FOCUS October 2021

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FOCUS, October, 2021, Vol. 9, Part 4

Cover Photo by SparkAdobe: ‘Reconciliation and Unity’, Cover Design by Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas

Contents 1. Editorial: Weaving Communities of Reconciliation and Unity, Revd Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam………..

Page 3 2. Dr. Cherian Samuel: Reconciliation and Unity…………

Page 6 3. Book Review-1: Fragrance and Abundance………

Page 10 4. Fr. Thomas Punnapadam, SDB: Long COVID, A Portal of Reconciliation and Unity…..

Page 12 5. Book Review-2: Thoughts for the Trying Times……..

Page 13 6. Revd Dr. Alexander M. Isaac: Reconciliation and Co-existence in the Context of Israel Palestine Conflict ………

Page 15 7. Prof. P. V. Cherian: Reconciliation and Unity, the Goal of Christian Ministry…….

Page 17 8. Revd K. V. Simon: Reconciliation and Unity, God’s Agenda…. Page 19 9. Dr. Rajiv Patel: Poem, Rewind…….

Page 20 10. Revd Dr. John T. Mathew: A Hail Mary Plea for Reconciliation & Unity Page 21 11. Dr. Zac Varghese: Every Cloud has a Silver Lining, Reconciliation and Unity…….

Page 24 12. Dr. Cherian Samuel: Archival Digitization of Kerala Christian Heritage: A Call to Action……….

Page 27 13. Book Review-3: ‘Seeking God, Seeking Moksha: The teaching of Shri Krishan & Jesus Christ, by Paul Sudhakar Menon,

By Dr. Zac Varghese, London……

Page 30 14. Theme, FOCUS, Jan, 2022: Sustainability of Nature and the Mission of the Church……….

Page 31 15. Obituary: Revd Dr. M. V. Abraham………

Page 32 16. Obituary: Revd K. C. Mathew…………..

Page 33 17. Obituary: Prof. Isaac George……………

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EDITORIAL WEAVING COMMUNITIES OF RECONCILIATION AND UNITY Greek prepositions used in the New Testament speak of the Divine plan of salvation (Oikonomia). In a nut shell, they are en, dia and eis (in, through and to respectively).

The plan of salvation is well stated sotereologically in 2 Cor 5:18-19: “All this is from God, who through Christ (dia Christou) reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation and that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting the trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the ministry of reconciliation.” The goal of God’s initiative in Christ is for the fulfillment of the divine purpose for unity, as we read in Eph1:10: “. . . as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite (anakephalaiosasthai) all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

Liberation and Reconciliation

The main topic chosen for the October issue of the FOCUS journal is based on the theme of the 11th assembly of the World Council of Churches to be held at Karisruhe in Germany from 31Aug to 8 Sept 2022. The theme chosen for the assembly is ‘Christ’s love moves the world to Reconciliation and Unity’. (The WCC has 350 member Churches in 110 countries having 500Million Christians world-wide). The COVID -19 Pandemic has raised umpteen questions before us to search for the local and the national relevance of the subject. This Christo- centric theme has several theological overtones.

Weaving communities of reconciliation and unity is the mission agenda of the Church, particularly in the 21st Century. The challenges of wider ecumenism led us to this focal point in mission concerns today. For the 10th assembly of the WCC (Bussan), the theme chosen was one of Theo-centric (“God of life-lead us to justice and peace”). In fact, the present theme speaks more of “Wider Ecumenism” which is deeply concerned with the healing of human brokenness in a borderless world.

“Think locally and act globally” is the challenge posed before us. There is a close link between the Theo-centric and the Christo-centric missional concerns of the Church.

The Christological affirmation of mission is indeed an enlargement of the Theo-centric missional concerns in God’s one world. So, we read in I Tim 2:5: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men the MAN JESUS.” This MAN JESUS is the saviour of the world and the mediator of the New Covenant between God and people of all races and nations. He is also the agent of creation and reconciliation. The three

Liberation and Reconciliation are the two paradigms for Christian mission in the contemporary world. In 2 Cor 5:17-20, as stated above, one finds five connected issues: i) Reconciliation is the work of God. ii) God’s reconciling work begins with the victim. iii) God makes both the victim and the wrongdoer a new creation. iv) The Christian places the suffering inside the story of the passion of Christ (Phil 3:10). v) Resurrection of Jesus and its message is the protest of God against evil towards, a unitive vision of new humanity.

In the process of reconciliation two things are imperative: 1) Truth telling Symptoms of violence are seen everywhere. Lack of amity among the nations of the world has contributed economic imbalance, fear of death, violation of environmental rights, social disharmony created by the digital divide, market terrorism, rape of the Mother earth, religious intolerance, and denial of the freedom of dissent etc. In this context, a search for the thread that unites the terrestrial and the celestial is quite legitimate. Truth telling is an essential ingredient for the reconstruction of the community. There is need for the cleaning of wells, which have been polluted by the age-old deposit of prejudice, discrimination, inequality and violence. For example, In the case of the Post-Apartheid South Africa, ‘Truth, Reconciliation and Justice’ played a significant role in the process of restoration. The same should be the case in the relationship between the nations and also between the factions in churches. The issue of peace in pluralistic societies particularly in Asia calls forth the evolution of just social structures for which the spirituality of religion rather than its religiosity is required. Forgiveness and reconciliation are to be made visible in areas of “sinned

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against sectors”. The power to forgive is man’s amazing mission towards a common future for humankind.

2) Pursuit of justice The pursuit of truth and justice is the precondition for reconciliation and a way for the healing of the past. There are three forms of justice: punitive, restorative and structural. All these efforts shall lead to the healing of memories, which means that they are not toxic.

Forgiveness is not forgetting, but remembering it in a different way. To forgive is divine. In forgiving one establishes a different relationship to the perpetrator who is also a deeply wounded person. He also needs a healing touch. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has rightly said, “there is no future (for anyone) without forgiveness.”

Forgiveness is an empowered form of giving. God does not die the day we cease to forgive others, but we become dust on the day we cease to be illumined by the radiance of divine forgiveness. “One loving spirit sets another on fire” (St. Augustine). Reconciliation is possible only when justice has been achieved and those responsible for acts and structures of injustice have been brought to repentance. One should remember that wound should never be justified and justice should never be wounded. C. S. Lewis said, “It’s not the load that breaks you down. It’s the way you carry it.”

We are called to speak the truth in love by breaking the conspiracy of silence. “In an age of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act” (George Orwell).

How many of us who hold a placard in our hands are prepared to forgive and forget the vestiges of the past and to show to the world that the power of love is meant to forgive? Any step to forgive is a beginning to live a better life. This is in tune with the words of Bertrand Russel who said, “to be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.” In any fight between religions on holy sites or rites or doctrines, the causality is not human beings but God, God alone. A misplaced enthusiasm to defend God and his boundary of activity will only add fuel to the fire of discrimination, and marginalization. What the world needs today is men and women who have a passion for doing something beautiful for God on this planet. Jesus said, “Not all who sound religious are really godly people. They may refer to me as ‘Lord’, ‘Lord’, but still won’t get to heaven. For the decisive question is whether they obey my Father in heaven” (Matt 7:21). There is no reconciliation between justice and injustice, good and evil, God and the devil (Konrad Raiser).

Blessed are the makers of peace, reconciliation and harmony: I am reminded of the story of a King, as told by Fr. Anthony De Mello. A King visited the monasteries of the great Zen Master Lin Chi. He was astonished to learn that

there were more than ten thousand monks living there with him. Wanting to know the exact number of the monks, the King asked: How many disciples do you have? Lin Chi replied: “Four or five at the very most.” This is the real situation in the Church and in the society today.

A few only are carrying coals of burning fire in their hearts for unity and reconciliation. They speak aloud and even utter the words of Jesus in the Giri Gita: “Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God.” Remember, it is not the peace lovers, but the peace makers that are called sons of God. A peace maker is vulnerable to death as it happened to Jesus on the cross. But death was not the last word for Jesus.

We need to remember that “a heroe’s tomb is the cradle of the people” (A Mexican proverb). “The insight that any generation discovers will be far more powerful than the idea it inherits” (R. L. Shinn). If the Christian message is to speak to contemporary man, it must learn to address him at the point of his strength and bleeding points. Healing of divisions in the body of Christ and of human brokenness in the world are not optional topics in the mission agenda.

A message of Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Unity is addressed to all people across all religious divide. The Passion Week recitals speak more of its need.

All that is good belongs to God: In the midst of affluence there are points of vacuum in human hearts as well as in our inherited structures. The words of D. M. Kennedy are worth recalling: “We are called to pin our hopes on God’s purpose to reconcile all things in Christ.” In the vision of the New Heaven and the New Earth, the eternal purpose of God is unequivocally presented in Revelation chapter 21, 26-27: “People will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” What right have the Christians to bar anyone to enter into the Kingdom of God’s grace and mercy? The Universal Religion of Love as preached by the prophets and religious leaders of old has no walls.

God is on the side of all those unities, integrates, heals and makes people whole. As Dr. S. J. Samartha, a celebrated Asian theologian and a guru of mine, has rightly put it: “in the past energies were spent in strengthening the fence and guarding the gates rather than deepening the wells. The syncretic wolf could be kept at bay outside the gate, but the Christian sheep within could be safely undernourished.” All that is good belongs to God. All who work for the liberation and reconciliation are co-workers with God (Samuel Rayan).

Church is only a hymn of praise to God. The prophet Isaiah had the courage to call Cyrus as God’s instrument.

He is even called God’s anointed one to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their robes . . . (Is 45:1 ff.).

The mission of the Church is meant to praise God when

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the so-called demoniacs are found sitting and speaking with a sane mind. They have to thank God when “Sauls” become “Pauls”. The reversal motifs in Mary’s Song of Praise (Lk.1:46-55) speak to the human conscience again and again. “The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed” (Ps.103:6). The vision of Isaiah is to be realized towards a unitive vision: “In that day Egypt and Iraq (Assyria) will be connected by a highway, and the Egyptians and the Iraqis will move freely back and forth between their lands, and they shall worship the same God. And Israel will be their ally; the three will be together, and Israel will be a blessing to them . . . The Lord will say, ‘Blessed be Egypt, my people; blessed be Iraq, the land I have made; blessed be Israel, my inheritance’” (Is 19:23-25).

Are we makers or breakers of Peace?

“God weeps over the world” (Bishop Desmond Tutu).

The UN-International Day of Tolerance on November 16 is really a gesture for peace making and peace building in a world torn apart with negative feelings. The time has come before us to ask whether we are breakers or breakers of peace. Do we make the world, hospitable to peace and justice?” Peace on earth-understood in terms of forgiveness and reconciliation or vice versa is a divine agenda. It is not addressed to any religion as such. It is a gospel for the survival of all that breathe (Ps.150:6)! We need men and women who pray and work for peace in the world. “Prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds and he will not be consoled until it reaches the Lord; he will not desist until the Most-High visit him and does justice for the righteous and executes judgment” (Sir.35:17). The kingdom of God on earth manifested in eternal values – such as satyam(truth), sivam(order) and sundaram(beauty) – urges all of us to hold the banner of truth which heralds: Satyam meva jayathe. The words of wisdom uttered by the Mystic of the 13th century, Jalalu Din Rumi, are worth recalling when we are asked to look beyond the margins: “The lamps are different but light is the same. If you keep looking at the lamp only, you are lost. Then arises the number and plurality. Fix your gaze upon the light.” How many precious hours have been wasted in looking at the lamp stand rather than the light? The message of love as forgiveness, peace building and harmony in nature is quite visible around us. The lamentation of a tree in our courtyard is quite revealing “You could not have cut me, if I had not given you the handle!” “Have I not given you shade even when you were cutting me down?” “When you throw stones at me, I give you my fruits, not stones!”

What a great gesture of forgiveness and reconciliation in God’s order of creation!

The gospel of forgiveness and reconciliation is an unseen leaf in all the religious books of the world. They are hidden and kept in the clouds. We need to beseech the winds as a faith community to bring it down to the four corners of the earth. It should get rooted in human hearts

with the three pillars of spirituality: faith, hope and love.

This is the call of the Spirit in each age for the sake of the gospel. It is the mission agenda of the Church. In our search for reconciliation and unity, we need to ask ourselves the questions for self-discovery and metanoia (repentance) in a borderless world for the glory of God revealed in Christ. As the theme for the 9th assembly of the WCC (“God in your Grace, Transform the World”), the work of transforming the world is the task of not only of Christians, but also of all groups of people on earth. But the Church being the people of God as the salt and the light, has a special relation to the peoples of God imparting the transformative power of discipleship.

Revd Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam, A member of the editorial board of the FOCUS An Additional Editorial Note: Having the knowledge of our history allows us to learn from our mistakes and avoid repeating them. It gives us a chance to understand where we came from and so, we can create a better God-centred tomorrow. Therefore, an understanding of the successes and failures of the past is important if we are to grow and make progress going forward. If we do not learn from our past mistakes, we are bound to repeat them. The Pulitzer and Noble Prizewinning author Paul S. Buck wrote: “If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.” History also should teach the vital importance of reconciliation and unity to overcome the difficulties that we are facing today. Therefore, we bring the article on ‘Digital Archiving of Kerala Christian Heritage’ by Dr. Cherian Samuel to your special attention and action.

For the Editorial Board http://www.issuu.com/diasporafocus http://www.scribd.com/diasporafocus Web Site: www.facebook.com/groups/mtfocus E-Mail: mtfousgroup@gmail.com Published by Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas for and on behalf of Diaspora FOCUS 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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Reconciliation and Unity Dr. Cherian Samuel, Virginia times in the New Testament by Apostle Paul: Romans 5:11, Romans 11:15, 2 Corinthians 5:18, 2 Corinthians 5:19.

Introduction. Reconciliation and Unity are two central themes of Christianity. This essay explores different aspects of Reconciliation and Unity, mostly from a biblical perspective. The essay also makes limited references to the related issues of: (i) Truth and Reconciliation; and (ii) Fragility, Conflict, and Violence.

Reconciliation. At its heart, Reconciliation signifies the restoration of broken relationships. In the original New Testament (NT) Greek text, Katallage is the equivalent of reconciliation, signifying restored favor, goodwill and friendly relations between two parties formerly opposed to each other. Katallage is a compound word, derived from “kata” (an intensifier) and “allásso” (change), meaning an exchange and a profit from the exchange. In classical Greek, allásso was used to express changing shape, or color, or appearance. The term was commonly used in financial transactions, signifying an exchange.

Every purchase involves an exchange; in return for the money given to a merchant, a customer receives goods or services plus change, to equal the value of the purchase. With the completion of the transaction, the two parties are said to be reconciled. The English word is used in a similar fashion, when referred to as “reconciling” accounts, when a checkbook register is balanced.

Over time, Katallage came to signify the change of enmity into friendship, as used in NT texts. In his translation of the Greek NT text in 1525, William Tyndale searched for an English word to express the true meaning of the Greek Katallage. Unable to find the right word, Tyndale coined a new one, “atonement”, which he used for Romans 5:11.

The King James Version committee followed Tyndale and used atonement for Katallage. However, more recent biblical versions and translations have returned to “reconciliation,” since “atonement” has been associated with various theories of atonement. Katallage is used four

Unity. At its heart, Unity signifies the state of being united or joined as a whole. In the NT Greek text, Henotes is the equivalent of unity, signifying a state of oneness or of being in harmony and accord. Henotes is a compound word, derived from “heís” (one) and “henós” (of one), meaning unanimity. In the Greek literature, Henotes was commonly used—as union/unity—in the mathematical works of Aristotle and Pythagoras and the philosophical writings of Epicurus. Henotes does not describe an external, ecclesiastical union, but internal, spiritual unity.

Henotes is used only two times in the New Testament by Apostle Paul: Ephesians 4:3, Ephesians 4:13.

Reconciliation: God and Humanity. The Reconciliation between Holy God and Sinful Humanity through Jesus Christ is the “Gospel1” message, the central tenet of Christianity. As Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers, God has reconciled us (World/Humanity) to Himself through Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 18, 19).

Theologians2 refer to Christ’s death on the cross as a penal substitution—wherein one person bears the penalty deserved by someone else—as atonement for sin. Jesus bore the guilt and punishment for the sin of Humanity on the cross, thereby imputing righteousness to believers.

Apostle Paul espouses the relevance and importance of Christ’s death in several passages: Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6); Christ died for us, while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8); Christ was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Romans 4:25); Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3); Christ gave Himself for our sins (Galatians 1:4); We have redemption through the blood of Christ, the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7).

As elaborated in the Gospels, Reconciliation was the very purpose of Jesus—God in human flesh—coming to earth: to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10); to save people from sins (Matthew 1:21). Prophet Isaiah prophesied the 1 FOCUS, April 2020 (“Be the Gospel of Christ”, Vol. 9(2)), presents an exhaustive discussion on Gospel theme by various authors. https://www.scribd.com/document/499881336/FocusApril-2021 2 A good example is MacArthur (2017). In particular, Chapter 5 (“The Great Exchange”) provides an extensive discussion on the penal substitution principle. John MacArthur (2017), “The Gospel According to Paul”, Nelson Books, Nashville, Tennessee.

