FOCUS October 2017

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FOCUS October 2017 Vol. 5 No: 4

Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan - A Karmayogi with a Difference, Revd Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam Page 12 Cover Photo: Religionless Christianity (Source Internet)

A Publication of Diaspora FOCUS

Religionless Christianity, Rev. Dr. Valson Thampu, Trivandrum - Page 14

Editorial, Religionless Christianity, Dr. Jesudas M. Athyal - Page 3

Let us Speak Less of Religion, and More of Spirituality, Revd Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam – Page 18 Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma -The Best Yet to Be, Dr. P. J. Alexander, Trivandrum - Page 5

The Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma - The st

Religionless Christianity – What Does It Mean? Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas - Page 21

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21 Metropolitan of the 21 Century Dr. P. John Lincoln, Lubbock, USA, - Page 8 s

His Grace Most Rev. Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan, Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas – Page 10

Religionless Christianity – A Prophetic Voice, Dr. Zac Varghese, London – Page 27

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EDITORIAL FOCUS is discussing the topic, “Religionless Christianity” at a crucial period in the history of the western world and the churches in the diaspora. Religion, in one form or another, has been an integral part of human and social life perhaps from the beginning of civilization itself. Having grown up in a religious environment from our childhood itself, we tend to take religion and religiosity almost for granted. The growth of secularism, science and technology in the last few centuries have, however, posed a serious threat to the role of religion as the guiding principle in personal and public life, and the people were encouraged to be more ‘rational’ in their thinking and actions. Such secular trends often led to the widening popularity of atheism and agnosticism but it also prompted reformation and renaissance movements in traditional religions, in the process challenging them to distinguish between the core of religion and the corrupting practices that crept into organized religion over the centuries. This year (2017) we are celebrating the 500 anniversary of the Reformation led by Martin Luther in Europe, which challenged the corruption in the Roman Catholic Church. Mar Thoma Church itself was born out of such a reformation process in the Malankara Church of Kerala. The movements led by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John A. T. Robinson, Harvey Cox and others in the 20 century represented the protest of a generation that was dissatisfied with the institutional church and yearned for a spirituality that recognized the maturity of human beings (in Bonhoeffer’s language, “man’s coming of age”). Reform movements were not confined to the Christian world alone. M. M. Thomas in his monumental study, The Acknowledged Christ of Indian Renaissance (SCM Press, 1970), focused on the thought of Hindu reform leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, S. Radhakrishnan and others and their efforts to reform Hinduism and respond to the challenge of the Christian gospel. There were similar reform movements also in Islam led by Asghar Ali Engineer and others. th

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The 21 century, however, brought with it unique challenges.

While hostility (or, at least, indifference) towards organized religion has been a characteristic of the western world for the last several decades, what has become evident in recent years is the sheer number of people who do not want to be identified with any religious group. Compared to Europe, America has historically been more tolerant of organized religion but that situation too is changing rapidly. According to a nationwide survey conducted by Pew Research Center in 2016, the share of Americans who do not identify with any religious group is growing. While such surveys in the 1970s and 80s found that fewer than 10% U.S. adults said they had no religious affiliation, today 23% describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular” (Gregory A. Smith & Alan Cooperman, “The factors driving the growth of religious ‘nones’ in the U.S.” in Pew Research Center: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/14/thefactors-driving-the-growth-of-religious-nones-in-the-u-s/).

This phenomenon is true with regard to Canada too. Nearly one-quarter of Canadian adults say they have no religion, according to the recent Canadian General Social Survey. st

What is most significant is the generational pattern in the changing religious landscape of the west. According to these studies, the non-religious people are predominantly young adults. Nearly eight-in-ten Millennials with low levels of religious commitment describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular.”

The Pew study noted the shift in the demography of American Christianity according to which Americans in general are becoming less Christian, and nearly a quarter do not identify with any faith at all; but there were earlier studies too that pointed towards the changes in the religious landscape of the country. In 2009 Newsweek published an article in which Jon Meacham argued that Christians now make up a declining percentage of the American population and that this trend would eventually lead to the marginalization of Christianity in the United States. The decline in the Christian population was directly linked to an increase in the number of people who are unaffiliated to any religious institutions. Several Christians – the mainstream religious group in the United States – are drifting away from organized religion into either new religious movements or to a secular humanist worldview. Quoting Albert Mohler Jr., a leading American evangelical theologian and the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Meacham noted that the historic foundation of America's religious culture was cracking. Some churches are seeing a faster decline than others, with the greatest shift happening among the Roman Catholics and mainline Protestants. In particular, Meacham took note of the decline of Christianity in the Northeast of the United States, the cradle of the faith in the New World. With the rise of a secular culture in the Northeast – an area where Puritanism, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism and Judaism, have all historically had influence the region has “…emerged in 2008 as the new stronghold of the religiously unidentified" (Jon Meacham, “The End of Christian America”, in Newsweek, 4 April, 2009).

There were, however, dissenting voices. In a rejoinder to Meacham’s article, Soong-Chan Rah countered the thesis about the decline of Christianity in the United States by arguing that what is declining in the country is not so much the Christian faith as Europeanized Christianity. In fact, Soong-Chan went on to affirm that “American Christianity may actually be growing, but in unexpected and surprising ways.” His central argument was that immigrant Christian groups are rapidly replacing the space traditionally occupied by the Europeanized Christians. To prove his argument, Soong-Chan went back to Meacham’s point about the decline of Christianity in the Northeast of the United States.

He noted: Let's take for example the Northeastern city of Boston in a region of the country that Mohler believes we have "lost." In 1970, the city of Boston was home to about 200 churches.

Thirty years later, there were 412 churches. The net gain in the number of churches was in the growth of the number of churches in the ethnic and immigrant communities. While only a handful of churches in 1970 held services in a language other than English, thirty years later, more than half

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of those churches held services in a language other than English. (Soong-Chan Rah (2013) ‘The End of Christianity in America?’ http://www.patheos.com/resources/additionalresources/2010/08/end-of-christianity-in-america Stephen Warner, the well-known sociologist of religion, described this phenomenon as the “coloring of American Christianity” and urged the scholars to take note of the fact that a large number of recent immigrants to the United States, especially from Central and Latin America, Africa and Asia, are Christians. While the immigrants from Central and Latin America are predominantly Catholic, the Asian Christian immigrants are mostly Protestant and evangelical.

“This means that the new immigrants represent not the deChristianization of American society but the deEuropeanization of American Christianity" (R. Stephen Warner, 2004. “Coming to America: Immigrants and the Faith They Bring” in The Christian Century (Vol 121, No. 3, https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1113232627/coming-to-america-immigrants-and-the-faiththey-bring#/articleDetails). This phenomenon is not typical of the United States alone but is true of most of Europe as well.

As the population of the traditional Europeanized Christians dwindles, they are rapidly being replaced by the immigrant Christians from the South.

The discussions of Soong-Chan Rah, Stephen Warner and other scholars hold valuable lessons for us as we reflect on the identity and mission of immigrant Christians, in particular St. Thomas Christians of Kerala origin, in the diaspora. In their northward migration, the Kerala Christians are called upon to strike a balance between the social and cultural realities of their new homes and the values they brought with them. The resultant conflicts often gave rise to cultural, social and religious tensions, which become particularly pronounced as the immigrant groups took roots in their new homes and second and subsequent generations were born and brought up in the diaspora. Prema Kurien, in her recent book, Ethnic Church Meets Megachurch: Indian American Christianity in Motion (NYU Press, 2017) argues that the immigrants, by their mere presence in their new locations, re-articulate the discourse and introduce newer perspectives. Within the specific context of the Mar Thoma Church, Kurien examines how migration to the North, especially during the last few decades, has posed a severe challenge to the religious and cultural identities of this ancient Indian Christian community. That is the account of a traditionally pluralist society re-discovering itself in a modern pluralist context, in the process raising pertinent questions about the migrants' long-term transnational attachments to their country of origin, challenging conventional notions of assimilation into host countries and relating them to questions of religious organizations.

Within this larger social and cultural context, several articles in this issue of FOCUS discuss “religionless Christianity” in the rapidly changing environment around us. Rev. Valson Thampu in his article takes note of the concept of religionless Christianity but warns us that the context today is vastly different from that of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In our times we should venture beyond church boundaries only by

following the clarion call of the Truth that Jesus is to the world out there. “Religionless Christianity is not quite the same as Godless Christianity, the Christianity of mere convenience, of fashion, of arm-chair radicalism, or of antichurch rebelliousness”, as Rev. Thampu put it. Dr. Zac Varghese, on the other hand, argues in his article that Bonhoeffer’s radical concept reflects his religionless reinterpretation of Christianity. In this reinterpretation, God is not called upon to solve the problem of pain and suffering, but we as Christians are called to participate with God in powerlessness and weakness. The Church, therefore, requires constant self-examination and renewal in order to authentically express the spiritual reality they are trying to represent. Unless renewal plays an essential, constant and ongoing role in the Church, it will over time, drift away from its original vision and mission.

As an independent laity initiative of the St. Thomas Christians located in the diaspora, FOCUS has the key role of theologically interpreting to the church the changing religious landscape where traditional patterns are rapidly being replaced by new religious movements and secular ideologies. As we observed here, while several sections of the western world are today shifting culturally to postChristianity and undergoing varying degrees of secularization, intense and growing religiosity continues to define the identity of the southern communities including those who have migrated to the west. The first generation immigrant Christians in the west strive to build up local versions of the denominational churches they brought with them, but the second and subsequent generations, born and raised in the west, are more tuned to exploring the wider meaning of spirituality including religionless Christianity. As a whole, the Christians in the diaspora across generations are at the cutting edge of the rapid changes in culture, religiosity and social values. In this sense, traffic across national borders is not merely a geographic reality but also a social and spiritual one. Theologically, the church is the community of the dispersed – the people of God scattered over the face of the earth to witness to the great deeds of God. The whole church shares Christ’s ministry in the world and the effective exercise of this ministry must largely be by church members, when they are dispersed in the life of the world.

Dr. Jesudas M. Athyal http://www.issuu.com/diasporafocus http://www.scribd.com/diasporafocus Disclaimer: Diaspora FOCUS is a non-profit organization registered in United States, originally formed in late Nineties in London for the Diaspora Marthomites. Now it is an independent lay-movement of the Diaspora laity of the Syrian Christians; and as such Focus is not an official publication of any denominations. It is an ecumenical journal to focus attention more sharply on issues to help churches and other faith communities to examine their own commitment to loving their neighbors and God, justice, and peace Opinions expressed in any article or statements are of the individuals and are not to be deemed as an endorsement of the view expressed therein by Diaspora FOCUS. Thanks.

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The Most Revd Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan: The Best Is Yet To Be Dr. P. J. Alexander, I. P. S. (Retired), Trivandrum

The Golden Jubilee of His Grace the Metropolitan, Most Revd. Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma entering the ministry, as a Kassissa of the Mar Thoma Church, is an occasion to thank the Lord for an exceptional blessing to the Church, for we have in him an unusual Church Leader, with unique gifts, talents and abilities. He has successfully welded the past, the present and the future – the rich legacy of our past, the many nagging issues and challenges of the day and our soaring hopes, vision and dreams for the morrow, to take the Church forward. Looking at Thirumeni at the helm, with all other Thirumenis with his ‘Kaiveipu’, every right thinking Marthomite would pray for his good health and long life, to guide the Church during these turbulent times. The Church needs his leadership and cannot do without it. The problem today is not what Kottooreth Achen saw in 1893, felt, and went on to express through voice choking and tears flowing: “ Lord, when Moses died you had provided Joshua to lead the people, but now we have no body. . .” It is the willingness to combine the lessons of the past with the needs of today and the dreams for tomorrow at all levels. The dynamics of Church leadership is collective and continuing; not by fits and starts or long absence, selective presence or rash display of disruptive tendencies. Among all these His Grace is a stabilising influence. We are richly benefitted by Thirumeni’s presence at the helm, all these years. My prayer on this occasion is for His blessings on Thirumeni to lead our dear Church for many more years.

As I look back, the earliest picture that surfaces in my mind is that of the Annual Mar Thoma Students’

Conference. It was a must for most of us, fortunate to join a College and take the first few tentative steps towards a career, it was the rare occasion to meet and interact with the leaders of the Church, both lay and ordained. Among the participating students came some of our future members in the Civil Services, in the Teaching Community, Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, other professions, and also our future Clergy.

The contingent from Union Christian College, Alwaye, was often the largest, with Varkey Achen, the Chaplain in the lead. Those of us from the Government Colleges were in ones and twos as we lacked a college-based community of Mar Thoma students. In the UC College contingent one year, we were introduced to a tall, wellbuilt, handsome student, a wee bit reserved, but actively involved in the Conference schedule.

Someone said that he is a scion of the family of Malpan Achen and the first four Metropolitans after Naveekaranam, and perhaps would be an Achen and Methrachan in due course. We were all impressed, really impressed, and of course watched him with a sense of awe and respect. That was P. T. Joseph of Palakunnath, a senior student of the Union Christian College. Those of us, who were inquisitive and concerned for the Church, used to gather information on his career choice and later were glad to hear that he opted for the ministry. That was sixty years ago.

In fact it was much later, when as an Achen and Travelling Secretary to the Suvisesha Sanghom, that I had my first direct personal interface with him. I was then teaching in the University and preparing for my Civil Services Examination. Achen stayed with us at our house at Kampencode and I went with him to visit houses and receive the small contributions from poor Marthomites; they poor were people, but with rich commitment to evangelization and ready for sacrifices for the Church. It was hard work, going about hillocks and bunds of paddy fields all on foot. I think we were together for about a week and P. T. Joseph Achen had no complaints of the gruelling, punishing schedule. He made a lasting impression on me on his simple, Spartan lifestyle and strong work ethics. It remains so after all these years.

The next station where we were together was good old Calicut, now Kozhikode, and the Head Quarters of the Malabar District where British presence continued vigorously till Independence. Even in the early sixties, the colonial hangover remained in both social-life and administration. Malabar was in the throes of migration

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from Travancore. Hardy and hardworking people carrying tapioca stumps and cuttings of pepper wines were buying up land with even dubious titles from the so called landlords to escape the poverty and misery in post-war Travancore. We had our presence in Calicut city, thanks to early Planters who developed estates in Wynad. Nothing beyond Calicut and Calicut was our most important Parish with several well-known lay leaders and substantial presence of other denominations. The migration to Malabar was continuing and new opportunities were opening up.

The Catholic Church was in the lead and did substantial work among the “Chettans”, a loose and pejorative term for all settlers from Travancore. When a history of the migration from Travancore to Malabar is written, the contributions of the Catholic Church deserve to be recorded in golden letters. As one who witnessed the troubles and tragedies to which the first waves of settlers were victims, I can only say that the Lord and the Church were with the survivors. The young Joseph Achen was ready and willing to travel to interior villages of Malabar and meet our people and with the support of pioneering Planters and raw bureaucrats like me, give the few, just a handful of Marthomites, a sense of belonging and some selfconfidence. Most of what was done must continue to remain under wraps because instances are not few when raw horns like me interpreted the rules listening to ‘the still-small-voice’ and not always to the small prints of Rules and Regulations in Manuals. Be that as it may, but when on a far away hill, in a very small, grass-thatched shed the Holy Qurbana is celebrated by a Thomas Thirumeni, or a Joseph Achen and the suffering Marthomites join the Lord’s Table with an young IPS officer, who never hesitated to accept them as fellow believers, well, the Lord cannot but be pleased. It was Church building at the rudiments.

