“The Comforting God amidst Difficult Times” (Zech 8:18-19)

Assalamu alaikum and Eid Mubarak. “Ramadaan” or “Ramazaan” a festival celebrated by our Muslim brothers and sisters across the globe has a special impression on me. I fondly remember celebrating this festival with my friends of Islamic faith along with friends from the Hindu and other faiths. A time of great joy, celebration, embracing each other with love and respect, the aroma of “Athar”, a special perfume, and not the least, the food, Biriyaani, haleem, sheer khurma and all the best Hyderabadi delicacies one can imagine, and we all friends, irrespective of religion, class and caste, used to eat all varieties of dishes. And now I miss all of those celebrations.

At this time of celebration of Ramzaan, it would be apt for us to reflect in the light of the read passage, on the theme “The Comforting God amidst Difficult Times”. Zech 8:18-19, gives the same festive mood, as we usually see during Ramzaan. The end of a long fast and a festive mood of celebration and joy. These verses are the closing words of Zechariah’s prophesy, as scholars rightly believe that chapters 1-8 are the words of prophet Zechariah and 9-14 are works of redactors. This is because it is a common phenomenon of a prophecy to end on a note of hope, as these verses do. These words appear as a response to what the people ask the priests and prophets about mourning and abstinence in Zech7:3, and the following verses in chapters 7 and 8 are the response of God. The different months of mourning mentioned could refer to different destructive events like the enemies of Israel laying siege over Jerusalem, the captivity and destruction of the temple and so on.

The prophet’s motive here was to encourage the disheartened and disturbed Jews, and to revive “the impulse of building the temple”; this we could understand from the fact that the time Zechariah prophesied was from 520-518 BCE and the temple was built in 516 BCE. The prophet was successful in encouraging and lifting up the spirits of his people, by proclaiming the prophecy and promise of God about the restoration of Jerusalem, “a dramatic metamorphosis from fasting to feasting”. Taking this into account, as the situation demands, let us for a moment consider the following:

1. Is Zechariah’s prophecy, the promise of God, only to the Israelites of sixth century BCE? Here I mean, does it not have any relevance to the present context?
2. Or is it applicable only to the present day Israel, as a nation?
3. Or does it have messianic elements of hope concerning the whole creation?

Some scholars would critically say that the book complacently assumes that the promises made in classical prophecy were completely fulfilled in the restoration of Jerusalem in sixth century leaving nothing further to be hoped for. And some would resolutely argue that it speaks about the present Israel’s occupying the promised land. There could be different opinions and arguments. However, the Lord’s declaration far exceeds mere restoration. According to Zech 8:16-17, Israel would become a place of blessing, security and spirituality.

We know what the present situation is. Israel’s attack on the Palestinians, who are forcefully evacuated from their land and made to live as refugees in their own country, limited to a tiny piece of most densely populous land, deprived of most of amenities and even food supplies, would rather be deemed not to be what God would have intended. We see an adamant attitude of Israel to seize the whole land from the Palestinians and form a complete Israel Nation, which they say, is “the promise of God”.

The fulfillment of God’s promise is appended with certain “things to remember” and of course, “ought to be followed”. And certainly, forcefully occupying others land is not what God should have really intended. It is mentioned in Zech 8:16-17 and in the last part of v19 about the qualities the nation should have. We also often see as in Exodus 22:21; 23:9; Lev 19:33, God admonishing the Israelites to be kind to aliens or strangers, reminding them of their disastrous state in Egypt. If at all the Palestinians are to be considered as the “aliens or strangers”, is what Israel doing, right? In this context God surely would have reminded them of the holocaust by Hitler in the place of slavery in Egypt. In any case, it is obvious that Israel is defying God’s command regarding the actual qualities of the promised land or the resident aliens.

If God’s Promise of turning the fasting into feasting seeks a context for its right application and reinterpretation, it is the fasting and mourning of the children, women and men who lost their dear ones, who are amputated by shelling of sophisticated weapons, who lost everything, even the least, what they have. This message has to be proclaimed to those, our fellow brothers and sisters, who longingly wish to celebrate the end of their holy month of fasting and for a decent and peaceful living.