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fact of the Messiah being wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our inequities, and the chastisement for our peace being upon Him—700 years before Jesus was born—and died on the cross for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3). Therefore, it is God who reaches out, initiates, and saves fallen humanity, who had become the enemies of God (Romans 5:10). Without God’s sovereign intervention, no sinner could ever be saved (John 6:65). Our own faith itself is a gift from God (Philippians 1:29).

Reconciliation: Jews and Gentiles. A related and practical aspect of God’s Act of Reconciliation for the Early Church was the reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles through Christ, elucidated in Paul’s epistle to Ephesians (Ephesians 2: 11-22). Paul begins by referring to two opposing groups of people: (i) Gentiles by birth, the “uncircumcised”, excluded from Israeli citizenship, foreigners to the covenants between God and His chosen people, the Jews; (ii) Jews by birth, the “circumcised”, heirs to the covenants with God. However, through His blood, Christ Jesus created a new humanity from Gentiles and Jews, reconciling them to God through the cross, with ready access to Father God. Consequently, both the Gentiles and Jews became fellow citizens, as God’s people and members of the same household, with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone.

In his letter to Romans, Paul—proclaiming himself as the apostle to the Gentiles3—provides a more nuanced theological discussion on the reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles through Christ, noting it to be pivotal in God’s redemptive plan for humanity (Romans 11:11-24).

Paul presents a beautiful analogy from nature, comparing Jewish believers to the natural branches of a cultivated olive tree and the Gentile believers to the branches of a wild olive tree. Paul states that the natural branches (Jews) were broken off—because of their unbelief—and the wild branches (Gentiles) grafted in, making them partakers of the promises and blessings of God’s salvation. The tree signifies the community of God’s people, with the grafted-in wild branches as Gentile believers, and the cut-off natural branches as unbelieving Jews. The Jewish believers who remain in the tree are joined with the Gentiles into a new body, the Christian Church4. Paul cautions the Gentiles not to be arrogant about their faith in Christ, reminding that the branches are dependent on the roots and not vice versa, and warning that if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare the grafted-in branches either. Paul states clearly

3

In his letter to Galatians, Apostle Paul talks about preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, contrasting himself to Peter as the Apostle to the circumcised (Galatians 2: 7-8).

4 This is similar to the reconciliation between Gentiles and Jews through Christ (Ephesians 2:11–22), discussed earlier.

that God is not finished with Israel—who has only temporarily lost the privilege as God’s people—and that all Israel will be saved to fulfill God’s covenant with Israel (Romans 11:25–28).

The creation of a new humanity as Christians, based on reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles through Jesus Christ, has been a turning point in human history.

However, as we know well from the Book of Acts and Apostle Paul’s letters—particularly Galatians—this was not an easy process for the Early Church5. A key dilemma for the Early Church was the standards to be applied to Gentile Christians, given the sudden influx of non-Jewish believers into the Church, especially following the conversion of Paul. Gentile believers brought along their customs, habits and values, many of which were offensive to Jewish Christians. In response, false teachers—called “Judaizers6”—emerged, proposing that Gentile Christians were not really saved unless they observed all Jewish laws such as: being circumcised7, eating special foods, and celebrating special Jewish feast days. Essentially, the Judaizers’ doctrine was a mixture of grace (through Christ) and works (through the keeping of the Law). The debate was ultimately settled through the Jerusalem Council, where the Antioch church— represented by Paul, Barnabas and other believers8— discussed the matter with apostles and elders (Acts 15:2), for building harmony between Gentile and Jewish Christians.

Jerusalem Council Discussions. During the Jerusalem Council discussions9, some believers—who were Pharisees—stated that Gentiles could not be saved unless they were first circumcised and obeyed the Law of Moses (Acts 15:5). Following extensive discussions among the apostles and elders, Peter argued—drawing 5 Stanley (2012) presents a useful account of the struggles of the Early Church in reaching Jews and Gentiles. In particular, see the discussion in Section 2 (p.86-93). Andy Stanley (2012),“Deep and Wide”, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

6 The word “Judaizer” comes from a Greek verb meaning “to live according to Jewish customs.” The word appears in Galatians 2:14, where Paul describes how he confronted Peter for forcing Gentile Christians to Judaize.

7 In Acts 15:1, Judaizers—while teaching believers in Antioch—claimed that one cannot be saved, unless circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses.

8 In his letter to Galatians, Apostle Paul mentions Titus as a member of the Antioch delegation to the Jerusalem Council (Galatians 2:1).

9 In his letter to Galatians, Apostle Paul provides some interesting details of the Jerusalem Council discussions. Paul states that: Jerusalem visit was in response to a revelation; he met privately with the leaders—James, Peter, and John— to present the gospel Paul preached to Gentiles; he wanted to be sure that he was running and had not been running his race in vain (Galatians 2:2, 9).

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on his vision from the Lord10 and personal experience11— that God did not discriminate between Jews and Gentiles—as shown by His outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles (Acts 11:44)—concluding that we are saved only through the grace of our Lord Jesus12, urging them not to burden the Gentiles with rules and regulations that they or their ancestors were unable to keep13. Thereafter, the assembly became silent as Barnabas and Paul shared with them the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.

Perhaps the most surprising, albeit significant, aspect of the Jerusalem Council discussions concerns the role of Apostle James—brother of Jesus—who did not believe in Jesus during His earthly ministry, but became a leader of the Jerusalem church afterwards. Following Peter, Barnabas and Paul, Apostle James spoke up, “. . . we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God” (Acts 15:19)14. Instead, Apostle James suggested that Gentile Christians abstain from the 10 Acts 10:9-26 describes Apostle Peter’s vision, where Peter

was asked to kill and eat all kinds of four-footed animals, reptiles and birds. When Peter responded negatively saying that he has never eaten anything impure on unclean, the Lord answered, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean”. Apostle Peter saw the vision three times.

Separately, in his letter to Galatians (2: 11-21), Apostle Paul refers to an encounter between Paul and Peter—when Peter came to Antioch—on the issue of eating with Gentiles, a practice that Peter stopped, being afraid of Jews.

11 Acts 9:23-48 describes Apostle Peter’s personal experience with Cornelius—a Roman centurion in Caesarea—making Peter the very first Apostle to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. Following his heavenly vision (fn#7), Peter visited Cornelius at his home and preached the Gospel message, stating that everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through His name (Acts 10:43).

As Peter concluded preaching, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message, with the circumcised believers astonished at the gift of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the Gentiles, as evidenced by their speaking in tongues and praising God (Acts 10: 46).

12 Apostle Paul has emphasized the same message in various epistles: we are saved by grace alone, by faith alone, not through the Law. Two examples are: (i) Galatians 2:16, which states that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law; (ii) Galatians 2:21, which states that if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.

13 Apostle Peter made a similar case to the circumcised believers in Jerusalem, as detailed in Acts 11: 1-18.

14 Stanley (2012) suggests that Apostle James’ statement should be the benchmark for making all decisions in the local church. Churches shouldn’t do anything that makes it unnecessary difficult for people who are turning to God. See fn#4 for details.

following items: food sacrificed to idols, sexual immorality, meat of strangled animals, and blood. The decisions of the Jerusalem Council were transmitted to the Antioch Church through a letter15, along with Judas and Silas—two leaders from the church—to confirm the contents of the letter. The Jerusalem Council Letter refers to Judaizers as those who “went out from us without authorization”, disturbing the believers, and troubling their minds by what they said (Acts 15:24). The Letter refers to Barnabas and Paul as “dear friends”, who have risked their lives for the name or Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 15:2526). The Letter repeats the prohibitions suggested by Apostle James—to abstain from: food sacrificed to idols, sexual immorality, meat of strangled animals, and blood—and concludes, “You will do well to avoid these things (Acts 15:29)”. It may be noted that the historic Jerusalem Council discussion—which outlined the principle of limiting liberty for the sake of love—was fundamental to the growth and progress of Christianity, taking place nearly twenty years after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ16.

Ministry of Reconciliation. An important outcome of God’s act of Reconciliation with sinners is the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18) mandated to all believers as Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), imploring humanity, “Be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:21)”. Jesus himself gave the Great Commission to His disciples and all believers to make disciples of all nations, preaching the gospel, baptizing, and teaching (Mathew 28: 18-20; Mark 16: 15-16). In a similar vein, the “Lighted to Lighten” logo17 of the Mar Thoma Malankara Syrian Church presents the motto of the Church to spread the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, with every member and believer of the Church given the light to enlighten others.

Unity in Godhead: The High Priestly Prayer. In His High Priestly prayer, recorded in John 17—Jesus’s longest prayer in the Gospels—Jesus prays for Himself, His disciples, and all believers. Jesus begins the prayer by revealing His purpose in coming to earth, to glorify the Father by giving eternal life to those who believe in Him.

15 Acts 15: 23-29 presents the Jerusalem Council letter,

which was addressed to a broader group of Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia.

16 The timeline for the Jerusalem Council is based on the timeline provided by Apostle Paul in the letter to Galatians.

Paul records two visits to Jerusalem: (i) three years after conversion, to meet Peter, staying for fifteen days (Galatians 1:18); (ii) fourteen years after the first visit, with Barnabas and Titus, for the Jerusalem Council discussion (Galatians 2:1). Therefore, if Paul was converted 1-2 years after the Resurrection, it would be a total of 20 years after Resurrection.

17 https://marthoma.in/the-church/story-behind-the-logo/

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Jesus’ desire is for all His followers to be in complete unity, just as He and the Father are in perfect unity18 (John 17:21). Jesus taught that when believers are united and abide in God, the world will know that God loves them and that He sent Jesus for them (John 17:23). Jesus promised that He has given believers His glory that they may be one as He is one with the Father (John 17:22).

Unity: A “One-Another” Command19. Jesus' High Priestly prayer for unity became a reality in the life of the Early Church. The Early Christians were gathered together in one place; they shared their possessions and were of one heart and soul (Acts 2:1, Acts 2:43, Acts 4:32).

However, sin threatened the God-ordained unity of the Early Church, as evidenced by the examples of the prejudice of those who neglected Greek-speaking widows (Acts 6:1) and the rigidity of those who demanded that Gentiles become Jews before becoming disciples (Acts 15:1). However, in all situations, the Holy Spirit enabled believers to find creative solutions that maintained the unity of the Church (Acts 6: 2-7; Acts 15: 6-35).

In his epistles, Apostle Paul referred to believers as “one body in Christ”, transcending varieties of giftedness (Romans 12:5-8, 1 Corinthians 12:13, 1 Corinthians 12:27-30), and people groups (Galatians 3:28, Ephesians 2:14-15, Ephesians 3:6). Apostle Paul expounded that the Unity of the Church reflects the Unity of the Godhead: one God (1 Corinthians 12:6), one Lord (Romans 10:12, 1 Corinthians 12:5, Ephesians 4:5), and one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4, 1 Corinthians 12:11, Acts 11:17).

Apostle Paul has documented well the various shared experiences of Christian Unity: Christ as Lord (Ephesians 4:5, Ephesians 4:13); sense of mission (Philippians 2:2); concern for one another (1 Corinthians 12: 25, Philippians 2:2, 1 Peter 3:8); suffering for Jesus' sake (2 Corinthians 1:6, Philippians 1: 29-30, 1 Thessalonians 2:14, 1 Peter 5:9).

Reconciliation and Unity. Based on the considerations outlined above, the Reconciliation and Unity themes are closely related from a Christian perspective.

Reconciliation is a necessary and sufficient condition for Unity and vice versa. God’s redemptive plan of salvation through Jesus Christ has provided the basis for Reconciliation between God and Humanity. Likewise, the Unity in the Godhead between God the Father and God the Son presents a pattern for Unity of the Church,

18 While teaching in the temple in Jerusalem earlier, Jesus

had surprised people with His statement, “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30), which nearly got him stoned! (John 10: 31).

19 The New Testament has over 50 “One-Another” passages that address behaviors and attitudes. Many of the “OneAnother” commands refer to Church Unity.

modeled and manifested in the life of Early Christians.

The foundation for both the Reconciliation and Unity themes could be drawn from Jesus’s command to His disciples during the upper room discourse (John 13-17) to love each other, just as Jesus loved them (John 15:12).

Reconciliation and Unity: World Council of Churches 2022 Assembly Theme. In 2022, the World Council of Churches (WCC) will gather in Karlsruhe, Germany, for the 11th assembly, with the theme “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity”20. The assembly theme is set to provide a framework for member churches to renew their common call to: (i) seek the communion (koinonia) that is God’s gift and promise; (ii) shape their service (diakonia) to the people of the world and to creation; (iii) commit themselves to God’s mission of love to the world (missio Dei); and (iv) give words to their common prayer for each other and for the whole world (leiturgia). The 2022 Karlsruhe Assembly is set in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic, with countries reeling from the adverse impacts on people: personally, economically, and spiritually. The virus has exposed and highlighted both the vulnerability of humanity and its persistent inequalities and divisions. In the shadow of the COVID-19 experience, the WCC gathering is expected to hold a light of hope and celebrate the love of God, a love that moves people to reconciliation and unity. The key questions for the Karlsruhe assembly are: (i) “How does a church – in whom the love of Christ is pleased to dwell– organize, speak, and act in this season?”; (ii) “How, in this moment, shall we share together in God’s mission of love to the world?”

Truth and Reconciliation. The Reconciliation and Unity theme is closely related to the Truth and Reconciliation21 initiatives in post-conflict societies for truth-seeking and conflict-resolution that have proven to be important for 20 The 2022 WCC theme is based on 2 Corinthians 5:14, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died”. WCC assemblies are ecumenical gatherings where the member churches, responding to Christ’s High Priestly prayer “that they may become completely one” (John 17:23), call one another to visible unity before a watching world.

21 Truth and reconciliation commissions, also known as truth or truth and justice commissions, are official bodies for discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government or non-state actors for resolving conflicts. The United States Institute of Peace provides an exhaustive list of Truth Commissions for the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chad, Chile, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Nepal, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Serbia and Montenegro (formerly Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Uruguay, and Zimbabwe. https://web.Archive.org/web/20051212235138/http:// www.usip.org/library/truth.html).

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understanding conflict drivers and mitigating future occurrences. Truth Commissions have promoted Reconciliation and Unity in societies, particularly for countering the adverse effects of poor governance, discrimination and exclusion, and fostering social trust and cohesion. Truth and Reconciliation initiatives are therefore important for promoting Reconciliation and Unity in post-conflict situations.

Book Review – ‘Fragrance and Abundance’ ‘Fragrance and Abundance’ by Kanayathu C. Koshy and Elizabeth Koshy, CSS Thiruvalla, 2021, Pp 361, ISBN 97881- 7821- 678-8. Rs 700/$20

Fragility, Conflict and Violence. Since Reconciliation and Unity have been recognized as beneficial outcomes, increasing attention is also being paid to issues related to Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV) that have become a key global development priority22. Fragility, Conflict and Violence23 are often interrelated and mutually reinforcing, signifying the breakdown of social contracts between societies and governments, usually characterized by: civil or international conflict; lack of government legitimacy; lack of government authority to ensure security and the rule of law; deficiencies in governance structures and institutions; lack of state capacity to deliver basic infrastructure and social services; and a poor business environment and lack of private sector activity that inhibit income-earning opportunities. These considerations suggest that addressing issues related to Fragility, Conflict and Violence are critical for Development as well as for Reconciliation and Unity.

Conclusions. Reconciliation and Unity are closely related.

Reconciliation is a necessary and sufficient condition for Unity and vice versa. God’s redemptive salvation plan through Jesus Christ has been the cornerstone for the Reconciliation between God and Humanity. In the life of the Early Church, reconciliation between Jewish and Gentile Christians, established through the Jerusalem Council, has been a turning point for the Christian faith. Unity in the Godhead between the Father and the Son portrays the benchmark for Unity of the Church, anchored in Jesus’s Love One Another command.

22

As noted by World Bank Group (WBG), FCV threatens efforts to end extreme poverty in the world. By 2030, up to two-third of the world's extreme poor may live in FCV situations, with conflicts driving 80% of all humanitarian needs (https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/fragilityconflictviol ence/overview). In 2020, WBG adopted a new FCV strategy for 2020-2025, which has significantly scaled up the volume and types of financial support provided for FCV (http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/84459158 2815510521/pdf/World-Bank-Group-Strategy-for-FragilityConflict-and-Violence-2020-2025.pdf).

23 The 2020 WBG FCV strategy articulates a new methodology to identify and classify FCS (Fragile and Conflict Situations, replacing the previous Harmonized List of Fragile Situations. The new classification uses the following two categories: (i) Countries with high levels of institutional and social fragility; and (ii) Countries affected by violent conflict.

