1 ECHO - December 2014
2 ECHO - December 2014
Table of Contents Message from the Diocesan Bishop ............................ 3
Message from the Previous Diocesan Bishop ............. 5
Editorial ..................................................................... 6
The Mystery & Mastery of Communication ................ 8
Communion through Forgiveness & Reconciliation .. 12
Prisoner of Your Past? .............................................. 15
Missionary call ......................................................... 17
Becoming a Praying Parent ...................................... 19
Biblical Understanding of Communication ................ 20
History ..................................................................... 22
Hermon Mar Thoma Church, West Midlands ........ 22
News & Reports ....................................................... 23
Family Conference-2014 ...................................... 23
First Communion: Hermon Mar Thoma Church,
Midlands, UK ........................................................ 25
First Communion and Confirmation: A Historical
Ecumenical event in London ................................. 26
Carol Services ....................................................... 27
ECHO Garden ........................................................... 28
‘Demons’ ............................................................. 28
Mother Teresa – A role model to us all ................. 29
Photo Gallery ........................................................... 30
The COMPE Executive Committee
President: The Rt.Revd.Dr.Geevarghese Mar Theodosius
Vice President: Revd. Dr. Thomas Philips
Secretary : Mr. P.M. Mathew
Treasurer: Mr. Jaffey Chacko
Editorial Board of the Mar Thoma ECHO
Editorial Director : Dr.Zac Varghese
Cheif Editor : Revd. Jose Punamadam
Mr. Sherry Mathews
Mr.Oommen Abraham
Mrs. Geena Ajay
Cover Design by : Revd. Jose Punamadam
For private circulation only
Disclaimer:
Authors are reminded of their responsibilities in acknowledging the
original source of any statements or quotations to avoid litigations
regarding copy right concerns and plagiarism. The views published
in this journal are those of its authors and not necessarily those of
the editorial board or of the COMPE.
3 ECHO - December 2014
Message from the
Diocesan Bishop The Mar
Thoma ECHO, a
publication of the
Council of Mar Thoma
Parishes in Europe,
published its first
issue in August 2014.
It had the blessings of
our Metropolitan
when its digital
version was released
at a public function in
St. John’s Mar Thoma Parish, Hounslow during
Thirumeni’s visit. The printed version was
released at the Mar Thoma Family Conference
when a large gathering attended, and the copies
were widely circulated. I am confident that all the
Mar Thoma members and their friends have
become aware of this publication.
The second issue is now prepared for
publication with the theme, “Community,
Communication, and the Church.” The editorial
board will be expounding this topic which is very
relevant in our times. I hope that all the members
of the churches in UK and Europe will take time
to go through the thought-provoking and
enriching articles contained in the Mar Thoma
ECHO. The aim of this publication is to build a
link with the channels of love for building a
communicating Mar Thoma Community in
Europe.
We live in a time when we have an
explosion in the field of communication. We have
fast and multiple means of communication. The
internet and other forms of social media have
further precipitated new ways of thinking about
reality, humanity, and community. A few decades
ago, the main means of communication was the
printed media. The Gospel was propagated
through books and leaflets. The preachers
travelled from place to place, or their speeches
were recorded. Now, Gospel messages are
available throughout the day. It has become very
difficult to distinguish between the real and the
fake. But now even little children have access to
all kinds of information through the internet and
other means of communication. They are widely
abused more than being used. When we go to an
airport lounge, or the waiting area of a public
place, we can see that everybody is busy either
texting, using their smartphone, or the iPad. Even
when a person is out for sightseeing, he/she may
be browsing the phone. We may be in a crowd but
not face to face with the next person. Nobody has
time to communicate with the person sitting next
to them. We are eager to have the virtual “sight”
and “touch” of a person at a distance than the
person in front of us. The “virtual” is taking the
place of the “real.” We have become “islands” than
part of a human community.
The basic unit of any community is the
family. So proper communication should happen
within the family. The communication in families
were held mostly during mealtime and at the time
of family prayer. Now, we seldom have family
time and family altar. For proper communication,
we should know the language and state of mind of
the other person. A new-born’s means of
communication is crying. It is the means that God
has created the child with to express its needs to
the parents and community. Communication is to
understand each other. When proper
communication fails, it leads to breakdowns in
family relationships. If there is brokenness in
families, it will affect the whole society. The
breakdown of communication with our
neighbours, the members of our prayer groups,
and parishes has distanced us from all the people.
Time has come for us to rebuild our family
relationships through proper communication.
This publication is coming out at a time
when the whole inhabited world is celebrating
Christmas. It marks God’s means of
communication by sending Jesus Christ to
incarnate in human history. The Word became
flesh. Jesus, identified Himself with the whole
creation, enabling each to see and hear Him, feel
His presence, listen to His words, participate in
what He did, and follow Him. This was a real
experience in real life. This incarnation of Jesus
enabled the creation to turn to God. He exhorted
again by communicating through His life, to love
one’s neighbours. This is a turn to each other. He
gave His life on the cross for the redemption of
the whole creation, which St. Paul narrates as the
“ministry of reconciliation.” Christology will
certainly come to emphasize even more strongly
than in the past that Jesus was a “man for others.”
4 ECHO - December 2014
Soteriology will emphasize the corporate
dimensions of the saving work of the Triune God
in the events of the crucifixion and the
resurrection. St. John calls this communication as
an act of love. Jesus gave the new commandment
to love as He loved. There is no better and
effective communication than “love.”
Church is in the world for the ministry of
communication. The Good News of the Kingdom
of God, revealed in Christ Jesus, is to be
communicated. The mission and ministry of the
Church are means of communicating the Gospel.
St. Paul reminds that we are Christ’s
ambassadors. How do we carry out this mission?
Paul's method of communicating the Gospel is
expressed in the following verses: “To the Jews I
became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those
under the law I became like one under the law
(though I myself am not under the law) so as to
win those under the law. To those not having the
law I became like one not having the law (though
I am not free from God's law but am under
Christ's law), so as to win those not having the
law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.
I have become all things to all people so that by all
possible means, I might save some" (I Corinthians
9:20-22, NIV). We are the media through which
the message of Christ is communicated to the
world. We must do this by our daily Christian
living.
I wish the publication all success and
God’s blessings.
Mar Theodosius+
For the great and powerful of this world,
there are only two places in which their
courage fails them, of which they are
afraid deep down in their souls, from
which they shy away. These are the manger
and the cross of Jesus Christ. No powerful
person dares to approach the manger, and
this even includes King Herod. For this is
where thrones shake, the mighty fall, the
prominent perish, because God is with the
lowly. Here the rich come to nothing,
because God is with the poor and hungry,
but the rich and satisfied he sends away
empty. Before Mary, the maid, before the
manger of Christ, before God in lowliness,
the powerful come to naught; they have no
right, no hope; they are judged.
- From God Is In the Manger: Reflections
on Advent and Christmas
5 ECHO - December 2014
Message from the
Previous Diocesan Bishop
I am glad that the
Mar Thoma Church
community is
starting an internet
journal to circulate
biblical messages
and theological
thoughts to the
people at large. I
wish all God’s
blessing to this new
venture. Let your
efforts bring new hopes and aspirations in the
lives of the people. I pray to God that this will
bring good fruits to the Church.
The title ECHO is very apt to the electronic
journal. The word denotes to the vibrations of
sound. In the sound waves we have different
modulations harmoniously knit together to
produce voice. Voice symbolizes identity and
nature of sound waves. Mar Thoma Church ECHO
presents different voices of worship, prayers,
witness and mission. ECHO is about the voice of a
Church in diaspora.
Diaspora is a scattered population with a common
origin within a geographical area. The word also
refers to the movement of the people from its
original homeland. Diaspora is also a term which
denotes its significance biblically, theologically
and socially. Mar Thoma Church can be often
been named as a Diaspora Church.
