest the elections to be elected to the position of assembly members from the parishes. Our Diocesan bishop Mar Theodosius has taken a keen interest in this area and a number of young people and women have been elected to the Diocesan Council and other committees.

Conclusion: Dr. Prema Kurien of Syracuse University, NY rightly said in her article titled “The Impact of International Migration on Home Churches: The Mar Thoma Syrian Christian Church in India” published in the ‘Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion,’

“Probably the biggest challenge that the Achens who had been brought up in Kerala faced was relating to children and youth who had grown up in a very different cultural and religious context. Unlike Kerala, and even the Middle East and Malaysia, where the Mar Thoma church existed in a non-Christian environment where it was relatively insulated, the U.S. church had to confront the issue of how to retain the allegiance of the second and later generations in the face of intense competition from local American churches. Mar Thoma American youth were attracted to large nondenominational evangelical churches, and many left the Mar Thoma church for such churches. Even those who stayed imbibed many evangelical ideas: for example, they were against the long liturgical services of the Mar Thoma church and preferred non-liturgical praise and worship. While the church tradition is that the intergenerational Mar Thoma community worships together, the second generation was asking for separate youth services.

They also tended to be quite critical about how “India-focused” the church was and the fact that Mar Thoma Achens from India did not have strong English-language skills and the knowledge of the American context to understand their lives (Kurien 2012). Some of the Achens who were serving or had served in North American parishes confessed to me that their training to cater to “sacramental questions” had not equipped them to deal with the many challenges they faced during their foreign posting.” Hope and pray that the church or the diocese may consider her article seriously and conduct detailed studies how to keep the younger generation in the faith and practices of the Mar Thoma Church.

In an attempt to maintain a meaningful existence of the church outside India especially in United States, where the second, third generation and in some places even fourth generation are living, the church and its leaders must take appropriate remedial measures to keep the existing members in its fold especially the future generations. The church should be able to address the issues both cultural and social of the future generation and adapt itself to meet their needs. The church cannot be static in its faith journey; it should be a movement, and not an organization, but a living organism. If the church fails to keep its members both old and young in its fold, then the existence of the church in this part of the world will be in question within next 25-50 years. This does not mean that the church will itself disintegrate itself in the next 25 years or 50 years, but it will not have the growth, which it had for the past 25 years. The church should exist for the people and not the people should exist for the church. Clergy appointed in the parishes in this Diocese should be able to meet the growing needs of the future generations effectively. The future of the Mar Thoma Church in this Diocese should be determined under the grace of God by the future generations living in this part of the world. We should seriously consider what legacy that we are going to leave for the future generations in this context.

Editorʼs Note: Lal Varghese, Esq., is a lawyer by profession and is mainly practicing in U. S Immigration law for more than 20 years in Dallas. He is the legal counsel and member of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Diocese of North America & Europe of the Mar Thoma Church. He can be reached at E-Mail: attylal@aol.com, Tel: (972) 788-0777.

Abrahamic Legacy (Value - Based Family Traditions) Rev. Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam

Faith journey - celebration of faith and relationship

What are we looking for in the Abrahamic traditions?

Abram(ham) took his wife and his brother's son, Lot - and all the possessions - and moved to his destination, land of Canaan, and the most adventurous trip in life. In the life of Abram(ham), there is a divinely inspired movement anchored in faith from the known to the unknown. His faith in God and a sense of stewardship and commitment to maintain family ties are lessons for us to uphold family values. Awareness of the presence of the Lord helped him to resolve his problems in a respectable manner. (13.4) The dispute between Abram(ham) and Lot and their herders was resolved through a gesture of good-will shown by Abram(ham), In 13.9: "If you take the left hand, then I will go the right; or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left". The amazing sense of self-emptying enjoyed by Abram(ham) to part with the earthly possessions is a lesson for generations to come. The decision of Lot ultimately ruined him. The question that is posed before is this: What is it that makes life great? Are these wealth and possessions? In the parable of the Rich Farmer, (LK.12:13ff) Jesus said: "becoming rich toward God" is the goal of discipleship. The so-called "prosperity theology" gives us an eclipse of the gospel of the cross!