Roads and bridges were built, even with a little armtwisting and the law looking the other way. Here and there small patches of land were acquired for building Churches. Projects like the ‘Kasargod School for the Speech Impaired’ grew out of such God-inspired initiatives. Joseph Achen was in the fore in all such escapades and clearly hinted that he is an institutionbuilder. His trail from Trivandrum to Delhi is marked by a variety of institutions he built up or encouraged others to build. Planning for the future of the Church, its growth and development are his main concerns and these flow through his veins.

Our stay in Calicut was not without its flip side. We used to go for small treks and picnics and also to visit Rubber and Tea Estates of Marthomites and other friends. I confess to a little shikar on the side, which was encouraged and appreciated by the local gentry

still given to admiring the ‘Whites’ and their ways. But the best was solving a vexing problem disturbing the Sunday worship in the Calicut Church, located at the very entrance to the City. A group of people, styling themselves as a Musical Band used to start practicing, on Sunday mornings, their old, ill- tuned instruments producing eerie and unusual noises, best suited to scare wild life away. Several requests by the parishioners – to shift the Sunday practice to a slot, a little earlier or a little later – did not evoke any favorable response. A visit of Thomas Thirumeni was on the cards and everyone was concerned at the cacophony disrupting the melodious chanting of Thomas Thirumeni. It was then that they thought of the young Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in charge of the area. On being briefed of the problem, the ASP took over, to the great relief of Joseph Achen.

Preliminary studies indicated that the Sunday practice sessions were not spurred by any desire to please the muse of music, but just to embarrass the parishioners, of whom one was the Landlord and he had requested them to seek a new premise as he wanted to rebuild the old structure. This was their reply in kind, a dose of jarring sound, during worship. The young police officer, visited the Band as they held a performance, convinced them that he was deeply impressed, and requested them to play their music at one of his Police Stations where a colleague was retiring. So they came and performed and as time went on, the appreciative audience asked for favorite tunes, and it was non- stop, no- respite music all the way to late in the night. The swelling audience clearly indicated that the almost swooning listeners would not let the music stop even as day was breaking. Then wisdom too dawned and an assurance was given by the musicians that there would not be any practice thereafter during worship in the Church, and all they wanted was permission to stop the ‘Music Yagna” (remember, cycle yagna, a rage those days) and go home. All the parishioners welcomed the happy solution and a beaming Joseph Achen did not conceal his relief.

Recently, while recalling some similar adventures we thanked God that the Electronic Media had not entered the scene then. Otherwise imagine the Channel Sessions and media hype over the music- addiction of the Police.

Thirumeni had a long spell as a parish priest, nearly fourteen years and it indeed helped him to learn all the ropes, those that strangle and those that untie. He was good at cutting many a Gordian knot to the utter disappointment of all those who opt for a shortcut or a fast buck, Thirumeni knew the number of bricks, the quantity of mortar and the labor required to build a wall or dig a well. Growing up with Titus II, he also had the

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inimitable opportunity to learn all that a Prelate of the Mar Thoma Church should know, practice, cherish, and safeguard. He had learned by heart all or most of the prayers and songs long before he became an Achen. On special occasions Thirumeni, could be persuaded to use the songs and prayers, which Titus II used while celebrating the Holy Qurbana. A couple of lines from one of these had found its way to the Court, thanks to the late K. N. Daniel who alleged preference to Orthodox practices on the part of the saintly Juhannon Thirumeni. Notwithstanding this unhappy association, Thirumeni has always obliged, to the immense satisfaction and profound happiness of people like me who are proud of and deeply respect our sacred, very sacrosanct, and unique traditions.

Thirumeni picked up his Syriac also from the same source and as everyone knows he can use it as good as any other Syrian Christian prelate of our Sister Churches. There have been occasions when slightly irritated by the “Tyranny of the Commercial Orchestra”, poised to hijack the very marriage ceremony, Thirumeni has held forth in Syriac chanting from start to finish, including punctuations, to the utter shock and dismay of all others, including our Achens and total discomfiture of the Orchestra. Enjoying the performance every bit, I used to recall Bishop Fenwick’s observations on Palakunnath Malpan Achen’s contributions to preserving Syriac, as is used by our sister Churches, though it was Malpan Achen who started worship in Malayalam, extempore.

Thirumeni is blessed with an excellent memory besides being blessed with an equally excellent sense of history. He is indeed heir to the legacy of Abraham Malpan and that of Metropolitan Mathews Mar Athanasius the Great, and his three successors from the Palakunnath family. These rare traits and genes have contributed to make him unique, singular, and outstanding. The way he faced a spell of ill health is a shining example of his courage, determination and fortitude. The Lord healed him and he cooperated by rigorous self-discipline and towering faith – nothing short of a miracle.

I could go on recalling vignettes and incidents in which Thirumeni is ever and always the hero and the villains are inevitably and always vanquished. In fact having had the privilege to edit two Festschrifts on Thirumeni, “The Mar Thoma Church: Tradition and Modernity” on the occasion of the Episcopal Silver Jubilee in 2000 and “Heritage and Development in the Mission of the Mar Thoma Church” on the occasion of his 80th Birthday in 2011, my stock of materials stand replenished, sufficient for a fitting Volume for the Navathi, if He so wills.

Let me conclude with an observation about his love and respect for the Lay Leaders of the Church. The beautiful memorial, at the most appropriate spot in Trivandrum for T. M. Varghese, who led the struggle for responsible government in Travancore, and the tallest leader of the State Congress would not have materialized but for Thirumeni’s interest and initiative.

It was Thirumeni who goaded me to take the leadership and use my influence with our political leaders, in and out of office, for the Memorial. And lo and behold, this Marthomite, who has worked with national leaders like Panditji, would love to be an usher at Maramon, and would strengthen Abraham Mar Thoma to defy the all-powerful Diwan of Travancore, stands there in everlasting bronze and granite, a fitting tribute from a grateful community. It also loudly declares the position our Church took in the freedom struggle in Travancore.

Thirumeni never forgets the balance the Church has to maintain between laity and clergy.

He forgives, perhaps a bit too soon, errant behavior on the part of Achens.

The Aymenis are always forgiven though their conduct, for instance in the Mandalam, would compel an exemplary disapproval leading to expulsion.

His magnanimity is proverbial, those who benefit from it keep it to themselves, keeping their mouths tightly shut, while those who hoped for more, but could not get all, nurse petty grouses and loses and go on airing their grievances, forgetting the beauty of love and gratitude. Well, Thirumeni does not take either seriously to heart. Like, Burke, he believes that “a great empire and little minds go ill-together.” He is largehearted, magnanimous, and generous to a fault. He gets angry too soon and forgets his anger also too soon. How I wish, we understood this unique, good, generous, large-hearted and absolutely committed taskmaster who works hard and expects others too, to be like him. His hours of work are astoundingly long and elastic.

We need him for many more years. The Lord knows the Church needs him. And I pray for his good health and long life to guide the Church fast, forward.

Editorial Note: Dr. P. J. Alexander, I. P. S. (retired I. G of Police of Kerala) is an eminent lay leader of the Mar Thoma Church. He obtained his doctorate in criminology and was one of the distinguished police officers of the Kerala government. His contributions for the growth of the Mar Thoma Church are many. He has published several books including ‘Heritage and Development in the Mission of the Church’. He is settled in Trivandrum and also teaches as an emeritus professor at various law schools and also acts as guide for doctoral students.

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The Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma - The 21st Metropolitan of the 21st Century Dr. P. John Lincoln, Lubbock, USA What an honor for me when I received an E-mail from my good old friend Dr. Zac Varghese, London, asking me to write an article for the publication of Diaspora FOCUS in October honoring our Metropolitan, Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma. During the Silver Jubilee of his Episcopacy a similar publication was done, in which I also submitted an article for publication. Today I am privileged to write one more article for his Diamond Jubilee ordination.

The Mar Thoma Syrian church is his family, which was reformed from the Jacobite Church. Abraham Malpan from Palakunnathu and a few other Malpans jointly geared to introduce reformation changes in the church in 1843. This was the family chosen by God for this movement. There were four other Metropolitans from the same Palakunnathu family who headed the church until 1943. If they would not have sacrificed their lives for such a calling and dedicated their lives they would have not generated a great multitude of population in this community. Celibacy is not for all but it is only for the called ones. To my understanding he is the last link of the Palakunnathu family genealogy to be a Metropolitan.

This Mar Thoma Church is historical, evangelical and of course with great heritage, respected by global churches.

The church was formed on a one-on-one relationship with God’s agape’ love and continues in that path today.

Power and dictatorship are unseen in the church as it is democratic in origin. To start with it was a small church but had a wonderful relationship and efficient leadership.

Reformation and translation of the liturgy into native language made the worship meaningful for the participants. This introduced people to have a personal relationship with God rather than following and performing rituals to please God. I have had the privilege to see Abraham Mar Thoma, Yuhanon Mar Thoma, and I have had the privilege to work with Dr. Alexander Mar Thoma, Dr. Philipose Mar Chrysostom Mar Thoma, and our present Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma and all other Episcopas before and after him.

I have known Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma for the past 50 years. My cousins, who were his college classmates, know him more closely, even before he became an ordained priest. I have known Thirumeni since 1968 to the present, which is 50 years. I have known him from the time he served as our vicar of the Madras Mar Thoma Church, a young Achen with a heavy beard and a deep and powerful voice and was an eloquent speaker. His voice was melodious and his chants were appealing for a soul thrusting worship service. He uses some Syriac language in the Holy Qurbana service making people feel

as though they are in a heavenly abode. His theme of life is “love one another”. Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma is a lover of God and a lover of mankind. He has a personality and character unshakable to criticism and opposition. He always believes that necessity is the mother of invention.

He is aware that rules and regulations are very important as a leader of the church, but when it comes to humanitarian circumstances, then rules and regulations are secondary. He values life more than anything and that is why he is called the shepherd who enlightens the suffering souls. He has extended a helping hand to all who need it, including his critics and those who consider themselves as his enemies. He is always at close proximity for the tormented families, sick people or those who have lost their loved ones. His needs and care for his own health always comes second to others in need.

He was awarded his first doctorate in 1985 from Virginia Theological Seminary, where I was also one of the invitees, and the second one in 2007 from Serampore Theological College. He still keeps up good relationships with all his teachers, friends, fellow clergy and Bishops within the Mar Thoma Church and interdenominationally.

Some people may feel that he is serious and a difficult person to approach, but after knowing him for so long and dealing with him closely I know him to be very personable, easy to approach and gentle in action. I consider him to be a good shepherd who can spark inspiration into any hopeless person. In his life he has had to undergo many metamorphoses as a common man called upon to be a clergy, Ramban, Episcopa, Suffragan Metropolitan and finally as the fifth Metropolitan from the Palakunnathu family today after 60 years. He is a good soldier as he is always in the forefront undefeated because he knows God is lifting him up. I consider him to be a modern day Moses.

His day always starts at 4:00am on his knees talking with his Father in heaven face to face for strength and guidance.

Even though his days are long with humanitarian services, all his office work is completed before sunrise.

He has been chosen out in this generation as a member of the Royal priesthood, called out of darkness into His marvelous light. He does not have any enemies because he considers all to be his friends. He is a good friend to all and his love to all is shown in his actions.

In this maddening labyrinth of times when we are tossed by storm and flood, but Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma is grounded as his spirit clings to God. St. Chrysostom

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once said, “Depart from the highway and transplant thyself in some enclosed ground for it is hard for a tree, which stands by the wayside to keep her fruit till it ripens.” The statement, “to keep her fruit till it ripens” is another way of saying that it takes a long time to achieve excellence and maturity. A barren tree will always have many leaves but will never get hurt or pelted because it has no fruit. When there is plenty of fruit on a wayside tree it may get hurt time and time again. I compare Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma to that big tree with plenty of fruit for all to enjoy.

honor of showing their love and sharing their appreciation of this great man and leader. My family and I wish him good health and a long life so that he can carry out his calling to bless this great church with his good will.

A Felicitation on the Diamond Jubilee of the Ordination of The Most Revd Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan

He is like an older brother to me and my family. He solemnized my marriage in 1970. I had the great privilege of attending his Episcopal Consecration in Tiruvalla in 1975. Even after becoming an Episcopa our relationship has never changed. In 1985, I was invited to the University of Virginia to attend his doctoral convocation.

He has always been available for all my family’s needs.

He conducted all three of my children’s marriages and all my grandchildren’s baptisms in spite of his health limitations. I feel like I have the freedom to discuss and share all our family matters with him since our families have known each other for a long time.

Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma is a visionary, organizer and a great builder. He has given helping hands to build healthcare institutions, university colleges, postgraduate institutions and vocational training institutions. He always has constructive ideas and is a go-getter. No job is too little for him. The Maramon Convention is always in his thoughts and there is not a moment that goes by without him making plans for the next convention. He is very involved in organizations and has been president of Kerala Council of Churches, National Council of Churches and Christian Council of Asia. His involvement with the World Council of Churches has allowed the Mar Thoma Church to have an important role in ecumenism. He always extends his undivided support to those suffering and in need after natural calamities like earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and hurricanes.

I have known Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma for the past 50 years. He considers our home as his own and visits us when he can every year. I have also taken care of his dental needs for a very long time. I have never seen him have any health problems, but for a few years his health has been a little disturbed, but due to timely care from his healthcare professionals guided by God’s providence, he is gaining momentum in his health day by day. God has given him more favor in the midst of his disturbed health to continue to do his duties as the Metropolitan. He still travels inter-continentally attending to his calling in spite of his health.

I could fill this entire book by myself with a magnitude of knowledge, appreciation and love of Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma, but I will conclude so that others may have the

Sixty amazing years have passed since the Most Revd Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma has become a priest of the Mar Thoma Church on October 18, 1957. He has been a bishop for 42 years and a Metropolitan for the last ten years. The Editorial Board of the FOCUS rejoices in thanking God for the life and ministry of our Metropolitan at the Diamond Jubilee of his ordination as a priest. Four articles in this issue highlight the multifaceted personality of this servant of God who is deeply committed to God’s mission, ministry, and administration of the Church. The focus of his ministry is to express God’s unconditional love, care and service to the least and the lost. Thirumeni transforms problems into opportunities to live out the Gospel in everyday realities of life. We pray that God may continue to bless our Metropolitan Thirumeni, use him for guiding the Church and its growth, and glorifying God. The Editorial Board: Dr. Zac Varghese. London, Dr. Titus Mathews, Calgary, Revd Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam, Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas, Revd Dr. Valson Thampu, Trivandrum, Dr. Jesudas Athyal, Chennai

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His Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas

Photo taken after enthronement on October 2, 2007 His Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma was born to Maramon Palakkunnathu Kadone Lukose and Puthoor Mariamma on June 27, 1931. Thirumeni was ordained as a Deacon on June 29, 1957 and as Kassessa on October 18, 1957. Subsequently on January 11, 1975, Thirumeni was ordained as Ramban and consecrated as Episcopa on February 8, 1975. Thirumeni was designated as Suffragan Metropolitan on March 15, 1999 and enthroned as the 21st Mar Thoma of the Church on October 02, 2007.

Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan hails from the famous Palakkunnath family in Maramon from where the Mar Thoma Church had Abraham Malpan, the reformer of the Malankara Syrian Church in Kerala and the first four Bishops of the Mar Thoma Church namely Mathews Mar Athanasius, Thomas Mar Athanasius, Titus I, and Titus II. He had his theological education at the United Theological College, Bangalore and Protestant Episcopal Seminary in Virginia, USA. He also studied in Canterbury and Oxford. He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity by Virginia Seminary. Thirumeni has been confirmed with honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Serampore University, Calcutta. He was the President of the National Council of Churches in India and Member of Executive Committees of different development agencies like CASA and ECLOF. At present he is one of the senior Presidents of CCA and the chairman of CASA.

The place Maramon and river Pampa are part and parcel of Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan since he was born and brought up on the banks of river Pampa in Maramon.

Metropolitan is a very simple man with lot of humor in his private speeches. The speakers for the Maramon convention use to stay during the earlier period at Palakunnath house before the present retreat center was built. As an young boy (baby was his pet name) he spent memorable time famous speakers including Dr. Sherwood Eddy and Dr. Stanley Jones, which prompted Thirumeni to the mission and then gradually in to the ministry of the Church. Beginning Abraham Malpan through the first four Mar Thoma Metropolitans, the Palakunnath family played a key role in reforming the Church especially after the Royal Court verdict in 1889, during which time the Church lost everything it had, but Thomas Mar Athanasius led the reformed group of the Malankara Syrian Church which helped the Church to grow to its present status. It is quite natural that Joseph Mar Thoma inherited the rich legacy of Palakunnath family including the commitment and leadership quality of the forefathers of the Church. He is a conservative person in religious matters but always willing to accept the challenges of the society. One example is his ability in leading and guiding the Church and the society to accept the transgender community and the mission started among them through the Mumbai Diocese.

Thirumeni knew very well that the ministry would be difficult and hence he kept himself away from it when family members suggested him to join the full ministry of the Church. When his uncle Titus II was sick, young Joseph spent most of his weekend during his high school days (1940 – 1944) taking care of the ailing Metropolitan.

Abraham Mar Thoma, who was the Suffragan Metropolitan during that time, influenced him so much to become an ordained minister of the Church. He joined at U. C. College, Alwaye in 1948, one of the very few Christian colleges during that time, for intermediate and also completed his bachelor’s degree in economics as major and political science subsidiary. After completing his studies Joseph was thinking about a teaching position at U. C. College, but the Church wanted him to become a priest and he obliged to the invitation letter sent by Secretary to attend the interview for Vaideeka selection.

He was hesitant to accept the Church sponsorship for theological study, which would have forced him to become a priest of Mar Thoma Church. With the permission from then Metropolitan Yuhanon Mar Thoma, Joseph joined as an independent student at Union Theological Seminary, Bangalore. After graduating in 1957, Rev. K. P. Philip, then Vicar of Maramon Church helped young Joseph to take the decision to join the

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fulltime ministry in Mar Thoma Church. He became an ordained minister of the Mar Thoma Church in October 1957. Thus Joseph Mar Thoma is completing 60 years in this October 2017 as a priest of the Mar Thoma Church.

Initially, he was given charge of parishes around Ranni with a salary of about Rs. 55 per month. In 1959, he was appointed as traveling secretary of Mar Thoma Evangelistic Association which helped him to interact with various mission fields in Kerala and different parts of India. Rev. P. T. Joseph was a perfectionist and very diligent in every thing. If any program is not well planned or goes beyond control it is natural that he gets upset often, which drew several criticisms in the past and also at present. It is not because he is arrogant, but he wants everything to be done perfectly and in an orderly manner.

In 1963 when he was making preparations to take charge parish in Delhi, the Synod asked him to take charge of the Malabar region where lot of people from central Travancore began settling during that time. It was a challenging experience for Metropolitan especially the majority of the people in that region was Muslims.

Later Thirumeni joined Protestant Episcopal Seminary in Virginia where he specialized in Reformation theology by studying in detail the writings of Martin Luther, Cramer and Bonhoeffer. In 1966 he joined Oxford and obtained his masters degree in Divinity and Sacred Theology. He returned to Kerala in 1967 and served as parish priest at Madras, Kundara and Trivandrum until December 1974.

He was consecrated as a Ramban on January 11, 1975 at Trichur and consecrated as a Bishop on February 8, 1975 by choosing the name of St. Irenaeus, a 2nd century theologian, who was martyred during Roman persecution.

Thirumeni served as Bishop of Kollam – Kottarakara (1975-1980), Delhi – Bombay (1980-1988), Trivandrum – Quilon (1988-1997) and Adoor- Mavelikara (1997- 2007) His determination to success in everything he does is always related to his quest for excellence and perfection.

His determination to get things done at any cost often puts himself into difficult situations but he has the ability to turn around all disadvantages to possibilities. His leadership qualities are excellent which proved during Kuwait crisis and he took extra leadership to provide all support for those returned to Kerala. He is an ecumenical leader associated with KCC, NCCI, CASA, ECLOFF and several other national and international organizations.

Joseph Mar Thoma is builder of the Church, both building the people and building the structures. His approach to the common view that ‘Church is for building people and not for building structures’ his reply will be ‘Church is for both building people and building the structures and without structures a Church cannot build its people and community around’. St. Thomas School in Trivandrum, St. Thomas School, Ranchi, St. Thomas School, Singapore, The College of Science and Technology, Ayoor, higher education facilities at St. Thomas Mission Hospital,

Kattanam, recent development projects for Vellore Guidance Center are examples of Thirumeni leadership and vision about providing quality education and care to those who are in need. Starting dialysis at reduced charges for poor people both at Kattanam and Kumbanad at his initiative shows his caring nature for the poor people. The Church at the desire of Metropolitan has initiated the ‘snehakaram Project’ when Thirumeni completed 80 years by providing free cataract surgery for poor people. Thirumeni was elevated to Suffragan Metropolitan on March 15, 1999 and finally to Metropolitan on Oct. 2, 2007. Thirumeni is also completing 10 years as Metropolitan of the Mar Thoma Church in October 2017, a time during which a lot of false allegations were leveled against Thirumeni from various sources.

The newly built Poolatheen for Metropolitan led to several controversies in the Church, but everyone forget the reality that the Poolatheen in which Metropolitan was staying was built in 1964. His leadership and commitment to the Church is often being criticized. He will do anything for the priests who need his support. Recently, when one of our Achen has to transplant his liver, Metropolitan took initiative and send that Achen to Vellore and the liver was successfully transplanted and the Achen recovered completely. As per the Kalpana of Metropolitan enough funds was raised for the treatment of that Achen. I had the privilege to interact with Thirumeni since 1984 while I was practicing as an Advocate at Pathanamthitta.

Even though Thirumeni is subject to several controversies recently, they’re none to come in par with his leadership and bravery in making decisions. Thirumeni stands out as a prominent Christian leader, still making his own identity and it is glorious moment in his life to complete 60 years of ministry in His service. His boldness to face any controversies and extra ordinary courage remain firm on his stand makes him a different person. This trait of strong determination and stupendous sturdiness enables Metropolitan Thirumeni to move ahead as a successful leader without being fallen as a prey to many false allegations. His words are with a tone of authority, which is not pleasing to many, but he is very good person and a friend in need to anyone who approaches him for help.

He seldom stoops for pressures and never afraid of criticisms of whatever nature. His courage, probably received from Abraham Malpan and all four Mar Thomas from Palakunnath family makes him a leader of his own kind and nature, which helps him to carry out his responsibilities under any circumstances whether cordial or confronting. I wish and pray that our Lord may continue to keep Metropolitan Thirumeni under His providence to lead and guide Mar Thoma Church in to the unknown future.

Source: Heritage and Development in the Mission of the Church, Dr. Alexander, P.J. (Ed.), 2011.

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Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan-A Karmayogi with a Difference Revd Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam I am indeed grateful for the opportunity to write a brief felicitation article on Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan as the Metropolitan Thirumeni is completing 60 years in the Ordained Ministry of the Church of which 42 years as Episcopa (1975-) including 10 years (2007-) as the 21st Metropolitan of the Mar Thoma Church. Therefore, it is quite fitting that the Church should take this opportunity to thank God for all the blessings received through the Episcopal ministry and leadership of His Grace.

I would like to recall my association with Thirumeni as a clergyman of the Church. My parents hail from Maramon where Thirumeni was born. His Grace always keeps his ancestral and native relationships in mind and responds to situations with genuine love and affection. My family is greatly indebted to him as Thirumeni found time to visit our home at Valiyakavu, Ranni after the passing away of my father in 1987 by crossing a flooded canal. I am sure others also will have such stories to tell. I remember to have read an article written by Thirumeni in the Newspaper on the spirituality of Onam Celebrations in his native place and talked about the social harmony contributed by the Boat Race at Pamba River and other festivities in the neighborhood of Maramon. I am indeed surprised to know that he still remembers his old friends and associates in the area and makes a visit to their homes with a message of consolation and care. One should remember that the Risen Lord did not forget his earthly friend, Mary, even in his new status as the Risen Lord by calling her by name, Mary. Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma always finds time “to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep” (Rom.12: 15).

Thirumeni always finds time to lead the funeral service of Achens without fail if found in the Aramana. I have noticed in him great concern and compassion for the clergymen of the Church, if found in their ministerial problems. I remember with gratitude to God for the presence of the Metropolitan Thirumeni as the chief guest when I bid farewell to ECC, Bangalore in 2006.Later on His Grace wrote a Foreword to my Golden Jubilee Felicitation volume, The Golden Beams. When I took over the responsibility as the convener of the Ecological Commission of the Church, he has demonstrated great concerns for the ecological concerns as the patron of the Commission. A student of the Serampore College has written a B. D. Thesis on Thirumeni’s ecological perspectives in the mission of the Church. I also found time to guide him. There are several noble pastoral traits such as liturgical and missional concerns are his Episcopal ministry for which the Church has reasons to thank God. The footprints a leader leaves on the sands of time are lessons for the future generations to imitate and innovate.

As we search for a life and its lessons, we need to search first or the already written records available with us. On the occasion of his Episcopal Silver Jubilee (2000), a Festschrift Volume under the title, The Mar ThomaTradition and Modernity- was published. I was also a member of the editorial board and Dr. P. J. Alexander was its convener and editor. There are several articles of Reminiscences (13) and Reflections on the Main Theme (24-articles). In several of the articles of reminiscences, Thirumeni is qualified as a ”people’s bishop”. In an article under the title, “Mission of the Mar Thoma Church in the global context”, Dr. Zac Varghese wrote: “. . . he (Rev. P. T .Joseph) is born to be a bishop of the Mar Thoma Church. . . Here was an Achen who utterly proud of the rich heritage of the Church and was fully aware of the role that his family played in the preservation and restoration of the great traditions of St. Thomas Christians of Malankara”. In an erudite article in the Second Festschrift volume, Rev. Dr. Mathew Daniel, speaks highly of Thirumeni’s commitment to the heritage of the Malankara Church. Yes, he has the passion “to preserve the timeless while adapting to the times” (Dr. Zac Varghese).

“Search for the timeless “ is to get involved in the affairs of the world as a good steward of God. In his association with CSI-CNI-MTC Joint Council, NCCI, ECLOF, CCA, WCC and other ecumenical bodies as a negotiator, Thirumeni has proved his leadership qualities with a difference. I am sure his recent leadership in Church union negotiation with the Syrian Orthodox (Jacobite) Church will help the Mar Thoma Church to strengthen its age-old Malankara identity. Each of the Bishops and Metropolitans of the Mar Thoma Church has been endowed with a particular charisma. St. Paul reminds us “we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us”(Rom.12: 6). The second Festschrift volume (2011) entitled, Heritage and Development in the mission of the Church, published on Thirumeni’s 80th birthday contains articles of reminiscences and tributes (15) and essays relating to heritage and development in the mission of the Church (55- articles). I too was a member of the editorial board and Dr. P. J. Alexander was its Chief Editor. In its preface, Dr. Alexander wrote: ” . . . The Festschrift is a collection of papers written by a galaxy of eminent people, both from the ordained ministry and the laity, from India and abroad”. . . “During his long tenure as a priest, a Bishop and the Metropolitan, His Grace has made a large number of friends, has a number of admirers and those who are quite fond of him who appreciate his zeal and commitment to work, and his ability to face problems and crises”. Needless to say, as a Karma yogi, his focus is on possibilities rather than on problems. Thirumeni has had several opportunities to do something for God’s glory. The Institutions he had

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established in different parts of India have several stories to tell. “Arise, awake, stop not until your goal is achieved”(Vivekananda) is Thirumeni’s work ethic. For him, understanding is deeper than knowledge. There are many people who know us. But there are very few who understand us. The three pillars of success such as “commitment, persistence and courage” are quite visible in all the initiatives under taken by Thriumeni as an Episcopa of the Church. As an ecumenical leader and head of the Church, Thirumeni believes in the words of wisdom attributed to Buddha: “When you move your focus from competition life becomes a celebration. Never try to defeat people, just win their hearts”. One should always keep in mind the words of wisdom uttered by the sages: “Bad people give you experience; worst people give you a lesson and best people give you memories”.

So also weak people revenge us; strong people forgive us and intelligent people ignore other’s misdeeds. The Metropolitan, being a Karma yogi is being carried away by the life principle of Dr. A. P. J Abdulkalam: “If an egg is broken from outside forces life ends; if broken by inside force life begins and great things always begin from inside”. The humanitarian initiatives he had launched in the Church particularly Snehakaram, rehabilitation of the Transgenders, radical concerns for the deaf and the dumb school & college at Kasaragod, institutions of medical and humanitarian care testify to this. This is the legacy that has been handed down to the Church as the Metropolitan of the Church. Let us, therefore, thank God for these bold concerns. “O Come, let us sing to the Lord”(Ps.95:1).

There are a few who have misunderstood the Metropolitan for reasons of their own. This has been found in the history of the Church right from its early period . One may come across several opponents of Jesus during his earthly ministry and in the gentile ministry of St. Paul. It has been rightly said, “When some is so sweet to you don’t expect that person will like you all the time. Remember, even the sweet chocolate has its expiry date!” If our theology does not lead us to love others, we should question our theology. In his style of functioning, Metropolitan Thirumeni is always being guided by the Chanakya philosophy of life: “I am thankful to those who left me, because they taught me, I can do it alone”. “Walk alone; walk alone, if they do not follow you” (Rabindranath Tagore). The work principle held to his chest by Rattan Tata is well known. “None can destroy iron, but its own rust can. Likewise none can destroy a person, but his own mind set can. . .” The true measure of success lies not so much in what one has achieved, but in knowing about to what extend he or she has touched the lives of others.