This book is the fruit of a husband-and-wife team who worked in the fields of education and environmental issues in various parts of the world for over forty years.

They wrote this book because of their deep concern and commitment to environmental, ecological and spiritual issues confronting humanity.

The authors’ following words on the cover page best explain the setting and purpose for which the book is written. “Were you thinking of how useful it would be to have an easy read and an expert guide to steer readers the modern maze of ‘Sustainable Development’ and ‘Faith perspective? Your search is over––‘Fragrance and Abundance’ is the answer. The ‘Sustainability-Spirituality’ pair is not an oxymoron, its parts are complimentary.

Our premise in the book is that abundant fragrance emanates from those who care for creation and live a sustainable life-style. The knowledge and the skills needed for this come from modern education. However, that is not all, our ethics, value systems and attitudes

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matter too. This is where ‘Education for Sustainable Development (ESD]’ and ‘Spirituality’ matter most. People with right trends of the traits are ‘environmentally friendly, economically viable and socially relevant. Here lies the beauty that adorns this book and the sustainability paradigm that we craft.”

Metropolitan, Rt. Revd Dr. Theodosius Mar Thoma, in his foreword quoted from the storyline of the book (a very special and helpful feature of the book): “the premise is that, abundant fragrance emanates from those who live a sustainable life-style” and Thirumeni further wrote, “I capture the biblical connection here. Our faith must be deeper and life-style more accommodating in a broader sense that we begin to send out fragrance in abundance.

The question is, do we have that kind of faith and regard for His creation? Paul had; as he wrote to the Corinthians, “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ in abundance among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing’’(2 Corinthians 2: 15-16); he meant if we choose to live a life loving others, look after the environment and manage matters in accordance with the principles of good governance, then we give out fragrance in abundance, while those who perish choose short term pleasures devoid of any aroma.”

The book is conveniently divided into four sections, an initial section and then into sections A, B and C. The authors summarise the contents of this the following way, which is very helpful for the readers to dip in. “The order is, thus: Initial section (author profile, The Mar Thoma Metropolitan’s Message, storyline, preface, content, acknowledgement etc.); Section A. Introduction, understanding Sustainability, (8 chapters) focusing mainly on the current situation (State) and the challenges it creates (Pressure). Section B. This contains 32 Bible based chapters that provide the fragrance of faith, and the abundant measure in which we receive it from God. Here we meet patriarchs, judges, kings, prophets, disciples, Jesus Christ and ordinary people. Section C. In this section (10 chapters), we revisit Sustainability, having known how our knowledge and skills are used in this pursuit. Equally important is how our faith perspectives, value systems and attitude influence us, as we go in for action – the (Response). Action usually is in the form of projects – small and big. Project management begins to feature prominently at this stage involving individual (people, family), institutional (groups, parish churches), and systemic (strategy, work plans, finance, resources, buildings, gadgets etc.); all these are promoted by the wider Church (Sabha), or others as appropriate. There is also Bibliography and relevant Appendices. This book is aimed at all who are interested in the fundamentals of Sustainability within the context of Christian Life.”

The section A is designed to help readers familiarize the concept of Sustainability as a new paradigm of growth, and Sustainable Development (SD) as its pathway. In this

section they say: “Earth and Faith combined is a new mission field where the harvest is ready and the workers are few”. Sustainable Development is not an oxymoron, as there are things to be sustained and others to be developed. It appears that we are sleep walking into the perils of business-as-usual life, despite all the warnings on the signposts in front of us.

Section B has 32 Bible-based chapters that provide the fragrance of faith, and the abundant measure, which we receive from God. This section reveals how through even wilderness experiences where we are led by God during day and night, we learn to walk in the permanent light of the one who is “the Light of the World (John 8:12). This Lord had to suffer all the way to the cross to redeem us.

In this love lies the attraction of the cross that invited Paul, consolidated the disciples and all the believers up to us. It is this love that makes the church an agent of change for many with all our frailties. The women of the Bible, Daniel, the prophets, the modern-day champions of ecumenism and interfaith are examples, though like Elijah they are also stressed but blessed, as long as we are just, kind and humble (Micah 6:8).

In section C, the authors revisit Sustainability, having known how our knowledge and skills are used in this pursuit, and equally important is how their faith perspectives, value systems and attitude influence us, they go in for action – the (Response, of SPR). Action usually is in the form of projects – small and big. Project management begins to feature prominently at this stage.

In this section the authors, give real examples of projects that worked in real life, and by referring to UNEP’s (United Nations Environmental Programme) publication on Green Growth. Then in conclusion the Authors imagine to be dreaming with 11 “What if’’ situations where humanity discovered viable solutions for existing SD problems, then we will not merely be dreaming of being smart, we’ll indeed be living smarter.

It is important to realize that the major religions own around seven percent of the habitable surface of this good God-given earth. Therefore, faith communities have a major responsibility as stewards of ‘the whole inhabited earth’, oikoumene. Various environmental activists have been telling us over the last few years that our living planet is slowly being diminished, polluted, over populated and built over or at the edge of total destruction. It is increasingly clear that human activity has assisted in global warming and other ecological issues.

The authors of this book guide us, opening up ideas and possibilities with a Christian perspective.

It is with great pleasure I recommend this book to you and pray that you benefit from its detailed content that will make a difference in your life and to the environment.

Dr. Zac Varghese, London

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JMJ

COVID PANDEMIC - A PORTAL TO RECONCILIATON AND UNITY Fr. Thomas Punnapadam, SDB reconciliation needs to be understood primarily as a lifelong project rather than an occasional act of regret about misdeeds or weaknesses.

The unprecedented COVID pandemic continues to baffle the scientific community, with its unpredictable mutations and untraceable spread. While people are continuing to lose their dear ones and often unable to give them a respectable burial, the medical fraternity continues to be overwhelmed and unable cope with the emergency.

Thankfully the proportionate death rate is not very high though the actual numbers are mindboggling indeed.

As people continue to be healed, everyone seems more focused on the recovery and the after effects of being affected by COVID. The complete recovery is incredibly slow for some. Already for some time now the medical experts have been referring ‘long COVID’, namely the long term, even life long, after effects of a COVID attack.

Long COVID is reality humanity will learn to live with gradually. However, each one is subject to it from one’s own experience or from that of dear ones. Being a human reality Long COVID has many dimensions. A personal experience can lead to what possibly are spiritual insights of Long COVID as related particularly to with the theme four reflection, reconciliation and Unity of humankind.

To start with Reconciliation and Unity are inseparable realities. They have many common characteristics. When reconciliation is experienced, unity naturally follows.

Greater unity is inconceivable without reconciliation in some form or another. They are almost synonyms. To some extent, reconciliation is often narrowly understood as a back ward-looking, regret inducing reality leading to mending broken relationships. It cannot be denied that genuine reconciliation implies also a deepening of and mutual understanding.

As Christians we know reconciliation is the fundamental lifelong response to the offer of the fullness of Salvation, it is filled with hope.

Jesus invited us to repent not because we have sinned but because the Kingdom is near (Mk 1/15). Hence

Long COVID is a reality of life. As Zen wisdom reminds us, the secret of a happy life is flipping.

Physically flipping is very simple action and yet it can reveal to us realities totally unexpected and hidden. Flipping one’s perspectives on life situations is indeed the ultimate secret of a happy, contented life. So, whether long COVID, like the epidemic itself, is an opportunity or threat depends entirely on perspectives. Gradually recovering (as I am) from being subjected to rather severe COVID symptoms, this is indeed a moment of grace to be enlightened that the illness as well as the after effects is more an opportunity to be reconciled and united with one another.

The spread of Corona is indeed baffling the medical fraternity. No one, not even the most even the most economically prosperous with the best health care systems in place, was protected from the attack of the epidemic. Like death, the pandemic is a great leveler.

This awakens us to the fact that our bodies are more similar to one another than different. Skin color, physical stature, intellectual acumen, socio-economic status are superficial, transient, negligible realities. Deep down we are one. We need to set aside differences; irrational prejudices are separating us and causing us more harm than good. All of us need to focus more on what makes us one than on what separates us.

The search for, production of and distribution of vaccines is another area where reflective people are discovering the need to be focused on reconciliation and unity. It was not long ago that there was an international call for the waiver of all patent rights on the production of vaccines.

A clear reminder to humanity that economic considerations should not have the pride of place is life’s priorities.

While lockdowns and social distancing regulations have taken a heavy toll on the lives of many people, it cannot be denied that flipping will enlighten us to deeper oneness in essential needs for contented human life. As many have acknowledged, they have realised that they can be happy with being wise enough to discern essential needs and superficial wants. The Pandemic has definitely taught us to appreciate the little things of life. Even on the emotional level, family bonds have been deepened as a result of the lockdowns. As one gentleman confided to me, his marriage was near breakdown. Providentially the

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breakdown compelled the couple to spend more time together, sort our differences and rediscover the bright side of their married lives.

Book Review

The superhuman sacrifices made by the so-called frontline doctors and nurses and members of other public services, can ever be sufficiently acknowledged and recompensed.

However there are numerous silent unsung heroes of the pandemic who have transcended all socio economic, religious and cultural barriers to provide essential services to the sick and their dear ones. We have all come to know about thousands of people who have provided free meals, open shelters and various forms of financial assistance to those who needed it as a result of the onslaught of the pandemic.

The overwhelming situation impelled people to forget their superficial differences and past prejudices, to come forward in selfless compassion to be united in the fight against the corona onslaught.

By Valson Thampu, GLS Publishing, 2021, 261 pp.

Rs.250

‘Thought for Trying Times’ Revd Dr. Valson Thampu’s many and varied contributions over the last forty years or so – as an educationalist, theologian, political activist, theoretician, sociologist, intellectual, orator, writer, thinker and philosopher – are well known and appreciated. All his life-long experiences and his constantly evolving vision in his journey with Christ are expressed in the 21 chapters of this book. He seeks to establish that if man has to respond to God’s unconditional love faithfully, then this can be done only when his humanity, his level of awareness, consciousness and thinking of what it means to be human corresponds to what man understands about God’s self-disclosure in the Scriptures.

As the Director General of WHO has not tired of repeating, No one is safe, unless everyone is safe. This is probably the best summary of the universal, eternal truth that we humans are one and need to learn to set aside differences and focus on what makes us one rather than what makes us different.

Mystics tell us that God experience is often by hindsight. as the popular saying goes, ‘Life is understood backwards, but must be lived forwards.’ While one is suffering physical pain and weakness, mental stress and anxiety, in a hospital COVID ICU, the thought of God may not be predominant. Probably we have heard of not a few people asking us pastors and religious leaders “Where is God?”, in the COVID wave. However, after experiencing all the love and care and attention one has received during the pandemic or being inspired by the most heroic acts of selfless service, one is convinced that deep in in the heart of every human being, there is far greater harmony and concord than most people are aware of. A unity that has its source in the all-powerful all loving creator of us all. As St. Paul reminds us: “I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called . . . There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Eph 1/1-5).

The prayer of Jesus for us at the Last Supper was precisely for unity. He prayed that they may all be one; even as thou father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me ( Jn 17/21).

“When the mind is weak situation is a problem.

When the mind is balanced every situation is a challenge.

When the mind is strong every situation becomes an opportunity.

When enlightened by God’s spirit, every situation is gratuitous grace.”

Exile and return to God’ is a recurrent theme in the biblical narratives and man’s relationship with God. This is systematically expressed through the organic flow of the titles of the chapters of this book and the essence, beginning with Babel syndrome (Ch. 2), Bethlehem principle (Ch. 3) . . . and ending with the Emmaus Road encounter with the risen Christ (Ch. 21). If Babel highlighted man’s arrogance and presumption, Bethlehem illuminated God’s need to overcome various problems confronting humanity (page 13).

Luke wrote about the Emmaus Road journey and explained how Jesus explained the Scripture to the two run-away disciples: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Lk 24:27). It is unfortunate that we do not have the written record of Jesus’ explanations, which would have prevented all the often misguided, supposedly scholarly and confusing interpretations of the Scriptures. We are invited for a redeeming spiritual journey with this book and I invite you to join that journey by intensely and deeply studying this book.

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A very good place to begin this book after the usual foreword, preface and Introduction is chapter 10, where you will find the answer to the question, ‘should we seek?’ “It is fullness or wholeness that we need to seek. A disciple of Jesus Christ is the one who seeks fullness of everything in his stewardship” (page 120). The author identifies two models of seeking in this chapter: a conformity model of seeking and a transformative model. It is the transformative mode of seeking that helps us to know who we are and what we need to be. The essence of seeking is the love of God. “Jesus seeks, because he is the incarnation of God’s love for the world” (page 126). This seeking leads us to fullness and perfection in Christ. “The hall mark of spiritual perfection is that ‘we seek first the kingdom of God and his justice’” (page127).

We are living through an era of unprecedented socio-economic and cultural changes due to issues related to globalization, poverty, violence related to religious conflicts, COVID-19 pandemic and an undefined ‘new normal’. People and institutions committed to the well-being of our society are often, together with the Church, confused by these problems. The leadership of the Church has difficulty in knowing quite how to cope in an age of conflicts and random changes. As Dr. Sunil Chandy pointed out in his foreword: “The central intent in this book is an invitation to ‘think’, and it does exactly that . . . Revd Valson takes us on a journey of discovery of the fragile-touch points on many biblical experiences, by gently flogging the jaded cells of our faith and intellect.” He went on to say: “‘Thoughts for Trying Times’ – shakes us out of the slumber we have enjoyed hitherto, into thought and action. Chapter by chapter several layers of truth unfold.” Revd Valson strikes all the right notes in harmonizing important pulsating points in resolving problems facing humanity and this book has a quiet but an unmistakable authority. It is often people who struggle with difficulties who have the authority to highlight the issues confronting humanity today. COVID-19 pandemic has given us an important realization and a profound message that ‘we are all in this together’ and therefore, we need to create corporate understanding to solve our problems.

Surely, what we are to seek is a corporate perfection, since we are inseparably related to one another, as the virus is reminding us; and at any moment on our journey the individual self has to accommodate ‘others as a gift from God’ as best as it can – “that they will be all one” – as Jesus had to, during his ministry as Immanuel. Since the author is clearly aware of the overriding importance of thinking – the whole book shows its importance in interpreting spiritual themes in everyday terms. He says: “Basic to our spiritual calling is the duty to think or to see situations not as they are, but as they ought to be, from a Godly perspective.”

In this book, Revd Valson highlights the need for the study of the Scriptures and not just superficial reading. It is important to read the label on the bottle before tacking the medicine.

Therefore, the back cover page discloses the thought process which prompted him to write this very important book, it is stated: “It is the depth of the Word, he believes, that we are required to seek. Depth is the seat of spiritual treasures. The depth-orientation that the author advocates, and demonstrates through each of the twenty-one studies included in this collection, is particularly significant, given the growing shallowness and superficiality of life and religiosity at the present time. The reader could be in for a series of pleasant

surprises as he or she progresses from chapter to chapter. Old and familiar texts reveal never-before suspected spiritual resonances. True to the teachings of Jesus, the author does not put new wine in old wineskins. The intrepidity of his thought is matched by distinctiveness of style. Here is a work that is not to be read and rushed through, but to be chewed and inwardly digested; reminiscent of the Psalmist’s words, ‘deep calls to deep’.”

In the final chapter, the author talks about the reality of religion: “Reality is about relationships; God, the self and the unknown are three corners of this triangular reality. It was in the recognition of the importance of the unknown that Jesus exhorted his disciples to seek and find. Allergy or negativity to the unknown and the unfamiliar, is a serious spiritual issue . . . In a closed system of thought or reality, seeking seems subversive.” This seeking the unfamiliar and the unknown is a significant part of our spiritual journey for attaining fullness.

Such people are often labelled as rebels, revolutionaries or heretics. Revd Valson states his struggles in his searching for the reality in the footnote: “This dilemma becomes more acute in the case of a Christian author. He has to walk the tightrope between being compassionate to his readers and being fair to them. If he goes deeper, he could lose his readers. If he stays shallow, he could fail to cater to their growth and enrichment. From an outlook of misplaced concern for the readers, a culture of shallowness, mistaken simplicity, has come into being. This constitutes a serious hindrance to Christian maturity at the present time” (Foot note 643, page 261).

This book makes us realize that though we are sighted, we do not see; though we are not deaf, we do not hear; though we superficially approach problems facing the humanity, we do not feel for others. Let us thank God for the author for taking the difficult path of going deeper and deeper for clarity and commitment. The excellence of this book is reflected in the 651 foot notes, which is also a mark and depth of the author’s scholarship.

It is quite significant that this book is dedicated to the memory of the late Swami Agnivesh, with whom the author had very many years of spiritual association, distinguished by inter-faith initiatives and ecumenical interventions.