Church migrated to the contexts of Europe and
America used linguistic structures and cultures of
diaspora to express their identity and to translate
the faith practices into the situations of migration.
Church in the west is often seen as an institution
organised under the norms and practices of
modernity. Modernity structured the Church in
Diaspora. Globalisation, homogenisation,
digitalisation and uncontrolled marginalisation
have become the new phenomenon of modernity
in which Church tries to situate herself.
Mar Thoma Church in the European context
survived through worship, word and witness.
Church expresses herself in the self-
understanding related with the God and world in
a more missional aspect in the context of
multiplicity. Mar Thoma communities in the
diaspora read the Bible as a means to construct
and deconstruct their identities
Worship as the mystery of God experience and
Bible as the text played a major role in
establishing the ground of Church and nurturing
the faith in the life of the people. Bible was the
important tool that connected the life of the
people in diaspora to the life of the people of God
in the exilic times. People in the diaspora started
to read the Bible from their own life-world and
situated themselves in the meaning making
process. It is through the interpretative praxis of
the word that the Church community found the
historical affirmation of faith more relevant.
Interpretation of the Word enabled the
community of faith to counter the contemporary
forms of exile and prepared the Church in the
formation of theological prepositions about God.
Witness was not so easy for the faithful ones in
the European context. They witnessed Jesus
Christ in the daily lives in the midst of all
struggles for existence and building of their family
life. Living in a culture which is totally different
from their native formative culture created new
situation of pressure. But they remained faithful
to God and loyal to the Church. Birth of the
Church in this context is the result of their
witness, labour and sharing of the resources for
the Kingdom of God at large.
Yours in Christ’s service,
Rt. Rev. Dr. Euyakim Mar Coorilos 22 -07 - 2014 Mar Thoma Bishop ‘s House Kottarakkara
6 ECHO - December 2014
Editorial
Community, Communication, and the Church
“The diaspora is not a group of people bound
together by manmade ideals. Diaspora becomes
a human community when it becomes a
community bound together in love, rejoicing in
each other and going out in love to the whole
creation.”–Mar Chrysostom
The second letter encoded in the acronym of the
word ‘ECHO’ is ‘C’ for communication, which is
the theme for this issue of the journal. A
community is a sociological group of people
sharing a common space. The word community
comes from the Latin word ‘communitas’ which is
comprised of three elements: ‘com’ meaning
common; ‘munis’ meaning exchanges that links,
and ‘tatus’ indicating intimate or local. Family is
the basic unit of a community sharing all these
aspects, which was the theme of this year’s Mar
Thoma family conference in Europe.
Communication is the heartbeat of a community.
We could limit our notion of communication to its
narrowest limit of getting a message from one to
another. We are able to write this editorial
because an idea in the brain is transmitted to the
fingertips through many communication
channels, junctions and receptors. Our very life
itself is possible because of various signal
transduction processes of cells involving many
thousands of molecules. Therefore, life cannot
exist without communication at ultra-micro,
micro, and macro level. The Church is also a
communicating community charged with the
mission to witness. Communication systems are
expanding explosively with cable, satellites,
computers, tablets, and smart phones. The
technology already exists for a kind of total
revolution in information gathering. There are so
much out there, and it is difficult to be selective
and analytical about it. As a result, we are in a
superhighway of communication, where crashes
are always a possibility. It is very important to be
selective and analytical in dealing with
information gathering and making use of it.
It is worth examining the interrelationships of
communication, community, and the church.
These three ‘C’s are intimately connected. For it
seems clear that, on the one hand, the relative
ineffectiveness of the Church in making use of
communication, which probably is one of the
major reasons for the current disinterest in
church-related activities. On the other hand, there
is every reason to hope that the communication
revolution, once understood, as itself as a
blessing. This may elicit in us, as we read the
signs of the times, an authentic spirituality,
exciting, energetic, and bold.
The Sanskrit language has many words for
communication such as ‘sadharnikarana,
samlaapa and sambhashanam, but its root
meaning is ‘to bind.’ If we consider various ways
of binding such as connecting, joining,
assimilating, and uniting, then we recognize how
much of human existence dependent on
communication. John Donne’s poem reminds us
of this reality: “No man is an island.” How much
of the human story is found there: shared needs,
education, moral codes, justice system, farming,
business, trust, traditions, and community. The
word bears an even nobler meaning of offering a
gift; a gift is only a real gift when it is shared. This
sharing is fundamental to a Eucharistic life of
taking, thanking, breaking, and giving. Church is
all about a shared living within a faith
community. Therefore, people who commune are
a community, and fellowship is a big part of it.
Like other institutions in the contemporary world,
the Church is deeply affected by the
communication revolution. Each "model" of the
Church brings with it a corresponding style of
communicating: more authoritarian or more
participative, more secretive or more open, and so
on. The existing communications channels in the
7 ECHO - December 2014
Church are numerous and varied than we are
usually aware of, ranging from official and
pastoral letters from bishops (known as
kalpanas), through other official declarations,
reports, financial statements and newsletters
from local parishes. There is also a
communication network linking with various
organisational structures of the Church as well.
However, the church is a living organism more
than an organisation. Here we see St. Paul’s
deeper understanding in describing the Church as
the body of Christ and its interconnected
relationship to the people of God. Krishnamurti,
the great Indian philosopher, was a great
communicator; his talks were always a joint
exploration, of the speaker asking questions,
searching, provoking, stimulating, and finding
answers with the audience. This participatory
communication was his unique technique. He
said, ‘Communication can only exist when there is
no division, when you can both share something
together.’ Thus sharing, caring and
communicating become part of our existence in
this world in communion with our Lord and our
God. Gossip is also a very powerful channel of
communication, which is both constructive, and
destructive. Gossiping the Gospel is the business
of the Church.
Revd Dr. Valson Thampu’s ‘in depth’ article on
‘the Mystery and Mastery of Communication’ in
this issue is well-worth studying. He wrote: “Such
communication is not a matter of education or
cultural attainments. It is not a question of this
language or that, or of generation gaps or of
interpersonal bridges. It is a matter of depth. It is
depth that distinguishes the living God from idols.
Idols have just about everything, except depth.
Today we communicate as idols do to idols.
Words hit the surface and rebound. So, words
resemble stones.”
The Mar Thoma ECHO is a trying to build a link
with the channel of love for building a
communicating Mar Thoma community in
Europe. An Important aspect of communication
is thanksgiving to God for what He has done, and
for who He is. Thanksgiving looks at our present
condition and then backwards and forwards: what
God has done for us in the past, what he is doing
for us now, and what he will do in the future.
Thanksgiving is not just personal, but for the
whole faith community and the universal Church.
It should be a heart-felt cry as King David did in
many of his Psalms that God must be honoured
and praised for ever because of the gathering
together of his faithful people, which is indeed the
purpose of the Church. Finally, we realize that the
Church is not just a superficial Sunday
community of worshippers. The Church is a
communicating community, charged with the
mission of God (missio dei), to witness and to
preach (kerygma), to communicate (koinonia), to
be word and sacrament, to be medium and
message of salvation (diakonia), bringing to all an
updated edition of today's good news, featuring
Jesus Christ as the centre of our existence, symbol
of hope.
The Editorial Board
Beware those who seek to convince you that
it is senseless to strive for good because it is
impossible to reach perfection." - Ruskin
8 ECHO - December 2014
The Mystery & Mastery of
Communication
Revd Dr.Valson Thampu*
All of us communicate. To be human is to
communicate. Other forms of life also, sort of,
communicate. But in us, as human beings,
communication has a special significance and a
sublime scope.