May God of Grace continue to bless the Metropolitan Thirumeni with good health and cheer for the glory of His name.

THE LARVA AND THE BUTTERFLY Revd Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam I am a butterfly.

How could I have been a larva once?

I don’t like to be compared to a larva, It’s below my dignity.

Look at my pomp and show; Look at my attire, See the colors on my seamless coat, Watch the way I live and command.

There are so many at my side!

Many touch my feet!

I don’t go to any one, All are all coming to me.

The Larva turned to the butterfly and said, Remember you had a past; Your past is a continuation of my present.

You had undergone a period of metamorphosis.

You were once ugly in the sight of others; You were confined to your coffin; You were destined to be a prey of others; You seem to have forgotten the dark spots in your life.

As the larva and the butterfly were arguing, There came a crow; The crow said: hallow butterfly, You were once helpless; You would have been my prey, I allowed you to survive; It was my mercy, nothing but mercy.

Live in gratitude to your begetter; Live without any arrogance; Live in humility; Remember the past; Your making is a story in different stages.

Butterfly said to the Crow: Forgive me; I had forgotten my past; My beautiful attire had deluded me; My ability to fly above the lake made me proud, Now I know that my beauty is a threat to my life; The Death trap is at my doorstep.

* This poem, describing metamorphosis of an ugly larva to a beautiful butterfly, is as a most interesting metaphor for our spiritual transformation and liberation. Human beings also have the potential for such transformation and liberation through the grace of God. Transformation is a divinely guided process by which a human being becomes a spiritual being and attains freedom in Christ. However, we should be careful that our spiritual transformation does not lead us to pride.

Mentorship and fellowship with other believers would help us to continue our pilgrim’s journey with humility and thanksgiving (Editorial reflection)

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RELIGIONLESS CHRISTIANITY Revd Dr. Valson Thampu, Trivandrum Historical Christianity indwells the dynamic space between Christ-less church and Churchless Christ.

Christ-less church is biblical. Its prototype is the church at Laodicea, where Jesus is seen knocking, apparently interminably, at the door of the church to be allowed in.

This church is too busy worshipping him to ‘abide in’ him. Churchless Christ is history, where he is alive; and like all things alive, in healthy disregard of the lines of belief and heresy that man draws on the shifting sands of time. Between the two stands the believer, in simmering, low-grade bewilderment that he dares not confess to himself.

It was such a state – a very acute state – that forced Dietrich Bonhoeffer to wonder about the essence of his biblical faith and its correspondence to the church. (The disjunction between the two, by the way, is a serious issue only for those who take their faith-life seriously, as Bonhoeffer did. For nominal Christianity, it is an issue only of academic interest that can wait to be addressed at leisure.) Prisons have been, all through history, crucibles of insights. Spiritually, prisons belong together with deserts, forests and mountaintops, to man’s rendezvous with truth. Spiritually aglow in the Tegel Military Detention Centre in the dying and manic years of Nazism, he wrote: “What keeps gnawing at me is the question, what is Christianity, or who is Christ actually for us today? The age when we could tell people that with words—whether with theological or with pious words—is past, as is the age of inwardness and of conscience, and that means the age of religion altogether. We are approaching a completely religionless age; people as they are now simply cannot be religious anymore. Even those who honestly describe themselves as ‘religious’ aren’t really practicing that at all; they presumably mean something quite different by ‘religious.’”

–Letters and Papers from Prison. executed on 8 April 1945.)

(Bonhoeffer was

Note this one thing: the core spiritual experience for Bonhoeffer, as death breathed down on his shoulders, was that of ‘asking’. Unlike us, he knew asking, or interrogating, was not impious; for didn’t Jesus say, “Ask and it will be given you.” But, Malayalees have been done in by translation. In its Malayalam avatar, ask becomes “beg” (or, yaachippeen). That’s what generations of Malayalee Christians have been doing: begging to God, begging in the name of God and, worse, begging to those who claim to be mediators between them and God.

But God is our Father in heaven! Do fathers expect children to beg?

So, here it is. The seed of churchy Christianity as well as her commercialized alter ego, is this begging. The Mall of Christianity– faith healing, miracle-mongering, and, in the past, sale of indulgences and every unconscionable stratagem to put your hands into the pockets of believers- has been erected on this misleading distortion: religiosity as begging and cringing. This discomposed Bonhoeffer; for begging is a hindrance to human growth.

Why, do you think, Jesus emphasized, “Does not your Father know what you need?” Why did he forbid the awkward, self-demeaning practice of degrading praying to a delirious whirligig of words, denatured further, in some traditions, with the hysterics and histrionics of speaking in tongues? (Jesus says, “Do not use your tongue too much when you pray; and, right away, we begin to speak in tongues!) And why did he teach a model prayer of such quiet and profound dignity? The Lord’s Prayer, by itself, suffices, if understood aright, to shut down the shops of many a religious charlatan, who goes round cozening naïve people out of the little that they have.

Religionless Christianity? Sounds very strange, no? But does it have to? Wasn’t that the way it all began. Yet, Bonhoeffer got it semantically wrong. He equates the Way of Jesus with Christianity, like we all do; or are conditioned to do. The followers of Jesus were called Christians in Antioch for the first time (Acts. 11:26). This is a crucial stage in the history of Christianity. It marks the shift from being identified with Christ to being labeled in terms of church. Antioch marks the transition from Christ to Church.

It is analogous to what is recorded in the eleventh chapter of Genesis: the Tower of Babel. Babelites, for whom God had been the point of cohesion, unity and identity, attempt to erect an alternative: the Tower of Pride. This Tower, though destroyed, resurfaces, millennia later, as the Temple of Jerusalem- the sanctified Tower, if you like, of Judaic religious pride (appropriately also the setting of the second temptation of Christ. Also, don’t forget, Jesus ridiculed the importance that the Jews attached to this Temple. There would have been, don’t you think, a spiritual and prophetic purpose in doing so?

An ordained priest, I have experienced, though in a much milder form, the perplexity that tormented Bonhoeffer in detention. Allow me to be a bit autobiographical and bring Metropolitan Philipose Mar Chrysostom (Valiya

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Thirumeni) into this discussion. While in Maramon, halfway though with one of my preaching assignments there, Valiya Thirumeni, who has always been kind and affectionate to me, asked-

One Father, One Son, one Word, one Spirit –but not one church. The Body of Christ continues to remain torn apart. Crucifixion continues through competitive, virulent denominationalism.

“Achen, which church do you belong to?”

As a preacher of the Word, I have been afflicted by another concern. Jesus came for all; but Christianity is only for Christians, or only those who become Christians.

Pre-conditions were alien to the Jesus I knew in the Gospels. “Come to me ALL ye, who labour and are heavy laden…” Has church become a prison for the Word and Way of Jesus? If so, wouldn’t Bonhoeffer’s religion-less Christianity be a liberation for the biblical faith?

I replied, “CSI is my mother church, but I am ordained in CNI” “Doesn’t that make you,” Valiya Thirumeni said, with a mischievous smile, “a hypocrite, one who travels in two boats at the same time?” “No, Thirumeni,” I said, “it doesn’t, because both boats are going in the same direction.” That was the moment Chrysostom Thirumeni was waiting for- “That was my fear. Both are headed in the same direction.”

It made me think. Did I get it wrong in assuming that all churches are headed in the same direction? Are they? If they are, are they moving, in step with Jesus, in the direction of the Kingdom of God? Are they moving at all?

Now let me connect this to Bonhoeffer’s anguish. He wrote, “If religion is only the garb in which Christianity is clothed—and this garb has looked very different in different ages –what is religion-less Christianity.”

Maybe, I should share with the readers one more experience before I reflect further on this searching question; for it brings us face-to-face with our themeA Catholic convent in Delhi was celebrating its Jubilee.

The sisters of the order were kindly disposed towards me and they insisted that I should preach on the occasion. This would be followed by the mass celebrated by Archbishop Alan de Lastic of the Delhi Archdiocese. When the time came for the mass, it was prefaced with the announcement that it was open only to Catholics.

Are churches headed in the same direction? Were the sermon and the mass in the same service headed in one direction? Now consider the followingI used to visit fellow believers in the US, as indeed in other countries. A situation arose in which I decided to discontinue the overseas part of my ministry. The context is as followsSeveral fellow Christians in Staten Island felt that there should be an Ecumenical Convention in that region. They felt that my track - record of relating to various churches qualified me for being associated with it on a regular basis. In my naiveté, I endorsed the idea and promised my support. This activated a host of hostile reactions from church hierarchies. I remembered Bonhoeffer in detention. There are times when it makes little difference if you are in detention or are not.

There is yet another problem I have had to battle, as one who sought to take the Way of Jesus into the business and bosom of all people. There is a huge wall separating the church from the society at large. Yet, this very church is mandated to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world! Is Jesus or the Gospel to blame for this? Or, has the church built these protective and selfimprisoning walls?

Strangway Orridge, was an Anglo-Indian, Catholic student of mine. He was a thorough gentleman, earnest about his faith and an active member of my chapel congregation. He fell in love with a Hindu fellow student.

They decided to marry. He knocked at the gate of his mother church and was rebuffed. I conducted the wedding, some thirty years ago, on the scenic banks of a river in Rishikesh. The ceremony was attended largely by Hindus, quite substantial in size. For them, and for me, it was a Spirit-filled experience. An opportunity to share the Christian idea of married life with everyone, irrespective of their religious labels, is too precious for me to be wasted for parochial considerations. I used to have children brought to me by the Hindu parents present at the wedding service in Rishikesh to be blessed, for months thereafter! There are plenty of opportunities to share the Word with the un-churched, provided we are free to look beyond the noses of our church-tenanted orthodoxy.

So, is there a religionless Christianity?

I started a ministry in Delhi under the name, “Ministry to Parliamentarians”. P. J Kurien, Pala K. M. Mathew, Oscar Fernandez, Charles Abraham (M. P from Trivandrum at that time), P. A. Sangma, and others used to help me with this ministry. Giani Zail Singh, who had by then retired as the President of India, was present at one of the Christmas gatherings organized. Impromptu, I asked Giani ji, if he wanted to address the gathering. Here is what he said, addressing the sixty-odd MPs and ministers present-

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“Do you want to be good Parliamentarians? Read the Bible. People ask me what I think of Jesus Christ. I tell you, he is the Savior of the world.”

So, is there a Christianity beyond the hedges of our churches? Better ask, “Is there a Lord of the Church, who is also the Lord of all humankind?” How small is your Saviour?

I now come to the last, and, for me, the most crucial issue under the present theme.

Jesus touched the depth in me with his invitation to continual growth towards perfection. “Be you perfect,” he said, “even as your Father in heaven in perfect.” (Mt. 5: 48). He was a radical thinker, eons ahead of his times.

He fixed no limit to human possibilities. If you have faith as large as a mustard seed, he said, you will ask these mountains to move and they will. He added, as though this was not enough, those who believe in me will do not only what I do, but greater things that I have done.

But has anyone seen this fire in church life? Has not this light of life been replaced by the twilight of mindless conformity? How come that the church played a regressive role in history, persecuting pioneers, burning as heretics those who sought to be true to their conscience and zealously protecting and promoting superstitions of the most ridiculous kind?

Of course, we will be right, up to a point, in arguing that all that was in the distant past. Our church has as different and spiritually sterling tradition. (I am happy, if she is. Congratulations. But make sure she is.). And that is precisely the issue that Bonhoeffer raised, even as the shadow of martyrdom was already creeping upon him.

The church is historical, isn’t she? If so, what is the historicity of a church that was something a few centuries ago, and something quite different now? And, who knows, what she will be a few decades hence?

What, then, is church? How does our present idea and practice of church relate to the Church, the body of Christ?

Even that is not my prime issue, which I must now come to. Jesus denounced the oppressiveness of Judaism. He referred to the millstone that the keepers of religion tied around the necks of believers. To me that millstone is stagnation. Stagnation results from unthinking conformity. Our thinking and seeking capacity: who has given it to us? God, or Satan? If God, why is it such a sin to use it? Especially after Jesus said, “Seek, and you will find…” Is not seeking the same as thinking? And what am I to do when, while thinking, I come across an insight at variance with orthodoxy? Muffle my conscience? Or, stand by it as part of my God-given right to have life in all its fullness?

To me there is only one absolute evil. That is the imprisonment of human beings in stagnation. The biblical spirituality I know is about limitless growth and godly fulfillment. Barring a few hardened cases -Judas, the rich young man etc.- everyone who went to Jesus grew in stature. If Jesus identified ‘fruitfulness’ as the proof of abiding with him (Jn. 15:1-5), surely he knew that there could be no fruit without growth. To me, Jesus is the yardstick by which we must judge. We decline from judgment to judgmentalism when we use our yardsticks, no matter from where we derive them.

Given the centrality of this issue, in my opinion, to the dynamics of the Kingdom of God, and its pervasiveness in Christendom, it makes sense to look at the ungodliness of stagnation more closely. I have often felt it curious that I have not had the privilege of hearing a sermon preached in half a century on the text, “Be you perfect…” (Mt.5: 48). Yet it is at the heart of the Kingdom manifesto that Jesus sets out in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7). It is legitimate to connect Matthew 5. 48 with Matthew 7:7 and read as follows, “Seek perfection”.

To me this is the quintessence of spiritual life. Why so?

There are two contrary visions for life: the static and the dynamic. The distinction between the two is what Jesus allude to, metaphorically, as serving God and Mammon.

Mammon is the prince of the status quo. God, the inexhaustible source of life, is a universe of newer and newer possibilities. Transformation -what in the language of the Gospel is referred to as being ‘born again’becomes a basic need because the world is, since the Fall, rooted in stagnation. But stagnation is the deathprinciple. When God said to Adam that he would surely die if he ate the forbidden fruit, he meant that Adam’s primal disobedience would chain him to death-asstagnation. Murder, by the way, is life as stagnation. Why do I say this? Murder cannot be, without life. Life is all movement and momentum. Murder reduces the movement that life is to stagnation, as Cain does to Abel, or the Jews, to Jesus. Crucifixion is the ultimate symbol of life-as-stagnation coming face to face with the divine dispensation of life-as-movement.

God is dynamic; that is why it is impossible to define him. “I am that I am, or I do what I do,” is not a definition.

Nor is it a definition. It is the intimation of the indefinable in the language of stagnation. (This is the perennial problem with language, precious though it is as a human facility. To name is to kill. Or, in the pattern that I outline here, to name is to fix and freeze in stagnation.)