The cease fire proposed by the Hamas, in order to have at least a temporary time of tranquillity during the “Eid” is declined by Israel saying that the Hamas keep shooting rockets at Israel. Despite worldwide protests and solidarity to the Palestinians, Israel continues its inhumane war under the strong support of the diplomatic silence of many nations and religions. What could be the Christian response for such a time as this? It is good to know that there are some Jewish organizations which oppose this war. A Greek orthodox church has sheltered about a 1,000 Palestinian Muslims who fled from Israeli shells devastating their Gaza neighbourhood. And they have found shelter in this building, the city's 12th-century Greek Orthodox Church, which they otherwise would rarely or never enter.

If we continue to debate on our theological stands and propositions and ignore the cries of the suffering, may be, God shall not be pleased with such attitude. 

Let us wish and pray at this time of Ramzaan that, God, who promised hope to those mourning and fasting over their siege, captivity and destruction, saying that, the fast and mourning shall no more prevail but be turned to be seasons of joy, gladness and cheerful festivals, shall abide with and comfort the victims of unjust war in Gaza. And may Allah who promised in Al-Talaaq 65:2 that “whoever fears Allah – He will make for him a way out (from every difficulty)”, shall deliver our brothers and sisters from such difficult times. Because God is the Comforting God amidst Difficult Times.

Ameen.

Paul Karunakar Nalla,

BD IV.

How beautiful are our feet?!!! (Isaiah 52:7)

Shane Claiborne wrote about one of his experiences with Mother Teresa. He says, “People often ask me ‘What was Mother Teresa like?’ The usual reply that I give is that Mother Teresa was a short, wrinkled, beautiful, wise old granny. But there is one thing I will never forget about her - her feet. Mother Teresa’s feet were deformed. Each morning in Mass, I would stare at them. I wondered if she had contracted leprosy. But I didn’t have the courage to ask her. One day a sister said to us, “Have you noticed Mother’s feet?” We nodded. She said: “Her feet are deformed because we do not get a sufficient number of donated shoes for everyone. Mother does not want anyone to get stuck with the worst pair, so she digs through the pile of donated shoes and finds the worst pair for herself. And years of doing that, have deformed her feet”. Years of loving her neighbor as herself have deformed her feet.

The passage that was read, Isaiah 52:7-9, visualizes the feet of the messenger who announces the good news of the liberation act of Yahweh to redeem the people of Israel from the captivity of the Babylonians. I would like to focus on verse 7 for our morning reflection entitled “How beautiful are our feet?”

On looking at the historical setting, the text that was read is from Deutero-Isaiah (Isaiah chapters 40-55). The Israelites were taken as captives under the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. The Israelites had no hope of returning to their own homeland. It is in this context that we hear a brilliant message of deliverance and salvation to the people in exile through Deutero-Isaiah. The message of salvation was that the Persian king Cyrus was opposing the neo-Babylonian empire, thereby affirming the opportunities for a restored Jewish community back in Palestine and for Yahwism to become the professed religion. Deutero-Isaiah expressed the absolute conviction that ‘Restoration is the doing of Yahweh’ (Isaiah 41:2-3; 44:28; 52:9).

Now I would like to move our focus on to verse 7. It says

“How beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,

who brings good news,

who announces salvation,

who says to Zion, "Your God reigns.”

In Isaiah chapter 52:1-6 we see that Isaiah calls Zion to wake up and rejoice because of the assurance of their freedom by Yahweh. Now in verses, 7-9, Yahweh explains his plans to reign as King among his redeemed people in an era of joy and peace. The text Isaiah 52:7-9 depicts three things. In verse 7, the feet of the messenger who announces good tidings, in verse 8, the sentinels are called to see the return of Yahweh to Zion and in verse 9, we read about the invitation to Jerusalem to sing praises to Yahweh.

The one thing that struck me was the phrase about the beautiful feet of the messenger in verse 7. Here, the foot, the least considered part of our body, is explained as the beautiful one. We usually never consider our feet much. We walk, run, play and do all things on our feet but we never think of them as being important. But here, in this Deutero-Isaiah passage, the feet are referred to as “beautiful”. On further reading of the text, we see that the feet are not covered with costly shoes or sandals, but just feet upon the mountains. We can assume that the feet of the messenger who travels through the mountains will not be nice but stale. Deutero-Isaiah addresses this stale feet as “how beautiful” they are. The feet of the messenger who carries the message of the salvation are wounded and yet beautiful.

In verse 7, we can see that the message brought by the messenger has four proclamations. They are peace, good news, salvation and the reign of God.