(Cf.Matt.6.33; Phil.4.19; Heb.13.5).

Church, being the people of God, serving the peoples of God, will have to strive for God abiding values for social transformation. Abrahamic legacy gives us the basic norms for action.

1. Faith tradition rooted in the obedience and response of individuals 2. Authentic relationship based on love, sacrifice, care and forgiveness 3. Living by a sense of justice in relationship 4. Upholding norms for social amity Abram(ham)- Role model for societal transformation God's promise to Abraham in Gen.12.2-3 finds its fulfilment in Gal.3.

15-18 (cf. Rom.4.3). Christ, being the seed of Abraham, fulfils God's promise to humanity. The Plan of Salvation- extension of God's blessings in Christ to all humanity- finds itself in the formation of new humanity in Christ, which is God's gift to the world. "Peace on Earth" is the mission mandate given to the Church.

Abram始s(ham) courage to say" no" to worldly goods For Abraham, life is measured not by quantity but by quality.

"Adding life to years, not years to life" ought to be our goal.

He had the inner strength to say "no" to the King of Sodom when he asked him to share the booty with him. In v.23, we have a glimpse of his vision of the Ultimate. "... that I would not take a thread or a sandal-thong or anything that is yours, so that you might not say, "I have made Abram rich" For Abram(ham) contentment is not the statement of account but the state of heart". There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment. (1 Tim 6:6) For Abraham one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions"(Lk.12.15) Intercession for the inhabitants of Sodom In 18.16-33.Abraham intercedes for Lot and the city of Sodom. The large heartedness of Lot is indeed amazing.

God deals with the situation in accordance with divine justice.

See also Abraham's prayer for Abimelech, King of Gerar (Gen.20.17).

In Abraham, "the ancestor of a multitude of nations", (Gen.17.5) the three major religious traditions converge.

Abraham being the patriarch of 驶manavakudumbam始 (human family) carries a family heritage for the whole human race.

Who was he?

Abraham- Father of :I) Jewish faith- as the father of Isaac (Gen.21.1-3) ii) Islam- as the father of Ishmael (Gen.21.18) iii) Christian faith- as the father of the faithful (Rom.4.3). Abram(ham): Leader of the nations of the worldas prophet- as friend of God and as mediator- as one who creates social harmony - Sarai(h) his wife shares the faith of her husband. The challenge before the future generation is to imitate their faith and to initiate what is best in their outlook.

The call is to internalizing the rich heritage of faith for God's glory.

Abraham's ecumenical hospitality In chapter 18: 1-14: Abraham and his wife had manifested their concern for the three strangers. At the oak field of Mamre where Abraham pitched his tent, the spirit of hospitality is seen at its best-an example of a caring culture.

Hospitality of this kind is an integral part of the Kingdom culture: the culture of caring. It is strikingly free from the profit motive. Abraham and Sarah carry an abiding lesson for the Christian Church as their act of generosity speaks of the priority of human needs. (see.Rom.12.13; I Pet.4.9). They were rewarded in accordance with the divine justice as recorded in Heb.4.10: "For God is not unjust; he will not overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake

in serving the saints, as you still do" See Heb.13.2: "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it".(Heb. 13:2) In an age of massive displacement of human beings, Abrahamic legacy speaks volumes to the Christian community. The yardstick of the final judgment as recorded in St. Matthew 25 35, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" adds luster to the Abrahamic legacy. To see and to respond to human needs, it is essential that we imbibe the "giving

orientation." "It implies a harmony between giving and receiving" (Valson Thampu).We live in a world of consumer culture where "the wolf, rather than the lamb is the emblem of the world” (Matt.10.16), If hospitality of covetousness should give way to the culture of selfless caring. One may recall the story of the King begging from door to door in the village path as found in the Githanjali of Tagore, Tagore wrote, “I (The beggar) bitterly wept and wished that I had the heart to give thee my all"!