Humanity is changing, transforming and remaking itself continually. Unfortunately, it is always overlooked that the Ministry of the Spirit is conjugated to this. Why, do you think, Jesus felt it essential to send the Counsellor, to lead us into all truth? (Jn. 16: 13). The continual unfolding of the human species in history can be either godly or demonic in character. What is demonic,

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however, also has to use the provisions of God as its raw material. (Satan could not have tempted Eve unless there was an Eve, an apple, a garden and the power of speech… all of which are God’s creations.) So, the dynamism that God infused into the seed of creation is vulnerable to be abused by Satan, but only with human complicity, to contradict divine intentions. (This is also why need to abide in Jesus).

the Church of North India within two years of my ordination. The provocation? I interpreted a text –the miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand- in a way that displeased the Moderator, who was present. The details are irrelevant; but the fact matters. That day I was thrown by the hand of God into a larger congregation. I began to see India as my congregation. That is the heart of my story.

This takes us to the heart of the paradox. Stagnation can be crafted only out of dynamism, just as life has to preexist before death can be, or only life can morph itself into death. One implication of what I am saying here is that we need to have a hard look at the binary mode of thinking that we have got used to, looking at life and realities in terms of aspects that seem to be, but are not, mutually exclusive opposites. Death, to take an extreme example, is not the negation of life but another form of life; not life as we know it now, but life, as we shall know, in the fullness of time. Enmity, to take another example, seems to us as the irreconcilable ‘you vs. me’. The same becomes, in the Kingdom of God, the godly freedom of ‘you-and-me’ as the children of God.

RELIGIONLESS CHRISTIANITY? But please be careful!

Bonhoeffer’s stumbling upon this radical concept, in the heat of personal anguish, is quite different from our using it either as an alibi –an escape route from church life, or as a fashionable turn of speech. That is dangerous! One should venture beyond church boundaries only following the clarion call of the Truth that Jesus is to the world out there. Church is where Jesus is; not where some structures and traditions stay stagnating in their comfort zones. There must be –and here Bonhoeffer, I am sure, will agree with me- a rigorous discipline for embracing religionless Christianity; for religionless Christianity is not quite the same as Godless Christianity, the Christianity of mere convenience, of fashion, of armchair radicalism, or of anti-church rebelliousness.

The sacred duty entrusted to us by the Creator is to be custodians of life, as co-workers with him. Jesus came as a stirring in the pond of the status quo, which is the essence of the healing that takes place in the pool of Bethesda. Religion is a pool. But it has two possibilities: to be either a pool of stagnation -when it becomes, at best, irrelevant to the human predicament, surrounded by a community of need- or a pool of stirring, which heals. Healing, reduced to its essence, is impactful relevance. (The sickness of life, in most cases, is nagging redundancy or irrelevance. We are sick, or we lack wholeness, if we are irrelevant to our ‘life-world’ -a useful coinage by Levi-Strauss- even if we are totally free from organic disorders. When Jesus mandated his disciples to “preach and heal” (Mt. 10: 7-9), he was asking them to remain contextually relevant and proactive, failing which they become the Sardinian church, that has the appearance of being alive, but is dead.

The curse of stagnation is endless repetition within a limited range; like the good old gramophone stylus playing on records. I wonder how many churches have congregational lives different from the stylus of routine moving on grooves of orthodoxy. Human needs: what are they? Whose needs are met? By whom? Also, won’t someone, please enlighten me on why Sunday services have to be so mechanical and boring. Isn’t it a crime against the Word to proclaim it with mouths of shallowness, abounding in clichés and stereotypes?

The world out there is a different experience! That is where I happened to ‘seek’ all my life. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise that I was, in effect, blacklisted by

This much is clear; and it brooks no mental wooliness.

Engaging with religionless Christianity should happen only as a natural, and necessary, consequence of one’s ‘sent-ness’. Jesus says, “Go”. Such going involves, certainly, a journey that transcends parochial boundaries. Like the journeys that resulted in Jesus’ encounters with the woman of Samaria, Zacchaeus the tax collector, and the demon-possessed in Gadara. The journey into religionless Christianity should not land us in no-God’s-land, where the lost son in the parable reached, after walking out of his home in search of the ‘far country’.

Hand on heart, I testify: I have had far greater, more luminous spiritual experiences in the world out there than in church circuits; though it is the church that nurtured me and gave me wings. So, in the end, religionless Christianity should be like the one that William Carey practiced. When urged by his fellow Christians in England that he could serve Jesus better by staying back and reviving his home parish, he replied: “It is for the sake of my home parish that I go.”

The church, as she exists today, is barely aware of being the bride of Jesus. She has lost her first love. She has the name of being alive; but she is dead. She is neither hot, nor cold; she is lukewarm (Rev. 2-3). This is not what I am saying. This is what the Spirit is saying to the “churches in Asia”! (Think of it, churches in Asia!) The worst we can say about church at the present time is not that she is Christ-less, but that she is lifeless. You could well ask, what is the difference?

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Let us Speak Less of Religion, and More of Spirituality Revd Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam

Lord, “In the midst of diversities separating us, In the midst of rivalries disuniting us, In the midst of antipathies building barriers among us, In the midst of differences dividing us, You call us, Lord, to unity and love.” (W.C.C. Prayer) Grant us the vision of your unity, Grant us the vision of your gift of New Humanity in Christ, So that being united to your humanity We may serve one another in love.

The Seers of the Vedas said about the secret of Human bonding as: "We are the birds of the same nest".

We are birds of the same nest We may wear different skins We may speak in different tongues We may believe in different cultures Yet we share the same home-Our earth.

Born on the same planet, Covered by the same skies, Gazing at the same stars, Breathing the same air, We must learn to happily progress together Or miserably perish together, For man can only live individually, But can only survive collectively.

The Vedic hymn makes it clear that all living beings on this planet are interdependent and independent.

They form a web of life in God's household.

Plurality is thus integral to reality. The One Reality is expressed in the philosophy of ‘the One in Many and Many in One’. Let me state it in a poetic form: The sky above and the earth below mirror the same universe, But they reflect different images.

The sea that surrounds the earth is the abode of diverse life But the taste of the sea water in the same.

The humans in the street speak hundreds of languages

But they all understand the same language of love.

The rainbow is made of seven colours But they reflect only one colour.

The chirping of birds at the daybreak is different, But praise has only one language.

The musical notes of an orchestra are different But its beauty comes out of its plurality.

Spirituality, therefore, should be understood as the connectivity in God's one world through a vision rooted in the law of love. Christ, being the agent of creation in Christian theology (Jn. 1: 13), provides us with a basis for affirming common humanity in our search for the new humanity in Christ for all people on earth. This is the main theological proposition in the Magnificat (Mary's song). The inter-relatedness between human beings and other living beings on this planet has raised umpteen questions of spirituality and ethics. The task before us is to entertain a vision beyond the barriers of caste, creed and religion because we live in a borderless world.

Spirituality- a quest for the Ultimate Spirituality is a much talked about subject in the religious and secular circles. Invitation to workshops of eco-spirituality, satsang groups, mediation lessons including yoga organized by the new-age religious gurus, electronic churches beckoning people for spirit-filled life and miracle crusades led by Christian leaders are signs of spirituality in the present day. In all these there are truths and errors. But one may notice an intense search for a grasp of the Ultimate and appropriation of energy pools for the cleansing of the soul. In a self-discovery, one strikes a balance between the inner and the outer world. It contributes much to the Gita philosophy of karma yoga in order to maintain a holistic view of life.

Christ's way - the way for the disciples In Jesus time, there were two types of eschatology: they are apocalyptic eschatology and the prophetic eschatology. Jesus identified himself with prophetic one for the transformation of the world. The

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participation of the humans is inevitable for the establishment of God's Kingdom on earth. We should be “eyes to the blind and legs to the lame” (cf. Job. 29: 15). The disciples were sent “to turn the world upside down” (Acts: 17:6) in the name of Christ. In this connection St. Matt. 28: l9-20 (cf: Mk.16.15 – proclaiming good news to all creation) is to be understood in a larger perspective of discipleship. What matters in God's sight is whether the light shines in darkness so as to bring glory to Him. Life through death is the basic criterion of Christian discipleship (Jn. 12: 24). The call is to live as "channels of grace and agents of change". The criteria are to judge whether it brings glory to our Father in heaven as taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. (cf. Jn. 15: 8).

Living by the standards of divine love (agape) As truth alone shall make one free (Jn. 8: 32), let us therefore draw positive vibes from various ways of human quest. Spirituality is the outbreak of truth (Swami Agnivesh). In Christian theology, a life led "according to the Spirit" (kata pneuma), leads to the fulfilment of God's ultimate plan revealed in Christ.

Living in the realm of new humanity is the divine expectation for the household of God. The fruit of the Holy Spirit listed in Gal.5: 22 speak of 3-fold relationship: God, others and self. They mirror the face of Jesus in us. It is a divine imperative for us “not to get conformed to the world, but to get transformed by the renewal of mind" (Rom 12: 3).

St. Paul writes, “Adapt yourselves no longer to the pattern of this present world, but let your minds be remade and your whole nature thus transformed.

Then you will be able to discern the will of God and to know what is good, acceptable and perfect." The gospel-ethics meets people in their very core of existence and enables us to fulfill the divine plan through the ministry of reconciliation. The basic question is this: whether the spirituality practiced by the individuals and groups serve that purpose.

Spirituality as human bonding Spirituality has an inter-religious dimension as truth, goodness, sanctity are not the monopolies of one religion. In his Chicago address, (1893), Swami Vivekananda makes this point in a powerful way. In Hinduism spirituality is related to the four stages of one's spiritual pilgrimage in life. Prayer, mediation,

contemplation, silence, worship, service, pilgrimage to holy places and giving gifts of charity are means of spiritual formation in one's life and in relationships. The five pillars of Islam also speak of spiritual growth in one's life. The Sufi tradition in Islam also gives its stress on personal purification.

The noble traits of Buddhism well stated in terms of wisdom and compassion and their bearing on the Four Noble truths speak of spiritual attainment. As members of the Church what is required today is to seek for a common platform and see whether there is a point of convergence in the affirmation of moral and ethical principles without denying the truth of God's revelation in Christ. In this way we shall explore the nature of Christian spirituality and its implications for a holistic living. It is needless to say that the whole world is moving towards an existential Catholicity and to a larger view of religion and spirituality, which is termed as a cosmic vision of humanity and communitarian consciousness.

There is an intense search for the buckle that binds the celestial and the terrestrial. The period of consolidation in mission is over, but the kairos of comprehension has come. The call is to celebrate the era of convergence in God's household, the cosmos. In building up communities rooted in love and justice, there is a genuine urge to move from religion to its spirituality. In religion the accent falls on God, where as in spirituality it falls on God in relationship with people. Sri Ravi Shankar calls it, "the real essence of religion". The exhortation today to people across any religious divide is to talk less of religion in its form of creed, code and cult, but more of its spirituality. The symbols and practices are like a banana skin and the spiritual values - the quest for truth and the awareness of human dignity and human rights - are the banana. It is a pity that people in every tradition have thrown away the banana and are holding on to the skin. Religion is time bound and spirituality is timeless or eternal. In Ps.16.11 we read, "Joyous living comes not from things, it comes from right relationship.” In inter religious dialogues it is well stated that if we focus on the larger truth of symbols, then most of the conflict in the world could be resolved. We could list the following timeless values, which bind people as members of God's larger family on earth - A deep caring for all forms of life - A responsible attitude to the planet earth,

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- Adherence to values such as non-violence, compassion, justice, love-generosity and sharing, integrity and honesty and contentment.

Household Ethics of Jesus - Celebration of relationship A new understanding of the table fellowship of Jesus with people sets norms for a new spirituality in the life of the disciples. Whoever sits at the table with Jesus must also accept the other guests in Christ's company. No one can have Jesus for oneself alone. He is met with a strange entourage – the publicans and sinners, the poor and outcaste, a notorious woman whom Jesus permitted to touch his feet, a woman from whom seven demons had gone out, a group of people including women who supported his ministry with their resources, cowardly and treacherous disciple like Judas, and other disciples who fled at a moment of crisis. None of his disciples loved him enough to arrange his funeral. As Marcus Bath puts it, "whoever considers those table companions of Jesus too bad, too base, too little and too far removed from salvation does not know Jesus as he really is." This poses a challenge before us to live out such radicalism rooted in the three pillars of Christian spirituality. They are commitment to God, compassion for People and passion for justice.

What Jesus gives humankind is an experience of God as our Father and of all others as brothers and sisters mirroring the values of the Kingdom of God in our midst. For Jesus, the way to heaven is from Earth! The Kingdom values for which Jesus stood call us to raise questions of being and becoming.

The new humanity in Christ is not Christians’ gift to the world, but it is God's gift to all humankind across any religious and cultural divide. The declaration of the heavenly choir for the peace on earth is for all humankind. In sharing God's love with one another, we are not expected to gaze at each other, but enabling all to look outward together. We need to reaffirm our faith as John puts it in 1Jn .4: 8, "He, who does not love, does not know God; for God is love." In doing the will of God as" work of faith “and” labour of love”, we collaborate with God in the realization of God's eternal plan in Christ (Eph.1.10).

The risen Christ also bids us to make authentic relationship with people in the community. In the

post-resurrection appearance, while addressing Mary by name, Jesus asks us to keep the human touch in all relationships. The risen Christ establishes his relationship in diverse ways: i) as communicating Christ (on the road to Emmaus), ii) as comforting Christ in the midst of disciples, iii) as confronting Christ, iv) as commissioning Christ. In all these, we have a glimpse of the Spirituality at its best to imitate in each culture whether in India or elsewhere.

In Christian faith Jesus Christ is to be confessed as the transforming presence of God. There are several indicatives and imperatives, which are two sides of the same coin. Phrases such as “serve one another", washing one another's feet, ”trusting one another", "loving one another", “bearing one another’s burdens, " co-operating with each other "encouraging one another", “praying for each other,” “learning from one another including nature” etc. are divine call to live in spirituality. Swami Agnivesh has succinctly put the quest as “freedom from religion, not of religion”. In this respect, spirituality is not God fearing, but God abiding and God-loving.

In each culture whether Western or Eastern, there are religious and cultural tenets, which create a vision for coherence and unity for all. The cultural slogan of India, Loka samastha sukino bavanthu (let the whole world be happy and prosperous) the concept of a vasudhaivakudumbakam (the whole world is one family), the moral principle of sathyagraha (commitment to truth), and India's cultural slogan sathya meva jayathe (truth alone triumphs) are indeed statements which carry a new vision of spirituality for the whole world. In seeking a new way of being the Church, we need not have to speak more of the boundaries that separate people from people but to discover the common bonds that unite them as humans and other living beings in God's universe. The imagery of a river flowing may make better sense. A river that flows assimilates and absorbs everything with a high sense of comprehension. If this is done, "following Jesus”, becomes a possibility for all. In such an attitude, "streams of awareness" emerge from the depth of togetherness. New life in Christ makes life qualitatively different for all, if the church beckons others to join the pilgrimage to the Kingdom of God, which we call, “the new heaven and the new earth”.

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Religionless Christianity – What Does It Mean?

Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas In order to understand the true meaning of the concept ‘Religionless Christianity’, we need to understand what is meant by ‘religion’ and what does ‘Christianity’ means. The word religion is derived from Latin word "religio" which means ‘what attaches or retains, moral bond, anxiety of selfconsciousness, scruple’ a term used by the Romans, before Jesus Christ, to indicate the worship of the demons. The word religion after Romans, initially used for Christianity, gradually extended to all forms of social demonstration in connection with sacred. Religion is the set of beliefs, feelings, dogmas and practices that define the relations between human being and sacred or divinity. It is the outer manifestation of one’s faith and belief of something sacred. A given religion is defined by specific elements of a community of believers: dogmas, sacred books, rites, worship, sacrament, moral prescription, interdicts, and organization. The majority of religions have developed starting from a revelation based on the exemplary history of a nation, of a prophet or a wise man who taught an ideal of life.

The term ‘Christianity’ simply mean followers of Jesus Christ and the disciples of Jesus Christ got this name first in Antioch. (Acts 11:25, 26) The term later developed as a religion based on the preaching and teachings of Jesus Christ written by Apostles and contained in New Testament. The question comes, why then the believers were called Christians first in Antioch, rather than in Jerusalem even though Jesus Christ ministered severally, controversially, and powerfully to multitudes in Jerusalem. It was at the Upper Room in Jerusalem that the Holy Spirit first descended upon the disciples. The Church started first in Jerusalem, the brother of Jesus James as the first Bishop, with great power and display of signs and wonders, and grew to hundreds of thousands within a very short period of time there. The Apostles performed mindboggling signs and wonders in Jerusalem, all in the name of Jesus Christ.

place Jesus Christ never even visited not even one time. Why the believers in Jerusalem were not called Christians first? It may be because, the religious legalism of the men that walked closely with Jesus Christ in the flesh, which might have limited their capacity to have higher walk with Him filled with the Holy Spirit. In spite of all what Jesus and the Holy Spirit did in their midst and through them, still they were unable to translate Christ in the minds of the people in Jerusalem. In other words, entrenched religious legalism made it difficult for the church at Jerusalem to manifest Christ among people. This is true with the present Church also, too much legalism and administration, which prevents the faithful believers and leaders of the Church to walk closely with Jesus.

Jesus instructed his followers to fulfill his mission in this world and what is expected from them. ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ (Mat. 25: 35-35) The fact that Jesus was so completely accessible was the cause behind some of the heaviest criticism He received from the religious leaders. He surprised people by receiving children (Luke 18:16) and shocked the religionists of His day by being available to the marginalized, the outsiders, and the With all this, naturally anyone would have expected despised (Mark 2:13–17). This accessibility earned that the disciples would have been called Jesus a title He did not reject—a friend of sinners ‘Christians’ first in the city of Jerusalem. Instead, it (Matt. 11:19). Jesus practiced a religionless happened in the non-Jewish city of Antioch – a Christianity and not a legalistic Christianity. He did 21 | P a g e F O C U S O c t o b e r 2 0 1 7

not establish a religion and never built any sanctuary, but practiced what he preached during his ministry in this world.

In the book “Religionless Christianity: Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Troubled Times, by Jeffrey Pugh, he points out about what exactly did Bonhoeffer meant by “Religionless Christianity”? The concept of Religionless Christianity has been one of the most controversial subjects in Bonhoeffer’s theology. In the final two years of his life, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote several letters from Tegel prison to his friend Eberhard Bethge and in the famous letter of April 30, 1944, in which he spoke of the need for what he referred to as a “religionless Christianity.”

Bonhoeffer concluded: “Even those who honestly describe themselves as ‘religious’ do not in the least act up to it,” he wrote, “and so they presumably mean something quite different by ‘religious.’’

Bonhoeffer says that religionlessness is hopeful since it may lead people to lead a life serving others and not by serving God alone. For Bonhoeffer the affirmation of faith is the negation of religion.

Freedom from religion liberates faith to be attentive to the call of God; freedom of faith is the freedom received of God. Quoting Barth, Bonhoeffer effectively asserts that "... the relationship between God and man in which God’s revelation may truly be imparted to me, a man, must be free, not a static relationship..."1 Faith is thus rooted in God’s freedom and it should freely flow from the faithful to those around him. If our faith does not overflow the four walls of our sanctuary and pierces through the stained glass windows into the streets and neighborhood it is static and our religion is God centered and not world centered. God embraced the world by sending His only son in to the world so that the world may save through his death on the cross. If God embraced the world as it is, then it is the duty and responsibility of the faithful to embrace the world in its full sense sharing and caring for the less fortunate and marginalized. Our faith should embrace the world and not the religion. The cause of religious violence is because the faithful in each religion embraced their religion and not the world, which was

1

Bonhoeffer, Act and Being, trans. by Bernard Noble (New York: Harper & Row, 1961), p. 8

embraced and redeemed by the Lord by His death on the cross.

In his book ‘Ethics’ Bonhoeffer wrote: ‘In Jesus Christ we have faith in the incarnate, crucified and risen God. In the incarnation we learn of the love of God for His creation; in the crucifixion we learn of the judgment of God upon all flesh; and in the resurrection we learn of God’s will for a new world.

There could be no greater error than to tear these three elements apart; for each of them comprises the whole’.2 The basic faith of Christianity is revolving on these three divine things – Incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection. But most of them forget about the mission entrusted to the faithful by Jesus Christ – to be my witnesses to the end of the world. To be witnesses of Jesus Christ, we need to follow Jesus Christ and do exactly what He did during His ministry in this world by being with the poor, less fortunate, marginalized and prostitutes. He lived among them as one of them and no where in the Bible it is mentioned the house or place where Jesus lived during his three and half year’s ministry in this world. He moved from village to village and from crowd to crowd healing the sick, raising the dead, preaching the good news to the world. The Church and its believers need to move from the center to the periphery in to the world where we need to reflect up on our faith by sharing and caring for the poor, the less fortunate and marginalized. The original cross was not in between two candles, but it was in between two thieves, it was not in the sanctuary, but among the crowd.

One must completely abandon any attempt to make something of oneself, whether it be a saint, or a converted sinner, or a churchman (a so-called priestly type!), a righteous man or an unrighteous one, a sick man or a healthy one. By thisworldliness I mean living unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes and failures, experiences and perplexities. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world- watching with Christ in Gethsemane. That, I think, is faith; that is metanoia; and that is how one becomes a man and a Christian. 3 It is quite 2 Bonhoeffer, Ethics op. cit., pp. 130 f

3

LPP, op, cit., p. 369f (July 1944)

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understandable that Bonhoeffer has in mind Marx’s statement: ‘It is easy to be a saint if one does not wish to be a man’.

Bonhoeffer believed social justice is God’s justice and a legalistic religion may not be able to do social justice. It just exists as a worshipping community by partaking in the Holy Communion and not just doing what is expected of us by the Lord by doing His mission in this world. Only when our faith transforms into acts, a person becomes a follower of Jesus Christ – a Christian, the name given to the disciples in Antioch in the 1st century. James, a New Testament writer, challenged Christ-followers saying, “Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans . . . in their troubles” (James 1:27).

Thus it was Bonhoeffer’s conception of faith that enabled and compelled him to take his stand against the legalistic religion. He was convinced that theology has a message to the world only when it proclaims, from the perspective of faith, the maturity of the world and the religionlessness of man. The world may certainly grow mature, but "the world must be understood better that it understands itself."4 Only when theology is put into practice by the faithful, then only it serves the purpose of God. Men should be religionless in order to embrace the world and love the world. Most of the faithful live a life secluded from others and centers their attention taking part in the worshiping part of their religious life, which is only a fraction of the life every faithful need to have. Late M. M. Thomas used to say that the order of priority should be God-World-Church.

God loved the world and because of his love for the world he came to the world. We often think that charity work is what is expected from the believers, but charity is not discipleship. God gave himself to the world and discipleship is giving ourselves to the community and ultimately to the God. In the book Bonhoeffer intended to write, the final chapter was to begin: ‘the church is the church only when it exists for others. To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need. The clergy must live solely on the freewill offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some

secular calling. The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live in Christ, to exist for others.’5 J.A.T. Robinson summarizes Bonhoeffer’s thoughts on this question with these words: The purpose of worship is not to retire from the secular into the department of the religious, let alone to escape from "this world" into "the other world" but to open oneself to the meeting of the Christ in the common, to that which has power to penetrate its superficiality and redeem it from its alienation. The function of worship is to make us more sensitive to these depths; to focus, sharpen and deepen our response to the world and to other people beyond the point of proximate concern (of liking, selfinterest, limited commitment, etc.) to that of ultimate concern; to purify and correct our loves in the light of Christ’s love; and in him to find the grace and power to be the reconciled and reconciling community. Anything that achieves this or assists towards it is Christian worship. Anything that fails to do this is not Christian worship, be it ever so ‘religious’.6 In the book ‘Mission in the Market Place’, edited by Dr. Jesudas M. Athyal and Dr. John J. Thatamanil, it is written that when Mar Chrysostom was working in the mission field in Karnataka he tried to relate to the people in their life situations. He would accompany them to the forest when they go for collecting bamboo and would in fact stay with them the whole day. Chrysostom Thirumeni realized that one should live one’s life in such a way that people will see in one Christ and the redemption of Christ through one’s life. In that book Chrysostom Thirumeni continues to say that today our main concern is to dismantle existing church buildings and build bigger ones, which is our mission today and this trend is all over. He criticizes the church by saying that our commitment is no longer to evangelism, but it is just a program in the midst of several activities.

The phrase "religionless Christianity," which Bonhoeffer uses with much caution, may sound misleading. But, as it was said earlier, Bonhoeffer does not reject the idea of the church. He finds value in the church, but at the same time calls for a 5 LPP, op. cit., p.382 f ("Outline for a Book’)

6 J. A. T. Robinson, Honest to God (Philadelphia: The Westminister 4 Ibid., p. 328

Press, 1963), pp. 87f

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radical reform. In other words, the concept of religionless Christianity is to be taken as a challenge to the renewal of the church, a challenge found again and again in Bonhoeffer’s last writings. In this regard, he has not moved far from the position he had taken in Sanctorum Communio. For him, religionless Christianity was not just a field of theological exploration, but the concern of his lifelong efforts. He put this concept before the church as a challenge that the church enters into the world with more vigor than she ever has before.7 Chrysostom Thirumeni was quoted again in the book ‘Mission in the Market Place’: “The original cross was not between two candles but between two thieves; not on the high alter, but where people were gambling. What we see on the cross is evil at its worst, but that is where God is at his best. Christ was crucified outside the city, in the midst of murders and thieves; that is where the reality of the cross is experienced. Sacrament is where you experience the reality of the cross and it should not be celebrated in the church alone. The real mission is not in the Church; it is outside.” These words reflects the words of Bonhoeffer ‘the church is the church only when it exists for others.’

To conclude let me quote the words of John A. Phillips, which echo the challenge of Bonhoeffer to the Church: "Religionless Christianity is Christianity, which has had the proper meaning of transcendence and witness to the Transcendent restored to it. It does not turn man back upon his life in the world and his face towards God, but rather directs him towards God and the world at one and the same time. God, the Transcendent, is active in this world.

Therefore the Christian can and may and must live in this world and, by doing so, bears witness God in this world.”8 Only when the church embraces the mission of Jesus Christ and transforms itself from a worshipping community to a missional church, it will be able to witness the Lord Jesus to others. To quote Bonhoeffer again to conclude: “the church is the church only when it exists for others.”

7

Religionless Christianity, Bishop Paulose Mar Paulsoe, Christava Sahitya Samithy (CSS), Tiruvalla-689 101, Kerala, S. India.

8 John A. Phillips, The Form of Christ in the World, op. cit., p. 189.

The American edition of this book has the title Christ for Us in the Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (New York: Harper & Row, 1967)

Book Review - Dr. Zac Varghese, London ‘The Eucharistic Liturgy – A Liturgical Foundation for Mission in the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church’ by Revd Dr. Jameson K. Pallikunnil. Published by Author House, UK, 2017; Pp 300.

ISBN 978-1-5246-7652-0 (e).

This book is the end result of Revd Dr. Jameson K. Pallikunnil’s doctoral study at St. Patrick’s College, Pontifical University, in Ireland. The front cover page is adorned with the photo of a historically important chalice, as mentioned by the Most Revd Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan at the release of the book at the centenary birth celebrations of Mar Chrysostom Valiaya Metropolitan. The two quotations in the back cover of the book give the gist of this important seminal work. Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan Wrote: “The writer explicitly places how the Eucharistic liturgy of the Mar Thoma Church is observed as the foundation for mission in its course of Growth. This study throws ample light on how the Mar Thoma Church integrated Liturgy and Mission in its course of development and the writer systematically illustrates how the Church made a serious effort to bring missional themes employed in the liturgy into the practical realm. This volume asserts that an emphasis on Eucharistic-centred ecclesiology guides and motivates the Church to enliven a mission-oriented life. Rev. Jameson brings together the liturgical, biblical and missiological aspects of St. James liturgy in the historical context of the Mar Thoma Church.”

The second Quotation is from Revd Dr. Philip Tovey who was one of the external examiners of the Thesis. He wrote: “The relationship between worship and mission is a neglected area of study in general, and in particular the relationship between Holy Communion (the Qurbana) and mission is even less examined.

In this book, Dr. Jameson studies these two important topics in a convincing way. Looking at the prayers of the holy Qurbana he shows how mission is rooted in prayer to the Trinity and to the incarnate Son. In both case, there is an outgoing movement of mission based on love and in the incarnation process of redemption. These are central to our understanding of mission and the book shows how the holy Qurbana holds before our eyes a vision of a loving outgoing God, which is our model for Christian mission. This is then applied to the life of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, which is noted for its evangelistic outreach and mission to society. This is timely book and brings together what is kept apart, the study of liturgy and the study of mission. Dr. Jameson should be commended for this work which will be a source of inspiration and challenge to many.”

The timing of the publication of this book is very significant, particularly in the context of the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s reformation in Europe. This Reformation was a process of both renewal and division

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amongst Christians in Europe.

Reformation started with Luther’s protest against indulgences and other corrupt practices in the Catholic Church, which he highlighted in the 95 articles of his Wittenberg declaration. The proclamation of the gospel of grace, the declaration of the ‘Sola scriptura and Sola Fide’, the availability of the Bible to all in their own language and the recognition of the ‘calling of lay people’ to serve God in the world and in the Church were other major contributions of the Reformation of the 16 Century. th

Liturgy leading to mission is the heart of Jameson Achen’s study and this book is its result. He concludes in Chapter five: “The anaphora of St. James presents a well-established theology of mission. Overall, the liturgy of St. James gives us the impression that the mission of the Church flows from the Eucharistic Liturgy.” What is liturgy? Liturgy is an inclusive word to describe all prescribed services of the Church. The Holy Communion and the God’s mission leading from the Holy Communion is the main purpose of the liturgy. Often the Mar Thoma Church is described as a liturgical Church or as a missionary Church. This book gives us a balanced emphasis on both, and reminds us that it is the Eucharistic liturgy of the Church, which is leading and guiding her members to the Mission of God. In Chapter five, it is further stated: “celebration of the Eucharist is the centre of Christian worship. Through the Eucharist, the Church participates in the very divine life of God. There is a dynamic interaction between the liturgy and mission.

