"Lenten Lantern": 1st Lenten Meditation in UTC on 3rd March, 2015: LENT TO LOVE: VALENTINE TO VA(WOW)-LENT-TIME!

We have already entered into another blessed lent looking at ourselves and trying to figure out where we stand. This initiative of the UTC worship committee is indeed a good one as it gives a time for a theological community like ours to pray for each other and pray for ourselves. There is sometimes a mis-notion that theologians and pastors need no prayers. We all need prayers and we all need to know that we are not perfect and that lent is a time to work on our faults and accept others with their faults because in accepting others we are accepting ourselves!

As an introduction we are looking at traditions which continue to live in our midst but will also look at how traditions have evolved and why this is an important aspect of tradition itself. Valentine’s day came with no pre-planned bang before the start of lent in some of the Christian denominations. So much that it was an emotional drain on youngsters to start off lent because they were wasted even before the start of lent.

But the Valentine’s day tradition offers us a link to lent and a reason to lent as well. This we understand from the story behind Valentine’s day. The Emperor issues an edict that soldiers should preferably not marry as this would make them weak soldiers and if at all they could have several women so that they would love none. Valentine took the risk of marrying couples in love and thereby also gave them the opportunity to be committed to one another. The Emperor jails Valentine and he heals Julia, the daughter of the jailor Asterius. Before his execution he writes a letter to her and signs off as “Your Valentine”. Interestingly the heart, and the love have been taken over by a commercial frenzy on February 14 and the sacrifice and real purpose of Valentine have been left behind. Perhaps it will serve us well to pick up the crumbs and understand lent through that.

Va-lent-time is an exclamation that this is something we do by our own will and that this is something we do diversely. Every Christian tradition has some form of lent and that cannot be discounted in any way. Every Christian tradition also understands that lent has several things to offer them and through diet, manner, character and life restrictions each one tries by himself or herself to lent and live. The Orthodox (Syrian, Oriental and other) churches fast, lent and give alms and pray that lent without practice of alms giving and helping the poor is no lent at all. The idea is not to be self righteous though it is misconstrued that lent makes one self righteous. On the other hand lent makes one humble, self critical and analytical. Food restrictions are to tone down desire on several levels as prayer for the soul over food for the body takes center stage. 

This lent in UTC we are trying to figure out sins which we are committing and which we have to stop doing by fasting and praying. They are sins against humanity and community. This is a perfect time to tell ourselves that we are sinning and we need help to stop. It is not a lent to rectify and renew others but a lent to change and offer a leash of life to oneself. St. John Chrysostom says that “It is folly to abstain all day long from food, but fail to abstain from sin and selfishness.” Lent to love is to love ourselves to the point of saving ourselves to offer food and nourishment to others.

Churches should become the best place one wants to go to. Pastors should be the first person someone wants to meet at a difficult time. Lent can help for attaining this goal. But the biggest corruption of lent has been to think that lent makes us better than someone else and our lent is the best and most perfect lent. If we start thinking like that our lent has been wasted. Stop abusing lent and start loving it.

Get dirty this lent

Undergoing lent and the thoughts that we have while doing it are the reverse of what we have on mind. St. Luke 5:12-16 talks of the person with leprosy who asks Jesus to make him clean. We usually try to make ourselves clean during lent. Our practice of lent is to have diet restrictions, prayers and a life style to suggest that we are clean by ourselves and cleaner than others. There is an addiction towards being clean and more so to be cleaner than others. But what does Jesus do? What was he supposed to do? He was in all probability expected to ignore the person with leprosy because Jesus was clean while the leper was perceived as un-clean.

But the clean Jesus does an interesting thing by stretching out his hand and touching the unclean person. This is a true model for Lenten practice. If we cannot offer cleanness to others our cleanness becomes suspect. The entire essence of purity, cleanness and holiness somehow prevents us from reaching out to those who are branded as impure and un-clean. This important observation of reality has to be part of our Lenten experience. Jesus gets dirty and also reflects a certain ughhh from people to suggest that he did something which was not acceptable. We have it as part of our sermons but such dirty acts of faith which are actually good acts of faith are left in the script and don’t go to the field.