The fact that all human beings communicate
makes us a little blind to the mystery of
communication. As a rule, we take whatever we
have, or do, for granted. We become blind to
them. Or, to use the word that the Psalmist used,
we ‘forget’ them. We forget God’s blessings upon
us (Ps. 103: 1-4). So, the Psalmist exhorts, “And
forget not all his benefits”.
I have been in the business of communication for
the last four decades, at the very least. As days go
by, my sense of wonder about the mere possibility
of communication only increases. Think of
communicating with words! Of course, we use
many things else, besides words, to communicate.
But we do talk of ‘verbal’ communication, don’t
we? Words are mere symbols. And all of them are
arbitrary symbols. There is no law that prescribes
that the word ‘book,’ for example, should mean a
rectangular object made of paper. We have come
to agree that it should. So it does for those who
consent to that correlation. For someone outside
that association, the sound ‘word’ could mean,
say, a piece of wood or a sliver of cheese. In
another language, likewise, the same object –what
we call ‘book’ could be known by another symbol.
Yet, the words I utter serve as the link between
my mind and yours. In speaking, I produce some
sound waves corresponding (by sheer convention)
to these words, or symbols. They reach you and,
in the mystery of things, you interpret these
sound waves to mean what I mean!
How is this possible?
Why do we say that communication is
quintessentially human? Actually it is not. It is
only deductively human. Communication is the
attribute of God. We communicate because we are
“created in the image and likeness of God”. In
communicating, we partake of (or reflect) the
nature of God! This alone should make us quite
wary of what, and how, we communicate. We
need to speak as we ought to. And what we ought
to. Speaking, therefore, must include silence.
Silence, indeed, is the seed and secret of
communication. How we communicate not only
reveals but also shapes who we are in a very
substantial way. Abuse of the power of
communication corrupts our being. Hence the
teaching, “If you call your brother a fool, you will
stand before the judgment seat.” It is not for
nothing that we say, ‘mind your tongue’! What
this means, incidentally, is also that
communication is a great deal more than the
wagging of your tongue. So, let not your tongue
run away with, or bear false witness to, who you
are. Let your tongue be your servant, not vice
versa. If your tongue tries to be your master, be
unsparing, says Jesus. Cut it off! Likewise with
your hand, your eye, your everything.
But let us return to the question, how is
communication possible at all? This question is
the same as, why is it so human to communicate?
Well, let us get going with this question.
If human beings were like straight lines, there
would have been no communication. Two straight
lines cannot ‘hold’ anything. To communicate,
quite literarily, is to ‘hold’ things together. If you
keep two poles side by side, or end-to-end, they
cannot ‘hold’ a body. You need to not only place
them side by side but also connect them with
something; a piece of strong fabric, for example.
Now you no longer have just two poles, but a
stretcher. But a stretcher is no longer two straight
(or crooked) lines. It is a rectangle, so to speak.
You have created horizontal space (length +
breadth), in addition to distance, which is only
length. But a stretcher can ‘hold’ only a still body.
And communication is not a ‘still’ thing. It is a
moving, wave-like, dynamic thing.
Communication is like a flowing river, not a
stagnant puddle. Our words resonate. They
9 ECHO - December 2014
ascend and descend. They crisscross. They leap,
they run, and they trot. Also, they can be, so to
speak, more than what they appear to be. Words,
in communication, have not only length and
breadth. They also have ‘depth’. Now, depth is the
hallmark of life. Death is the forfeiture of depth. A
corpse has length and breadth. It has no depth.
Depth belongs to Life. It stems from God.
To be created in the ‘image and likeness’ of God is
to be imbued with depth, in particular the depth
of Life. (Are you surprised that the words of the
godly have ‘power’?) The “fullness of life” that
Jesus offers needs to be understood in this light.
How can there be ‘fullness’ of life, if we choose to
remain ‘shallow’? (If you want to take this thought
further afield consider the Rich Young Man in St.
Matthew 19: 16-24. Shallowness was the affliction
of this man of material abundance.) Yet that is
what most Christians choose. They think that the
gleanings of ‘depth’ can be picked, somehow, from
the paddy field of shallowness. It is a clever thing,
isn’t it, to have the best of both worlds. But those
who fall between two stools really do not look very
smart.
Now think of St. John 12: 24. The grain of wheat
must fall down and die. This death is quite
different from the death that our body suffers. It
is death to two-dimensional life. The outcome of
this death is that the grain of wheat is shifted
from the two-dimensional to the three-
dimensional life. On being sown, the grain of
wheat is relocated in a new horizon of
possibilities: that of depth. Spirituality is all about
depth. The Spirit is the domain of the Depth of
Life. That is why, in the Judaeo-Christian
tradition, we cannot communicate, in the true
sense of the word (or concept) without the Spirit.
We can make noise and create noise pollution.
But we cannot communicate.
Why do you think Jesus rebuked the evil spirit
that pretended to bear witness to him (St. Mark 1:
21-28)? Jesus was admonishing communication
as it should not be, or demonic communication.
(For there is such a thing!) He was denouncing
communication as mere noise. Or, in the words of
St. Paul, communication as “sounding brass and
tinkling cymbal” (1 Cor. 13: 1, 2). So we can speak
without communicating. Well, that is what we do
most of the time! God alone knows what we mean
when we say, “Good morning,” or what others
understand when we utter those words. Or, what
we mean when we pray and praise God, preach
and propagate, utter expressions of gratitude,
appreciation, assurance and so on…. A great deal
of our ‘communication’ is no communication at
all. It is sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. God
is insulted by this. Hence the terse instruction
from Jesus, “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’,
‘no’”. “Do not,” he said, “use too many words
when you pray”. Do not think, that is, that your
“sounding brass and tinkling cymbal” makes a
sweet-sounding spiritual orchestra!
Jesus is the Word. In him we experience the
mystery and mastery of communication. “If only
you’ll say a word,” a Roman Centurion, once said
to Jesus, “my servant will be healed”. Well, the
Centurion would have sensed something!
Whether he understood what he was saying well
enough, I am in no position to avow. Very likely,
he knew the import of his words deep below the
level of sound. The dead body of Lazarus heard
that voice. At that voice demons flee. The voice of
the Word cleanses lepers, opens the eyes of the
blind and the ears of the deaf. The Word
communicates and, in so doing, gives us an
experiential, or incarnate, idea of what it means to
communicate.
One thing is sure. The power of communication
stems from the depth. Well, I have heard
musicians say pretty much the same thing. Bring
up your voice, they’d say, from deep within. If you
don’t, all your technical perfection will hit the
ceiling in no time. Without the resources of the
depth, there is only ‘this far’ that you can go.
10 ECHO - December 2014
If so, the next question: what is the bridle path to
that depth? Why do we remain, or how do we
become, shallow? St. John has an answer that we
better take seriously.
The Word, John says, ‘became flesh’ (St. John 1:
14). The simplest understanding of this rather
poetic and evocative expression is that the Word
embraced the world of experience. Not any kind
of experience; but experience that expresses its
essence. The biblical (Hebraic) worldview, unlike
the Hellenic, is dynamic. The Greeks perfected the
art of abstract thinking as nobody else could. The
Hebrew genius found an experiential, not
exclusively contemplative, expression. The Jews
contemplated -or sought, if you like- through
experience. Experience, as life teaches us, is the
unfolding access to the depth. It is the bridge
being built under our feet. Even as we walk. Only
if we walk. It is the landscape that reveals more of
itself as we walk. The Psalmist, for instance, links
experience with the light of the Word (cf. Psalm
119: 105). The Word is the lantern to one’s feet,
the light to one’s path. A lantern is less than a
lantern in the hands of one who has no intention
to walk. The light of the Word is relevant only to
those who wish to walk in the way of faith, or to
experience it. Truth to tell, our very being is
instinct with this thirst for experiential depth.