Swamiji’s interactions with the kitchen staff of the Maramon retreat centre is a beautiful example of expressing God’s love in everyday living; it is an example of sacrament of sharing and loving (page 15).

This book deserved to be widely read and will be particularly useful in the context of in-depth critical study for students of theology, preachers and discussion groups. It will help readers to reflect on Christian faith from various angles and explore questions relating to theology that help them in their spiritual journey.

I have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending this muchneeded resource, and I thank the author for his ministry of communication, writing and publishing.

Dr. Zac Varghese, London

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Reconciliation and Co-existence in the Context of Israel-Palestine Conflict Revd Dr. Alexander M. Isaac The origins of Israel-Palestine conflict can be traced back to antiquity. But the attempts towards a genuine resolution of the crisis started off over a century ago, yet with great casualties inflicted on both sides. The disputed issues largely remained the same over the long span of the conflict.

The time has come to resolve the crisis through reconciliation to unlock the vast human and economic potential of the region, which has also been home for three Abrahamic religions. The future of Israel-Palestine coexistence thus has huge prospects and potential for humankind. What are the moral obligations facing the stakeholders and international community in the wake of unresolved conflicts? The questions raised are that of the right for habitat of a people who are forcefully uprooted from the land of their origins.

We should be happy." This incident is a clear indication of how the people of the land visualize a peaceful future. ii

Resolution of the age-old conflicts is both a theological and ethical question. Reconciliation is the key to resolve the long-standing crises. Robert J. Schreiter deals with reconciliation and healing as a paradigm for mission.

Reconciliation is an act of God and oriented towards healing of the victim-rather than the guilt of the perpetrator. It is the victim who first experiences the reconciling grace of God and then, in turn, is enabled to forgive and "become the agent of reconciliation" in relation to the oppressor. Schreiter is of the view that reconciliation is "largely discovered rather than achieved." The process of reconciliation brings transformation to both victim and oppressor in the sphere of conflict. iii

The Quest for a Habitat: The Plight and Fate of Refugees and Settlers The quest of a habitat is the greatest human quest. In the novel Wandering Star, Nobel Laureate J. M. G. Le Clézio tells the tale of two young girls uprooted by the Holocaust and its aftermath. The Palestinian refugee Nejma and the Jewish settler Esther turn out to be unlikely 'sisters.' Their names both mean 'star' in Hebrew and Arabic, their plights are mirrored at each other and interdependent. Esther arrives in the Promised Land just when Nejma is being evicted from her homeland forever. There is a pivotal moment in the narrative when Nejma, displaced by the partition of her homeland, on the way to re-settlement in Iraq, meets Esther by chance. Nejma is a refugee, losing her native land, facing a bleak future. Esther, escaping the memories of the Holocaust, is moving in the opposite direction, to an Israeli safe zone as a new immigrant, to begin a new life. Both are victims. Nejma reaches out to Esther with a notebook that narrates her story, which the latter refuses to take. Nejma is now forced to begin her journey, which duplicates Esther’s hitherto wandering journey. Towards the end of the story, Esther longs to meet her 'lost sister.' This story about the plight and fate of both refugees and settlers is repeated in history. History is replete with such chance encounters. The novelist shares his optimism that future generations will not carry the hatreds of past generations. There are contemporary stories as well that provide a ray of hope that enhance peace and reconciliation. i

Reconciliation: A New ray of Hope Randa Aweis an Arab Christian woman in Jerusalem received a kidney transplant from an unexpected donor: Yigal Yehoshua, a Jewish Israeli man who died in the wave of recent riots between Jews and Arabs in the Israeli town of Lod. Yehushua believed in "coexistence." The recipient of the organ Aweis has a message for the Jews and Arabs of the region: "We should live together. We should have peace.

Reconciliation is Shalom-living: Together in Tough Times

Learning

to

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With the historic handshake between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin in 1993, a bold act of reconciliation, a promising chapter got opened in Palestine-Israel relations.

The past 27 years saw intermittent periods of military conflict and terrorist violence that claimed thousands of Israeli and Palestinian lives. The period also observed the consolidation of Hezbollah and Hamas, and Israeli expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and severe restrictions clamped on the ability of Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza. Today the conflict continues, with bloody flare-up of terrorism and violence, rocket fire and tit for tat aggressions. Yet, the extremists and hardliners on both sides remained the villains sabotaging the peace agreements. Still optimism is in the air with continuing peace initiatives.

African American leader Jesse Jackson once met PLO leader Yasser Arafat and embraced him. It created a furor among the Jewish community. But what Jesse told Arafat then was: "Your objective should be a mutual recognition policy [with Israel], because you must learn to live together."

While the world is hopefully monitoring how an outstretched hand for peace is extended, sporadic conflicts and bloodshed continue to tarnish such initiatives. Palestine has Hamas and Fatah yet to reconcile their conflict of interests and Israel still is struggling to form a stable coalition government. What the urgent need today is to continue the negotiations between the conflicting nations on the one hand, as well as reconciliation amongst the confliction partners in each nation on the other front. Otherwise, apprehensions are likely to prevail that any genuine drive for resolution of the perennial conflict will only turn out to be a faux reconciliation. iv

Popular understandings of reconciliation imply that all sides must admit guilt, when in reality those powerful,

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economically and politically, often exhort hegemony over the weak and oppressed. We must reclaim the essential components of reconciliation. There has never been ‘conciliation,' a relationship of unity and harmony between Palestinians and Jews, except for the fact that they share the Abrahamic tradition along with Christians. Reconciliation then requires a harmonious reuniting of centuries-long alienation of the different communities. Each of them bears the burden of guilt of creating and perpetuating the everwidening rift. Each of them must admit their guilt, forgive the other, and move forward to a harmonious future. The resolve to forgive one another arises from the basic premise as narrated in Romans 3: 10, "there is no one who is righteous, not even one." The basic understanding that all share the same human nature provides the foundation for reconciliation. There is an inevitable unity in diversity that has potential to enrich human communities rather than divide them.

Proposals for Peaceful Settlement A single joint state solution is troublesome for many reasons.

Israel will consider that as detrimental to their existence. The alternative two-state resolution will be problematic too which requires movement across the borders of Jewish settlers and Palestinians having a right to return to the native land.

Another hurdle is with equitable distribution of common resources like sharing of water. Both these options are not practical with hard-core Zionists on one side and militant Palestinians on the other. There is yet another dubious move for a three-state pact emerging as the ‘deal of the century,’ with a hidden agenda to separate Gaza from West Bank as a Palestinian entity. Among the various options, a peaceful coexistence of stakeholders becomes the best option for a lasting and permanent solution of the conflict. This calls for a peaceful co-habitation of the people of the land, both Israel and Palestine. The South African experiment of a peaceful reconciliation amidst racial divisions and a joint governance of the land is a modern paradigm that could well be emulated elsewhere. The world today needs a stronger United Nations to help mediate and bring reconciliation of people involved in international conflicts and enforce continental agreements and peace initiatives. The holy city of Jerusalem is the seat of all three Abrahamic religions, and therefore, it could well be the rallying point for the return of the people of the land for a peaceful co-existence.

Reconciliation: Learning Lessons from History There is no one road to reconciliation. There is no one right answer or one model for reconciliation. In any process of reconciliation, there will be numerous initiatives, and several steps toward success or failures. As a prolonged process, reconciliation finally evolves through small steps forwards success with both individual and collective initiatives. If left unresolved, any conflict will inflict more pain, frustration, anger, apathy, keeping the cycle of violence roll beyond any course for reconstruction. Therefore, it is imperative that the push towards reconstruction must go hand-in-hand with any initiative towards reconciliation of conflicts. The crucial actors in any dispute are the victims and oppressors. History

is often said to repeat itself. If one forgets history and its painful lessons, there is a likelihood of repeating historic blunders. One must learn from history and steer a corrective path forward. The processes of reconciliation and reconstruction involve both unlearning and relearning.

Conclusion Reconciliation contains strong moral elements like human rights, justice, mutual respect, and equality. Reconciliation is the means to change relationships from bad ones to sustainable ones, from those, which maintain distrust, suspicion, and accusation to those that uphold justice, peace and integrity. Reconciliation entails a durable commitment towards reformation and reconstruction of Shalom communities. It facilitates a movement from a divided past to a shared future.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has taught us similar lessons. It calls for a global reconciliation and solidarity in tough times such as this. It has taught us to forget our past hostilities and embrace a new future with a sharing of global common human resources, which include the sharing of medical technology and essentials like vaccines for the global health of humanity. It is an irony that the recent escalation of tensions between Israel and Palestine emerged when the world is still struggling with the subsequent waves of the Pandemic. Let us not forget the fact that reconciliation and a global cohabitation has become the ‘new normal.’ The story of reconciliation will have rich overtones with the establishment of an eschatological ‘New Jerusalem.’ While the vision is still ambitious, it is achievable.

Palestinians and Jews are two people sharing one land. It is a land of three faiths rooted in Abrahamic tradition. From the same roots emerged three prophetic traditions with belief in one God. All of humanity has one beginning, one destiny. We share one planet, one sky, one ocean, and one space. Let our prayers be for an action plan for reconciliation today and a cosmic vision for tomorrow with a shared future of all humanity with nature our common habitat.

*Revd Dr. Alexander M. Isaac is an associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Ethics at the United Theological College, Bangalore and an ordained minister of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar.

Reference: 1 J-M.G. Le Clézio, Wandering Star, translated by C. Dickson.

(Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 2004).

1 Hadas Gold and Michael Schwartz, "Kidney from Jew killed in mob violence goes to Arab woman," May 22,2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/22/middleeast/jewish-man-organdonation-arab-woman-intl-cmd/index.html (Accessed on June 7, 2021).

1 See Robert J. Schreiter, Reconciliation Mission and Ministry in a Changing Social Order, Boston Theological Institute Series (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1992); Robert J. Schreiter, "Reconciliation and Healing as a Paradigm for Mission." International Review of Mission, 94 (January, 2005) 74-75.

1 Jonathan Kaufman, Broken Alliance: The Turbulent Times between Blacks and Jews in America, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), 254

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Reconciliation and Unity: The Goal of Christian Ministry Plammoottil V. Cherian, M. Div., Ph. D., Chicago For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight. (Colossians 1:19-22)

Reconciliation [rekənˌsilēˈāSH(ə)n] is defined as the restoration of friendly relations. In the Bible, reconciliation involves a change in the relationship between God and man and man and man. (man here means humanity not the male gender) It is the broken relationship that has created disharmony, enmity and alienation from God and fellow brethren, but now through a change of heart enters into harmony, unity and fellowship with God and one’s brothers and sisters. The word reconciliation comes from the Greek word καταλλάσσω [(Strong’s 2644, kat-al-las'-so], meaning a proper decisive change from the previous nature of enmity to friendship, honesty and harmony. In a Biblical sense it is the redemptive process of a sinner reconciling to God through the mediation of Lord Jesus Christ.

Reconciliation is a powerful word, which becomes part of life of many individuals, in families, between ethnic groups, political parties and nations in a general sense. Though it happens daily, it is not an easy process to reconcile unless the heart and souls of both parties that are being reconciled involve. Honesty, sincerity, and a will power to forgive and forget are the true ingredients needed for reconciliation and these elements are the gifts of the Holy Spirit in true reconciliation. At the end, the process of reconciliation must bring out the awfulness, the wrongs, the abuses, the pain it caused and the hurt. Unless the Holy Spirit is involved, it is a risky business. I have watched politicians after bickering over party issues, even during national calamities, but may come together and make a show of reconciliation and unity, have a prayer and handshaking but then go back to their chambers, to carry on with politics as usual placing party ideology over the people, country and God. An honest confrontation with reality can only bring lasting peace and healing. Reconciliation without the mediation of the Holy Spirit can bring only superficial (face saving) healing and the wound will grow.

The Process of Reconciliation Unless we are first reconciled to God, we cannot reconcile with fellow humans. In today’s culture we often hear phrases like “I am sorry,” “I take full responsibility,” by politicians, churchgoers, and non-churched people which do not mean much, except the mere expression of the words. Without reconciliation with God, the process is powerless, vain and meaningless and we do not achieve true harmony and fellowship with others. One who has not reconciled with God is still in enmity with God, and we are under God’s wrath. In Romans Paul vehemently explains how God paved a way for the reconciliation with a fallen and disfigured world. He elected and ordained Abraham to be the father of all as a

covenant family in the kingdom of God, and the blessings promised to Abraham, “all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you,” became fulfilled through the ultimate Son promised to Abraham, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. For those who put faith in Jesus, he becomes the Mediator between God and man, the Redeemer and Savior.

Thus we become partakers of the Abrahamic covenant.

Because God is gracious, loving and merciful, all people on earth are not automatically reconciled to Him and declared right, but it is granted to all who accept the ultimate sacrifice and the atonement God made for us through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Thus Abraham was elected to be the channel of blessing to all families on earth, which Jesus completed. All redeemed people collectively form the Bride (the Church) of the Bridegroom, Lord Jesus Christ, who purchased us by his precious blood on Calvary. That is the essence of reconciliation, the substance of the Gospel of God (Rom. 1:1) and the eternal Gospel (Rev. 14:6).

Paul teaches us that before reconciliation with God we were powerless, wild, ungodly, sinners and enemies of God, and were under the wrath of God (Rom. 5:6-11). Reconciliation with God will change these conditions through the mediation of Christ. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 2:5:17-19). What the verses convey is Christians are brand new people once they accept Christ, in their mind, heart and intellect—a transformed heart and mind, and transformed way of thinking and acting. Paul instructs that we are made new, joined with the heavenly Father when we are reconciled to God. This we achieve by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us. By the works of the Holy Spirit, we become new creatures with new features.

Reconciliation with God does not mean we are reformed, rehabilitated, or re-educated, but we are recreated to become new creature and live-in vital union with Christ (Col. 2:6:7), as Jesus himself taught, “Abide in Me, and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (John 15:4). By reconciliation with God, we are beginning a new life under a new Master.

Christians Ambassadors of Christ for Reconciliation

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By reconciliation God brings us back to himself by blotting out our sins and making us righteous, and we are no more alienated from God, no strangers or foreigner to Him, when we place our complete trust in Christ, who becomes Lord and King in our life. Those who are fully reconciled to God, have another mandate—we have the privilege of encouraging others to do the same, and thus we have the ministry of reconciliation. Thus, we are not only reconciled to God, but also called to be ambassadors of Christ, sent out into the world in the ministry of reconciliation, which is a serious responsibility, and we dare not take it lightly. The question you and I have to ask is, how well I am, fulfilling this commission as Christ’s ambassador?

Reconciliation is an objective work of God through Christ to restore us back to God from a fallen world, as God promised Adam and Eve in the Garden through the promise of the Seed of Woman (Gen. 3:15). But it is also subjective on the part of human being, as all may not accept the call, “Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). Today the whole world is operating, keeping God on the sideline by the erroneous notion of “Separation of Church and State.” Nowhere in the foundational documents of Western civilized nations such as United States and United Kingdom it says, nations cannot rely on God for righteous governing. The problem of the whole world today, in my view is “politics without God” and Churches failing to be true ambassadors of Christ. Christ sent messages to the seven churches through John, the Apostle, reminding them of the urgency of reconciliation, or face consequences (Rev. 2:1—3:22). Individuals and churches and society collectively cannot and must not forget that we are reconciled to God through Christ, and our calling is to help others reconcile to God. In several instances, the New Testament teaches that we are reconciled to God: (1) through the death of Christ (Rom.5:10; Col. 1:22); and (2) through His blood on the cross (Ephesians 2:16; Colossians 1:20). Both in Romans and Corinthians, Paul uses reconciliation and justification as synonymous terms. Those who are reconciled have peace with God and access to Him as His children (Eph. 216—18). Also, those who are reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ are justified. The whole message of the Gospel is one of reconciliation and justification. Reconciliation brings justification, and justification leads to holiness or sanctification. Without sanctification no one can see God, and thus the warning, “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord” Heb. 12:14). This is the essence of Christian doctrine, to be in the presence of God while living on earth and in eternity—for which holiness is essential. Be holy, as I am holy (Lev. 11:4; 1 Pet. 1:13-16).

Conclusion In summary, a detailed study of the verses quoted at the beginning indicates the work of God in two distinct reconciliations: (1) The reconciliation accomplished at Calvary—God in Christ reconciled the world to himself (2 Cor. 5:19). Here God did not change because God always loved the world as he created it for habitation of humanity

(Isa. 45:18) whom he created in his own image (Gen. 1:26,27). God is an unchanging God (Mal. 3:6). Nor was the world changed, for it continued in sinful rebellion against God. But by the death of Christ, the relationship between God and the world was changed, because of God’s mercy the barrier of separation was removed and sin was atoned judicially enabling God to show mercy where judgment was deserved. This reconciliation is the work of God alone and man had no part. (2) There is a provision for reconciliation by the sinner wrought by God whereby he becomes changed from his rebellious attitude towards God, so that we are persuaded to receive the reconciliation already accomplished through Christ on the Cross (Rom. 5:11).