The eeeggh and uuuggghhh have to be part of our process of getting mud on our hands during lent so that we are prepared for real ministry. Identifying inward beauty is something we haven’t been able to grasp despite knowing fully well that our spiritual guidance suggests us that. Love cannot be limited to what we are taught is beautiful. Love has to be acts of love like Jesus showed. It did not matter to Jesus how the person looked anymore. Can lent bring about such love? Can we lent ourselves so that love indeed becomes blind as they say it?

Fasting against corrupt practices

Lent is a protest. When everything is accepted and goes a certain way it is to say that I don’t want to be part of a uniform way of thinking as I feel this could be disruptive of the gospel. Protest is not a bad word. Perhaps the images in our mind of protests which have become violent make us identify the word protest with something bad. Protest is to say that there is another way of doing things and we would like you to try it out. St. Mark 2:1-12 contains the story of a unique protest. Four people bringing a paralyzed man discover that they cannot bring the man to Jesus because of the crowd and so they find a unique way of letting him to Jesus. Jesus is impressed and helps the man. There has to be a discernment to do good whenever possible. Lent is a time when we enable ourselves to able others.

We usually talk a lot about lent and sometimes it even sounds like we are doing it because someone is forcing us to. But there are others who are not forced by anyone and yet commit to lenting their own lives. Irom Sharmila is one such courageous woman who has fasted for 15 years of her life starting from November 4, 2000. When many of us complain and undergo the lent experience because it is a part of our traditions, Sharmila has made a tradition out of her fast against unjust structures. Her fast is not for her self-glory and purification. It is for the repealing of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Manipur. Her usual practice of fasting once a week in her usual life turned into a lifetime fast, because she protested against the killing of innocent people from her state. What do we call her fast? Is our fasting and are our lents close to the deep spirituality of Irom Sharmila’s fast where she has made herself into a vegetable for the sake of others?

The people carrying the paralytic get a deep sense of spirituality to break the line and do something so that justice may be gained. This then becomes a traditional endeavor for us to follow. Romans 12:2 says “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed for the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern, what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect. Irom Sharmila has proved that love goes beyond love of the self into uncertain and unknown territory. The people carrying the paralytic where going through unknown territory and yet love makes them do something so crazy that even they had no logical explanation for it. Can we lent that we become crazy enough to follow Christ through unknown ways?

Depriving ourselves of unjustifiable cravings 

St. Luke 6:31 says “Do to others as you would have others to do to you.” Deprivation is a part and parcel of traditional lent. But deprivation is not an act of weakness but an act of strength where we give up something so that those who are deprived may have it. We crave for a lot of things but many a time these cravings are not justified. They are what we take from others and have. Can we take from others and justify that? We obviously can’t and lent becomes a time when we can say that I would like to deprive myself of these unjustifiable cravings which deprive someone else of what is their share.

Lent becomes something to undertake, the stronger you are. This could be a reason why children, elderly folk and even nursing mothers are allowed to skip lent in some traditions. Lent is something you do in your strength and not in your weakness. It is what we give away and not what we take away. If we have received out of lent it is not completely justified. If on the other hand we have given away out of lent, it is justified. It goes along with the song “The weak say I am strong and the strong say I am weak.”

Lent in this sense is not a sadistic effort at saying we have done something great but a spiritual effort in saying that we have tried to become what God wants us to be and this is not sacrifice but the way God wants it to be. 1 John 4:8 says “Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love.” How clear a verse this is, how truthful an advice this is?

Lent becomes our natural action towards loving others, caring for others and ensuring God’s justice to be done. It is our deep spiritual engagement with God by loving others and letting them know that we are depriving ourselves of unjustifiable cravings so that they may have and have abundantly. We are invited to love and love beyond anything we know. Amen.

Jerry Kurian
Department of Communication

Lenten meditation in UTC

"Lenten Lantern"

 

Till Easter there will be a lenten meditation every Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. in Ziegenbalg Chapel.