The peace announced by the messenger refers to the absence of enmity and conflict and hence the institution of a time of unity and togetherness among the people and with the other nations.

The good news announced was the freedom for the people of Israelites from their captivity. This good news also emphasizes that it is not only freedom but also to come back to the own covenantal life with Yahweh.

The salvation is that Yahweh will deliver his people from the captivity and empower them to be the chosen people of Yahweh again. Then, Yahweh will reign over his people and in that reign, joy, peace, salvation becomes a reality. The feet of the messenger are beautiful because of the news that the messenger brought across the mountains.

The significance of this metaphor ‘the feet’ is also seen in many places in the Bible. In Joshua 3:16, we see that when the feet of the priests, who were bearing the ark, touched the waters of Jordan, immediately the water stood still. In Matthew 15:30, we see that many people came to the feet of Jesus and Jesus cured all of them. There are much more texts in the Bible depicting the image of feet. Even at the anointing at Bethany, the woman poured an alabaster jar of oil on Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair.

In conclusion, the feet of Jesus, the priests and messengers were beautiful because of the good deeds they did, because of their voice against injustice and oppression, because they stood on the side of righteousness and the well-being of all the people who were dehumanized. The feet of Mother Teresa were beautiful because of her devoted service to humanity.

What do our feet look like? Do our feet stand for God and his will? Do our feet stand against all the dehumanizing powers of dominant structures? This Monday near Pulakeshi Nagar police station, we had a protest against the rape of two girls. How many of our feet went and stood there showing solidarity? Solomon says in Proverbs 1:16, the feet of the sinners run to do evil. Where are our feet going? Do our feet stand on the side of the oppressed or do we stand in a neutral position without concern for anything that happens around us? How beautiful are our feet really? Amen.

  

P. Samuel Anbarasu

B.D. II

The Call to Position Ourselves in the Justice Process (Isaiah 10:1-4)

We often come to our God and scripture in search of peace and encouragement. However, if it was our intention today, it will not be fulfilled because our text this morning speaks of warnings and punishments.
The text issues a warning to the ones who do injustice. Those who abuse power by oppressing and subjugating fellow human beings. Those who wrong the poor, rob the widows and orphans, harass the helpless will not be able to escape in the day of judgement. The wealth they have ill-acquired, the gods they have replaced with the one true God will not be able to purchase the immunity for the day of judgement and they will have to face the ultimate judge, who judges righteously, completely opposite of the judges mentioned in the text. This pericope is a lament in which the prophet decrees the Southern Kingdom will meet the same fate as the North if it does not cease acting unjustly. The Lord's voice is always for righteousness, Isaiah says, "Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed".  - Scribes or registrars preserve all the forms of the court, and keep their pens busy upon the court register, writing down every case, and appearing to do the business correctly and thoughtfully; and yet, all the while, these very registrars were themselves plotting "to take away the right from the poor, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless." The court of law was turned into a means of robbery, as it is in nearly every country under the sun. Zach. 7:8 also deals with the same topic of injustice to the poor and the helpless. God calls for the justice to the poor, orphans, sojourner and widows. Amos in 8:4-6 warns the people who indulge in the same kind of wrongdoings. God says, "Surely I will never forget any of their deeds" and God's anger on these people will cause the earth to tremble.
What can we learn from the text for present day application, for a time such as this? There are two questions we can ask. Who are these oppressed ones, widows and orphans, the helpless? Those who are denied their rights by the unjust system, those who are oppressed by the dominant in the society are the oppressed ones and the scripture tells us that God is on the side of the oppressed. Those who are oppressed in the name of caste, creed, race, ethnicity, citizenship, religion, materialism, profit of the multi nationals are cared for by God. We are warned in the scripture, of God's displeasure and wrath if we become part of this cycle and system of oppressing our brothers and sisters.
Then secondly, how can we define injustice or doing justice in today's context. We do not work in a court of law, neither are we lawyers and judge. We are a theological community. How do we render justice to those who are denied of it. We have to go against the system which profits some and destroys many; we have to stand against the violence in the name of gender, caste and religion. We have to raise voice against ethnic violence in our country and outside our country as well. In the case of places like Palestine, where people are killed because of their ethnic origin, on issues of a small piece of land, we have to raise our voice against these kinds of injustice and oppression. Standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters oppressed by dominant structures, by being a part of their struggle for justice we can be a part of a justice process.
What is our take on happenings like these? Are we maintaining our neutrality, are we just sitting, doing nothing? Do we face a moral crisis of supporting or not supporting the cause of the oppressed? By doing nothing, just witnessing the injustices around us we can be accused of being part of the biggest injustice in today's world as we silently approve the wrongdoings of the oppressor. Dante says in his masterpiece Inferno that the darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.