Abraham's "courage to be"- the mark of spirituality

Spirituality in religious outlook manifests itself in giving the best to the cause of God. (See Heb.11.4-Abel's gift of offering) In Gen.22 we have a religious metaphor of God's dealing with men and women of faith. The inquisitive question of Isaac in Gen. 22.2 provides clue to a dialogical relationship between the father and the son; "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" The father replied, "God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering". The question asked by the little boy was answered with the conviction of his father. Abraham's response to the divine voice speaks of the divine intervention in the mundane things of one's household. Abraham's ʻcourage to beʼ has become the source for the blessings of human race: "and by your offering shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice" (Gen.22:18).

Abraham's precepts for social harmony "What you are is more important than what you have".

Abraham's request for a piece of land from the Hittites for the burial his wife was answered with a gesture of

cordiality and affection. Gen.23.6 is worth recalling: "Hear us, you are a mighty prince among us....None of us will withhold from you any burial ground for burying your dead". Religion of reciprocity is the hallmark of social harmony. Inter-religious relationships are meant to free people from confessional solidarities so as to create opportunities to serve one another as agents of reconciliation. "The essence of religion, as Guru Nanak said, is ʻservice, humility and sympathy.ʼ Conclusion The calling of God's family on earth is well stated in 1 Jn.3.1 "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God". God's eternal purpose is to adopt us into his own family through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will". (1.5a). Jesus Christ, being the seed of Abraham (cf.Matt.1.1), fulfils God's promise to humankind through Abraham. God's calling of Abraham as the originator of the three monotheistic faith provides us with certain values for the solidarity of human family on earth. Those values are still relevant for us in the multicultural society. Abrahamic treasures are for the solidarity of human race. Church, being the household of God, will have to treasure these values for others. In 1 Peter 2.9 the divine purpose in the calling of the church is well stated as, "you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.". In treasuring the heritage of the Abrahamic values, the Church being the body of Christ, will have to treasure higher spiritual values of ecumenical hospitality, spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation and above all living by grace not by law. (cf. the allegory of Hagar and Sarah in Gal. 4.22-31). The saga of Abraham being the patriarch of the ʻManavakudumbamʼ helps us to deal with God's family on earth in justice, peace and harmony.

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

Legacy of Rev. M. A. Thomas: A Visionary Dr. Zac Varghese, London It is almost twenty years since this amazing and faithful servant of God died, but his memory is fresh and alive because of the two institutions that he founded: Ecumenical Christian Centre at Bangalore and Vigil India Movement. He is a role model for all of us and hence it is important to remember, record, and thank God for his mission and ministry on and after the centenary of his birth.

Since the reformation of the Mar Thoma Church in 1836, this church has been blessed abundantly with a number of outstanding ordained and lay leaders, they are not just men and women who found life easy and comfortable, but they have been blessed children of God who have profoundly changed our attitudes towards wider ecumenism, human rights and social justice. These people walked out of their comfort zones to fight for the causes they believed in. Reverend M A Thomas, otherwise Known as ʻMAʼ or ʻAchen Thomasʼ was one such Godʼs gift to humanity. My Knowledge of Achen is mainly through two sources: late Right Reverend Thomas Mar Athanasius, Suffragan Metropolitan of the Mar Thoma Church, and Reverend Dr. M. J. Joseph who succeeded Achen Thomas as the director of ECC. However, it was in 1982 I fully realized how this extraordinary priest of the Mar Thoma Church had influenced other leading churchmen and women in the world stage. I had to approach late Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, for the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Mar the Mar Thoma community in the United Kingdom. The archbishop gladly accepted my invitation by saying that he remembers Mar Thoma Church through his intimate friendship with ʻMA.ʼ Then he told me that Achen stayed in a room, for few months, next to the archbishopʼs at Oxford when the archbishop was a fellow of one the Oxford colleges and Achen had the

habit of walking up and down in his room in the night repeating Greek words and phrases, which he was trying to master, but this kept the ʻhelplessʼ archbishop awake. This anecdote indicated the high regard and affection the archbishop had for Revered M A Thomas.

I am sure others may have such interesting stories about this legendary visionary of the twentieth century.