Those who take this opportunity for reconciliation, become a new Christian having a part, being ambassadors for Christ bearing the “word of reconciliation” committed to them (2 Cor. 5:19) and pleading with men, “Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20).

The message of redemption, salvation, reconciliation, justification and holiness has come to us from God though Christ who has passed it on to us. Thus, God gave us a ministry of reconciliation. The ministry of reconciliation involves the proclamation of the Gospel and its assurance that redemption and forgiveness are available in Christ. Five times in the passages (2 Cor. 5:18-21), Paul mentions the word reconciliation in different forms, reminding the church that the heart and soul of Christian ministry is a ministry of reconciliation. Thus it is the duty of preachers, priests and bishops to tell all people, irrespective of their position or power to reconcile to God and fellow humans. That is the essence of the Gospel. The ultimate aim is that we are not only reconciled and justified but that we might become the righteousness of God through Christ, and will bring others the righteousness of God. Amen!

References: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Holy Bible, The New Scofield Study Bible (1989), Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. D. M. Baillie (1956) God was in Christ second revised edition Faber & Faber. pp.231. ISBN 10:0571070244 James Denney, (2017) The Christian Doctrine of Reconciliation. 354 pp. Andesite Press. ISBN 10:1375927620 Vincent Tylor (1958). The atonement in the New Testament Teaching (third edition). Epworth Publisher 224 pp. ASIN: B0007J8L2S.

Editor’s Note: Dr. P. V. Cherian is a retired professor of medical Sciences and a scientist, who served the Diocese of North America and Europe as its Associate secretary from 1984-1990. He is a dedicated scientist and theologian connecting the truth of sciences with the Biblical theology that has records of every discovery made in the universe during the last five hundred years. He is the author of six books on these and other social and moral issues that plague the world in the preset culture.

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RECONCILIATION AND CHURCH UNITY—GOD’S AGENDA Revd Dr. K. V. Simon, Kottayam Reconciliation is God’s mission in Christ. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. It is the primary vision and plan of Christ.

we will be at peace with God through faith. The initiative for this is taken by God by sending His only Son to die on the cross for our sake.

There is a five-fold mission purpose:

UNITY OF THE CHURCH:

1. To share the Word of God with the world.

2. To help the believer, both the minister and layman alike in his understanding, preaching and teaching the Word of God. 3. To do everything possible we can to lead men, women, boys and girls to give their heart and lives to Jesus Christ.

4. To do all we can to minister to the needy of the world.

5. To give Jesus Christ His proper place—the place, which the Word gives.

What is reconciliation?

The meaning of reconciliation is at peace with. There is a broken relationship between God and man due to sin.

There is a breach of the covenant, the fellowship with God is broken. Hence, there is need for reconciliation.

Reconciliation is an unquestionable privilege for the believers. The heart of the sinner is filled with enmity to God; God is offended with the sinner. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man. He has successfully accomplished the ministry of reconciliation

by His death on the cross. In Jesus Christ a new covenant is opened. The blood of the New Covenant is established in the Upper Room. It is the covenant of grace and forgiveness. So, we have peace with God Through Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1). He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are Christ’s ambassadors as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf be reconciled to God (II Cor 5: 19-20). Reconciliation is our indispensable duty, because the design of the gospel is reconciliation. The highest title you can hold is “ambassador”. You belong to the one who sent you (Jesus Christ). You are commissioned for the purpose of reconciliation. You possess all power and authority of the one who sent you (Jesus Christ). Therefore, the message is so critical and very urgent. Beseech means beg, entreat, cry, plead not for your sake, but for Christ’s sake.

We are ambassadors by calling; we are reconciling agent by mission. It is God’s mission, not our mission.

Reconciliation is possible only by conviction—about our sinful state. Repentance is a turning away from the sinful ways. Forgiveness is the forgiveness from God, restoration is to reinstate to our original status, and then

Unity of the Church is Christ’s prayer and God’s agenda.

When we consider the unity of the Church there are ten truths about unity.

1. Unity is a gift from God (Eph. 2: 19-20).

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of apostles and prophets with Christ Himself as the chief cornerstone.

2. Unity is maintained, not created by man (Eph. 4:3). Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Unity is God’s plan not man’s creation. Our duty is to maintain the unity designed by God. 3. Unity grows day by day (Eph. 4:13). We are the body of Christ, which may be built up until we reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God and become mature attaining the whole measure and fullness of Christ. So, unity must grow daily in our attitude, in our dealings, in our actions and reactions.

4. Unity is opposed by pride and self interest (Phil. 2:3). Do nothing out of ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only on your interests, but also the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ. If you have pride and self-interest, you cannot achieve unity. Pride is the super enemy of unity.

5. Unity is uniquely a Christian adornment (Eph. 4: 23-24). Put off your old self which is corrupt by its deceitful desires to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self created in the image of God in true righteousness and holiness. God said, be holy as I am holy.

Righteousness and holiness are divine. God’s chosen people are holy in nature, in dealings with others.

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6. Unity is centred in the gospel (John 17:20-21).

Jesus prayed, Holy Father, protect them by the power of your holy name so that they may be one as we are one. Pray that all of them may be one as you are in me and I am in you so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Christian unity is like the Trinitarian unity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one in essence but different in function. Christian unity is a functional unity as the members of the body. They all work together for the growth of the body.

7. Unity is not uniformity (Gal 3:27-28). All of you who are baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew, nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female. You all are one in Christ Jesus. This is unity in diversity. In Christ’s Church there are different people from different walks of life. The Ethiopian official, Cornelius of Caesarea, woman of Samaria all belongs to the people of God. Before the throne of the Lamb of God gathered a big crowd from every nation, tribe, language, and culture (Rev. 7:9) 8. 8. Unity depends on grace and gifts (I Cor 12:27-28). You are the body of Christ each one of you part of it. God has appointed apostles, prophets, teachers and miracle workers, those having gift of healing. This is for the growth and edification of the Church and equipping of the believers for the mission of the Church. Gift is not personal glorification, but for the mission of the Church. Each member in a body has distinguished functions. In the same way members of the Church also have special functions for the growth of the Church.

9. 9.Unity grows when it is stretched (Eph. 4:16).

In all things we grow up into the whole body joined together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. All the members of the bodywork together for the full growth and development of the body and to the full stature of Christ.

10. Unity glorifies God and attracts unbelievers (John 15:8). This is to my Father’s glory that you remain in my love. The twelve apostles stood on one accord in the leadership of Peter on the day of Pentecost to preach Christ crucified and raised from the dead, the gathered crowd believed in Christ and Three thousand people were baptized and joined the Church to the glory of God. All those believed were together, they praised God,

and enjoyed the favour of the people (Acts 2:4244).

Above all our Church Unity is affirmed in the Nicene Creed where we declare and affirm our faith. We believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Church unity is based on the Trinitarian unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When we sings God in three Persons, blessed Trinity, we affirm our faith.

Rewind Dr. Rajiv G. Patel, Flower Mound, Texas Started with a bang, 20/21 the years of clear hindsight.

Who knew what was in store, events to come in our blindsight?

Spring break extended into the summer break; Remote learning was the only option to take.

The year of the presidential election, installation of the new President; A pandemic of natural selection An invisible threat, presenting an arduous task.

Let's continue doing our part, keep wearing that mask.

Virtual graduations, happy hours and meetings galore, Socially distanced, yet connected we were more.

Strangers coming together for equal rights, Inspiring millions, justice is for what they fight.

Joining hands, standing shoulder to shoulder, Fighting for a cause, breaking barriers boulder by boulder.

When videos were not the only things going viral; Loved ones lost quickly by numbers in a spiral.

Losing kin, grieving their missing existence, Saying our goodbyes all from a distance.

A salute to first responders, whose courage we admire, Their selfless spirits, never to tire.

The climate is changing, time to save the planet; Our generation hasn't done enough yet.

The vaccine is here, please have it to save your life and the lives of people around you; Don't give up, hope is near and we will overcome this pandemic also.

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A Hail Mary Plea for Reconciliation and Unity Revd. Dr. John T. Mathew, Ontario, Canada The theme of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches is all about how “Jesus’ love moves the world to reconciliation and unity”.

Predictably themes designed for such global events are ornate, even overblown words – here the source of the theme is Jesus’ love. Jesus’ love has power to generate energy, hope, compassion and generosity in this world where we must deal with frightful devastations of the pandemic, violence, war and its survival. The premise must elucidate and identify such issues so that we may flesh out a framework of functional unity. We are passionately social individuals who are called to live together with integrated rapport and resolve.

The groundwork of the Karlsruhe gathering of the 350 member-denominations of the World Council of Churches ideally extends not only to the member denominations of the Reformed and Orthodox Churches but also to the whole world. Remember this world is shared by adherents of the Roman Catholic and several other tenaciously faithful denominations with different theological emphases besides hundreds of thousands of followers of Jesus who choose not to feel fenced in an ecclesial paddock. A world that is the household of millions of our fellow travellers who belong to a variety of ancient and modern faith traditions. Therefore, we must acknowledge that the World Council of Churches, largely prearranged by medieval Reformed theology, managed

by Orthodox agenda and reassured by Anglican and Lutheran nurturing in the arena with the rest from smaller denominations perched on the bleachers, does not speak and stand for the global church.

However, the vocation of all followers of Jesus is to credibly proclaim, clarify and live out Jesus’ love that ignites the world to reconciliation and unity. For better or for worse, my peregrination of theological training has been experimenting with the holy and the devil at seven world class divinity schools ranging from the dogmatic evangelical to the freethinking progressives including Roman Catholic theological variants on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1969, within one hundred days of my long haul, I was scared stiff when Andrew Walls confirmed the collapse of European Christendom at a Graduate Fellowship gathering held in Birmingham. He referred to the 1910 World Missionary Conference, or better known as the Edinburgh Missionary Conference which really was not a "world" gathering - it was de facto a refresher gathering of European and American missionaries on furlough with absolutely no one from Africa, South America and one or two from Asia. World Christianity that emerged on the Day of Pentecost which is far more than Euro-centric Roman Catholic and

Reformed denominations - always excludes most of the ancient Christian traditions. It was for some the beginning of the ecumenical movement now known as the World Council of Churches. Walls also predicted that “the young, the poor and the women” will lead the church in the next five decades. In 1910 well over 80 per cent of those who professed Christianity lived in Europe and North America and now 80 per cent of those who practice Christianity live in the southern continents of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific. The center of gravity of the global church has shifted from the north and west to the south and the east. Unmindful of this new reality, Wilfred Cantwell Smith once made a shocking comment, “When I left Christendom (meaning Canada!) in 1943 to teach in India….”. I questioned him, “You left Christendom? You don’t leave Christendom. You perhaps left the Constantinian Christendom and arrived in an older Christendom, or better, reign of the Messiah founded by Apostle Thomas!”.

First, a solid majority of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth who live, move and have their being breathe not for all intents and purposes within the mainline ReformedOrthodox paddock manoeuvred the World Council of Churches and the titanic Roman Catholic denomination as well as the colossal masses of umpteen denominations from Pentecostal to evangelical and charismatic groups all across the globe.

On the Asian ecumenical landscape of 20 th century ecumenism in its early days we had trailblazers such as M.M. Thomas, D.T. Niles, Juhanon Mar Thoma, Paulos Mar Gregorios and Ninan Koshy. Since its initiation soon after depression of the Dirty Thirties, violence and war in the following decade, this broken splinter of the global church reflected on human proclivity towards turmoil, hope, light, renewal, freedom, life, creation, joy, transformation, justice and peace. Never ever the virtue of love! This time theme is ‘Jesus’ love’ or Christ’s love with an add-on Hellenistic shimmer. The church is like Noah’s Ark: ‘if it weren’t for the storm outside no one could stand the stink inside’! So much hatred, nativism, suspicion, xenophobia, insensitivity, racism, for the bigoted right everything is ‘woke’ or be mindful of injustice in the society; that’s why the 11th Assembly dared to invite the world to investigate and evaluate the love of Jesus that might jubilantly propel us to re-examine and seek forgiveness for our inhumanity and achieve that oneness or unity between Jesus and the One who sent him to heal our divisions. Well, this movement formally never ever attempted to enlarge on ‘love’ and finally it took more than the proverbial ‘three

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score and ten’ years to recapture and reflect on Jesus’ love!

In the mid-1970s, the postgraduate class of Mission Studies or Missiology at Saint Paul University, one of our avant-garde assignments was to help design an offering called Ecumenism. At this Roman Catholic seminary, for both our faculty and my classmates, imposingly the theological postulation called ecumenism was already taken care by Lumen gentium, Latin for “Light of the Nations”, the dogmatic constitution on the church circulated by Pope Paul VI on November 21, 1964. As an ordained clergy in The United Church of Canada among Roman Catholics, I became too conspicuous in the Roman Catholic paddock. I tried to explain the extent of ecumenism, derived from οἰκουμένη (Greek) as an exigent interdenominational concern, vision and vocation of the “whole inhabited earth” for all followers of Jesus established recorded in the Gospel according to St. Matthew (24:14) which is reiterated in Ephesians 4:3.

When they realised that I wasn’t elated being pigeonholed as ‘Non-Roman Catholic’, I was elevated as a ‘Reformed minister’. Finally, they were befuddled that I was far more than ‘reformed’ with my first-century Apostle Thomas pedigree. In order not to rock the boat, I was offered a generous scholarship gingerly as a reconciling remedy!

Having had an opportunity to serve on the InterchurchInterfaith Committee of The United Church of Canada for almost two decades and represent the denomination at local, national and global gatherings of ecumenism and dialogue with other faith traditions, I do not have a huge glorification for ecumenical efforts. At the 2013 Busan assembly, it was hilarious to watch jet-lagged delegates and visitors of all ages and colours strolling along – most of them did not get an opportunity to say a thing except to move from one gathering to the next. I was invited to preach at a large congregation where thousands of local people and the delegates gathered to worship. Therefore, church unity realistically is an illusion where people meet to renew their friendships and exchange business cards.

When Pope Francis became the head of the Roman Catholic Church, he reminded his bishops: Espouse your community, be profoundly bonded to it! I beg you, please, to stay among your people. Avoid the scandal of being ‘airport bishops”.

In spite of the work of ‘airport ecumenists’ doing their endless jaunts over the past seven decades, the divisiveness between different denominations remains the same.

Jesus had a coterie of disciples who hardly agreed on anything while they followed his footsteps for three years.

The Gospel narratives offer us several occasions when Jesus castigated them overtly and covertly. For example, the impetuous Peter and his shenanigans. Then the sandbagging brothers: John and James. Judas – that unique prodigy who represents mercenary televangelists,

pastors, patriarchs, popes and church bureaucrats.

Finally, a meekly inquisitive but cheekily honest Thomas.

Such muddled up leaders have always been in and around the church. Many generations of disciples carved nations, empires, communities, and even families up over the past two millennia. The great East-West schism of 1054 CE did not allow Constantinople or Rome to be the command post of the European Church. The older churches in Alexandria, Jerusalem, Istanbul (former Constantinople) and Malabar flouted the 16th century reformation as a family feud between the northerners and southerners - that spawned scores of rival communities.

Such feral rivalry in Europe metastasised the ministry of the global church.

Shankara’s Advaita creed of unity of the supreme being and the human soul corroborated in the Gita is helpful to figure out what unity is all about. Advaita or non-dualism is the negation of dvaita or dualism. Therefore, all humans are connected. It is weird and wonderful that the 21st century humans needed a lethal virus to bring us all together - summoned all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave (Revelation 13:16) – instead of fighting like cats and dogs, work in partnership in order to pool our resources towards healing of all 7.8 billion plus living, breathing brothers and sisters on this fragile planet.

Centuries later, a few historic examples might help us deduce that many church schisms did not happen over ecclesial or theological issues. Would such knowledge help us to work towards unity?

How did Catherine of Aragon or her sister-in-law play a more shrewdly vital role in the formation of Church of England than Henry VIII? The king was engrossed to have a male heir to carry on his throne. Catherine couldn’t help; he wanted Pope Clement to grant him a divorce from Catherine in order to marry Anne Boleyn, widow of his late brother Arthur. Pope Clement would not annul his marriage with Catherine; therefore, the esteemed Fidei Defensor “Defender of the Faith” of the Roman Catholic church, who snubbed the arguments of Martin Luther, ceremoniously terminated his relationship with it and established the Church of England to become the Supreme Head of the Church of England! The king closed the monasteries and claimed their substantial property.

Now a royal household issue led to a schism with Rome and we are asked to pray for the unity between the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions. Therefore, the deduction is that there was no theological issue in this schism except the governance.

Then there is the interesting epic love story where a disenchanted monk fell in love with Katharina von Bora, a refugee nun exasperated with her life in the cloister who escaped with the help of a fish merchant from the convent. Certainly, their revolt against Roman tutelage

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was not all that prominent before they met and married.