The challenge, therefore, dear friends, is very clear today. The choice is ours. Do we choose neutrality and be ready for God's displeasure or do we raise our voice, stand against injustices in solidarity with our brothers and sisters and, maybe, suffer a bit in this world but please God by doing God's will? Are we ready to take this challenge? May God bless us all. Amen

Ashish Archer
MTh I

The Gospel Need in a world of Corporate Greed

A Mission reading of Luke 13: 6- 9

The year 2014 is remembered as the 30^th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy that claimed several lives, only to epitomise how corporate greed continues to dominate even at the expense of human life, for it is only profit which continues to be the driving force of all versions of greed. It will soon be three decades since the people of Bhopal have been exposed to 40 tons of methyl isocyanate and other undisclosed chemical gases due to the negligence of the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), claiming over 25,000 lives to date, affecting currently about 5,00, 000 with various chronic health problems. It has been the corporate greed and values of consumerism which take no note of the worth of human life, and eventually destroying justice and peace among the creation. This is just an incidence of one of its kind, for there are several other narratives to describe how human greed steers the rich and the powerful in any society, with no concern to human life and dignity. The caption that very well captures the greed of human beings today is “Yeh Dil Mange More”, ( this heart desires more) and therefore puts in perspective the struggles for life across the globe against corporate giants, be it the anti-posco struggle, or the anti-nuclear struggle. Captions like, “Neighbours envy, owners pride” have been used as captions of virtue, taking for granted the vices like envy & greed.  In such a context of greed, which affects the whole of creation, discerning the common creed of life is a challenge for us all as communities that wrestle with faith in making it more contemporary and relevant. At a time like this, when corporate greed dominates the society today, the gospel need and the Christian public witness is to affirm life, protect life and sustain life, life in all its fullness.

Jesus as recorded in Luke 13: 6-9 narrates a parable about a fig tree that continues not to bring forth fruits when the owner comes searching for its fruits. After three years of thorough inspection and waiting, the owner pronounces his judgement to cut down such a tree with no fruits, for it even wastes the soil. There comes the gardener, who pleads the owner to let it stay for one more year, for he would give extra care and effort and strive to bring fruit, and then takes a grace period of extending the life of that tree by a year, ‘if it doesn’t yield fruit even then, you can do as you want, to cut it down’, says the gardener. Now I would like to attempt to re-read this parable of Jesus from our own given context and try to decipher the voice and position of God in this parable, and find implications for us in our faith journey.

The Economic-Corporate Greed: Here is an owner of the land, who planted a fig tree in his vineyard. His understanding of a garden is to yield fruits all the time, be it grapes or figs from his garden. When he kept looking for fruits for three years from a lonely fig tree among the vine groves, he kept judging the fig tree by its yield. He wasn’t satisfied with the yield that comes from the vines in his vineyard. He like any other corporate undertaking gives a time period of three years for the fig tree to produce its yield and prove its mettle.  He believes that by only bearing fruits, a tree is worth, if not, it ceases to be worthy. All he wanted to make was profit from his garden, and therefore pronounces a judgement that three years of waiting for fruits from the fig tree is a waste of time and waste of soil and a waste of employees working on her. So he tells the gardener to ‘cut down the tree.’ This is exactly the ideology of greed, to have more and more, to have profit and to judge by those norms of profit, in this case the external visible fruits of figs.