How can we meet the thirst for the depth of life,
except through experiences? Can a paralytic, who
lives horizontally (and has no experience of
depth) assuage his existential thirst by living
stretched out on that bed forever? Shouldn’t he
‘take up his bed and walk’? Saying “take up your
bed and walk” is true communication in its
context. (And not uttering sentimental nonsense
like “Oh, what a pity”, “Poor man, this should not
have happened to him,” “I’m so sorry, this has
befallen you,” and so on.) Who, except one who
has spiritual eyes, can ‘see’ this truth, as Jesus did
(St. Mark 2: 5)? Who else, but the Word, could
have said, “Take up your bed and walk”?
Now, the mark of a paralytic is ‘dependence’.
Sadly, that is what our materially empowered
‘secular’ life or worldview has reduced us to. We
are at risk of becoming (if we have not reached
there already) existential paralytics. We are so
dependent! On entertainment, on sex, on alcohol,
on drugs, on sleeping pills, on this accessory or
that amenity of life… Let the newspaper not
arrive, the cable/DTH network not function, the
power fail or the taps run dry… even for a day…
And now consider John the Baptist. Why did he
live free from all these? Was there any connection
between the fierce simplicity of his lifestyle and
the fiery power of his words? Remember, he was
the ‘voice crying in the wilderness’. We are at
danger of becoming the ‘voice of the wilderness’.
And that makes all the difference. The voice of
the wilderness cannot communicate. As I write
this, I hear the heart-breaking cry of the ‘lady
typist’ in T. S. Eliot’s poem, the “Waste Land”.
“Why don’t you speak to me,” she pleads with her
husband, “Speak to me, speak”. Her man does not
speak. He had nothing to say. As a denizen of the
wasteland, he could have had nothing to say. Yet
nothing is more desperately needed than
communication. Also, nothing is more
despairingly impossible than communication.
Mistake not, for God’s sake, the sound and fury
raging out there in the public space as
communication! Communication makes the
difference between the Waste Land and the
Promised Land. The Waste Land is the Promised
Land sans communication; for communication is
what transforms union into communion. But
then, what is union that falls short of
communion? Jesus, in the context of the wedding
of Cana of Galilee, turned water (union) into wine
(communion). Stale marriages –don’t tell me you
don’t know this- bristle with the violence of
silence. Marriages as ‘one-flesh’ mysteries (Gen.
2: 24, Ephesians 5: 32) are awash in the wine of
communication.
Such communication is not a matter of education
or cultural attainments. It is not a question of this
11 ECHO - December 2014
language or that, or of generation gaps or of
interpersonal bridges. It is a matter of depth. It is
depth that distinguishes the living God from idols.
Idols have just about everything, except depth.
Today we communicate as idols do to idols.
Words hit the surface and rebound. So, words
resemble stones. “Will anyone, if his son asks for
bread,” queried Jesus, “give him stone?” Well, of
course. That is what we do most of the time! What
is bread, once it has lost its depth? How is it any
better than a stone? Stones can yield only stones.
So we have a pelting of words –some mild, some
wild- that we are unlettered enough to call
communication.
The mystery of communication is encoded in the
grammar of life. We cannot become better
communicators by trying to enlarge our
vocabulary, bolster our language base, brush up
our idioms or turns of speech, replenish our
information bank or refine our sentiments. We
have to become human and not remain living
corpses (or, ‘whited sepulchers’ of life). We must
re-learn the lost art of loving to the point of dying.
We must return to life. We must –and now you
must let me use the word that Jesus used, for
there is none better- ‘repent’. We must go back
home, as the prodigal son did, from the ‘far
country’. Return from the way of death to the way
of life (St. Matthew 7: 13, 14). Communication is
the privilege of the living. It is into life that God
calls us. Return to life and communication will
take care of itself.
There is, believe me, no other way.
In the end, mystery is not in communication.
Mystery inheres in life. Mystery, as Kierkegaard
pointed out, denotes the presence of the divine.
Mystery is not man’s portfolio. Life is mysterious
only because it is God’s invention. It is from life,
and from life as profound experience enfolded in
the will of God, that words derive the power of
mystery. The mastery of communication can
happen, hence, only by surrendering ourselves to
the mystery of Life, even Life in all its fullness (St.
John 10: 10b)
__________________
* Revd Dr. Valson Thampu is the Principal of St.
Stephen’s College, New Delhi. He is a visionary,
prolific writer, and engaging speaker. He spoke
several times at Maramon convention and the
family conferences in Europe and America.
"Be a lantern for yourself and a refuge.
Draw close to the light within yourself
and seek no other shelter."
Ancient Buddihst wisdom
12 ECHO - December 2014
Communion through
Forgiveness &
Reconciliation Swami Sachidananda Bharathi
People all over the world today are desperately
searching for peace and happiness. Some try to
find peace and happiness through pursuits of
wealth and pleasures. Some others try to find
them through pursuits of security and power. Yet
some others try to find peace and happiness
through religions and their codes, creeds and
cults. However, most of them get disillusioned in
the end because none of these can provide lasting
peace and happiness to us.
True and lasting peace and happiness are the
fruits of an abiding communion of love with God,
with oneself, and with one’s fellow human beings.
Such an abiding communion is impossible
without forgiveness and reconciliation.
Forgiving, enduring and self-sacrificing love, as it
was embodied and demonstrated to humanity by
Lord Jesus Christ, is the basis of true and lasting
peace and happiness. Such divine love embodied
and demonstrated by Lord Jesus Christ can be
identified as ‘Christian love’. This ‘Christian love’
that includes love for one’s ‘enemies’ is also the
basis of the ‘kingdom of God’ initiated by Lord
Jesus Christ. Infact, forgiveness and
reconciliation are like the two sides of ‘Christian
love’. They are inseparable and integrally related.
Lack of forgiveness and reconciliation is the root
cause of most of the conflicts within and among
individuals, families, communities, nations and
religions in this world.
‘The kingdom of God is within you’ taught Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord also taught that the
‘kingdom of God’ is among us. The term ‘kingdom
of God’ here implies a world of love, unity, peace
and joy beyond time and space limitations. It
comes from a living and loving relationship with
God, our ever compassionate and forgiving
Parent, through an abiding communion with the
living Spirit of Christ. The living Spirit of Christ is
the ‘Holy Spirit’ given to us by God in, with and
through Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified and risen
Christ. This Holy Spirit is our eternal companion
and guide. The Holy Spirit is also the abiding
source of true and lasting peace and happiness.
A Spirituality of Forgiveness &
Reconciliation
Religions, Scriptures and spiritual masters of the
world are like different ‘Channels’ of a spirituality
of communion and peace. One can tune on to any
of these spiritual ‘Channels’ to experience the
Divine Grace that is available to all who surrender
themselves willingly and consciously to Divine
Providence, following the example of Lord Jesus
Christ. He surrendered himself totally and
unconditionally to the will of God whom he called
‘Heavenly Father’. Spiritual masters teach us how
to tune on to these spiritual Channels of Divine
Grace. The living Spirit of Christ will guide and
strengthen all who seek for his help in this
process.
The ‘Buddha Channel’ will help us to receive the
divine spirit of compassion towards all living
beings. The ‘Prophet Channel’ will give us the
divine spirit of submission to will of God in all
things and at all times. The ‘Guru Nanak Channel’
will give us the divine spirit of discipleship. The
‘Sri Ramakrishna Channel’ will give us the divine
spirit of interreligious harmony. The ‘Narayana
Guru Channel’ will give us the divine spirit of
human solidarity. The ‘Gandhi Channel’ will give
us the divine spirit of non-violence, ……and so on.