The liturgy orients the worshipping community for mission.” This is indeed taking us to the root of Orthodox theology of ‘liturgy after the liturgy’. Mission is simply the extension of the Eucharist in our daily life of taking God’s gifts in love, thanking, breaking and sharing. The book gives a simple and very meaningful explanation of mission as understood theologically, the mission of God sending his own Son, and the mission of Jesus sending his disciples to all nations.

This is book is an icon, a window, into the history of the Mar Thoma Church, its reformation in the 19 century and its dependence on St. James and West Syrian liturgical traditions, and the development of missiological traditions and paradigms of mission of the Mar Thoma Church. This book provides a deeper understanding of liturgy, faith and practices of the Mar Thoma Church and gives us an impetus for further reformation because we believe that our Church is a reformed and reforming church. It provides a renewed enthusiasm for the mission of God in our Church. th

I do not want to reveal all the hidden mysteries of this book in this review, which may spoil the appetite of the reader, this is only an appetizer and a rich menu is waiting for you to enjoy at your leisure. It has nine rich chapters and has a very detailed bibliography, which is helpful for further studies. This book is very useful to clarify the meaning of mission and the energising power of the Eucharistic liturgy in conducting that mission. The book is written in a lucid, clear style, and apologetic in the best sense of the word. There is so much in this book every clergy and lay people of the Mar Thoma Church should have a copy of this book. We often think that we know all about Eucharistic liturgy and mission; some may even chant the liturgy from their memory; it is this familiarity, which spoils our enquiry and deeper understanding. I strongly recommend this book; I congratulate Jameson Achen for this outstanding work and thank God for entrusting this mission to him.

BOOK Review- Dr. Zac Varghese, London ‘On a stormy course: My Years in St. Stephen’s’ by Valson Thampu, first published in India in 2017 by Hachette India (Registered name: Hachette Book Publishing India Pvt. Ltd) A Hachette UK company. ISBN No. . . . www.hachetteindia.com.

This is the memoir of a man whom the Indian media loved to hate. He was christened ‘controversy’s child’. Everything about his tenure – events trivial and significant- became media fodder and over the 9 years he was principal of India’s most coveted institution -St. Stephen’s College, Delhi – an unmatched library of reportage accumulated, unequalled by any event or tenure in the history of higher education in India, developed and a great deal of still remains archived with the national print media.

Here is an instance of a personal Memoir also becoming a chronicle of the times. The author quotes Goethe in Chapter six to the effect that the usefulness of a biography is to understand human realities in a historical context. This is true of this book. It is a lucid narration of the struggles the author undertook in his academic and spiritual journey for providing excellence of education in India through St. Stephen’s college.

The tasks of a reviewer is to assess the effectiveness of an author’s treatment of a theme and to evaluate if he challenges the reader’s assumptions and dispositions, with the significance of the experiences he lays bare. A memoir is a sacrament in which experiences are broken and distributed to the reader through the litany of the printed word. The merit of a memoir is impeccable fidelity to facts. As one who followed, to some extent, the events strung together in this narrative, I am persuaded of its narratorial veracity. As for the author’s felicity with the art of writing, the reach and depth of his reading, and his capacity for philosophical reflection that makes even routine events unveil surprising depths, the reader does not have to be specially informed, as thousands of them have heard him and read his writings over the years.

The author brings forty years of experiential wisdom to bear of the guided tour he offers through the blind alleys of higher education in India. The author advisedly puts the thematic and spiritual focus of his story on the illness of academia; and, in so doing, transcends what is painfully personal. He treats his experiences as a mirror held up to

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the cracked visage of Indian education and anatomizes, through first-hand experience, why the pursuit of excellence in education is as daunting as it has come to be. While reading the book, it is difficult to ignore the possibility that policy makers of Indian education are a major sector that the author addresses, albeit indirectly, in this book.

Predictably, the spotlight is on teachers; for they are the most crucial link in the educational chain. The core strength of our educational heritage, as most readers would recall from personal experiences, were teachers, our gurus, who left lasting impressions on us, not by their scholarship but by their humanness. The authors, in the present narrative, marshals compelling evidence to make all of us worry as to how this asset has got degraded. St. Stephen’s becomes, in this context, a case study of how even the best of institutions are losing their foundational values and spiritual wholeness.

How does the author see himself in writing this book?

Here are his words: “My situation, in writing the present account, is not unlike that of Prufrock’s Lazarus, “come back from the dead, to tell it all. . . To me this is not only the story of a resurrection. The story is a resurrection. The past rises up through the word. What is not told dies.

Word is the mirror we hold up to the truth we lived.” The reader cannot help wondering at the grim battle the author had to fight to “rebuild the broken walls” – to use a metaphor from the book of Nehemiah, which the author foregrounds – of a godly institution, the contemporary counterpart of the “City of God” in Nehemiah. It is amazing how little human realities have changed in three millennia. “I had to,” says the author, “work like Nehemiah and his team, with tools in one hand and swords in the other.”

The narrative of the book is greatly enhanced by the vast and varied experiences of the author who, apart from being on the faculty of St. Stephen’s, had served in the past also as a Member of the National Steering Committee on Curriculum Review – which crafted the National Curriculum Framework, 2005. He was also a member of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (2004-2007). Additionally, he had written extensively on various aspects and issues germane to education. So, what the reader is privileged to get through this book is, if you like, a ‘ring-side view’ of the realities that are, otherwise, swept under the carpet.

As the author states explicitly, his home-coming to education, years after he exited academia and abandoned himself to the wider world, was to find for himself answers to two questions: (a) Is it possible and feasible to keep educational administration wholly corruption-free? (b) How valid is the reigning dogma that commitment to social justice is incompatible with the pursuit of excellence in higher education? Or, to put it in biblical terms, is it possible to

‘preach the good news to the poor’ especially in institutions of prestige, which are coveted and cornered by the rich and the mighty? Those interested in these questions will find reading this book a gripping and inspiring experience.

The book falls into two broad sections: the chronicling of events that one would have thought belonged to a thriller.

This is followed by, in the last three chapters, incisive reflections on the light ‘hidden under the bushel’ as it were of the events recounted. Administrators and policy makers in education will find the concluding chapters especially significant.

An important question may arise in our minds: did the author write this memoir as a ritual of self-exorcism or is he trying to get even with his erstwhile detractors? After a careful perusal of the book, I think he does neither. If he revisits his old wounds, it is only to share his near-death-experiences so as to shore up the sagging morale of those who struggle to harmonize the pressures and pulls of administration with ‘the still, small voice’ of their conscience. The author exposes his soul to us in these pages and ends with a request: “This much I expect from you. Next time, when a fellow human being is chased in the jungle of your public sphere, to pipe entertainment into your living room, won’t you feel a little prick of unease, a slight twitch of memory, and refuse to be entertained; so that a creature committed to the education or health, or sanity, or humanity of your children does not have to scream. . .”

A striking feature of this book, the one I found especially enriching, is the author’s ability to see the personal and the particular in light of the universal and the general. What stands him in good stead in this is his eclectic scholarship and his ability to creatively draw from his readings to be able to weave a web of objectivity around what, otherwise, would have been narrowly personal.

The work we do, the service we render, is the foremost medium of our self-expression, which is a measure of our freedom at work. Freedom is at once what is available to us in a given context and how we negotiate the context and to what end. It is here that St. Paul’s exhortation to the Romans becomes so very relevant, ‘do not conform to the pattern of the world’ (Rom. 12: 2). Why shouldn’t we conform, because, conformity is the orbit of entrapment and bondage.

As Paul writes to Galatians, it is into freedom that Christ has called us. Do not slip back under the yoke of slavery (Gal. 5:1). The Son sets us free, as Jesus said, by empowering us to be free and fearless in being faithful to our calling in the workplace. Many are unsure and anxious as to what extent this is possible in our times. Read this book, if you are. Read this book, even if you are not. You will be spiritually rejuvenated to know how one man, pitted against an array of formidable forces, managed to stay faithful, trusting in God alone.

I sincerely recommend this book. I’m sure you will find reading it a powerful experience, as I have.

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‘Religionless Christianity’: A Prophetic Voice Dr. Zac Varghese, London In television, social, and print media we watch and read about acts of unspeakable violence which are regularly committed in the name of various religions all over the word, including Christianity. The perpetrators of these crimes seek motivation and authority for such actions from their ‘conveniently and circumstantially-interpreted’ sacred scriptures. Those who wreak such atrocities are not committed to good but to evil. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor, experienced the horrors of state-sponsored violence against Jews and the final solution, the holocaust. The majority of the traditional Church-going Christians and their churches in Germany were silent because of the demonic control and dominance of Nazi administration.

This prompted Bonhoeffer and some like-minded people to come together to form the ‘Confessing Church’ as an underground resistant movement against Hitler.

Bonhoeffer was imprisoned for opposing the Nazi regime and was arrested on 5th April 1943 and kept in BerlinTegel prison for the next 18 months and was hanged in Flossenberg prison on 9th April 1945. One of his brothers and the husbands of two of his sisters were also executed. Bonhoeffer wrote and asked some soul searching questions during this time and coined the word ‘Religionless Christianity’ as a prophetic answer to those questions for the benefit of subsequent generations to ponder and pray for. He wrote regularly to his friend Eberhard Bethge and these were published as ‘Letters and Papers from Prison’1. Therefore, I thought it would be helpful to trace some of his exceptional insights, and copy a part of what he wrote on this topic and to discuss the question: what is Religionless Christianity? To Eberhard Bethge, in April 1944, Bonhoeffer wrote: “What is bothering me incessantly is the question what Christianity really is, or indeed who Christ really is, for us today. The time when people could be told everything by means of words, whether theological or pious, is over, and so is the time of inwardness and conscience--and that means the time of religion in general. We are moving toward a completely religionless time; people as they are now, simply cannot be religious anymore. Even those who honestly describe themselves as "religious" do not in the least act up to it, and so they presumably mean something quite different by religion,” “Our whole nineteen-hundred-year-old Christian preaching and theology rest on the ‘religious a priori’ of mankind. ‘Christianity’ has always been a form––perhaps the true form––of "religion." But if one day it becomes clear that this a priori does not exist at all, but was a historically conditioned and transient form of human self-

expression, and if therefore man becomes radically religionless––and I think that that is already more or less the case (else how is it, for example, that this war, in contrast to all previous ones, is not calling forth any "religious" reaction?)--what does that mean for "Christianity"? It means that the foundation is taken away from the whole of what has up to now been our "Christianity," and that there remain only a few "last survivors of the age of chivalry," or a few intellectually dishonest people that we are to pounce in fervour, pique, or indignation, in order to sell them goods? Are we to fall upon a few unfortunate people in their hour of need and exercise a sort of religious compulsion on them? If we don't want to do all that, if our final judgment must be that the Western form of Christianity, too, was only a preliminary stage to a complete absence of religion, what kind of situation emerges for us, for the church? How can Christ become the Lord of the religionless as well? Are there religionless Christians? If religion is only a garment of Christianity––and even this garment has looked very different at different times- - then what is a religionless Christianity? The questions to be answered would surely be: What do a church, a community, a sermon, a liturgy, a Christian life mean in a religionless world? How do we speak of God--without religion, i.e., without the temporally conditioned presuppositions of metaphysics, inwardness, and so on? How do we speak (or perhaps we cannot now even "speak" as we used to) in a "secular" way about God? In what way are we "religionless-secular" Christians, in what way are we those who are called forth, not regarding ourselves from a religious point of view as specially favoured, but rather as belonging wholly to the world? In that case Christ is no longer an object of religion, but something quite different, really the Lord of the world. But what does that mean? What is the place of worship and prayer in a religionless situation?” “. . . The Pauline question of whether [circumcision] is a condition of justification seems to me in present-day terms to be whether religion is a condition of salvation.

Freedom from [circumcision] is also freedom from religion. I often ask myself why a "Christian instinct" often draws me more to the religionless people than to the religious, but which I don't in the least mean with any evangelizing intention, but, I might almost say, "in brotherhood." While I'm often reluctant to mention God by name to religious people--because that name somehow seems to me here not to ring true, and I feel myself to be slightly dishonest (it's particularly bad when others start to talk in religious jargon; I then dry up almost completely and feel awkward and uncomfortable)–– to people with no religion I can on occasion mention him by name quite calmly and as a matter of course. The

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transcendence of epistemological theory has nothing to do with the transcendence of God. God is beyond in the midst of our life. The church stands, not at the boundaries where human powers give out, but in the middle of the village...How this religionless Christianity looks, what form it takes, is something that I'm thinking about a great deal, and I shall be writing to you again about it soon. It may be that on us in particular, midway between East and West, there will fall a heavy responsibility.”

fear breeds cruelty. It is understood that humans will be judged for their deeds; those who don’t measure up will be sent to hell. Some Christians believe in a similar judgment day, which corresponds with Jesus Christ’s long-awaited second return, Parousia, to Earth. For Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs, negative un-godly actions may cause rebirths and consequences in future lives.

However, ‘fear not’ is a constant message in the Bible; someone has counted this message and found it 365 times in different contexts.

Bonhoeffer again wrote in 1944: “[Religious man] must therefore live in the godless world, without attempting to gloss over or explain its ungodliness in some religious way or other. He must live a "secular" life, and thereby share in God's sufferings. He may live a "secular" life (as one who has been freed from false religious obligations and inhibitions). To be a Christian does not mean to be religious in a particular way, to make something of oneself (a sinner, a penitent, or a saint) on the basis of some method or other, but to be a man––not a type of man, but the man that Christ creates in us. It is not the religious act that makes the Christian, but participation in the sufferings of God in the secular life.”

To begin our reflection on this theme, we need to have an understanding of what is meant by religion and ‘religionless-ness’. A number of people have commented on the difficulty of defining what religion is. In some cases, the definition is exclusive, limited to individual’s own religious beliefs and traditions and in other cases, definitions are inclusive and vague. God has always been with us. Religion is a human construct, possibly under divine inspiration; religion is not God, religion is about God; it is about laws and stipulation on how to worship God and to create an ethical relationship with other partners of God’s created world. Religion has taken a central place in the lives of virtually all civilizations and cultures. As we think all the way back to the dawn of human consciousness, we find religion everywhere we turn to. Religious artifacts are the oldest items that archaeologists have discovered. Most people are born into a religious faith and traditions of their parents and the community in which they grow up. But, after the Second World War and towards the later Part of the 20th century, we are beginning to see a decline in religious interests and a growth in secularism, agnosticism and atheism.

Something has fundamentally changed. Therefore, it is of interest to look at religion and what it is all about.

The universal nature of religious instincts from primordial time onwards tends to suggest the existence of an innate religious instinct, which is modified by cultural, communal, geographical and political factors. Fear, punishment and retribution are important aspects of religions, Bertrand Russell's critique of religious belief is based on his claim that religion is based on fear, and that

Religion begins with a direct experience of the sacred and spiritual and this gets expanded from one founding person such as Buddha or prophet Muhammed or Guru Nanak or another founder of a religious tradition to another person or persons such as disciples and their formulations of structures. Finally, this gets codified to a rigid system of beliefs and formularies of dos and do nots. With the passage of time sacred and secular seem to get separated with strictly defined boundaries. The Old Testament tells about the tabernacle; in the Temple we see the inner sanctum of the holiest of the holy.