The Eco- Feminist Creed: There comes a common powerless gardener, who dares to speak on behalf of the fruitless fig tree appealing to the owner for one more year and one more opportunity to prove its credibility. It is this employee gardener who spends lots of time with the trees and the vines in the vineyard, and knows the worth of each tree in the garden and befriends all of the trees with whom he keeps working. The gardener does not join the owner in judging it by its fruits, instead he assures the owner to take extra effort, extra care, by digging  around and by putting manure for her and appeals for yet another chance to affirm her life. Cutting down the fig tree just because it does not bear fruits is not the available option for the gardener, on the other hand the gardener wants to save life, affirm life and build a community of unity & diversity seasoned with justice & peace. Probably, according to the gardener, the fig tree would have been a space of shade for him in that scorching sun, where he could take some rest. Or the fig tree could have been a nesting place for several birds in that vicinity, or the fig tree would have had the strings of the vines tied to her, bearing the tension of those grapes on the vines. The gardener developed a cherished relationship with the trees and the vines in the vineyard, and cannot think of any tree being cut off for any reason, and therefore the gardener’s creed was ‘do not cut down the tree.’ For cutting down the trees have both sociological and ecological problems, and the small farmer very well recognises this fact and pleads not to cut down the tree.

The Encouraging Seed: We recognise the voice of God in the gardener, who counters greed by affirming life, who doesn’t judge by mere fruits, but seeks extra time and opportunity in preparing the tree to fruit. Imagine, the owner who is all powerful, who could have easily neglected the voice of the gardener or would have punished the gardener for not listening to his command. Yet the gardener, who cares for every tree equally, whether it has fruits or not, takes courage to speak to a person with power, risks his life and employment and appeals to give him an opportunity to prove life. We see an eco-feminist in this gardener, who relates to all of the creation with equality and justice, and wants all trees and plants to live and let other creatures live. The gardener knowing the ill effects of cutting down the trees, prevents such a mishap by placing his life in a state of jeopardy, in speaking back to the greedy owner. The eco-feminist towards the end of the parable says, ‘if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down’, which only shows that he is confident that the tree would bear fruits, life of the fig tree would be affirmed in dignity by next year, otherwise he wouldn’t have agreed to such a deal.

The parable is silent of what has happened the next year after all these extra efforts of the gardener, but if we stretch our imagination, two primary things would have happened. One, the owner would have realised over the year that it is not always by fruits that one needs to judge a tree, for he would have changed his mind to acknowledge life in all forms in the creation and recognises the worth of every creature as he or she comes forth. There would have been a change of mind to the greedy owner on recognising the extra efforts of the gardener. On the other hand, the other possibility would have been to visualise the fig tree filled with lots of amazing figs on her branches to surprise the owner, and the owner would have realised how mean he was in being judgemental on the tree and by wanting to cut the tree.  

Implications for us today:

At a time like this, when ecological narratives and paradigms are contaminated by human greed and selfishness, Christian Public Witness is to affirm life, support life, protect life and sustain life, life in all its fullness.

·    2014, is declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Family Farming, trying to encourage the efforts of family gardening and its role in eradicating poverty and affirming food security and sovereignty. Therefore this parable encourages local family farming by houses in the household to give extra time, efforts and energies to plant and work on farming. This parable encourages us to recognise the small landless labourers and farmers, their hard labour and their creative initiatives for food security.

·         Let us not be driven by values of greed and profit in our lives, for affirming life in all its dignity to all of the creation is all that matters in the journey of faith. Let us make a commitment to participate in the struggles for justice of all the victims of greed in our contexts, the victims of Bhopal gas tragedy, the victims of Posco, and the victims of nuclear energy plants, etc.

·         Let us not judge creation and people merely from our own perspectives and instead try to look at life in all its totality, wholeness and fullness and learn to respect the equal worth of life in all creatures of God. For justice is beyond borders.

·         Make a commitment to befriend our creation, make them as our kith and kin, stop cutting down trees, and be committed to our environment and ecology. Rise and respond to the needs of our creation.

·         Explore God among the powerless and those among the margins, for justice and peace comes from them to the entire communities. For it is no longer mission to the margins, but it is mission from the margins.

The gospel need in the context of corporate greed to is to affirm life in all its fullness and try to explore and locate God among those on the margins, specially the landless labourers, small farmers, daily wage employees, un-seasoned and off-seasoned workers etc. and continue to work for community of peace and justice for all. May God, the farmer who seeds God’s creation in all equality continue to inspire each of us to channel peace, equality and justice to all of our creation.

Rev. Raj Bharath Patta,

General Secretary,

Student Christian Movement of India.