A READING OF II KINGS 5:1-27 WITH A DALIT LENS

Introduction

II Kings chapter 5 introduces 6 characters to us. They are, the Hebrew slave girl, Naaman’s wife, Naaman, King of Aram, King of Israel and Prophet Elisha. Among these 6 characters, except for the slave girl and Naaman’s wife, all the other 4 are portrayed to be powerful and dominant, either religiously, socially or politically. The story, on one hand, is predominantly understood as an account which exposes the conversion of a pagan warrior to Yahwism, and, on the other hand, the story unveils the God of Israel as the Universal God. As it is noted earlier, each dominant character is trying to exercise their power and authority over and against one another i.e., it is a power conflict between political, social and religious representation. The King of Aram, the King of Israel, and Naaman the commander of the army represent the political sphere and Prophet Elisha represents the religious realm. By Elisha bringing an end to the dispute, the story unveils the power of religion to be more vibrant than the power of anything else. In Old Testament times, in Jesus’ times and also in our times, religion plays a vital role to initiate divisions and conflicts, but also to promote peace and unity. What is it, which makes religion so powerful? What is it, which makes religion to be decisive? In my view, the religious laws and rituals are the elements which prove religion to be powerful and decisive. Is religious law more powerful than the civil law? Again, in my view, yes, it is. The civil law of India, declares caste as abolished. But, caste is still prevalent and vibrant in India; this proves the power and audacity of religious laws and rituals to be overriding any other laws.

Israel’s Holiness Code

The religion of Israel is known for its Holiness code. In the book of Leviticus we read about different rituals to be followed and performed to keep one holy. Leviticus chapter 13&14 talks about sara’at, mostly understood as ‘leprosy’, but actually referring to a wide range of irritations, swelling, eruptions, or other surface changes that affect not only humans but also fabrics and houses. The holiness code excommunicates the person affected with leprosy from worship, or in certain circumstances, the person might be ostracized from normal social intercourse with the community. The person with certified leprosy must tear his/her clothes, dishevel their hair, cover their mouth and cry out, “Unclean, Unclean” and warn people not to come close to them or allow people to come in contact with them. To be precise, the person with leprosy is branded as an untouchable or a polluted one. If at all someone comes in contact with them, he/she will also be considered as unclean, untouchable or polluted.

Ritual for Purification

The purification ritual for leprosy requires or involves examination, a period of quarantine, re-examination and final disposition. All these processes are expected to be done by a priest. On each 7^th day the priest will re-examine the condition, and if the condition has not spread at the end of this period, he (the priest) will declare the person to be ‘clean’. The priest functions not as a medical doctor who treats and cures a patient, but as a cultic specialist who identifies impurities and administers rituals that enable the community to separate the unclean from the clean. Therefore, under the holiness code the priest tops the hierarchy, just as the Brahmins top the Indian caste hierarchy. The priest is given authority to announce one as clean and also denounce the other as unclean.

Dalit Reading of the Text

Though the text introduces Naaman with a high profile such as a commander of the army, as a great man in high favor with his master, a mighty warrior and the beloved of God (God gave victory to Aram through him), it gives a sad ending to his profile, terming him as a ‘leper’. To contextualize it, I would say, Ambedkar, though he was an educationalist, sociologist, economist, philosopher and the architect of the Indian constitution, was termed as Dalit, untouchable, and an outcast. By saying so I am not proposing an analogy between Naaman and Ambedkar, rather exposing the barbaric religious ideology that excludes both (Naaman and Ambedkar) from the common social life and human dignity.

Further, in the narrative, Naaman approaches the Prophet Elisha for a healing touch. Unfortunately, as Naaman nears to Elisha, the prophet puts a halt to him at the door post and sends him to be washed in the river of Jordan. This act of Elisha enrages Naaman, because, may be, Naaman would have expected Elisha to come out and welcome him, since he was the commander of the army, or could have expected a simple gesture of humanity to be welcomed as a stranger. Welcoming the strangers, according to the Jewish tradition is a sign of respect to God and unwelcoming or being inhospitable towards the strangers is to be condemned. (The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was nothing but being inhospitable to strangers).