Achen had a longing for justice and relationships and this was expressed and painted on the wider screen through his activities through ECC and the inauguration of the Vigil India Movement during the ʻEmergency Rule.ʼ In the midst of the growth religious fundamentalism, intolerance and corruption in the society, Achen created avenues for listening across religious barriers and adopted measures for respecting the rights of individuals for economic, religious and other freedoms. His God-given instincts kept him active throughout his life and he fought for ʻKingdom Valuesʼ. He lived and loved in creating an ʻI-Thouʼ relationship in every interaction. He was a great visionary who lived his faith to the uttermost, and bear witness to the grace and goodness of God, which he found and experienced in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. May Achenʼs memory live forever and may it guide us to seek noble dreams and visions for our communities and county.

Note: A LEAP INTO THE UNKNOWN Autobiographical Anecdotes of Rev. Dr. M.A. Thomas contains his legacy and reminiscences. From the many incidents narrated by him, the reader gets a vivid picture of his own transformation through his deep involvement in socio-political-cultural and religious movements since his high school days. His stories remind us that the boundaries of the vision of unity are not limited by the narrow walls of churches but extend to the far edges of the entire creation. His obedience to truth, his restless quest for justice and peace and communal harmony, his concern for the marginalized and his insights on social questions, are all reflected in his book.

Editorʼs

As part of his birth centenary, the above book is published in multiple e-Book formats by the Ecumenical Christian Centre in Bangalore. Amazon Kindle e-Book version can be downloaded by clicking the link and can be transferred and read in Amazon Kindle. Generic e-Book version can be also be downloaded by clicking the link below and can be read on popular eBook readers like Apple iPad/iPhone and Android tablets and smart phones.

http://www.eccbangalore.org/2013/08/a-leapinto-unknown.html

A Book Review by Celia Blackden* “No Peace Without Prayer: Encouraging Muslims and Christians to Pray Together – a Benedictine approach” by Timothy Wright OSB Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 2013, 338pp $29.95; ISBN 978-0-8146-3822-4, ISBN 978-0-8146-3847-7 (eBook) Depth and thoroughness are words that spring to mind on reading Abbot Timothy Wrightʼs book. It is almost a compendium of spirituality, refreshingly drawing on the deep wells of Godʼs love for humankind and the believerʼs incessant seeking for God. It offers a model of spiritual encounter based on prayer and the scriptures which he asserts can contribute significantly to peace.

My first impact with the book was a twinge of concern at the sub-title, ʻencouraging Muslims and Christians to pray togetherʼ. I know how strongly some Christians feel about not praying with other believers and the uniqueness of Christian prayer, through Christ to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. Many feel our differences are better contained and respected by “being together to pray” on the Assisi model championed by Pope John Paul II in 1986, rather than “praying together”. So I was curious to understand the Abbotʼs thinking, which I found to be respectful of the above distinction but which also looks at prayer in a much broader realm.

In fact there is some fuzziness in the definitions. Prayer itself means different things to different people. Given that the author is a monk it is evident that the word ʻprayerʼ contains within it silence, faith, rules of life, study, scripture, contemplation, action, love, as well as mental and vocal prayers, whether spontaneous or formal. Spirituality is defined as “the content and style of prayer practiced and lived by believers, Christian or Muslim”, but that would not satisfy all readers. The bookʼs purpose is to observe IslamicChristian dialogue through the lens of prayer and identify of a dialogue of spirituality leading to shared memory as a foundation for peace. It is a very high ideal that might be considered distant when we hear so much tragic news arising out of religious fanaticism. But in ways perhaps not fully known to us, it is being practiced already in different parts of the world.

In Part I, The Path to Dialogue, the chapter A Brief Outline of Muslim and Benedictine Spiritualities contains features, which recur later. Abbot Timothy writes “Enveloping the Benedictine is the silence of recollection, whose ʻultimate aim is interior silence, when we find a deep center within ourselves which is always open to Godʼ.” And “An essential feature of Benedictine life is daily lectio divina, ʻWhen we work with Godʼs word so that it may work inside us, transforming our behavior, our ideas, our lifeʼ.” These concepts resonate with the central Muslim obligation “ʼto remember Godʼ, openly every day… It is not without significance that one commentator has called Islam a monastic spirituality lived in the ordinary community of daily life.” And “As one Muslim writer has put it ʻto remember God is to have God in oneʼs heart in such a way that one never forgets Himʼ.” The Abbot asserts that this deep awareness of God, the importance of scripture, and also of hospitality expressed in both Muslim and Benedictine (Christian) spirituality, together lay the foundation for the “dialogue of spirituality”. The intention is that people recognize “that God is truly ʻaliveʼ in the hearts and minds of the participants”.