Suffering and Christian identity: Revisiting Christian witness

I Peter 4: 12-19

Introduction

In the enactment we can see how Constantine was surprised after seeing the disabled bishops who carried pain and agony as a result of witnessing Christ. In the midst of persecution they witnessed Christ and paid for that. When we look into this pericope we can understand that identity and suffering are two major issues that the author is addressing here. It explains how suffering is important as part of Christian identity to witness Christ. The early Christians were instructed by the author to uphold their identity in the midst of persecution and thus this instruction became a resisting power to keep their Christian identity alive. In this context it portrays suffering as an essential point to get salvation. 
 

Here we will look into Christian identity in terms of Christian values that is revealed through Jesus Christ.        We will see the text and try to understand how suffering became an identity to witness Christ.

Background. We can understand from this letter that the readers were facing suffering and persecution for their faith. (1:6-7, 2:18-20, 3:1, 13-17, 4:1-4, 12-19, 5:10). The identity of the opponents is not mentioned in this letter. We can say that all opponents came together to persecute their common enemy (2:12; 4:3; 5:8-9).  There are at least two possible groups of agitators, Jews and non-Jews.

The purpose of the letter is to encourage believers to stand fast while they undergo suffering and distress in that age. Achtemeier says that the letter is prepared “to strengthen the readers in the ‘now’ of their suffering and persecution by assuring them that the future of glory will transform their present condition as surely as their present situation transformed them from their past. They are encouraged to confront persecution because a great reward will be theirs on the day of salvation. Such persistence is exhibited by living a godly life, living as good citizens, model slaves, gentle wives, and understanding husbands. When believers live in such a way, they indicate that they are placing their hope in God rather than in the joys and comforts of this world.

Verses from 14-16 says that believers would encounter suffering because of their faith and it simply reveals that the faith of believers was under threat in the entire Greco- Roman world. Threats, discrimination and occasionally loss of life were there aganist Christians everywhere.

It was not a state sponsored persecution instead the suffering was local and sporadic. According to Elliot the readers were not aliens by virtue of their faith. They were resident aliens and strangers in the region addressed by Peter. The believers in 1^st Pet are the new people of God, but as God’s people they are discriminated against, and mistreated.

1. Suffering as a tool to build up resistance against dominant structures.

The earlier community was represented as alienated and strangers by the dominant powers. Christians were the outsiders, strangers both socially and religiously. They were considered as a potential danger to the public order and social weal. They were under the shadow of suspicion. In the midst of oppression Peter says, to live for Christ is important rather than everything. So Peter says that “if you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of god rests up on you. But none of you should suffer as murderer, or a thief, or a wrong doer, or a mischief maker; yet if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God.” (4:14-16). 

Here the author is trying to strengthen his hearers to stand before the life threatening situations. Peter uses the theology of suffering, in that suffering is allowed by God to refine the faith of believers. Refining the faith is also understood as a resistance making process aganist the dominant structures of society which tries to wall the Christian identity and meaning of life with their own understandings and meaning. In this sense we can identify the meaning of the cross as a greater resistance model of Jesus Christ aganist the existing dominant structures in the Greco- Roman context.

Many a times Indian Christians have suffered a lot from communal forces and ideologies like Hindutva. Some years before Khandamal Christians underwent severe persecution and they showed courage and thus it became a culture of resistance. A year ago two bishops were kidnapped in Syria.  Christians in Pakistan continue to go through painful situations. Hundreds of Christian girls were kidnapped recently in Nigeria. Violence aganist Christians are being reported in India from many places. Even the Mar Thoma mission spread in different parts of India endures persecution in different ways. The story continues. We can see the position of people who still own their Christian identity and faith in the midst of different predicaments. This itself is a culture of resistance. Suffering is not merely a loser’s propaganda, rather it is a strong weapon to fight against any sort of injustice and dominant structures.

2. Suffering as an experience to encounter anti-human social issues and strengthen Christian identity

This portion portrayed suffering as a response to address and overcome several social issues. Like all biblical writings it is also conditioned by, and reflects certain set of social circumstances. On the surface that response appears to be formulated in predominantly theological terms. Because of their Christian identity they suffered. As the problems which the letter addressed were not merely religious but also social, the letter may be assumed to have been designed for social as well as religious effect. Here theology is used as a tool to address various issues. Apart from scripture, knowledge, and tradition, the experience of the people became a key source to formulate theology.