Why didn't Elisha welcome Naaman? , or why did Elisha stop Naaman at the door step and send him to the river to be washed? Is it because Elisha wanted to exercise his authority over and against Naaman’s power and authority, or is it because Naaman was untouchable, or is it because Elisha did not want to be polluted? This behavior of Elisha encourages suspecting (Sniff of Suspicion) the very character or the role played by Elisha. In the words of Foucault, “Despair and hopelessness are one thing, suspicion is another. And if you are suspicious, it is because, of course, you have a certain hope.” Is Elisha exercising his role as a real religious leader, as God would have expected him to be, or is he exercising his role as a ritual keeper? The suspicion arises due to the predominant understanding about God as God of all, who never excommunicates or dehumanizes anyone in the name of concepts of purity and pollution. Marcus Borg, who recently passed away, observes that, two significant thoughts flow throughout the scripture, and they are, firstly, “Be Holy because God is Holy” and, secondly, “Be Compassionate because God is Compassionate.” The dominant Jews politicized the aspect of God’s holiness and gave more importance to it, as they were the beneficiary of it, and also started legitimizing it in the name of God. Elisha, being entrenched in this tradition, permeates it. Elisha, instead of dismantling the structure that condemned people in the name of ritual and purity- pollution laws, succumbed himself to the structure, and was confined to and convinced in healing the victims of the atrocious law of purity-pollution.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, enraged with the dictatorial rule of Hitler and his concentration camps, conscientizes the church, and calls the church, not simply to “bandage the victims under the wheel, but jam the spoke in the wheel itself.” In saying so, I am not advocating violence, neither would have Bonhoeffer. It is a primordial call to jam the dominant structures that victimize people rather than bandaging the victim. In the narrative, a complete/holistic healing could have been the healing of Naaman as well as the dismantling of the exploitative structure, but what we witness in the narrative is that the demonic structure, which is a cause for all barbarianism, remains strong and continues to victimize people in the name of purity-pollution (Gehazi affected with leprosy). Therefore, it is the dominant structure and the custodians and beneficiaries of the structure who are polluted, not the victims.

Mark Chapter 1:40-45 portrays a narration in which even Jesus was challenged by the leper. And Jesus was not moved with pity to heal him, as it is widely understood. Rather, Jesus was angered with the challenge posed by the leper to touch and heal him, ‘if he (Jesus) can’. If Jesus dares to touch him, he will join the polluted community according to the law of purity pollution, or, if Jesus shuns away from touching him, it will mean that Jesus also succumbed himself to the law of purity and pollution. However, Jesus decides to transcend the boundary laid by the law of purity and pollution, under which he was groomed, and dares to touch the untouchable to become an untouchable (Jesus was not able go into the public places, in other words the structure that perpetuates the criminal law of purity and pollution remains and outcasts). Both, Naaman and the leper were able to transcend the boundaries of life-denying forces on one hand, and on the other hand, they intervened and challenged Elisha and Jesus also to transcend and challenge the structure under which they were groomed. Peniel Rufus asserts this as ‘transcending boundaries from both the ends.’ Jesus succeeds in crossing over the boundaries, whereas, prophet Elisha confines to the laid boundaries.

Conclusion

In the Indian Context, the Dalits are considered to be untouchables and polluted. They are denied entry into the temple, and they are denied social status and social justice. The Hindu Brahmanical religion and its ideologies of caste and purity-pollution are responsible for the dehumanized situation of the Dalits in India. The history narrates that the dominant Hindus warned the Dalits to maintain a distance from the dominant caste as they walk in the public places. The Dalits were also asked to not come in contact with the dominants. It is resisting this that many embraced Christianity, expecting it to be away from caste hierarchy. Unfortunately, caste penetrated into Christianity too. The Indian Christian theology, which emerged in denying the western theology to some extent, fell prey to the overarching obsession with dominant Indian philosophy. It is in this situation; A.P Nirmal introduces “methodological exclusivism” which claims the Dalit pathos as a primary source for doing Dalit theology. Many disagree with A.P Nirmal, but, is it possible for the dominants to deny the caste and dismantle the structure of caste in which they are imbued and advocate for the Dalits and do Dalit theology? If one is able to do so, then he or she qualifies to join Jesus in dismantling the dominant structures ensconced in the self and also in the church, institution, organization and society. But, if he or she wants to retain the structure of caste and enjoy the benefits of it on one hand, and, on the other hand, also strives to advocate for the Dalits, then he or she joins Elisha in enjoying the benefits of the structure that pollutes.

Therefore, who is polluted? Who needs healing? Is it Naaman or Elisha? Those who embrace and endorse the dominant structures which pollute are ‘the polluted’. In the words of Thol Thirumavalavan, “if the temple or the God in temple is polluted by the entry of a Dalit, then is God weaker than a Dalit or is a Dalit more powerful than God.”