13 ECHO - December 2014
But it is the ‘Christ Channel’ that gives us the
divine spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation. Our
sins and trespasses are forgiven, our failures and
weaknesses are overlooked, and we are reconciled
with God and fellow beings through the Christ-
Spirit. (Rom 5:1-11; 2 Cor 5:11-21; Eph 2: 14-17 ).
Without first receiving this Christ-Spirit of
forgiveness and reconciliation, we will not be able
to receive and experience truly the other divine
spirits of compassion, submission, discipleship,
interreligious harmony, human solidarity, non-
violence etc… Hence, we can say that the Christ-
Spirit is the ‘first born’ and is the source of all
divine spirits emanating from the ‘God-Station’. It
is also the source and seed of divine life.
Peace within the individual is the basis of peace in
the world. The UNESCO Constitution emphasizes
that ‘as wars begin in the minds of men, it is the
minds of men that defenses for peace must be
constructed’. Only when there is peace within the
individual can there be peace in the family and in
the society. Without forgiveness and
reconciliation there can be no inner peace.
‘Repentance’ is a precondition for forgiveness and
reconciliation.
Peace in our life, and also the world, is impossible
unless the ‘inner wounds’ are healed and we are
reconciled with ourselves and others. Forgiveness
is the basis of reconciliation and healing, without
which there can be no true and lasting peace.
Sometimes we find it difficult to forgive others.
The inner wounds they have inflicted in our lives
can be very deep. The damage they have done to
us and to our reputation can be very serious. In
such cases we need the grace of God even to
forgive these our ‘enemies’ who have hurt and
wounded us to such an extent that even thinking
about them can make us very angry and troubled.
These are the occasions when we need to seek
God’s forgiveness first so that we can forgive our
‘enemies’. It is here one can experience the
greatest gift of God to humanity – Lord Jesus
Christ. In, with and through him we can find
healing and reconciliation irrespective of our
religious, cultural, linguistic, gender and ethnic
affiliations and backgrounds.
‘Repentance’ is a precondition for forgiveness.
Without repentance, there can be no forgiveness.
Unless we really feel sorry for our mistakes and
trespasses and seek pardon from those whom we
have offended, there will be no true forgiveness. It
is here that we will find our ego, selfishness and
pride can present the biggest obstacles and
stumbling blocks in our quest for peace. We often
justify our actions and words, we tend to be self-
righteous. This will not help. We need to ‘let go’ of
our ego, selfishness and pride if we are to rise
higher in our quest for peace and happiness.
A spirituality that forms the foundation of
communion and peace is essentially a spirituality
of repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.
Without repentance there can be no forgiveness,
and without forgiveness there will be no
reconciliation. Healing and reconciliation are pre-
requisites for communion and peace. Most of us
are wounded beings, and hence we tend to create
a wounded world around us. Through repentance,
forgiveness and reconciliation we will be healed
and made whole and healthy. Men and women
who have suffered much and experienced the
agony and pain of woundedness can be very
effective instruments of God for healing and
reconciliation in the world after they themselves
have gone through a deep healing experience.
Inner Peace Meditation
A simple and easy to follow meditation technique
for forgiveness, reconciliation and inner peace
termed is developed and promoted by us through
the ‘School of Forgiveness and Reconciliation’
(SoFaR). SoFaR was started in November 2006 in
our Dharma Bharathi Ashram at Mulanthuruthy
near Ernakulam with the ‘seed capital’ provided
by, a London-based member of the Mar Thoma
Church. He also serves as a ‘patron’ of SoFaR
which is now being shifted from Dharma Bharathi
Ashram to our newly started ‘Navasrushti
Ashram’ at Shantivanam near Nagpur.
The Inner Peace Meditation makes use of the
Christ-Spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation.
14 ECHO - December 2014
Hence, it is also termed ‘Peace of Christ
Meditation’. There is no religious conversion
required to practice it. Anyone anywhere can
practice it and experience the forgiveness,
reconciliation and inner peace that Lord Jesus
Christ offers to humanity. This meditation will
also enable us to experience ‘the peace that is
beyond human understanding’ that Lord Jesus
Christ offers to those who are united to him (Jn
16.33). It is the peace that liberates us from all
fears, tensions and worries (Jn 14:27).
We have been teaching the ‘Peace of Christ
Meditation’ to people from all religious
backgrounds. It is found to be very effective.
There are many people from different religious
backgrounds who can bear witness to the efficacy
of this meditation from their own experiences.
Some of my friends in the Mar Thoma Church
have taken up this meditation and have developed
it further to make it a more effective means of
communion and peace.
An ecumenical communion of love under the
name ‘Disciples of Christ for Peace’ (DCP) is also
founded and registered to promote the Peace of
Christ Meditation and a spirituality of forgiveness
& reconciliation based on the living Spirit of
Christ. SoFaR provides the necessary training to
those men and women who desire to join this
ecumenical communion of love.
Conclusion
Christian love is ever forgiving, enduring and self-
sacrificing. Where there is such divine love, there
will always be forgiveness and reconciliation.
Abiding communion, peace and happiness are
fruits of forgiveness and reconciliation. When
there is true Christian love within and among
individuals and families, there will emerge
peaceful communities and nations in the world.
Thus, ‘begin with oneself and begin within
oneself’ is the best and most effective method to
find lasting peace and happiness in the world.
When there is Christian love within us and among
us, there will be the ‘kingdom of God’ on earth.
In the ‘Tree of Life’, Christian love is like its root.
Forgiveness is like its trunk. Reconciliation is like
its branches. Communion is like its leaves. Peace
and happiness are like its flowers and fruits. The
living Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit of God,
enables us to be integral parts of this ‘Tree of Life’.
When we are part of this ‘Tree of Life’, our names
get written in the ‘Book of Life’, the book of
eternal life with God.
==================================
Swami Sachidananda Bharathi is a former
atheist and Indian Air Force Squadron Leader
who turned disciple of Lord Jesus Christ after an
encounter with death in an air accident in 1982.
He was born and brought up in a conservative
Syrian Catholic family background in central
Kerala.
In 2003 he initiated the ‘Bharathi’
Chaturashrama Sanyasa Parampara and took
the name Swami Sachidananda Bharathi. He is
also the Founder and Acharya-guru of ‘Disciples
of Christ for Peace’ (DCP), School of Forgiveness
and Reconciliation’ (SoFaR), ‘Dharma Bharathi
Mission’ (DBM), ‘Dharma Rajya Vedi’ (DRV)
and a number of other organizations and
institutions. Swamiji now lives in ‘Navasrushti
Ashram’, Shantivanam, near Nagpur.
15 ECHO - December 2014
Prisoner of Your Past? Revd. Merin Mathew
Acts 9: 20-27
For several days he was with the disciples in
Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to
proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is
the Son of God.” All who heard him were amazed
and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in
Jerusalem among those who invoked this name?
And has he not come here for the purpose of
bringing them bound before the chief
priests?” Saul became increasingly more
powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in
Damascus by proving that Jesus was the
Messiah. After some time had passed, the Jews
plotted to kill him, but their plot became known
to Saul. They were watching the gates day and
night so that they might kill him; but his disciples
took him by night and let him down through an
opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.
When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to
join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him,
for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But
Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles,
and described for them how on the road he had
seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how
in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of
Jesus.