The Healing of Negative Memories fully acknowledges suffering and enmity, together with healing processes, including professional help and perhaps gradually, forgiveness. An apt quote is Miroslav Volfʼs three steps “toward redeeming memories of wrongs suffered – ʻremember truth fully!ʼ, ʻremember therapeutically!ʼ and ʻlearn from the past!ʼ” The three chapters in Part 2 Finding a Way through Disputed Issues are disparate but informative. Christians and Muslims in a Dialogue of Spirituality recognize that there are different responses to hearing the Word of the other. It helpfully identifies some responses as “echoes”, the affirmative recognition of something shared, and others as “counterechoes”, differences which mark clearly defined boundaries in belief but which can also be sources of enrichment. Issues of Yesterday and Today, start from an 8th century discussion about the prophet Muhammad through to the influence of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. It also includes a question posed by Mustansir Mir on whether dialogue with the selfassuredness of the Qurʼan is in fact possible.

Part Three Defining the Dialogue of Spirituality announces the purpose of a dialogue of spirituality as the formation of “a new shared memory, a tapestry of spiritual insights”. This is to be done through personal and later agreed written records of oral communication in small groups. It is a ʻmemoryʼ designed to overcome negative ʻmemoryʼ or misinformation about Islam, (although the same could be said of perceptions of Christianity and the ʻWestʼ among Muslims). Although agreeing texts might be perceived as a challenge, the concept of an evolving shared memory and “tapestry of spiritual insights” (however expressed) is attractive and a valid pathway to shared life and peace.

Abbot Timothy is aware that some cultures may not be sympathetic to such a process, but knows communities that are “ready and willing”. He is not offering “a blueprint but a

framework to encourage those interested to move forward”.

The short appendages to the sections asking ʻwhy should they?ʼ and ʻcan they?ʼ and ʻwill they do it?” and so on, highlight the fact that there have been no pilot groups testing the process, but also point to the real possibility such dialogue happening.

These chapters are well complemented in Part Four The Higher Forms of Spiritual Experience. These are very deep, showing how Islam and Christianity have produced women and men especially gifted with mystical experience of God. The dialogue of spirituality allows each to benefit the other.

The comparison of the two mystics Rabiʼa al-ʻAdawiya AlQaysiyya and Paul Giustiniani OSB shows that “Their writings reveal parallel pathways to Union with God.” The section on Thomas Merton and Sufism explains how Merton “urged novices to appreciate the important insights from the Muslim contemplative tradition”. He believed that formation in Sufism would help novices mature in monastic life.

Across 12 chapters Part Five considers Godʼs Revelation and the Human Response: Examples from Inspired Scriptures. God is understood as Creator, God in whom we trust, merciful. These are illustrated through the stories of Adam, Noah, Joseph, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, who feature in both the Qurʼan and in the Bible. Concerning Adam Abbot Timothy writes: “The respective descriptions of the original paradise, their rules of the garden, the first sin, and subsequent expulsion, form a strong echo. On the other hand the different interpretations of the first sin… provide a strong counter-echo. Taken together this is a firm base for dialogue”. 18 pages are dedicated to Abraham: An Example of One Obedient to the Guidance of God, Even When It Does Not Seem to Make Sense. The Abbot quotes Sayyed Nasr on Jesus: “Every practicing Muslim … could not but agree that his or her highest wish is none other than the prayer uttered by Christ, “thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Here the authorʼs conviction regarding the formation of a shared memory resonates with Christians who daily seek to know and do Godʼs will and who see that their Muslim friends and neighbors are doing the same. This method is intended for people living and working alongside each other, but for whom God, and Godʼs love for humanity,

is the motive for engagement within and beyond their communities.