Christy Gnanadason

MTh I

Confronting the Empires of our Times (Daniel 1:1- 21)

But Daniel resolved that he will not defile himself….. (v. 8)

Nebuchadnezzar is the new super-power who proposes a new world order. He imagines himself at the centre of that new order, set to impose his purpose by every means necessary. He has the power to decide unilaterally what is to happen; the power to make things happen.

Thrown into this bewildering state of affairs are Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, young men from Judah, exiles in the Babylonian metropolis. They are put into a three year instructional program in the curriculum of courtly wisdom, language and literature of the Babylonians. Imperialistic strategies planned with necessary foresight and firmness are administrated to ‘Babylonize’ these young men in and out. They are uprooted from their homeland, given residence in proximity to the royal dwelling, their names are changed, new knowledge and skills are been imparted to them, attempts are made to alter even their diet and lifestyle. The royalty wants to ensure that all traces of their Jewish identity, their memories, their faith heritage -whatever it is that may distance them from the Babylonian order or allegiance to the king- is done away with. Changing of name (v. 7) symbolises the dependent status conferred upon these young men – they are now the servants of Nebuchadnezzar and his gods. Being insisted upon to attend the royal banquet (king’s food and wine) speaks of the king’s claim to be the sole provider and is the assertion of foreign dominance.

The story takes a dramatic turn when Daniel and his friends resolve not to defile themselves with the royal rations of food and wine. The text does not exactly reveal the motivation behind such an act. Were the food and the wine ‘bad’ because they were mixed with the categories of foods forbidden in the Torah? Or was the wine and the meat originally offered to the idols? Were the Jewish lads strictly following the set of dietary practices characteristic of observant Judaism at least since the Maccabean period?

It is true that the reader may not conclusively know why Daniel and his friends did what they did in this situation. All we know for certain is that they said “NO” to the manners of the high table. However, the course of the narrative in the Book of Daniel can help us to discern that Daniel’s and his friends’ “NO” was an act of resistance against the total domination of the empire; they were resisting the forces that were persuading them with all their might to assimilate to the culture and the ways of the empire. Trusting in God, they were confronting the empires of their times.

Daniel’s and his friends’ story of resisting the royal dictates had implications that extended beyond time and space. It was told and retold by the Jewish people during the long years of exile in Babylon. Even when they returned from Babylon, they were often under the yoke of foreign rulers some of them as notorious as Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The Book of Daniel has a message to offer to faithful of all times suffering under the yoke of oppression: we are emboldened by Daniel’s example to resist the forces of oppressive empires and are assured of God’s vindication for us. We are called to trust and obey the King of Kings, the Lord of heaven and earth, rather than the rulers of this age.

Now, what are the empires of our times ordering us to fall in line to their dictum? What is the food and wine that the modern emperors are offering us? Novelist and social activist, Arundhati Roy in her essay Confronting Empire throws light on these questions:

When we speak of confronting empire, we need to identify what empire means. Does it mean the US government (and its European satellites), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and multinational corporations? Or is it something more than that?

In many countries, Empire has sprouted other subsidiary heads, some dangerous by-products – nationalism, religious bigotry, fascism and of course terrorism. All these march arm in arm with the project of corporate globalisation……..all this is empire, this loyal confederation, this obscene accumulation of power, this greatly increased distance between those who make the decisions and those who have to suffer them.

In line with Arundhati Roy, we can say that empire refers to an overall systemic reality, the logic policies and practices associated with socio-religious, economic power-centres contributing towards increasing injustice, distortion of identities, deprivation of the dignity and self-respect of fellow beings, for reasons whatsoever suits the powerful.

Contemporary marketing and advertising strategies are the new weapons of the MNCs -‘empires’- of our times, directed towards changing our life-style and even food habits to suit their never quenching thirst for profit. An ordinary Indian begins his day by “waking up to the rich aroma of Nescafe Sunrise”; he/she is told “happiness begins with Bru coffee”. For breakfast one needs to have Quaker Oats as it “enhances your life with every spoonful.” For your mid-day break Kit-Kat is a must and then for lunch we have McDonalds Happy Meals - you cannot but say “I’m loving it. McDonalds.” By the end of the day you are most likely to fall sick, but don’t be worried, for we have the insurance giant consoling us -life me sath bhi, life ke baadh bhi- you only have to take their policy.