Subsequently Luther construed that "his marriage would please his father, rile the pope, cause the angels to laugh, and the devils to weep."

Would it be ever possible to have a hold-no-punches version theological perspectives on quintessential issues of our heaps of denominations so that we could have a candid discussion on unity? Therefore, Church History 101 makes us wonder whether Reformation, the 16th century religious movement, was just an ecclesial hiccup in Europe, which was ignored by most ancient Churches.

The embers of division, dispute, distrust, conflict, cynicism and hostility boiled with rage and sizzled within the hearts and minds of those who intently walked behind Jesus in the Galilean deserts. Jesus had revealed who he was to his committed listeners and was before long to go to the cross, to conclude the liberating vocation that God had resolved for him to perform. Jesus prayed they may be (ὦσιν) one (ἓν) as (καθὼς) we [are one] (ἡμεῖς). The postulation is: Jesus’ disciples need to become one, the way God and Jesus was. Therefore, Jesus does not propose or compel a somatic sameness or homogeneity.

Christian unity, for which many of us annually pray for one week, is almost a mirage. Not long ago, on a bright sunny day I was out for my walk by the Mississauga Valley Trail when I noticed a couple in front of me. At first, I thought they were walking towards me and I should mask up. As I kept walking, they appeared to be moving ahead of me. I have been watching the ecumenical spectacle unfolding for most of my life. Over the years, I met and listened to world-class ecumenists, helped design an academic offering in ecumenism and I myself attended national and international ecumenical gatherings.

In spite of our tendency to construe many types of unity such as an admonition (nouthetic), theological (scriptural), ecclesial (presence of God in and through Jesus) and academic (wind-swept discipline of study), we may decide on our preference. The earliest communities of faith in Jerusalem, Alexandria, Cyprus, Caesarea, Carthage, Corinth, Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis, Laodicea etc. never self-effacingly figured out - believed, confessed and celebrated a commitment of the oneness alluded to in Gospel narrative nor by the 21st Century denominations whether ancient or modern. Therefore, ecumenism woefully has relegated to an academic exercise petrifyingly debated in the theological schools or an annual gathering to enjoy sips and scones by the local church communities. Therefore, how on earth could we take the ecumenical pitches conceived in Geneva, Kottayam, New York or Edinburgh positively? Following the French Revolution, one politician was asked what kept him busy during the Revolution. His answer: ‘I survived’. Retrospectively, that is what I think of my 45 year-long ordained ministry and my engagement with

ecumenism and Interfaith-Interchurch participation at local, national and global levels in India, Scotland, Canada and New Zealand. Thank God, we have survived.

However, the relay race of ecumenism continues. Relay race consists of a set number of stages, usually four, each leg run by a different member of a team – each runner finishing one leg must pass on a baton to the next runner while both running in a marked exchange zone.

Not all denominations follow the rules, which make it difficult to run the race. Pope Benedict - the first pope in 600 years to step down - admitted that he didn’t have the vigour to effectuate a roaming rigidity of the chore and retired in 2013.

Every follower of Jesus ought to be driven by a down-toearth faith in the essential unity of disciples of the One who keeps calling us; the potential and promise of the universal community of faith called the church; the inescapability of finding the middle ground and looking for commonalities; and most of all, the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to heal our brokenness and conflict and bring about genuine experience of oneness in Jesus. Reconciliation has been the famed term used to combat racism and dismantle Apartheid. The system of Apartheid has been removed; however, it still is alive and active. Racism is more virulent than ever especially with the blessings of poor Europeans in all Europe as well as in former colonies. Indeed, it is a hope-filled process; not an end but a means to an end.

Ideally, it ought to be “reconciliation towards unity”, which suggests that there existed an uneasy unity before; however, it is broken down and now we need to salvage it. For some, by and large, reconciliation is a sacrament of restoration where the faithfully ashamed offender enjoys communion with the community of faith and the Holy One. Each follower of Jesus would benefit from wholeness and unity; each community of faith and each generation must identify and comply with a desire for unity with others and reconciliation that is meaningful. There is no one absolute template or example of theological and spiritual consummation on reconciliation and unity.

The Rev. Dr. John T. Mathew is an ordained minister in The United Church of Canada who served several urban and rural congregations in the province of Ontario, Canada since 1974 and taught in the Department of Religious Studies, Huntington/Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario. Mathew was awarded Merrill Fellowship at Harvard University and served as Pastor-Theologian at the Princeton Center of Theological Inquiry. He was Ecumenical Minister (2010) at St. Machar’s Cathedral, Aberdeen (Church of Scotland) and Interim Minister at St. Andrew's Parish, Gore, Southern Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand (2015-2017).

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‘Every Cloud has a Silver Lining’: Reconciliation and Unity Dr. Zac Varghese, London “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Ps 133:1-NKJV)

none and harmony for all.” Reconciliation and unity under the love and grace of God is fundamental to establishing the values of the kingdom of God. The Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto showed that water from clear springs when exposed to a word such as love or kindness shows beautiful symmetrical snowflake patterns of harmony and unity. On the other hand, water exposed to negative or impure thoughts forms incomplete asymmetrical chaotic patterns of division. According to Emoto water is a symbol of unity and integration. Only in the power of love and gratitude we can create true ecumenism. Let us continue to pray for ecumenical understanding, and doing God’s will for the benefit of everyone and for the common good of society.

Millions and millions of people across the world pray 24 hours a day the prayer that Jesus taught: “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

This prayer will only become a reality when we continue the work that Jesus has entrusted to us to establish the kingdom of God on earth. It is a kingdom of unconditional love of God, relationship, justice, truth, spirituality and beauty. We are not only to pray for it daily, year in and year out, but to work diligently for making it a reality on earth, as it is in heaven. This kingdom is ‘now-and-notyet’ reality. On 20th January, 2021, Amanda Goldman had the following lines in her poetic recital at the presidential inauguration of President Joe Biden: “And so, we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide, because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to

Oxford theologian, Alister McGrath24, defined reconciliation as: “The bringing of two estranged parties back into relationship. It is one of the central images of what was achieved in the death of Jesus, bringing God and humanity into harmony and taking away the barrier due to Sin. Once reconciled to God, Christians are equipped to bring reconciliation across the divisions in the world.” The estrangement between humanity and God happened at the beginning of the creation story as we read in the Genesis. Reconciliation has been central to Christian experience at every level: within self, with God and with others. We learn that in Jesus that heaven and earth have come together once for all and ‘Jesus built the bridge from there to here.’ Building a bridge was a very costly self-giving act of reconciliation.

In a short meditation in 2015, I wrote25: “We cannot get away from the reality that God came in search for us and He built the bridge from ‘There to here.’ Jesus further said emphatically: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14: 6).

The initiative for this relationship, bridge building, is from our creator God: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me” (Rev 4: 20).

It is not our search and effort, it is God’s; we only have to be there to listen to that ‘still small voice’ to align ourselves to be in that bridge of reconciliation and unity in God. It is in this network of relationships we enjoy and realise haven on earth and the answer to the prayer: ‘Thy kingdom come’.

St. Paul was very much concerned with various kinds of conflicts and tensions that emerged in the churches that 1 Alister McGrath, The New Lion Hand Book Christian Belief,

Lion Hudson, 2006, page399.

2 Zac Varghese, ‘A Bridge is built from There to here’ ECHO’, Oct, 2015.

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he established in Christ. A major theme of his letters was for establishing reconciliation, unity and explaining the finer points of theology of salvation in Christ. There are three stages of reconciliation: reconciliation with self, reconciliation with God and finally, reconciliation with others. These are not standalone separate experiences; they organically flow from one to the other.

Reconciliation with self: Some people have a divided self or multiple personalities; people often wear masks to cover up the unacceptable images they have of themselves. This drives people to inner tension and psychological illness such as neurosis.

This conflict may be between the outer and the inner or spiritual man. It is what Faust means when he says: “Two souls, alas, dwell in my breast apart.” According to Carl Jung, neurosis is a dissociation of personality, a divided self. At this point, we need healing and for taking the right path for finding wholeness in Christ. Reconciliation with self is essential for finding wholeness, order, rest, security and peace. In Christ, we can experience healing, peace and wholeness “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).

Although internal and external conflicts destroy our pilgrimage to God and peace, God has provided a way to overcome these roadblocks: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9). We are regularly reminded to do this in the liturgy of the Eucharist. We do the ‘kiss of peace’ after the confession and absolution. It is possible that we exchange peace during the Eucharist without thinking of our deep obligation to forgiveness and reconciliation. It is just possible that we forget the need for penitence because we are repeating the confession after the priest like parrots. Jesus reminded us this in the ‘Sermon on the Mount: “Therefore, if you are offering your gifts at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; and then come and offer your gift” (Mt 5:23-24). Reconciliation with self is part and parcel of knowing oneself with absolute clarity, humility and having compassion for oneself to have compassion for others. It is in knowing ourselves we will be able to love our neighbour as ourselves as directed by Jesus Christ (Mt 22: 39; Mk 12:31).

Reconciliation with God: Sinful thoughts and actions separate us from God and we cannot have peace until we have reconciled with God. Jesus Christ removed the barriers by suffering the punishment on the cross on our behalf. Paul wrote to

Romans: “He was delivered for our offences and was raised for our justification” (Rom 4:25). Paul’s dense theological expressions such as justification by faith, atonement, propitiation and such are for explaining the reality of reconciliation (Rom 5:1-10). Atonement signified the condition of being ’at-one’ with God after God and man had been estranged from one another.

Reconciliation with God only becomes meaningful when there is a sense of brokenness, of things being out of joint, of estrangement from the ideal self, from well-being and of separation from God, His unconditional love and grace. Paul explains his ministry of reconciliation to Corinthians in his second letter (chapters 2 to 7), this is set in the context of the defence of his apostolic ministry.

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:18).

Reconciliation with others: We are asked to live in peace, harmony and unity with everyone (Rom12:14-18; reconciliation is essential to follow the two fundamental commandments of God (Mt 22:39). The early churches that Paul established during his missionary journeys in the Mediterranean basin and had many theological, ethnic and sociological problems to overcome. Therefore, Paul emphasized the need for reconciliation and unity in Christ and the unconditional love of God. Most of the letters were written to resolve problems through the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s abundant love. It was because of the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau, Jacob was blessed and was able to say to Esau, “For to see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favourably” (Gen 33:10). Unity of mankind was so important to Jesus that it was the subject of His high priestly prayer in John’s Gospel (Jn 17:20-26). The theme of the seventh Assembly of the World council Churches at Canberra (Australia) in 1991 was expressed in a prayer: “Come, Holy Spirit — renew the whole creation’. . . reconcile your people! Holy Spirit, transform and sanctify us!” Reconciliation is a much-needed process for solving major issues concerning ‘the whole inhabited world (Oikoumene)’ (Eph 4:3; Rom 15:7). God wants reconciliation and unity in this world; not conflict, wars, separation and division. Everlasting peace is the result of reconciliation and unity. Although we see the theme of reconciliation in all of Paul’s letters, it is in his epistle to Philemon we see its most effective application in resolving a conflict between Philemon and Onesimus.

A model of Reconciliation and Unity Every aspect of reconciliation and unity in Christ is practically demonstrated by Paul in his letter to Philemon.

The letter to Philemon is St. Paul’s shortest of his thirteen letters in the New Testament. It is a letter addressed to a ‘friend in Christ’ for a specific need. The strength of this

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letter is entirely centred on the phrase ‘in Christ’ and its deep experiential meaning.

The letter was written to Philemon, a wealthy Christian who lived in Colossae, and who became a Christian because of Paul’s ministry. One of Philemon’s slaves, Onesimus, for some unspecified reason, became a runaway slave and came to the attention of Paul, and became a Christian and lived under his patronage as his beloved spiritual son. Onesimus was very helpful to Paul in the hour of his need under the conditions of his house arrest and the restrictions placed on him. However, Paul was mindful of the background of Onesimus and the circumstances of his escape from Philemon’s household and estate, and wanted to bring reconciliation between his two friends: one a wealthy man and the other a runaway salve. Such an escape from slavery was punishable under the law, even death. This is the bare background of writing this letter.

Therefore, Paul was caught in the middle of needing to do the right thing for both of them. This is often a very common situation that people get caught in the middle in disputes between friends, members within the family and people in parishes and so on. Therefore, this letter is a model for conflict resolution. The letter teaches us so many things about how to write a letter for helping someone and how to get the best possible result and conflict resolution. The letter is a simple request to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus to forgive his offences and take him back.

The letter is not anonymous, and hence the author states who he is and his credentials and his relationships to Philemon and Onesimus – under the matrix of Paul’s relationship with the risen Lord; hence, the phrase ‘in Christ’ is the driving force for writing this letter. The confidence in writing this letter comes from his own personal story of experiencing Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road. His story, in summary, is that Jesus–– God’s only begotten son, anointed and sanctified––was crucified, dead, and buried, but whom God then raised from the dead, exalted to sit at the right hand of His Father in heaven to judge all His people and the creation in the fullness of time.

The author of this letter, Paul, is identified himself in the letter simply as a prisoner of Christ Jesus and the friend of a fellow worker of Timothy (verse1), an old man (verse 9), and a friend of Philemon. Paul identifies his relationship with the recipient of this letter, Philemon, as a dear friend and also mentions others in this friendship circle such as Apphia, Archippus and Timothy; these people are described as fellow-workers and soldiers; Paul also remembers the members of the wider house-church that meets in Philemon’s house. Although Paul is away in prison, he has very close fellowship with this community in Colossae through his silent prayer commitment for

each and every one of them. This is the quality of his relationship in Christ, and love is the binding force that is connecting all the people in this story.

The purpose of the letter is a plea on behalf of his spiritual son, Onesimus, who wronged Philemon before his repentance and conversion to Christianity under the influence of Paul. Paul says in verses 8 and 9, “. . . although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love.” Therefore, the driving force is the unconditional love of God, which Paul, Philemon and Onesimus share in Christ. Paul is not writing this letter under his authority as an apostle with power to command, but as a brother in Christ. This is indeed a good example for everyone in leadership roles in the church.

In this letter, Paul is demonstrating the transformational power of living in Christ. Onesimus is a now a completely changed man and no more a slave in the eyes of Paul, he is his son. Paul speaks of him in this letter as: (1) ‘my son Onesimus’ (verse 10); (2) ‘useless, but now useful’ (verse 11); (3) ‘a dear brother’ (verse 16). Notice the power of Paul’s ministry in Christ to transform sinners into saints (Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

This letter shows Paul’s sincerity, tact, skills and appeal, but he was able to write such an effective letter because of his life ‘in Christ’. The genius of this letter lies in the fact that Paul makes the request before telling Philemon what the request is for; it is a superb way of asking a favour without telling what the favour is about. But Paul was very careful in not taking advantage of his considerable power and influence. Although we do not know the end result of this letter, how could Philemon fail to respond to such a letter? Paul expects Philemon to accept Onesimus, not as a slave, but at an elevated status of a brother and much more! Tom Wright26 thinks that Onesimus later became a bishop of Ephesus, he wrote: “Fifty years later the bishop of Ephesus is a man called Onesimus. The young slave, now an elderly Christian leader? Or a name already respected within the early community?” Yes, indeed, ‘every cloud has a silver lining’.

Therefore, everything is possible ‘in Christ’ and for Christ.

This is an ideal model for conflict resolution. The mediator should have the right relationships with everyone concerned and the right relationship is only possible ‘in Christ’. Unity among the believers is the core theme of Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17. The members of churches are expected to glorify God by their life of unity and ecumenical relationship. Dis-unity among the members of churches is against the Gospel of Christ and it hinders God’s mission (Missio Dei).

26 Tom Wright, ‘Paul a Biography, SPCK London, 2018, page

284.

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Digital Archiving of Kerala Christian Heritage: A Call to Action Dr. Cherian Samuel, Virginia the Mar Thoma Church, following the plea by Justice K.T. Thomas for archiving the Judgment during the June 2021 Mar Thoma Apologetics webinar on the topicix. As elaborated below, Shiju Alexx and associates had completed the Digital Archiving of the Royal Court Judgment in August 2015—albeit unknown to many, including the Mar Thoma Apologetics webinar participants—as part of a broader efforts to digitize and archive public domain documents (print book, manuscripts, palm leaves, pictures, audio, etc.) in all languages and scripts related to Kerala and Malayalam.

Introduction. The history and traditions of Kerala Christiansv has been a topic of extensive research and discussion for longvi. Unlike other early Christian communitiesvii of the Near East, Kerala Christians have progressed well over time, since the arrival of Apostle Thomas in Malabar in AD 52, to fulfill Jesus’s Great Commission to His disciples to share the good news (“Gospel”) of salvation for All through Christ (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15). This article is a call to action for the Digital Archiving—digitization and archiving for public access—of Kerala Christian historical records and documents and making them publicly accessible.