Themes relevant to those engaged in dialogue, including Scriptural Reasoning, the convergence of Muslim and Benedictine understandings of prayer during the day, and commentary by Rowan Williams on the Rule of St Benedict, form Part 6. The book ends with remarkable extracts from the writings of Christian de Chergé, Abbot of the Trappist Community at Tibhirine, Algeria, who along with six of his confreres was kidnapped by Muslim rebels in March 1996 and then killed. Their story is brilliantly told in the film Of Gods and Men. It is impossible to excavate fully here the richness of this bookʼs content, and its potential for deeper dialogue and peace. For some Christians it will be very new and perhaps a challenge; for others it will lead them through already open doors. It can thus also contribute to ecumenical sharing and understanding across Christian traditions as we seek together to contribute effectively to peace.

Editorʼs Note: *Celia Blackden is an Inter Faith Officer for Churches Together in England, and she provides the following note on the author: Abbot Timothy is known to me as one of three cousins, all brothers and Benedictine monks, possessing deep spirituality and multiple talents. His meeting with Mohammed Ali Shomali, through Focolare and a fellow monk, led him into dialogue with Islam at personal, theological and monastic levels. He was then commissioned by the Benedictines to examine the relationship between the followers of the Rule of Benedict and Islam, wherever they live in close proximity. This book, based on his doctoral thesis, is the outcome of much journeying, both physical and spiritual. It offers a model of spiritual encounter based on prayer and the scriptures, which he asserts can contribute significantly to peace.

Transcending God – Images Fr. Thomas Punnapadam, SDB Mahatma Gandhi (honored by Indians as the Father of the nation) affirmed decades ago that most wars in human history have been waged in the name of religion.

Current history confirms this beyond all doubt. Both long-standing conflicts like the one between Israel and Palestine and the more recent emergence of and oppression by Islamic State forces are all unjustifiable acts of inhuman violence perpetrated by presumably religious convictions. It would not be an exaggeration to aver that most of the conflicts plaguing humankind today are sought to be justified in Godʼs name. The height of paradox is that these conflicts are often within the same religion as for instance between Roman Catholics and Protestants, or peace loving Muslims and jihadists. This awakens us to the fact that not infrequently, religion is misused as a means to popularity and privilege, or as a vehicle to amass wealth or assume power. Hence a deep sincerity of purpose in religion needs to be under constant scrutiny.

A deeper reflection on this tragic situation enlightens us that the problem springs not from religion itself, but from diverse understandings of and approach to religion.

Beyond dogmas, rituals and practices of piety, religion is the personal and communitarian relationship with God. God as the ultimate mystery is indispensable to human life. This supreme reality is one. However finite, fallible, fragile and rational, human beings can relate to the ultimate mystery only through images. In the vital human divine-relationship, images of God are indispensable.

Hence religion ultimately is conditioned by human images of God. Anthropomorphism cannot be wished away. Any religion is primarily influenced by its images of God and all religious attitudes and practices flow from them. It would not be over simplistic to aver that the anodyne for the current malaise is the honest, repeated,

reexamination of the images of God that every religion cherishes and prides itself in.

Every religion and all religious persons cherish their own images of God. All our images of God do no more than impose human categories on the unknown and unknowable reality of the Supreme Being. Religious language is always not only analogical, but also metaphorical, even mythological. No image of God is synonymous with the reality. This is the eternal truth irrefutably inculcated by the ancient story of the six blind men of Bharath who went to “see” the elephant. As the story goes, the one who touched the tail of the elephant described it as a rope, the one who felt the massive body of the elephant described it as a wall, the one who touched the legs spoke of it as a pillar and so on. As mystics conclude, the moral of the story is that every image of God is partially in the right and fully in the wrong. St. Augustine affirms that all our images of God take us farther away from God than bring us closer to him. Meister Eckhart has said that whatever can be affirmed about God can also be denied. An ancient Hindu prayer acknowledges “O God thou art formless; the only form is our knowledge of you”.

Every religion is specific in the images it presents.

However the most fundamental truth never to be forgotten is that while everyone has the right to oneʼs own image of God, anotherʼs image of God must be respected. This is the core of religious freedom, an acknowledged basic and universal human right. It is in absolutizing particular images that conflicts arise. An image is just that - an image. Anotherʼs image of God should be recognized and accepted as no less sacred than oneʼs own image of God. For this one needs to be deeply conscious that all images are limited. No image is perfect. To deify any image of God is the greatest sin - idol worship.