Are we advocating complete prohibition of these consumer products? - It may not be practicable or even sensible. But we need to affirm that the choices we make in our life should be motivated by our faith and trust in God rather than being carried away by the alluring jingles of the MNCs.

Christian witness involves confronting the powers of the empire even in the matters of food we choose and the clothes we wear and the way we live our lives. We need also to know that “empires” may be as big as Nebuchadnezzar or the MNCs, but at times they may also be quite ‘intimate’, ‘personal’ and ‘invisible’ – an addiction, an evil ambition lurking within our hearts… Many Christians who are very much vocal about resisting the MNCs and other visible power structures fail to look into their own selves for ‘invisible’ empires ruining one’s Christian witness. We are called to resist the empires of this age both ‘invisible’ and ‘visible’ and dedicate ourselves to the cause of a ‘Higher Empire’ – the kingdom of God.

Bishop Geevarghese Mor Coorilos has dedicated his book Ethical Issues: Subaltern Perspectives to the memory of Mayilamma, an illiterate native of the tribal community in Plachimada, Palakkad, Kerala. Commemorating her, the bishop pens these words: “This book is dedicated to the inspiring memory of Mayilamma who gave her life on behalf of millions who are determined to fight the empires of our times, come what may…”  The sleepy and less-known hamlet of Plachimada came to the limelight when Mayilamma and other villagers confronted the Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverage Pvt. Ltd. which had started its plant in their village. The dwindling level of water in the village wells and more manifest the change in colour of the water forced her to launch a satayagraha in front of the plant from April 22, 2002 onwards. The bottling plant was eventually forced to stop its activity in March, 2004.

This simple and uneducated village woman fought against the ‘empire’ and prevailed. Daniel and his friends resisted the empire of their times holding fast to their faith and they were vindicated. Now, how about us? What is our witness when confronting the empires of our times?

Joseph John

MTh I

Called as prophets and apostles (Ezekiel 37:7-10)

Good morning friends…

The read passage is a continuation of yesterday's text (Ezekiel 37:1-6) and hence we continue to reflect upon the dry bones… This text is a part of a popular text that speaks of the possibility in the midst of impossibilities. In other words, it instills hope in midst of hopelessness.

Context

The author Ezekiel is born as a son of a priest, but functions more as a prophet in exile. To be a prophet among the captives is no easy task. However, he is a messenger of hope particularly during the exile. It is a time when the people of Judah lost their king and land. Moreover, they lost their trust in their god Yahweh who promised eternal kingdom to David's house. Worst of all they lost expectation. They had given up, they did not expect anything good to happen anymore. This is true in our context too, many have lost hope and do not expect anything good to happen anymore. Will the terrorism in our nation and the world cease? Johnathan Bernis, President of Jewish Voice Ministries, with all pessimism raises the question, Is peace possible? Will our nation be free of the evils of the caste system? Dowry? And other social evils? How shall we respond to the people affected with AIDS and other terminal illness?

Humanly speaking, we are clueless and hopeless. However, it is at this juncture that people need someone, whom they can believe in to instill that expectation and hope in their hopeless situation.

On the other hand, it is in such a time as these that we have received the call to be agents to give hope and ignite transformation.

Dry bones and the symbolic vision highlight such a hopeless situation, where the future is not just bleak but extinct. However, the prophet being an exile was in a better position to proclaim the message of hope.

Being with the people in crisis

Ezekiel notes the phrase in midst of them or 'among' about 116 times. His position as one of them gave his message of future restoration and resurrection of the life of the nation a better reception.

Christian public witness is more effective by identifying with the people and creation in crisis than by great contemplation in isolation. Identifying with the people is significant.

Secondly, Proclaiming divine message whether it makes sense or not.

The task of the prophet remains to just proclaim the message of hope. The word so in v 7 indicates that the words of prophecy came not because of the prophet’s confidence but the assurance from the Lord to do it.

The prophet is likewise commanded in v.9 to prophecy to the breath and wind which eventually makes the corpses alive. Let us speak the words of hope into the lives of people without hope and intercede that God would bring them to life.