Message:
In one of my practical assignments from
seminary, I met a man in one of the churches
which I will leave unnamed. This man was a full-
fledged businessman with deals in real estate and
construction. He also had a drinking problem. All
this accumulated in a big way and with a huge
thud this man’s life came crashing down one fine
day. He was arrested by the police for a fraud case
in land deals. Once out on bail he had to get grip
with his drinking problem. But little by little he
started to pick up his life. His huge void in his life
was filled by knowing Christ intimately through
reading the bible and composing songs. He
started prison ministries. He became very active
in church which he called his ‘second innings’. He
said “I always believe that church is not a
museum of righteous people but a hospital for
broken and shattered people like me. But all I saw
in the church was that people talking about my
past and references like ‘Jail Mathai or
Kallukudiyan Mathai’ were a community joke. So
the place that should have supported me and been
a solace for me, held me captive of my past. It is
disgusting.” Let me quote Philip Yancey here to
give us perspective. In his classic book “What’s So
Amazing About Grace” Yancey says men like these
ran towards Jesus, not away from him. The worse
a person felt about herself/himself, the more
likely they saw Jesus as their refuge. Has the
church lost the gift? Evidently the down and out,
who flocked to Jesus when he lived on earth, no
longer feel welcome among his followers. What
has happened?”
That is the question we need to ask. What has
happened? In the portion that we just read shows
the situation of the Post- Conversion scenario of
Saul. Once he started to proclaim Jesus boldly as
the ‘Son of God’ the expected reply came from
near quarters like this “Is not this the man who
made havoc in Jerusalem among those who
invoked this name? And has he not come here for
the purpose of bringing them bound before the
chief priests?” (Acts 9: 21) As we know that this
very Saul was witness to the martyrdom of
Stephen. His zealous attitude had made him a
name that sent shivers down the spine. So people
definitely had their doubts and held him captive
to his past. They were not convinced that a man
with such notorious background could change
that easily. At Nazareth where Jesus made bold
declarations he too got a similar treatment. Is
not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his
mother called Mary? And are not his
brothers James and Joseph and Simon and
16 ECHO - December 2014
Judas? And are not all his sisters with us?
Where then did this man get all this?” And
they took offense at him. (Matthew 13: 55-
57a)
Psychologists say that knowing a vulnerable past
of a person makes him or her very manageable.
This past becomes the yardstick to show the
person their place. The label of the past will choke
them no matter how hard they will try to be
liberated from it. When we read verse 26 we find
that this man came down from Damascus, the
point of his transformation, to Jerusalem, to join
the disciples. The disciples too doubted him and
were afraid of him. They kept from him, a safe
one hand distance. They were like Nathaniel who
asked “Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? (John 1: 46) In my interactions in
one of the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, one
of the participants shared this insight “I have had
a sober life for last 8 years. But I am still
vulnerable for a relapse into addiction. The
greatest trouble or frustration that I have is how
people look at us. They keep condemning us.
Sometimes I feel it is better to be an alcoholic. At
least you are suffering for what you do. By
abstaining and trying very hard to lead a normal
life, people still hold us captive for not what we
are, but what we used to be."
Let me end this meditation with a real life story of
Henry Covington. I read about him in the
marvelous book called ‘Have a Little Faith’ by
Mitch Albom. Henry had a very terrible childhood
with violent neighbourhood, guns, street fights
and broken family to deal with. He slept every day
fearing rats. Slowly but surely his steps led him to
murky life realities. He started to be a drug dealer.
Made quick money. He felt guilty, quit it, married
his girlfriend. But when he saw his brother earn
big bucks he entered again into the world of
crime. He went to jail, had bouts of severe
addiction related problems. But time and again he
encountered Christ that was his rock and comfort.
Finally he gave his life to Jesus and turned into a
pastor. With his terrible background, there was
not much hope. But he started to target those who
had a terrible past like him. He wanted a church
for those where these so called scum bags would
feel at home. He therefore started a ministry
called “I am my Brother’s keeper”. He
distributed food for the homeless and gave them
clothes to wear and when all other pastors
shamed the people on streets for their drug
addiction, Henry Covington like the ‘Wounded
Healer’ would share his struggles to people like
Cass and Joe who had similar problems. He
opened up his church for the homeless. His
congregation was people from the streets. And
this is how he preached to them. “Brothers we are
all captives of our past. They just look at our past.
Even we too get stuck there. Therefore we miss
seeing the miracle God has done. What he can do.
There are people who know my past. There are
people who tell me ‘We know you, you can only
cheat people’. I say to them ‘You knew me. You
know that person back then. But you are not
seeing the person God is making me, who I am
trying to become.’ My dear brothers, God is bigger
than your past. You are not your past. God is
making a way in the desert, and streams by the
wayside.”
In Saul’s case there was Barnabas who dared to
look beyond the past of Saul and was ready to
embrace the new creation that God was unfolding.
Let us take a moment to thank people who stood
by us in our period of crisis. When people wrote
us off, there were Barnabases in our lives who
were able to see the people we were struggling to
become. I have many such Barnabases to thank.
They had every right to judge me and hold me
captive to my past, but out of grace and divine
love they were ready to give me a chance to
become a person that God intended. I am a
product of such small graces in life. I am sure it is
in midst of deep pain of loneliness that Paul
realized the love of Jesus and he declared
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new
creation has come: The old has gone, the new is
here!” 2 Corinthians 5: 17. My dear friends the
new creation is just waiting to happen. Embrace
it.
*Vicar at Bethel Mar Thoma Church, Kolar
Road, Bhopal
17 ECHO - December 2014
Missionary call
in the Mar Thoma
Church’s ‘Holy Qurbana
Liturgy’- Part 1
Revd Dr. Joseph Daniel, Kumbanadu
The role of the Holy Qurbana Liturgy is
fundamental in the understanding of the Mar
Thoma Church’s mission and witnessing. The
central understanding in the Holy Qurbana
liturgy of the Mar Thoma Church is that, a
communication of the mystery of Trinity and the
church’s commitment to the redemption of Christ
to the creation is materialising in the celebration
and participation of the Holy Qurbana Liturgy1 in
the church. Mission is in fact the church’s
response to the work of God. The celebration of
the Holy Qurbana service invites the faithful to
respond positively to the work of God through
their witness and service.
When the Mar Thoma Church adopted the
evangelical
mission
emphasis of
the Church
Missionary
Society (CMS)
in its mission
praxis level,
together with its liturgical emphasis during the
19th century, and of late, there has been a growing
concern among a small section of people to the
extent of mission emphasis being placed through
the church’s Holy Qurbana Liturgy. Therefore it is
important to see the inherent missionary
paradigm within the church’s Holy Qurbana
Liturgy to make the liturgical and missiological
paradigm of the church more relevant in its
mission and witness. In order to convey the
church’s theology of mission, it is essential to
delve into the liturgical paradigm of the church,
which provides the experiential knowledge about
the mystery of the Christian faith, through signs
1 Hereafter referred as “liturgy.”
and symbols to the faithful as well as invites them
for Christian witnessing in the world.
Holy Qurbana Liturgy’ and the Trinitarian
Theology of Mission
The Mar Thoma Church’s mission
paradigm is grounded in its liturgy 2 and the
missionary paradigm of the Church Missionary
Society (CMS). The liturgy of the church upholds
the Trinitarian theology of mission and the
missionary paradigm of the Church Missionary
Society (CMS) focuses the evangelical mission
paradigm of the western Christianity. The Mar
Thoma Church’s integration of the missionary
paradigm was twofold: integration of the oriental
liturgical and evangelical faith of the CMS as well
as the integration of the church and mission; this
was to create a church with a missionary zeal.3
The Mar Thoma Church’s vision has been a mix of
the “evangelical faith and experiences within the
framework of corporate life and liturgical
devotion of an Eastern Church”.4 Therefore, the
Mar Thoma Evangelistic Association (MTEA), the
missionary wing of the Mar Thoma Church had to
assert its independence to western missionary
societies and churches in thought and action.5 The
MT Church’s oriental liturgical basis led the
church to devote time for integrating first the
church’s sacramental life and missionary
consciousness in its teachings and in its
missionary praxis level. Since the scope of this
study is limited to the liturgical emphasis of the
missionary paradigm of the church, this study will
be focussing only on the missionary dimension in
the liturgy of the church.