Since Kerala’s climate conditions may shorten the lifespan of public domain documents, Digital Archiving should be treated as a priority for preserving the Kerala Christian heritage.

This article has been inspired by the providential internet discovery of the Digital Archiving of the 1889 Royal Court Judgmentviii, which led to the formation of

Kerala Christian History. Based on tradition, the beginnings of Indian Christianity can be traced to Apostle Thomas’s arrival in Cranganore (Muziris)—a major seaport on the Malabar Coast—in AD 52. Apostle Thomas preached the Gospel and established the following seven Christian communities, before being martyred in St. Thomas Mount (Madras) in AD 72: (i) Cranganore; (ii) Chavakad; (iii) Parur; (iv) Gokamangalam; (v) Niranam; (vi) Nilakkal; and (vii) Quilon. However, presenting a coherent history of the Kerala Christian Church until the sixteenth century has been challenging, given the lack of relevant materialxi, as noted by Firth (1961). In particular, the burning of the books and documents of the Kerala Christian Church by the Roman Catholic Church—under the aegis of Portuguese colonialists who arrived in Calicut (Kerala) in May 1498—following the enactment of the June 1599 Diamper Synod decreesxii, has been the main reason for the paucity of written historical evidence of the Kerala Christian Church before the sixteenth century.

Rationale for Digital Archiving. The Kerala Christian history loss resulting from the Diamper Synod decisions provides a unique motivation for Digital Archiving. More generally, digitization provides a broad range of benefitsxiii: (i) Information and content can be delivered directly to end-users, and retrieved remotely; (ii) Ability to provide access to a large number of users; (iii) Online resources can serve local, national and international needs; (iv) Creating digital surrogates reduces handling of old or fragile material, potentially extending the life of the original. However, the costs if digitization should be considered as well: (i) Required staff expertise and additional resources; (ii) Users are completely reliant on computers and stable Internet connections to view and retrieve the digital information. Depending on users’ hardware and software capabilities, access may be frustrating because of the large variety of computer models, platforms, software, and hardware globally; (iii)

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Ease of access to digital collections can lead to high expectations of end-users, that everything is available online and free.

Ongoing Digitization Initiatives. Since 2009, Shiju Alex has led an extraordinary voluntary effort for the Digital Archiving of Kerala and Malayalam related documents.

Key documents digitized and archived so far includexiv: (i) Herman Gundertxv Collection (262 documents); (ii) Malankara Edavaka Pathrika collection (163 issues); (iii) Malankara Orthodox church collection (862 documents); (iv) The Church Weekly collection (238 issues); (v) Kerala Text Book collection (277 documents); (vi) Kerala Periodicals collection (232 documents); (vii) Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad collection (KSSP, 289 documents). Overall, more than 3000 documents have been digitized and placed in the public domain—with over 200,000 pages—during the past decade.

From an Indian Christian history perspective, a highlight of the Digital Archiving efforts so far has been the documents related to the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and the London Missionary Society (LMS) xvi, who were the global evangelical mission leaders in the British empire. In addition, the Digital Archiving community made a breakthrough discovery in May 2019 regarding the tomb of Benjamin Bailey (1791-1871) in Sheinton, UKxvii. Benjamin Bailey served as a CMS missionary in Kottayam (Kerala) for 34 yearsxviii, translating the Bible into Malayalamxix. In March 1850, Benjamin Bailey departed to England, and served as the Rector of the St. Peter and St. Paul Episcopal Church in Sheinton (1856-1871). Until the research investigation undertaken by the Digital Archiving team (Shiju Alex, C.J. Cibu, Babu Cherian) in May 2019, little was known about the post-Kottayam years of Benjamin Bailey in Kerala and CMS records. Given the outstanding contributions Benjamin Bailey made to Malayalam printing, publishing and literature for over 30 years, the absence of any records and information during his postKottayam years remains a mystery!

Way Forwardxx. Creating awareness regarding the need for Digital Archiving of Kerala Christian documents and records among Church leadership, clergy and laity is an important first step, the purpose of this article. Another step will be to create a community of practice, which could learn from Shiju Alex and associates and share the responsibility for Digital Archiving, a public good.

Given the limited capacity for digitization currently, documents will have to selected and sequenced, based on relative importance. Last, but not least, financial resources have to be set aside for meeting digitization costs. To begin with, the digitized documents can be archived in the Internet Archive (www.archive.org), similar to the current practice. In the future, different archiving options could be explored, funds permitting.

Given the shared heritage of Kerala Christians, the Digital Archiving project has the potential to be ecumenical in approach, with separate portals for different denominations.

Conclusions. The case for the Digital Archiving of Kerala Christian heritage is strong and sound. In particular, the loss of history experienced by the community in the past provides a unique opportunity.

Thanks to the extraordinary voluntary efforts of digitization pioneers during the last decade, significant progress has been made regarding the Digital Archiving of public domain documents related to Kerala and Malayalam. Creating more awareness about and ownership of Digital Archiving among All Kerala Christians is critical. Given the shared Kerala Christian heritage, Digital Archiving can be an ecumenical initiative as well among the Churches.

Conclusion: The Living Gospel is the good news that we can be saved from our sins by trusting in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We commune with the Lord Almighty through Prayer and the Word of God, which has the power to renew our minds and transform our lives. For His glory. And our mercy. * Dr. Cherian Samuel is an economist, who after having had a distinguished career with the World Bank Group retired in February 2021.

He is a member of Immanuel Mar Thoma Church, Virginia (USA).

i

J-M.G. Le Clézio, Wandering Star, translated by C. Dickson.

(Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 2004). ii Hadas Gold and Michael Schwartz, "Kidney from Jew killed in mob violence goes to Arab woman," May 22,2021, https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/22/middleeast/jewish-man organ-donation-arab-woman-intl-cmd/index.html (Accessed on June 7, 2021). iii See Robert J. Schreiter, Reconciliation Mission and Ministry in a Changing Social Order, Boston Theological Institute Series (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1992); Robert J. Schreiter, "Reconciliation and Healing as a Paradigm for Mission." International Review of Mission, 94 (January, 2005) 74-75. iv Jonathan Kaufman, Broken Alliance: The Turbulent Times between Blacks and Jews in America, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995), 254. v Kerala Christians are called Syrian Christians/Saint Thomas Christians/Marthoma Nasrani/Malabar Nasrani, Malankara Nasrani/Nasrani Mappila, currently using the East Syriac and West Syriac liturgical rites of Syriac Christianity. Historically, Syrian Christians were part of the hierarchy of the Church of the East, but are currently divided into several different

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Eastern Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant, and Independent churches with their own liturgies and traditions.

Nasrani or Nazarene is a Syriac term for Christians, who were among the first converts to Christianity in the Near East (https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Thomas_Christians). vi Notable contributions include: A. E. Medlycott, “India and the Apostle Thomas”, David Nutt, 1905; E. M. Philip, “The Indian Church of St. Thomas, L.M. Press, 1950; L. W. Brown, “The Indian Christians of St Thomas: An Account of the Ancient Syrian Church of Malabar”, The University Press, 1956; C. B. Firth, “An Introduction to Indian Church History”, ISPCK, 1961; Dr. Juhanon Mar Thoma Metropolitan, “Christianity in India and a brief history of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church”, (Pub.) KM Cherian, 1952. vii Early Christian communities in Egypt (Coptic Orthodox Church), Syria (Syriac Orthodox Church), and Iraq (Assyrian Church) have shrunk in size and importance over the years. viii

https://shijualex.in/travancore_royal_court_judgement_1889/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIZu7rFunec&t=4108s x Shiju Alex is from Palakkad (Kerala), living and working in Bangalore (Karnataka), Shiju writes a regular blog on ongoing digitizations (https://shijualex.in/about/), and can be reached at “shijualexonline@gmail.com”. All digitized documents are archived on the Internet Archive (www.archive.org), a digital library with the mission of "universal access to all knowledge", founded by Brewster Kahle in May 1996. xi Juhanon Mar Thoma (1952) notes that the history of the Christian Church in the first century does not depend entirely on historical documents, but tradition matters, often more true and more compelling. In this sense, St. Peter’s founding of the Roman church and St. Thomas’s founding of the Malabar church, may be regarded similar. Both are supported by traditions, which are sufficiently early and strong. xii The purpose of the Diamper Synod—convened by Alexis de Menezes, Archbishop of Goa—was to bring the Syrian church under the Roman ecclesiastical supremacy. As a result, the Syrian Church was coerced to accept Roman Catholic doctrines and practices for over five decades, until the “Crooked Cross Oath” of 1653, which also split the Syrian Christians (Malankara Church) into two groups, the Syrian Church and the Roman Church. See, “Mar Thoma Church: A Historical Sketch” by Rev. Dr. T.P. Abraham, for more details (https://www.horebmtc.org/about-us/mar-thoma-church-history/). ix

xiii

See Sally McKay (2003) for a more detailed discussion of the benefits and costs of digitization (https://southernlibrarianship.icaap.org/content/v04n01/ Mckay_s01.htm). xiv Relevant links are: Herman Gundert (https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Herma nn +Gundert %22&and%5b%5d=languageSorter%3A%22Malayalam%22), Edavaka Pathrika (https://archive.org/details/ malankaraedavaka-pathrika), Malankara Orthodox Church (https://archive.org/details/malankara-orthodox-syrianchurch), Church Weekly (https://archive.org/details/thechurch-weekly), Kerala Text Books (https://archive.org/ details/kerala-text-books), Kerala Periodicals (https://archive.org/details/kerala-periodicals), KSSP (https://archive. org/details /kssp-archives). However, only about twenty Mar Thoma Church documents have been digitized and archived

(https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Martho ma+Church+Documents%22). xv A more detailed discussion of the Gundert Legacy Project (2013-2018) can be found at https://shijualex.in/myexperience-with-the-gundert-legacy-project/. Gundert, the German scholar of Indian languages, took his collection of manuscripts and rare books with him when he returned to Germany from Kerala in 1870, which is now archived in the Tuebingen University library in Germany. The digital version of the Gundert archive, thanks to the resolute and diligent leadership of Shiju, and the financial support from the University, can be accessed through the Hermann Gundert Portal, https://gundert-portal.de. xvi https://shijualex.in/missionary-documents-with-referencesto-kerala/. xvii More details on the Benjamin Bailey tomb discovery can be found at the following links: (i) Story on C.J. Cibu visiting the tomb (https://docs.google.com/document/d/13adDDG3igkAnRVn9 W4HU3loq-XPc03gYxz-qEnZEFK8/ edit); (ii) Malayala Manorama report (https://www.manoramaonline.com/news/sunday/2020/02/15/ sunday-discovery-of-Benjamin-Bailey-and-tomb.html); (iii) Assessment by Dr. Babu Cherian from the Benjamin Bailey Foundation (https://babucherian.in/images/pdf/Bailey's%20TombPMD%2 0Final.pdf). The Epitaph on the Benjamin Bailey tomb reads, “In memory of The Rev. BENJAMIN BAILEY. Thirty four years a Missionary of the Church Missionary Society in Travancore South India and fourteen years Rector of this Parish He fell asleep in Jesus. April 3rd -1871. 80 years.” xviii The three CMS missionaries—Benjamin Bailey, Joseph Fenn, and Henry Baker (Sr)—known as the "Kottayam Trio", made outstanding contributions for creating and maintaining educational institutions in Kerala. xix Benjamin Bailey also became the founder of both Malayalam printing and book publishing, producing the first English-Malayalam dictionary in 1846 and he first Malayalam-English dictionary in 1849. xx A June 2015 blog summarizes the findings of an assessment

by Shiju Alex and VS Sunil regarding the status and possibilities for the digitization of public domain Malayalam documents (https://shijualex.in/malayalam_public_ domain_documents_digitization/). As noted in the blog, their research is focused on the evolution of the Malayalam script dating back to the 18th century, the history of Malayalam printing and early Malayalam books.

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Book Review ‘Seeking God, Seeking Moksha: The teaching of Shri Krishan & Jesus Christ, by Paul Sudhakar Menon, Pippa Rann Books & Media, an Imprint of Salt Desert Media Group Ltd., 2020. Pp173, ISBN978-1-91373815-0. Rs.299.

Paul Sudhakar Menon (1922-2000) was born into an aristocratic upper caste Hindu family in the Palakkad District of Kerala, India. Having lost his father at the age of eight, at the age of nine he started reading Hindu Scriptures such as Bhagavad Geeta, Vedas and the Upanishads under the influence of his grandmother. These Scriptures were shaping his life from that early age. Mahatma Gandhi’s life and his constant dependence on the teachings of Bhagavad Geeta/Gita attracted the young Sudhakar.

Dr. Radhakrishnan’s Philosophy also attracted Sudhakar and when he sought Spiritual guidance from Dr. Radhakrishnan, he said: “Sudhakar, I do not have all the qualities of a real Guru.

Jesus Christ was the greatest Guru who ever walked on this earth. If you want a Guru, it should be him and not me.” This comment led him to study the teaching of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps no one has hitherto attempted to place on facing pages of a book the teachings of Jesus, as recoded in the Gospels (45-100CE), and Lord Krishna’s teaching in the Gita (3102BCE). This book places the teachings of Jesus on the left-hand pages, and the teachings of Shri Krishna on the right-hand pages. This is very helpful to study these teachings in parallel with each other. The author is not trying interpret the teaching of these two incarnations of God in human form, but allowing both of them to talk to us directly through the actual texts as recorded in these sacred books. He sees a common thread, love, binding the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Lord Krishna of the Bhagavat Geetha. These discourses are from two different situations with a time span of 3,000 years separating them––one from Galilee, Decapolis and Judea and other from the battle fields of Kurukshetra.

However, the similarities and subtle differences are uncanny.

The author seems to believe that in Krishna and Jesus there is the fullest manifestation of the ‘Logos’, which is the ‘Word’ that is with God and is God. Although the incarnation of Jesus is ‘once for all’, in Lord Krishna’s case it could happen again and again (birth-death-rebirth) as and when the cosmos needs it. The author is not emphatic about the qualitative differences between the two great teachers. Although he is hesitant to equate Krishna and Jesus who lived apart on the earth over thousands of years, he recognizes their many similarities.

The author, Paul Sudhakar Menon (1922-2000), was involved in enlightening audiences with his talks on spirituality, Bhagavat Geeta and the teachings of Jesus Christ across India and in many countries around the world. This posthumous book is based on those talks, which offers great insights on the teaching of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavat Geeta and the teachings of Jesus Christ in the Gospels.

The aim of the book is stated as building ‘a bridge of understanding between devotees of Shri Krishna and followers of Jesus Christ.’ This book will be helpful for the students of comparative religions, wider-ecumenism, interfaith dialogue and inter-faith living.

The book has four chapters. The first chapter explains how the qualities attributed to God are set out by both Krishna and Jesus. It also explains the ideas of incarnation and moksha (salvation) in the two traditions of faith. Here we also read about life, death and the immortality of the soul. Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Krishna’s does not teach that the world is evil, and he does not ask anyone to withdraw from the world to attain moksha (Salvation). Both teachers ask their followers to do everything in union with God (yoga). This mutual abiding experience is explained in St. John’s Gospel.

Jesus tells Philip: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14: 9). The first chapter ends with the following message: “. . . God’s eternal message of peace is not heard in the places of comfortable solitude, but in the midst, yes, in the centre, of conflict and confrontation. Here the Cross of Christ, which is the basis of the Gospel is seen, in the Geeta, not in a literal sense, but as a figure. Similarly, the Songs of God or the Geeta of Bhagwan, is the message of the Cross. And Kurukshetra is, similarly, Dharam Kshetra, the field of

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righteousness, which in the Bible is depicted as a Calling to righteousness.”

In the second chapter we see the author presenting Jesus and Krishna as perfect teachers who shared their teachings by real examples from varied life situations of conflicts and confusions. Both of them taught with authority, clarity, certainty and assurance. Various qualities of these two teachers are explained and compared in this chapter. Ultimate Knowledge is the everlasting oneness in both traditions, which brings release from bondage from everything that separates us from God. In chapter three, love and devotion to God is explained for the benefit of followers of Jesus Christ and Lord Krishna. God is love and this is realized in the ‘bhakti maarga’ traditions of Hinduism as well. Yoga, the union of man with God, is a central theme of this which is analysed further through the statement of Jesus, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14: 6) and the exhortation of Krishna to “Come to him, abide in him, obey him, and worship him.” Both Jesus and Krishna claim to be Manifestation of God (divinity) and both expect man’s obedience and worship. The concept of God in human form and their identities are further highlighted through the ‘I am statements’ of both Jesus Christ and Lord Krishna (pages124, 125).

In the fourth chapter, the cardinal teaching of Jesus based on the unmerited love of God (grace) and the nishkaama karma in union with God (yoga) is explained. Both teachers emphasise that human actions should be done in union with God. “According to the Geeta, actions are to be done for the purpose of maintenance of universal welfare.” Jesus’ ‘kingdom messages’ are also for the welfare of the whole inhabited earth (oikoumene).