Religious freedom, the universally acknowledged human right, in practice implies that every personʼs right to live by oneʼs own religious convictions, worship oneʼs own image of God, is inviolable. At the same time, like all the other rights, the exercise of this right is inseparable from the duty to allow others to follow their own religious beliefs and worship the divine as they choose to. In other words fanaticism, which seems to be perverting religious people today, is the stark contradiction of the genuine religious belief.

Traditionally a distinction is made between religion and spirituality. A simple of definition of spirituality is that it is primarily a religious attitude beyond immutable rituals and absolutized images.

Authentic spirituality transcends images always, and everywhere;

recognizing their limitations leads people to the mystical dimension of all religions. Every religion is enriched by its mystical strand, which focuses on the absolutely mysterious reality of the divine transcending all images and reiterates the total ineffability of divine experience.

True religions necessarily culminate in the mystical experience. Genuine mysticism unites all human beings.

The Buddha taught that all acts of religion are ʻupayasʼ, skillful means to lead us to God experience. He compared all rituals and dogmas to a raft, one dispenses with after crossing the river. An ancient prayer attributed to the Indian mystic Sankaracharya acknowledges the three basic sins of humankind: “O God forgives us our three great sins; Thou art without name and we call thee by innumerable names; Thou art without form, and we have worshipped images of thee; Thou art everywhere, and we have confined you to temples”. The history of Christianity bears witness to a rich, largely hidden mystical tradition. The mystic, St. Augustine, acknowledges the universal spiritual truth: “Late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient and so new; late have I loved you! ……...You were within me and I outside; you were with me and I was not with you”.

There is no doubt at all that Jesus too invites all his followers to worship a God beyond all limited forms and man-made images. He too lived in a society divided by diverse religious forms of worship, particularly among the Jews, Samaritans and Gentiles. When asked by the Samaritan woman whether God should be worshipped on Mt Zion (Jerusalem) as the Jews did or on Mt. Gerizim (Samaria) as the Samaritans did, the answer of Jesus is very poignant and challenging: “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will your worship the Father.

... But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4: 21-24).

Christians individually and collectively have their own favorite images of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. However Christian maturation in faith and growing into deep spirituality implies that we transcend our narrow, limited, selfish images of Jesus too. Jesus died and rose again and is no more constrained by bodily form. Therefore, as St. Paul reminds us very clearly “Even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer” (II Cor 5: 16b). We believe that the spirit of the risen Jesus permeates, nourishes and enlightens each one of us as also the whole universe.

If only all religions were able to rediscover the mystical dimensions of their religions, they would be far greater unity and harmony among human beings.

All wars waged in the name of religion would cease, every one acknowledging that we are all members of the human family, children of the one God and brothers and sisters to one another. The ultimate basis of all religions is the intrinsic inter-dependence of human kind in a radically relational universe. We are interconnected and becoming more conscious of it day by day. Nothing exists in isolation; the circles of influence are ineffable.

Belief that does harm to others is not truly religious and therefore unacceptable. Our images of God dictate our decisions and actions. Consciously or unconsciously, the ultimate norm of all morality is doubtlessly the golden rule, taught by all the major religions of the world.

True religious sense awakens us to the transforming awareness of inter-connectedness as a result of ego-transcendence. There can be no religious conflict strictly so-called. They are ego conflicts springing from God-images created by selfish interests and narrow perceptions.

May everyone be graced to transcend their own divisive images of God and put a definitive end to all arid fundamentalisms. May all religions strive to fulfill the divine project of creating the universal family of humankind, children of one God, brothers and sisters to one another. May we live in the awareness that each and every one of us can contribute to love and peace in the world in invisible but nonetheless efficacious ways.

Editorʼs Note: "Fr. Thomas Punnapadam, SDB has written on various biblical themes. He is the professor of moral theology at Kristu Jyoti College in Bangalore. He is deeply involved in the pastoral care as a priest in a parish of the Catholic Church. He guides spiritual retreats and conducts seminars on prayer methods as also on spirituality in general."