Therefore, sacred has boundaries, but on the other hand in spirituality we see commonality of purpose of doing God’s will to bring heaven–– the kingdom of God––on earth and Jesus taught: ‘ Thy kingdom come and let thy will be done on earth as it is heaven.”

In the New Testament we also have the imagery of the curtain in the Temple being torn from top to bottom. In a way, the sacred boundary is being opened up for more intimate interaction for the whole humanity. It is an unbroken and continuous interaction of the divinity and humanity. It is another ‘water-becoming-wine-moment’ through Divine involvement. Jesus never established a religion, but he taught mankind to be ‘image bearers of God’. However, religions engage in keeping these compartments separate under fear of punishments. In Leviticus chapter 10 we read about Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, being consumed by the fire for using unauthorised fire for the censors before the Lord in the tabernacle. We also read in the 6th Chapter of 1 Samuel of God putting seventy men of Beth Shemesh for looking into the Ark of the Covenant, and then in the 6th Chapter on 2nd Samuel about the death Uzzah for touching the Ark. We are in danger of creating separation between sacred and profane and sacred and even spirituality, religion and spirituality are seen as separate at times. This is a kind of sanitisation process. But Jesus moved with the crowd, with sinners, lawbreakers and tax collectors.

As times go by, religions get enmeshed with its host culture, authority is handed down. Tom Wright in his book, ‘Simply Christian’2, tells a story of a king who decided to shut down natural water springs and introduced a regulated and sanitised piped water system.

People were happy for many years. Then without warning

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natural springs underneath the concrete slabs started bubbling and burst open. Muddy and polluted water shot into the streets and into houses and whole towns and cities were in chaos. The piped water system failed.

Some people were happy because they could once again enjoy the natural spring water as it was meant to be. This is analogous to institutionalised religions, which are engaged in controlling all aspect of our spiritual life; it is a kind of piped and regulated spirituality. The hidden spring of spirituality is what people are longing for. People who are prevented from enjoying the natural spring water of spirituality will drink anything and purchase bottled up spirituality from spiritual supermarkets.

People often confuse spirituality with religion. People can be both religious and spiritual, but it is also possible to be religious without being initially spiritual, or to be spiritual without being religious. Spiritual experiences occur with or without religious practice in a wide variety of ways.

One may go to church every Sunday and says prayers every day in a prescribed way, but this may not make one a spiritual person. William James3 divides religion into institutional and experiential. Spiritual experiences can be triggered under many circumstances. Some people feel an awareness of God in sensory impressions of lights, voices or an echo of a voice or in human interactions of love, joy and bliss. The highest priority of a spiritual person is love, self-less love. An Indian sage wrote: “Do not have the feeling of ‘I’, but if you happened to have it, then let that ‘I’ become a Universal ‘I’.” A spiritual person knows that we are all One, and consciously attempts to honour this Oneness. A spiritual person has empathy and kindness towards others. Sri Narayana Guru wrote about the universality of religion: “One caste, one religion and one God for mankind.”

So, one may go to church every Sunday and say one’s prayers every day, without caring about loving others and the planet. You can practice yoga and meditate every day without being conscious of what is loving and what is not loving in your thoughts and actions. You may belong to a spiritual group and devotedly follow the teachings, yet still be judgmental toward oneself and others in one’s daily life. There are many people who do not practice a traditional religion, who do not meditate, pray or belong to any group, who are spiritual people. These people, humanists, naturally do care for others. They think about how they can help. Their thoughts are kind rather than judgmental toward themselves and toward others. When you look at them, you see kindness in their eyes and divine thoughts in their face, emanating a sense of grace.

Such a person could be considered as a religionless spiritual person. They may have secular lifestyle, but deeply spiritual in their whole being. These are the kind people who transform secular into sacred without building boundaries of one kind or the other. According to Max Scheler, who developed a full version of this view

wrote: "the man who has God in his heart and God in his actions, who in his own spiritual figure is a transformer of souls and is able in new ways to infuse the word of God into hearts that have softened." Friedrich Schleiermacher, in his Christian understanding of religion, thought of religion as an experiential awareness of one's absolute dependence upon God. He conceived Christ as the unique person in whom this consciousness received ultimate expression, the person whose fully immediate and perfectly open relationship with the Father qualified him to be the mediator of the divine.

It is in the light of these understandings about religions that we should consider the thoughts of Bonhoeffer. His insights are a priceless legacy for us to consider for tackling the problems facing us today. Inertia, indifference, self-interests and media interests are destroying us in a major way in developing our Christcentred spirituality. It is once again the time to wake up and address the need for a religionless Christianity in an irreligious world. In order to present Christianity in a world that has ‘come of age’, Bonhoeffer invites us to strip Christianity of all nonessential elements. These nonessential elements give religion a bad name. He invites us to rethink about our churches, our congregations, our sermons, our liturgies, and our Christian lives. He invites us to “non-religiously” reinterpret “the concepts of repentance, faith, justification, rebirth, and sanctification.”

This is not an easy task. Bonhoeffer, like Jesus Christ, understood the importance of ‘costly grace’ handed to him and he paid a very costly price for his discipleship. To think and write transparently now, in a post-Christian or a postmodern period, with a sense of innocence will also be very costly because we are being asked to talk and expose the extra bit of cladding that has been added as ‘religion or religiosity’ to simple Christianity based on a longing for truth, justice, relationship and spirituality2.

The purity of the Christian faith evolved and understood in terms of unconditional love of God, but is polluted with extra bits added for maintaining authority and discipline over faith communities with a promise of a ‘heaven up there’.

Words, such as, religion, spirituality, salvation, justification, grace, heaven, hell is loaded with all sorts of additional bits, but is devoid of the unconditional love of God. God is nothing but love; it is the nameless name of God who said ‘I am who I am’ and He further assured us that ‘you are my people and that I am your God.’ The simplest, thinnest, transparent understanding of God is just love. The First Letter of John (Chapter 4), for example, puts forth the basic tenet that "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love", and suggests that fear and love are incompatible with one another: "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love." However,

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God’s love is traded with paddings with unnecessary theological and philosophical jargons. This has created a market for theologians and preachers to decode the mysteries, in the process creating hierarchies, religious experts and aristocrats of religions. The Grenfell Tower fire in London reminds us of the danger of inflammable material used for cladding to cover up things for making unsafe projections and pretentions. Some of the religious laws and practices are very much like this, destroying the simplicity of faith and creating a world, which is insecure.

People prefer to cling without questioning religion’s supposedly impregnable barriers rather than to God. Therefore, is religion itself becoming the reason not to establish a right relationship with God? Religion creates agents and middlemen between us and the love of God. Religious claddings, exuberances and pretensions are not necessary for establishing a right relationship with God; the right relationship with God is spirituality, the inward flow of an amazing grace and outward expression of that in developing a loving relationship with our neighbours with an ‘I- Thou’ attitude in a way that Marin Buber once described. Organised, institutionalised, churches are destroying the credibility of the faith communities and encouraging its members to join the growing ranks of people without true religious sense and sensibility. We are back to a Tower of Babel situation of trying to reach out to heavens through our own skills and getting knocked down. It is time to get rid of the pomposity of our religious practices and have a real kenosis moment of seeking the grace to build an intimate relationship with God and our neighbour to bring the kingdom of God to earth to care for the poor and the needy and administer justice.

We also need to address another reality, the superficial religiosity of the religions are creating a God-shaped hole outside the boundaries of religion, which is indeed a Godless world of atheism with the propaganda that ‘God is dead’. We are now living in the midst of a religionless age, which is paradoxically created by religion itself. Even those who honestly describe themselves as ‘religious’ aren’t really practicing religious edicts, their ethics and politics are no longer directly influenced by religious beliefs. For many Churchgoing Christians, their lives show no visible difference from others outside the Church.

Therefore, for genuinely simple Christians, it is a challenge to address this religion-less, God-less world.

What is Religionless Christianity?

Bonhoeffer asked, “If religion is only the garb in which Christianity is clothed—and this garb has looked very different in different ages—what then is religionless Christianity?” In order to be a missional church in a “religionless world,” Bonhoeffer wants us to ponder how we can talk about God. He wants us to think of Christ not

as an object of religion, but as a living passionate subject who is the Lord of every being. He wants us to think first and foremost about proclaiming God’s righteousness and kingdom on earth, saving souls. Bonhoeffer’s idea of religionless Christianity not only opens a door for us to reach a post-Christian world, but it can help us understand the true relationship between God and humanity.

Bonhoeffer wants us to speak of God not just from the pulpits, but living the gospel in everyday living. Thus, it is living a Eucharistic life of taking God’s gifts, thanking, and breaking and sharing; this is the orthodox view of having ‘liturgy after the liturgy. This is finding God’s presence in our everyday interactions. This is what Mar Chrysostom Metropolitan has been teaching, showing us a difference between ‘the god of the Church’ and God of human interactions. Bonhoeffer wants us to find God not in our knowledge gaps but in what we thoroughly understand.

We are to find God “in what we know, not in what we don’t know; God wants to be grasped by us not in unsolved questions but in those that have been solved.”

This is the simple religionless Christianity.

Understanding the nature and practice of Christianity in Nazi Germany is what moved Bonhoeffer. His solution reflects his religionless reinterpretation of Christianity. In this reinterpretation God is not called upon to solve the problem of pain and suffering, but we as Christians are called to participate with God in powerlessness and weakness. He wrote, “God consents to be pushed out of the world and onto the cross; God is weak and powerless in the world and in precisely this way, and only so, is at our side and helps us.” Bonhoeffer believed that the difference between unenlightened persons and Christians is that in the former people call upon God to solve their problems while in the latter, God calls upon his people to participate in their problem. He explains: “That is the opposite of everything a religious person expects from God. The human being is called upon to share in God’s suffering at the hands of a godless world. Thus we must really live in that godless world and not try to cover up or transfigure its godlessness somehow with religion.”

The Church requires constant self-examination and renewal in order to authentically express the spiritual reality they are trying to represent. Unless renewal plays an essential, constant and ongoing role in the Church, it will over time, drift away from its original vision and mission. A new group of people is emerging in our churches that were committed to the church for years, but now they are dissatisfied with the structure, social message, or politics of the institutional church, they have decided they are better off without organized religion.

These people are now known as ‘Dones’ because they have done with organised religion altogether, but they are still on their spiritual journey. We are often told that the

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Mar Thoma Church is a reformed and reforming Church, this ongoing reformation should be an important factor in our diasporic spirituality of ‘going away and coming back’. Jesus tried to reform the Jewish religious institution he encountered in the first century where the letter of the Law completely eclipsed the spirit of the Law, he violated the Sabbatical laws for the sake of helping suffering humanity. His ministry was centred on genuine human needs. He was totally against the religious establishments. His life resonates with what Isaiah wrote: “I have more than enough burnt offerings . . . learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow” (Isaiah 1: 11-17). Jesus’ teaching did not speak of religious practices of sacrifice to appease a vengeful God. His ministry was beyond the established religion. It seems that the whole thrust of Jesus's life was the dismantling of religious structures to allow for people to encounter each other in more authentic ways. If Christianity were to serve an irreligious, God-less world, we should listen and understand the prophetic voice of Bonhoeffer. We should be mindful of the danger of the possibility of ‘religionless Christianity’ itself getting institutionalised with time and becoming another religion.

References:

The story of how Huddleston’s small act made such a big difference encouraged me to think about the areas of life which should be affected by our faith. In what ways should faith make a difference to how we live? Here are some ideas shared by Jon Kuhrt on his blog ‘Resistance and Renewal’ which I found helpful, if challenging: ▪

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1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ‘Letters and papers from Prison’, edited

by Eberhard Bethge, SCM Press, 1981.

2. Tom Wright, ‘ Christian’, SPCK, 2006.

3. William James, ‘The Varieties of Religious Experiences’, Renaissance Classics, USA, 2012.

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How should our faith affect the way we live?

Revd James Mercer** A few weeks ago I attended an intriguing course led by Dave Tomlinson*, Vicar of St Luke’s, Holloway. The course title was ‘How to be a Bad Christian’. Dave is somewhat impatient with ‘churchiness’. He told stories as to how small actions can make a big difference. An example he used was how significant it was for Desmond Tutu when as a young boy he saw a white priest doff his hat in courtesy to his mother who was a domestic worker. Growing up under apartheid in South Africa he had never seen a white man show such respect to a black person before and it had a profound impact on him.

It was only later that Tutu learned the priest he had met as a young boy was the great anti-apartheid campaigner, Trevor Huddleston.

In amongst all the ‘important’ things that Huddleston achieved in his life, he would never have imagined the impact that this simple act of courtesy had. And yet Tutu cited it as a key moment in his upbringing – a moment, which helped set him on the incredible path he took of helping bring hope and change to millions of people.

What difference should faith make?

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Privately. Authentic faith should be always changing us in ways that only we know about. Through prayer we seek God’s grace to shape and influence our inner lives, to allow divine love to repair, restore and reorientate us. Real faith makes a difference when no one is watching.

Personally. Authentic faith influences our small, daily decisions about how we behave, like our attitude when driving and how we treat our families. But it also influences the big choices that we make about our life: the house we buy, how we use our money, where we send our children to school. Faith is expressed in the personal values we live by.

Practically. Authentic faith is expressed in actions which make it tangible and visible to others – especially those who are poor and suffering. Beliefs only become faith when they are put into action. This is why the Bible continually emphasises the inseparability of loving God and loving our neighbours. We are blessed

by God, in order to be a blessing to others.

Professionally. Authentic faith has to be expressed in the realms in which we spend most of our time and our energy – and for many of us that is in paid employment. In reality there is no sacred/secular divide: the workplace is just as significant a realm as ‘church’ for us to express our faith and hope in the living God. Publicly.

Authentic faith can never accept being relegated into just a private realm. Faith has things to say about how society is ordered and how communities operate. From the start, Christianity was a public movement, described in the New Testament as the ‘Ekklesia’, which means public assembly. Back then, the Christian faith was never seen as a ‘private matter’ and neither is it today.

Politically.

Authentic faith cares about how the structures and powers in the world can be shaped to create greater fairness, justice and peace. When we look at the injustices and violence in places such as Iraq, Syria and Gaza, we cannot pretend that faith has nothing to do with politics. If Jesus had not been a political threat to the Jewish and Roman authorities then he never would have been crucified.

All this is of course far easier to write than to live out. However, faith must make a difference to how we live. The Roman Catholic contemplative Brennan Manning wrote: “The greatest cause of atheism is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him with their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

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‘How to be a Bad Christian: ... And a better human being’ Dave Tomlinson, Hodder and Stoughton 2012

** Revd James Mercer is the Vicar of All Saints’ Harrow Weald, North London.

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