Obedience to the call and message received is a necessity to instill hope and transformation. In the Genesis account, God spoke and creation took place; he breathed life into human being. Now God speaks through the prophet and things happen. When we identify with the people and proclaim the words of hope, …

…then we can witness the wonders in life…

God speaks and performs, all that is expected of us as prophets is to proclaim it faithfully and witness the works of the Lord. We are only privileged partners with God in his business. As prophets, we may witness the fulfillment of the message only in visions; the reality may be sooner or later. The prophet may pass away but the words of prophecy will be fulfilled in due time.

Friends, you and I are called as prophets and apostles of Jesus Christ to be with the broken and shattered people to proclaim the good news of hope and a better future.

As we continue to reflect shall we sing the hymn…I am thine, oh Lord…

 Wilson Cherian

DTh

Reclaimed and Proclaimed Hope (Ezekiel 37:1-6)

What came across our minds yesterday morning, when we were watching the video which was presented at the start of the worship? Let me speak for myself. I thought, O yes, seen from a youth perspective the church is boring and dead. I completely agreed with what the narrator was saying. When the video paused for a while I thought the preacher was going to dwell on how the church has failed to the youth. I did not see the reversal that was coming. Did you? I thought it was amazing how the reversal of the order just did away with all the negativities and sought to affirm instead. What was supposed to be dead was suddenly brought into life. Where there was no hope, hope was rekindled.

Something of such reversal from death to life took place in the read passage. What emerges from the text is the enduring message of hope. But the hope expressed here is not a wishful thinking or a feeling. Hope can be defined as a desire, expectations or goals that seem difficult to achieve but may somewhat be realized, something that will happen in the future but is not sure, nevertheless attainable and possible. The meaning of hope undergoes a shift in this vision of Ezekiel. Hope is given a whole new meaning and significance as it now comes to mean source of life. This drastic change in the meaning here can be better comprehended when we think about what do bones represent. Bones are usually associated with and represent and depict death and dangers.

The description of bones as “very dry bones” suggests a situation or condition of complete hopelessness. The bones were not just bone but disjointed bones, each bone separated from the other and spread everywhere that it implies an irreparable disunity. The text here depicts the beyond despair situation of Israel. Under the powerful Babylonians, Israel in exile was a dead nation, deprived of her land, her king and her temple. Regaining it was not only an almost impossible task but also an impossible dream. But mission impossible it was from a human point of view, for God it was mission possible.

Let us imagine ourselves in place of Ezekiel. Walking amidst the heap of bones, if we are asked the same surprising and ridiculous question of whether the bones can live, the natural answer will be, no doubt, a negative one. By bringing back the dry bones to life, God’s power as the creator, the Lord over life and death is revealed and displayed. But it was not to be a matter of mere display of God’s power. Human participation was required. Since God is the creator, the act of re-creation here could also have been carried out by God alone. But we see that human in the form of Ezekiel became the agent of re-creation. The task of bringing the dry bones back to life was fulfilled through Ezekiel, the agent of God. Human task and responsibility in sustaining the life of God’s creation as an agent of God is emphasized here. And thus the question, Can these bones live?, no longer remains a question but an invitation to be obedient to God’s will and to be dependent on God.

The scene described in the text is much like a field which had witnessed combat or slaughter, a realistic depiction of our world today. These days there is never a day that passes by when we do not read or see pictures of people being slaughtered in numbers. Though not bones, they too represent a lifeless condition. As agents of God, we need to ask few questions to ourselves. The very purpose of our ministry is to give hope but the realities around us do not evoke much hope but constant fear. Have we failed to make any impact on the life of the people and instead became dry bones? Are we not challenged to do something about our world?  The text gives us direction to rise up from such discouraging scenario and bring about the reversal of the gruesome and hopeless reality around us. And we can do it by acknowledging God’s power and by obeying God. Without God any human effort is wasted effort. Ezekiel’s reply to the question of God was not an evasive act but an act of conceding human impotence before God’s power. To do such, requires of us to have an attitude of humility. Then and there we let go off all our human vanity. Like Ezekiel, we will begin to see not through our eyes but through God’s eye. We will begin to speak God’s word instead of our words. And when God’s word is spoken things are sure to happen. There will be reversal of death to life and hope will be reclaimed and proclaimed.

S. Ngatar  Ruivanao

MTh II

Invitation to the UTC Christmas Carol Service 2014