A worship in UTC to remember the Bhopal gas tragedy

Are we ready for such a time as this?

A couple had been to Germany for a holiday and went to Nurnberg- the site of some of the Nazi death camps. This statement made a big impact on them.

First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

The read passage (Esther 4:9:17) is a continuation of the passage that was read to us yesterday. Here in this passage read to us today we see that Esther was asked to intercede on behalf of those who had no voice. Now there was great risk for Esther. It’s important that we understand the role of women in ancient times would have been much harsher than what we take for granted today. It was not unusual to treat women as property, second-class citizens that could be used or traded. They did not have the privileges or position in the culture as practiced today. Esther is worried, for the King had not sent for her in 30 days! To approach the King, to initiate an audience, she would have had to defy the law, punishable by death! 

We know stories of civil disobedience from more recent history, the stories of courageous people like Ambedkar, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King, Jr. who purposely went against the law ...because they believed in their cause and their God-given right to stand against tyranny or the corrupt laws of the land. But this is different for Esther. Mordecai wasn't asking Esther to just defy the King, but was asking her to go against protocol, to violate the law and the empire!  And Mordecai utters the words that have inspired Christian believers for centuries: “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” I believe we all have to wonder whether we are to take part in the will of God as Esther, a young, unsuspecting woman, unprepared for the politics of courts and kingdoms. To be a voice for the voiceless, the hope of the hopeless, and love for the outcast.  Esther will go, as David against Goliath! His victory came not because he fought well, but because he believed well! She will go – carried on by the prayers of God’s people! Esther fasted and prayed, and asked her people to do the same as she prepared to risk her life approaching the King. 

Many of the opportunities we have will be centered on relationships we have; both positive and negative relationships – and the window of opportunity will open and shut very quickly! “Who knows if perhaps you were put in your place for just such a time as this!” to do good, to give voice to voiceless, to save someone from trouble, to give or to share or to care! I've often wondered – if we fail to take advantage of an opportunity in that moment “for such a time as this,” I wonder what the consequences may be. If we fail to listen to the call, if we close our eyes to those who are troubled by various diseases, those who are victims of hunger or drought, those who want a greater chance for education, or food, or medicines...? Are we in positions of opportunity for such a time as this? 

In the study for women, Time Out for Holiness, Julie Baker writes: “If you are breathing, you have problems!” Do you understand that? “Problems are just a way of life, whether at work or at home. But it’s not the problems or the conflict themselves that are the issue. It’s our approach to them.”

We, like Esther often do get chances to speak out and act, for those who are in need of our voices, but many a time we fail to take a stand and voice out courageously. Today is a wake-up call for all of us. May our witness be heard, may we leave out our comfort zones and express our voices for the people who need it and stand against all the injustices that are clearly visible in front of our eyes and pay a sharp ear to those passive injustices that still prevail. Are we ready to accept this call?

Vinod Shemron, BD IV. 
(Preached at the UTC Ziegenbalg chapel)

Worship Committee Blog concept

The United Theological College is an ecumenical space that enables young people in their discernment process to witness God meaningfully and contextually in church and society. The vocational formation that takes place in this space helps the community to re-imagine faith, informed by contextual engagement with the resources of our faith, mediated by radical societal interventions. Worship at UTC re-discovers spirituality as our openness to the realities around us, and serves as a launching-pad for new discipleship journeys, celebrating our faith in God and our commitment to live out our faith by participating in God’s mission to turn the world upside down. 

For Such a Time as This: Discerning Christian Public Witness is the theme for the new academic year. Like Esther, we are called to bear witness the God of life in the context of new manifestations of empire that systematically threaten God’s promise of life in abundance, offered to the community of creation. Here Christian discipleship demands from us the commitment to discern the signs of the times and to develop alternative imagination and consciousness to contest the imperial hegemonic claims of the dominant and to bear witness by participating in God’s system-threatening politics in the here and now. 

This blog is an alternate expression of witness; witnessing in the cyber space, our faith in God’s mission of healing and restoration, through creative expressions of our spirituality. We welcome you to journey with us to bear witness in the public sphere.  

UTC Worship Committee, 2014-15.