2 The Mar Thoma Church uses the anaphora of St. James liturgy of the west Syrian liturgical tradition. 3 Joseph Daniel, Historic Praxis of Ecumenism in the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, Unpublished Ph. D Dissertation, University of Bern, 2014, 66. 4 Malabar Mar Thoma Syrian Evangelistic Association was a
registered organization under the Indian Companies Act VI, under the Travancore Regulation I, of .1882, in 1904. C.P. Mathew, M.M. Thomas, Indian Christians of Saint Thomas, op.cit., 98. 5 The main outcome of the evangelical awakening of the
eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries was the rise of modern missionary movements in Europe. Most of such missionary organizations including the CMS were voluntary societies independent of the church. These institutions considered themselves as separate institutions concerned with Christian missions in overseas.
18 ECHO - December 2014
The liturgy of the Mar Thoma Church
(revised St. James liturgy) emphasizes the fact
that God in His own self, a life of communion with
the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. It also affirms
that God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ, sending
forth of the Holy Spirit into the world, and the
foundation of the Church - forms the faith of the
Church. The mission of God, in this Trinitarian
revelation, aimed to draw the whole creation into
communion with the very life of God. The Holy
Qurbana Liturgy emphasizes the apostolic facet of
the church vividly in its prayers. The liturgy
invites the faithful to engage in the fullness of
Christ’s life and drawing the faithful into
Trinitarian mystery of salvation. Thus the
missionary dimension could be seen from the
framework of the Trinity and from the frame work
of the salvation of the creation in the liturgy. The
salvation of the creation is decreed by God and
revealed in Jesus Christ, who is the centre of
God’s mission to the creation. The mission of God
in the creation actualizes by the work of the Holy
Spirit.
The Trinitarian relationship presents the
norm for all relationships within the life of the
faithful in the church. The relationship pattern of
Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Holy Trinity is
in a ‘perechoresis’ (mutual indwelling) manner.
The Trinitarian basis, of the liturgy affirms that,
the church’s mission is an extension of God’s
mission, which is revealed in Christ’s mission by
the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Holy
Qurbana, the transmission of the life of
communion that exists in the Trinity, experiences
within the church. This enables the church to
continue God’s mission in the world. For
instance; in the last prayer of the preparatory
prayer of the liturgy, we are given to understand
the missionary task of the worshipping
community. The prayer says:- “O Lamb of God,
pure and spotless, who offered Himself to the
Father for the redemption of the whole world,
make us fit to offer to You as a living sacrifice,
pleasing to You and following Your sacrifice for
us.”6 This prayer affirms the missionary nature of
the church. It begins with the sending of Jesus
Christ, and continues by the work of the Holy
Spirit, through the work of apostles, prophets,
martyrs, the confessors, saints and through all the
children of the church, who have been signed with
the seal of baptism. 7 This reiterates the
missionary character of the church and the
responsibility of the every baptised is reaffirmed.
The encounter of the faithful with Christ at
the Holy Qurbana summons every partaker of the
communion to testimony and witness Trinitarian
mission revealed through Christ in the market
place. It is a challenge for the church to become a
living and life giving sign of the saving act of Jesus
Christ, supporting love of the father and the
sanctifying company of the Holy Spirit in the
church for the creation.
The Trinitarian dimension of the liturgy, is
thus practical and showing how the faithful
community of the church is to be in relation with
God and to their fellow beings. This twofold
dimensions of human relation to God and the
relation among the faithful are emphasised in the
liturgy. Thus the vertical relation of the faithful to
God and the horizontal relation of the faithful to
fellow beings are reaffirmed in the liturgy.
6 The Mar Thoma Church Order of Worship for Holy
Qurbana and Other Sacraments and Rites, 46. 7 Ibid., 59.
19 ECHO - December 2014
Becoming a Praying
Parent Mrs. Bibi Oommen, Marthoma Congregation
Germany
Parenting can be the most fulfilling, yet most
exhausting of all jobs. We try to do the best
we can raising our children. We try to provide
them with the best of every material thing
they require- food, clothing, shelter,
education… With equal priority, we must try
to provide them with the best opportunities
for healthy emotional and spiritual growth. At
every stage, our children need and with
greatly benefit from our prayers. Prayers for
our children are often focused on worldly
realms- for good health, good grades, good
talents, good job, good spouse etc. as per this
world’s standards. With equal priority, we
must pray for them to grow as good disciples
of our Lord and beloved sons and daughters
of our Father- which is indeed the purpose of
our existence and theirs.
One of the main things our children will take
with them when they leave our realm of
influence, is their faith. If we can be sure that
they have strong faith in God and His Word,
and the love of God in their hearts, then we
can be assured that in our absence their faith
will be strong enough to prevent them from
straying into wrong paths, but instead
strengthening them to face everyday
challenges in goodness and truth.
One of the greatest influences in our
children’s lives will be their friends. We must
be prompted to keep them in our prayers too.
May the Holy Spirit guide us into being the
parent and intercessor He wants us to be.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the gift of our children to
raise.
Thank you for the joy they bring into our
lives, making it more meaningful and worth
living.
Teach us to pray for our children and to help
them to become all You want them to
become.
Use them as instruments of worship.
Enable them to grow to know you, living
each moment of the day truly aware of your
love.
Let them live in submission to Your Holy
will.
May Your Holy Spirit enlighten their hearts
and minds to understand and live Your
Word in their daily lives.
Open their eyes to see Your goodness, Your
presence in all things,
Open their ears to hear your voice of
wisdom,
May their lips proclaim Your Word,
May their hands reach out to those in need,
And may their feet follow you in simplicity,
humility and fidelity.
Amen.
20 ECHO - December 2014
Biblical Understanding of
Communication
Rev. Jose Punamadam We now live in a global village. Ours is an era
of communication and computers. In this era of
Information Technology revolution,
communication plays a very important role in all
spheres of human activity. Communication is
essential for the development of the individual
and for the formation of faith and ideologies.
Communication is a reality of the world of living
beings; it is a sign of life. The need for
communication is a basic one for development.
According to one communication scholar, Dr.
Keval J Kumar: in the beginning was ‘Aum’ or the
‘word’ the first sound ever made or heard. In the
Indian tradition the word is sabdha Brahman, and
the divine word is communication.
Communication is very closely related to the life
and mission of the Church. As a social being,
human beings cannot exist without
communicating with one another.
Communication is the real stuff of life. According
to C.R.W. David, all forms of life on earth have
their own systems of communication by which
they preserve, promote, propagate and perpetuate
their species and culture. The stupendous
achievements of man in science and technology
would have been impossible without the most
essential tool, communication. It is a social
necessity. It is a natural and social demand and
requirement for existence.
Communication originates from the Latin word
‘communis’ which means common. It simply
means sharing, imparting, fellowship, giving and
taking. In other words, it is a process of
interaction. Communication is the process that
links discontinuous parts of living world to one
another. The word communication indicates
interaction by means of signs and symbols. Every
sign and symbol invites thoughts. So sign and
symbol is a medium for effective communication.
The symbols can be gestural, pictorial, verbal or
any other form which operates in our mind to
share something. In this respect communication
is sharing, which takes place through signs and
symbols. Communication is the art of
transmitting ideas and attitude from one person
to another. Communication thus means to have
something in common to share. Communication
is the dissemination of information from one
place to other. The physical expression of
communication is speech and the written
word. The particular word communication is
absent in the Bible. But on the other hand, whole
Bible is an account of God’s communication with
His created world. Bible is a clear document and
communication of God’s love, judgment and
mercy to His people. Therefore, communication is
an integral part of the Bible. The sacred scripture
is the divine communication expressed in human
language. Biblical concepts, such as logos -the
word, prophecy, incarnation, revelation, church,
the gospel and koinonia are expressions of
communication. In our day to day life situation,
communication means making common or
sharing something by two or more persons or
group of persons. Communication literally means
‘to make common’. It is sharing of information
and ideas in common.