Finally, there are three paths, which lead directly to establishing yoga. According to Geeta these three paths are the yoga of perfect action, yoga of perfect devotion and yoga of perfect knowledge. For the followers of Jesus, it is diakonia (service), koinonia (fellowship) and kerygma (knowledge and teaching).

So, we see that there is much more that unites than divides followers of Shri Krishna with followers of Jesus the Lord. Anil Yesudas in his afterword writes: “Sages from all religions agree that our true identities realized only in the presence of God and in union with God.” Rahil Patel ended his foreword to this book with a mantra for its readers. I also recommend the same mantra to the readers of this important book: “Those who come to God thinking their hands are full, find themselves leaving empty handed; those who come to God realizing that they are empty, can return filled with a darshan [revelation] of the Divine.”

Though the vision this book offers is philosophical and theological, its potential for interfaith study and interfaith living and wider-ecumenism is far reaching. I have no hesitation in recommending this book to all seekers of truth.

Theme for the FOCUS, January, 2022, Vol 10 (1) Sustainability of Nature and the Mission of the Church

As human beings we are part of the whole of God’s creation and have a responsibility to love and care for what God has entrusted to us as its stewards.

Recognizing the interdependence of human beings with the rest of creation demands ethical basis for our living on the earth, which requires respect rather than dominion. This respect is reflected in addressing the earth as the ‘Mother Earth’ in the Indian tradition. For maintaining environmental justice, we need responsible and sustainable stewardship. Our primary task as Christians is understanding our involvement and responsibility as partners in God’s mission in establishing God’ kingdom values on this earth. This certainly means we have a God-given responsibility as stewards of creation to live sustainably for the welfare of the present and future generations. Sustainable living should be part of our social and environmental justice.

Exploitation of earth’s resources, uncontrolled consumerism, global dependence on fossil fuels and economic expansions based on a ‘throw away culture’ undermine the basis for sustainability. We cannot ignore the human contribution to the increasing of the carbon foot print, which is contributing to the global warming. Our worship, thanksgiving and prayer should lead us to total commitment for addressing the environmental crisis through the missional activities of the church. The focus of a missional church must be centred on healing this fractured world and then the church will become an earth-centred ecological church to make our Lord’s prayer – ‘Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.’ – a reality in our daily living.

Dr. Zac Varghese, London, UK. 05-09-21

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OBITUARY In the Blessed Memory of Revd Dr. M. V. Abraham Revd Dr. Abraham Philip, Kottayam

91), and Mar Thoma Theological Seminary, Kottayam, (1991-96), where he was also the principal. He also taught at the postgraduate level and guided doctoral research scholars through the FFRRC for another two decades. During these years he could write many books, which are now very useful for theological students. Two books that are very widely read are Treasure in an Earthen Vessel, a book of meditations jointly authored by Achen and Kochamma, and The Master’s Voice (a collection of Achen’s sermons).

M. V. Abraham Achen had a reputation as a good parish priest, reflective of his calling. A Christian minister always will have to look to his Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the exemplar of ministry. He was a coworker with Christ. During his pedagogical years, he has been known to be well prepared for his lectures, well read and organized. The same applied to his sermons, and he is known to have exhorted his students to be well prepared when preaching in the churches they serve. Though he was born with a stammer and had impaired verbal skills, by the grace of God he recovered from it in early childhood, through much prayer by his mother. From then, he has gone on to be a silvertongued orator and prolific writer. A combination of humour and insight always made for better oratory and consequently, better reception by the audience.

The Revd Dr. M. V. Abraham (1931-2021) departed from us, all of a sudden on 23rd August 2021. He completed ninety years during last May. Having reached the age of ninety years is a rare milestone in one’s life. During his professional and pedagogical career spanning over 64 years duration, he has influenced a number of his fellow clergy, bishops, professional colleagues, students, parishioners and family.

M. V. Abraham achen hailed from Ashtamudy, Kollam.

Under divine providence he chose a career in the service of the Master and was ordained in 1957. After serving in a few parishes, in 1964 the Church sent him to Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey, for higher studies. On his return he could serve in parishes in Bangalore and New Delhi and in 1971 he began his teaching career at Bishop’s College, Calcutta. In 1973 he could proceed to the Ecumenical Institute, Tantur in Israel for advanced studies in New Testament, and he could spend time at Tubingen University, Germany; and Oxford, England. From June 1976 Achen began teaching until his retirement from active service in 1996.

He taught at Leonard Theological College Jabalpur (1976-86), Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Columbus, Ohio (1980), United Theological College, Bangalore (1986-

Achen’s wife, (Late) Mary Abraham (Molly Kochamma) was a constant source of inspiration, encouragement and support to him through their 39 years of marriage.

Achen is survived by his two children Georgie and Roshini. Now both are in the US. His son Dr. George Abraham, MD, MPH, FACP, FIDSA, is Chief, Department of Medicine, Saint Vincent Hospital; and Professor of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School. At present he is the President of American College of Physicians (ACP). His wife Dr. Viji Susan is also a medical doctor at Boston. They have two daughters Diya and Sreya. Achen’s daughter, Dr. Roshini Sarah Abraham PhD, D (ABMLI), FAAAAI, was Professor and consultant in Clinical Immunology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota for more than two decades. Recently she has moved to another prestigious institution at Ohio: Nationwide Children’s.

She is also a recipient of several important awards.

MVA Achen has a great heritage, which he has passed on to the posterity. Just like his parents, his children also have inherited a great concern for the mission of the church.

I started knowing Achen from my student days at Jabalpur during the seventies of the last century when I was a student at Leonard Theological College. Besides, he was my mentor for my doctoral research and dissertation during the turn of the century. With regard to Achen’s classes, I quote the Church of South India

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Bishop Dr. B. S. Devamoni of the Diocese of Dornakal, a former student of Achen, “His teaching was exceptionally good . . . he was an exemplary Professor . . . It was a tremendous joy to be with him in his classes, or joining in Volley Ball court for playing together. He made his teaching very interesting, allowing students to participate in a free and friendly atmosphere. His pastoral care of the students and commitment to the church impressed me most” (pp 50-51 of the festschrift in honour of Achen entitled In the Master’s Service . . .).

As a person Achen was adaptable and self-disciplined.

He was very sincere and transparent. One does not find a tint of hypocrisy in him in his personal dealings and relationships. Lucidity and straightforward utterance marked his style. He cared for the well-being and betterment of all who came across him especially his students and others who were in some way associated with him. The story of his last days could be narrated as follows: It was early morning on 10th August that Achen had a fall from his bed quite unconsciously. After three days in the evening as Achen was about to return to his room after dinner, he had another fall. It was very difficult for Achen to walk and there was severe pain. Xrays found that there was a minor fracture in his hip, and rest was prescribed and his movements were restricted to a wheel chair. There were no other health problems. On the 23rd August around 9.45 p m, his death occurred all of a sudden, quite unexpectedly.

MVA Achen’s son Dr. George Abraham arrived from Boston in the US on the 26th morning Already the Mar Thoma Sabha Secretary Revd K G Joseph (a student of MVA achen) under the direction of His Grace the Metropolitan Dr. Theodosius Mar Thoma Metropolitan had announced the details of the funeral and everything took place as scheduled in the most benefitting manner on Friday the 27th August. Along with our Metropolitan, the Suffragan Metropolitan Joseph Mar Barnabas, and the Episcopas namely Thomas Mar Timotheos, Dr. Abraham Mar Paulos, Dr. Gregorios Mar Stephanos gave leadership to the services. The Vicar Generals of our church and a large number of Achens participated following the COVID protocol. Several people from various spheres including Bishop Thomas K. Oommen of the CSI Church paid homage and spoke words of condolences. Towards the close of the service Dr. George Abraham spoke his eulogy and placed words of appreciation to one and all for their services on behalf of Achen’s family. The DSMC could conduct the live streaming very well. All these resulted in the smooth conduct of the entire funeral service giving glory to our Lord and Master, the Almighty God. May the name of the Lord be glorified.

Revd Dr. Abraham Philip, Kottayam

Obituary Tribute The man sent by God: Revd K. C. Mathew (1929-2021) [The following is a translation of an obituary written by Prof.

Kozhuvalloor M. K. Cheriyan (Former Principal, Bishop Moore College, Mavelikara) and it was first published in the journal ‘New Vision for a Changing world’. It is translated by Prof. Elias Abraham, Baltimore, USA and Dr. Cherian Samuel, Virgnia, USA. The editorial board of the FOCUS is grateful to them.]

“There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John (John 1:6)”. If we replace “John” with “K. C. Mathew”, in the verse, the secret of Achen's success in various facets of life will be revealed. He had an amazing personality, fully and continually tuned to God's voice in numerous mission fields, which made the efforts greatly successful.

In 1964, Bishop M. M. John Thirumeni, Manager of CMS College, Kottayam, asked K. C. Mathew Achen, who was well known through the CSI Youth Movement, and working diligently at the College as a Physics lecturer and the College chaplain, to take charge as the principal of the new Junior College at Mavelikara, affiliated to Kerala University. Before responding to M. M. John Thirumeni, Achen came to see the place for the proposed college for himself at Kallumala, located on the East side of Mavelikara.

Standing in the shade of a big old leafy jackfruit tree, not far from the CSI Church and the LP School, Achen prayed. God was entrusting Achen with a great and glorious mission, just like He had mandated Moses from the burning bush on Mount Horeb. “I will be with you”.

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God had told Moses.

Achen received the same message from God, standing prayerfully under the jackfruit tree. K. C. Mathew Achen surrendered to the will of God and decided to accept the great leadership responsibility.

There is a remarkable coincidence that should be noted here. The land for the proposed college, full of stone pits and cultivated with tapioca, was bought by Revd Joseph Peet, the famous Anglican Missionary. In 1938, Rev. Joseph Peet started living in Mavelikara for mission work and built Christ Church, using the cut stones and soil from Kallumala. Now, after nearly one hundred and twenty years later, an educational institution was emerging from the same soil filled with sone pits! This was never a coincidence, but undoubtedly God's choice.

The Manager was responsible for paying the salaries to the teachers and the non-teaching staff, and therefore the principal had to find the money. Without ever seeking donations for the admission of students or the appointments of staff, the employees received their salaries every month. On several occasions, money had to be borrowed from generous friends. Achen always stood strongly against seeking donations and other illicit payments throughout his tenure.

The Principal Achen was also a science teacher, but took keen interest in humanities and literature. As a result, Bishop Moore College was able to celebrate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Rev. George Mathan as an allKerala event in 1969. Revd George Mathan is the author of 'Malayazhmayude Vyakaranam', the very first Malayalam grammar book in Malayalam. He was proficient in various languages such as English, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Sanskrit, Latin, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.

As a priest, he ministered in Church Missionary Society (CMS) parishes like Mavelikara, Mallappally, Thiruvalla and Thalavadi. His tomb is located in the courtyard of the Kunthirikkal, Thalavadi, CSI Church.

Mavelikara witnessed the grand sesquicentennial birth celebrations of Revd George Mathan, with a large number of delegates from different parts of Kerala, with hospitality provided for all. The distinguished leaders for the celebrations were Cardinal Joseph Parekkattil, Bishop M. M. John, Mathews Mar Coorilos Metropolitan, Dr. Juhanon Mar Thoma Metropolitan, Dr. P. K. Narayana Pillai, Prof. Sukumar Azhikode, Sooranad Kunjan Pillai, E. M. Kovoor, P. S. George, Fr. Mathew Moozhiyil, D. C. Kizhakkemuri, Puthencavu Mathen Tharakan, Dr. K. M. George and Prof. K. M. Tharakan. I served as the convener of the committee.

The platform built for the meeting in front of the college still remains as a monument of the great event. The

echo of the waves of the celebration reverberated all over Kerala, though Bishop Moore College was only five years old! Among the Junior Colleges that started in 1964, Bishop Moore College remains unique with an exceptional stature. K. C. Mathew Achen's exemplary leadership will be remembered forever.

After 25 years of meritorious service, K. C. Mathew Achen, while bidding farewell to the College, might have heard the soft whispers, “. . . Good and faithful servant!

I will put you in charge of many things.” As Achen used to say: “The reward of work is more work. “God heard the prayers and supplications of many destitute people, who were longing for K. C. Mathew Achen’s leadership.

The result was Achen taking charge as the Secretary of the Manganam Agathi Mandiram. His first action was to change its name. The board now read, 'Mandiram,' instead of 'Agathi Mandiram.' The inmates felt that they now had a master to take care of them. The change was not only about the board, but also in everything else- in food, clothes, care and love, etc. Words and deeds were being harmonized. The poetic verse, 'We are one family', became true for those impoverished people. They used to get food only two times a day. Now they got plenty of food, good rooms to live, better clothes, and in addition, and the atmosphere was replete with prayers and songs.

Achen made it a point to understand the issues faced by the inmates and was very keen to find solutions without delays. New rooms with sufficient air circulation, a clean dining hall, and a well- equipped kitchen were constructed.

Achen also showed great interest in the activities of the Manganam Mandiram Hospital. 'Balika Mandiram', which was started in 2001 under the leadership and supervision of K. C. Mathew Achen, aims to protect orphaned girls, and give them proper training to equip them for a stable life. Today, the Balika Mandiram serves as a shelter of comfort, offering a new life to many girls who are lonely and left out. Achen was a 'grandpa' to Balika Mandiram inmates. Achen served as the Secretary of the Mandiram until 2014.

K. C. Mathew Achen also served as the Manager of the Aluva UC College from 1993 to 2001, providing valuable leadership. Achen was instrumental in formulating the College’s various developmental programs during the period. The College Auditorium built in connection with the Platinum Jubilee is a notable achievement.

Achen's earnest initiatives marked the beginning of the College’s platinum jubilee celebrations.

God blessed Achen with good health, enabling him to execute his responsibilities with utmost honesty. When he fell ill, he was able to transform his sick bed a source of serendipity and hope where he would eventually meet his Lord and Savior in His eternal abode. We pause to celebrate the blessed memory of our dear K. C. Mathew Achen. May that radiant memory never die!

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OBITUARY Prof. Isaac George: An avid reader of literary books Revd Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam A scroll of remembrance:

indebted to him as he wrote a brief Festschrift article about me under the title, “Dr. M. J. Josephthe priest and the person” in a Vol. published by ECC in 2006. I have seen in him as a professor with amazing reading skills and great appreciation for others. He not only liked the reading material, but also the writer whom he had not meet in person. He is such a rare person for us to thank God. I would like to make it known that he was an enlightened layman of the Mar Thoma Church who was always ready to give a helping hand to anyone in need. Truly he has left a few foot prints on the sands of time. As a professor of Electrical Engineering at Bangalore University, he was well known as a teacher with pedagogical skills. His speeches and sermons on various occasions bear witness to his vast fund of knowledge and wide range of experience. His leadership in the Senior Citizens’ Fellowship of the Mar Thoma Church, Bangalore was indeed remarkable. As one who believed that knowledge is power, he had been hunting for good speakers in Bangalore and elsewhere. What matter in life is not being applauded when you arrive, but being missed when you leave forever “Life levels all men; death reveals the eminent” (Bernad Shaw). His faith in the God of all grace is indeed worthy of praise.

I am indeed sorry to hear about the demise of Prof.

Isaac George (84) on April 19, 2021 in Bangalore. There will be a vacuum in me since I am not able to attend his funeral service. I am indeed happy that I could offer a word of prayer for him while he was in the hospital a few days ago. He also expressed his thanks to me for the book, Rainbow of Remembrances, which I sent to him for reading in his sick bed. I have had a close relationship with him as a friend and a member of the Rajaji Nagar Mar Thoma Church, Bangalore, for the last 25 years. I am also happy that I could draft an order of service, as requested by him for a thanksgiving service when he turned 8o years of age. During the period of my service as Principal-ISET and later as Director at the Ecumenical Christian Center, Whitefield (1995-2006) our friendship began to grow. He used to visit ECC with his family members and attend all the important functions there. As an ecumenist, he was a supporter of Ecumenical concerns till the end. I am also

Needless to say, Prof. Isaac George and his dear wife Prof. Mariam George played a significant role in the establishment of the Rajaji Nagar Mar Thoma Church. I have had the first-hand information about their leadership role there. He and his beloved wife were good hosts to all the visitors there including the bishops of the Church. The Church and the public will certainly remember him with gratitude to God. Let us live to die and die to live. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.

“Blessed indeed, says the Spirit . . . that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them” (Rev.14:13).

Prof. Isaac George is survived by his wife and two daughters. Let me conclude this brief obituary tribute, quoting a few lines from the book of Ecclesiastics chapter 44: “. . . and their name lives to all generations. Peoples will declare their wisdom and the congregation proclaims their praise” (vs.14-15).

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