The marginalised and Dalit Christian’s suffering is a tool to articulate theology and thus it can address real social situations. As like the receivers of this letter, the Dalit Christians in India are alienated and denied their rights only because of the identity ‘Christians’. It is very difficult to understand in what way the constitution of India has denied the rights of Dalit Christians. The suffering continues but Dalit Christians hold on to their faith in God which helps them to address various issues. Dalit theology is the best way to articulate faith in God on the basis of the realities especially in the midst of suffering and agony. Suffering has become an identity through the articulation of faith, upholding values and empowering themselves. Thus Dalit theology has become a courageous step to stand against injustice. We can identify that suffering is inevitable when we stand for justice. Jesus himself suffered by taking the side of the weak and vulnerable.

 In our life journey we are often tempted to remain within the comfort zones which give security to our life. But we are called to share in the suffering of our fellow beings. Real ministry happens only in our solidarity with those who are suffering. The churches or individuals who are not able to participate in the struggles of Dalit Christians cannot claim to be churches or Christians. This ecumenical institution is a better platform which helps different churches to come together and to understand more about the pain and pathos of Dalit Christians.    

Conclusion

This portion converts suffering as a core character of Christian identity to witness Christ in our life. It also teaches us how suffering functions as a resistance process in search of Christian identity. It helps us to make a counter understanding about the meaning of suffering and the inevitable role of this concept in our Christian life and meaning making process. In our living context are we able to take up the challenges against Christians to keep our Christian identity alive? Can we consider suffering as a resistance power to fight against injustice?

May the merciful God help us to keep our identity strong in the midst of persecution and suffering in order to revisit the meaning of Christian identity. Let us walk through the corridors of sufferings. Amen. 

 

Liju T Varughese

BD IV

(Preached for the trial sermon on July 7, 2014 at the Ziegenbalg chapel, UTC)

To whom we serve? Acts 4:13-20

It is heartening to know that "For such a time as this: Discerning Christian Public witness" is the worship theme for the UTC community worship.
 

Normally when we think of discerning the signs, we move towards the societal structure, and look at the economic and political context of our country to read the signs of the time and to articulate the signs and create new theological formulations to make ourselves relevant. But most of the time we fail to discern the signs of the time from the view point of our churches from where we have come from and to where we are going to serve.

Theological institutions always would like to involve in an exercise to give new theological orientation to the world by reading the signs of the time, but usually fail to read the signs of the church. Are our churches ready to receive or willing to grasp any of our theological formulations made by reading the signs of the time? In the past, the churches and their leadership were willing to look at things openly and willing to accept any new expressions to make the church relevant in its mission. It was told that the paradigmatic expressions made by CISRS and UTC were readily experimented by St.Mark's Cathedral. But today neither are churches open, nor is the leadership fascinated in the new reading of signs or the formulations of theological foundations for the church’s meaningful existence! This is because the church in the process of its history has turned into being more institutionalized and in the progression has lost its movement character as Jesus has envisioned.

The biblical narration in Mathew 9: 35ff, describes Jesus’ involvement in the reading of the signs of his time by moving from one village to another and try to build the reign of God with those who were harassed and helpless and being lost in the community. In this process he calls his disciples to be involved with those people who are at the margins because they are like sheep without a shepherd. But today how many churches can claim that their church's priority is the lost sheep in the community and there is importance to give them identity and to share the good news that they are part of God's rule and reign?

Following this life giving call of Jesus, the early disciples established a new community with three challenges. Firstly, the value of depending on the affirmation of having the power of Jesus of Nazareth    (Acts 3:6) instead of depending on gold and silver to establish the rule of God. Secondly, in the context of Jesus’ crucifixion by the authorities, the believers made their life as living witnesses for the presence of Jesus in their community. It is the walk the talk experience of the community. (Acts 3:15). Thirdly, when the rulers and religious heads restricted them not to involve in the Jesus movement and to keep away from sharing the good news of Jesus, they boldly said  Is it right in God's sight to listen to you rather then to God....we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.(Acts 4:19-21) These three challenges of the early Jesus community gives us an opportunity in a time like this in the life of our church to discern whether we are part of that movement of Jesus? Are our theological colleges helping us to hear the voice of God rather than the voices of the people in authority. The challenging prophetic voice of the early disciples gives us an opportunity to think afresh our vocation “To whom we serve?''

Vincent Rajkumar

Director, Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society (CISRS)

(Preached in the Tagore Hall of the UTC for UTC Sunday evening worship today.)