Chhattisgarh Mission of the Mar Thoma Church ʻTruly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.ʼ Matt 25:40 The Village Structure Chhattisgarh Mission of the Mar Thoma Church is in the newly formed State of Chhattisgarh in the central part of India. People are living in very poor conditions especially children without any facilities for education and food. The activities of the Chhattisgarh Mission are concentrated in four centers- Ameri, Borsi, Pamgarh (Kuttrabod) and Akaltara. Ameri is a slum area where the wage earning labor class people live. The village people are rickshaw pullers, masons, house servants and so on. They depend mostly on the nearby city- Bilaspur for their livelihood. We have two ʻBalwadisʼ (Primary education classes for the small children of the poor villagers) here. Borsi, Pamgarh and Akaltara are all remote villages. People of these villages live in a very pathetic condition. They donʼt have proper hygienic facilities (No toilets, no proper clothing, no facilities for proper treatment of diseases). Many of the daily wage earning laborers is alcohol addicts and they give very less to their familyʼs support. Children are deprived of proper nutrition and they are seldom sent to school. Women work hard to overcome the situation and most of the time they flutter their wings in vain. As it is everywhere, the women and the children are the most affected in such a situation.

Our effort is to introduce Christ and the unfathomable love and care He has shown to His people, provide affordable and quality education to the children and better living standards to these less privileged people. We can win these people and their next generation for our Lord if we live and work among them with the love of the Lord that redeemed us and with your support.

Mission Works Of the nine Balwadies, we were compelled to close five as we do not have proper funding. We have four Balwadies(Nursery schools), a child development center (catering the spiritual, cognitive, socio emotional and physical needs of 300 poor village children) an English Medium school- Kuttrabod, Pamgarh- run under the jurisdiction of the Delhi Diocese (up to class IV – 420 village students) and evangelistic works among the faith communities in Borsi, Pamgarh, Kuttrabod, Akalthara and Ameri. Our Evangelists (5 evangelists with family) do a wonderful job for the glory of the Lord by their regular house visits in the villages and by conducting prayer meetings in the houses of the believers and seekers.

Though we have been working here for long time we do not have proper worshipping centers except in Borsi. We are in need of at least three chapels, (Kutrabod (Pamgharh), Ameri and in Akaltara. All these mission works are done among the poor village people.

School at Pamgarh The school in Pamgarh is in its developing stage. We are running our school in two small buildings. The condition of the present buildings are so pathetic that it do not have the least minimum requirements of an ideal school and more over we cannot accommodate more children for the next academic session. We were in a dilemma, whether we can go on with the vision of rendering quality education to the less privileged children of a remote village like this. Now, we are happy to say that, by the grace of God and by the support of well-wishers we could start the construction of a new school building. The construction work is in progress. The main problem we are facing now is the shortage of adequate fund to finish the construction. We remember with gratitude and thank God for all those who have supported us through their valuable time and money so far. We need to make our own infrastructure facilities for the smooth running of the school at the earliest. Moreover, we have a good access to the houses of the children and hence we can approach their parents and dear ones with the gospel of our Lord.

Dear all, when we and our children experience the love of our God and all the blessings from above, is it not unchristian to keep abstain from looking around and heeding to the cries of our brothers and sisters? Hence, we earnestly request you to keep this mission work and its needs in your prayers. Also help us with your valuable financial support and also by participating in the propagation of the gospel in the remote villages of India.

Let us strive tirelessly together for the making of His Kingdom in this world among us in these villages.

Needs of Mission • Completion of the school building; • Chapel buildings in Akaltara and Kutrabod (Pamgarh); • Buildings for Balwadies; • Toilet and bathrooms for people living in slums.

How you can help us?

• by your regular prayers; • by your visit and staying with us; • by your valuable donations; • by sponsoring villages and Balwadies.

With You in His Ministry

Rev. Sunil B. Zachariah, Missionary, Chhattisgarh Mission Contact Information:

Tel: 011-91- 7752270845 (H) 011-91-9424133845, 011-91-8602531358 (C) E-Mail: revsunzac@yahoo.com