In the Old Testament, we can see the
characteristics of God’s communication. The sign
or the indication or the phrase ‘word of Yahweh’ is
the most significant and predominant expression
for divine communication. In the Old Testament,
God reveals himself through words, deeds and
through His own special and unique ways. The
prophets and the law signify the everlasting
presence of God’s divine communication. The
Exodus event and the covenant symbolise God’s
revelation in the history of mankind. The content
21 ECHO - December 2014
of God’s communication lies in the revelation of
God himself. From the biblical understanding
God’s divine communication proceeds from the
divine initiative. The book of Genesis or the book
of beginnings opens by telling that God made the
earth and everything in it; in the beginning God
created the Heavens and the earth. The earth was
without order and form. In the midst of darkness,
God uttered the first word; which is considered as
the divine communication. Let there be light; and
there was light. (Gen 1:3) This is the first
communication of our creator God, which dispels
darkness. In the Old Testament we find that
Yahweh, the Lord God reveals himself in and
through the actions and mission of the prophets.
God transmitted His message through the
prophets. The transmission of message is called
communication. The words of the prophets were
preserved first orally and then in a written mode.
This oral and written communication was the
source of change, and it was the inspiration for
liberation. In the Old Testament; Yahweh has
revealed Himself through signs and symbols. The
hand of God was manifested in the scripture.
God’s voice was heard in this scripture and He
made known his ways to the prophets especially
to Moses and to the people of Israel. In this
respect, the Bible, the written word of God, is a
medium for God’s communication. Bible or the
scripture is the manifestation of God’s self-
communication. It has the power to speak to all of
us in a way we can understand.
In the Bible, revelation is a historical
ascertainable fact. In the history of the Bible, God
is infinitely superior to the thoughts and speech
and vision of human beings. The Old Testament
understanding of God’s revelation is through
dreams, omens, divination and other sign and
symbols like cloud, thunder, rain and fire(Lev19:
26, Deut18: 10,1Sam 15: 23). These signs and
symbols are considered as channels of God’s
revelation. Through these channels or media God
revealed Himself to His people. Communication
through these signs and symbols are considered
as divine revelation.
The Bible is a written document of God’s
communication. The Bible itself testifies that it is
the word of God. In the book of Exodus, we find
that God Himself commits the dialogue to write
on two tablets of stone. (Ex3: 6) Accordingly, the
word of God is God’s words and not man’s (2
Peter 1: 19-21). At the same time, it is a man’s
response to God’s initiation. God is the author of
the Bible, which means that the sacred scripture
contains the realities revealed by Him. All books
of the Bible are written through human agency
and in this medium of communication, both God
and human beings are in partnership. It is a
medium in which God communicates with the
humanity. Bible is a written word of God, or it is a
word of God in writing. We often read: ‘Thus says
the Lord’, which is an expression of God’s self-
communication in the history.
The Bible is commonly referred as the word of
God. It is always wrapped with the statements:
‘this is the word of God and thus says the Lord.’
The expression ‘thus says the Lord’ is God’s
communication through the life and testimony of
the Prophets. Bible is a clear document of God’s
intervention in different stages of human
development. God’s intervention is an inter and
intra-personal communication.
By speaking through the pages of the Bible, God
reveals His nature and His character. God speaks
directly to some privileged and elected individuals
and through them to His people and to all
nations. In the Bible, God speaks to the prophets,
who have the mission to communicate His word
throughout the history. God speaks through
visions and dreams (Num 12:6). From the first
page of the Bible, we can understand that God is a
God of communication or God is a
communicating God. His means and ways of
communication with nature and other human
beings are many and different. He speaks and acts
in the history in different ways. When we look
into the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the
medium and message of God’s communication.
The gospel says that in the beginning was the
word and the word were with God, and the word
was God. He was in the beginning with God. In
Him was life; and the life was the light of men (1
Jn 1:4). The essence of incarnation is to convey
God’s love towards humanity. It is a sign language
of God’s Love. Incarnation is the manifestation of
God’s love in action. Having manifested Himself
in creation and in History, God has finally
22 ECHO - December 2014
communicated, His love and concern through his
only son, the eternal and ever living word. In the
incarnation, Jesus Christ is the son of God, who
reveals the father. Incarnation is a divine
communication event which took place in a
defined and familiar human environment, history,
and culture.
CONCLUSION
From this study, we can understand that
God’s communication is an ever-continuing and
ever evolving process in the Bible, and it is a
fundamental need for all human beings. The
prophets and their words indicate the everlasting
presence of God’s divine communication. The
Prophets themselves, declared as the messengers
of God and they are understood as the medium
for communication. From the Biblical
understanding, God’s divine communication
proceeds from the Divine initiation. At the same
time, the communication of the Bible is founded
on historical revelation of God.. God reveals
directly to the prophets, priests and to the people
of God. After the study of biblical communication,
we realise that, the Bible is a written document of
God’s communication and it is also a historical
document of man’s response to God’s initiatives
from the beginning of time and beyond.
Incarnation is the manifestation of God’s love in
action. It is in the incarnation event we have the
God-given grace of realising ‘the word was God’
(Jn.1: 1).
History
Hermon Mar Thoma Church,
West Midlands Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas
In 1996, St John’s Mar Thoma Church, Hounslow
reached out to their members in the Midlands
area to organise an outreach service catering to all
those Mar Thomaites outside London extending
to the north of UK. The outreach service was
conducted in various areas like Bolton, Leeds,
Hull, Manchester and Birmingham.
In 1999, the Midlands region celebrated their
first Christmas carol service with both St John
and St James Churches along with different area
prayer groups. Due to its success, this became an
annual event. The Midlands region Christians
joined in to form a choir which tried to compete
with the established London choirs.
It was during this time in 2002, that an influx of
Diasporas came into UK. With the growing
number of highly skilled Migrant workers pouring
in from India as teachers, nurses and others, there
was a need to support and nurture the traditions
and cultures that they are accustomed to. As a
result, the Indian Church groups encouraged the
formation of relevant prayer groups, congregation
and parishes where the members are able to
continue to get the necessary spiritual strength
and support to live in this country without falling
prey to the perceived issues prevailing in this
foreign land. The Midland Prayer group was
formed in 2004 and then became a congregation
in 2006 under St Johns Church, Hounslow.
23 ECHO - December 2014
Many Mar Thoma Bishops, visiting clergies,
Church of England Bishops (Bishop of
Birmingham & Bishop of Aston), local politicians,
and Indian Consulate members attended the
services showing their support and recognising
the Mar Thoma community in the Midlands.
The Mar Thoma Church approved the formation
of the Hermon Mar Thoma Church in the West
Midlands that comprises of approximately 60
families in and around the Midland in April 2007.
The boundaries are Nottingham, Derby, Burton
on Trent, Coventry, Leicester, Warwickshire,
Redditch, Dudley, Walsall, Wolverhampton,
Stafford, Telford and Birmingham. There was
worship twice a month at the St James Hill
Church (the second and fourth Saturdays), with
Sunday school, & choir practise followed by a
fellowship at the Church hall.
From the start, Hermon Mar Thoma Church
shared pastoral care with Tabor Mar Thoma
Church, Manchester & Carmel Mar Thoma
Liverpool Churches. Later, since 2009, St Peter’s
Mar Thoma Church, London and Hermon Mar
Thoma Church, Midlands share the pastoral
services.
The Hermon Mar Thoma church got its charity
registration in 2010.
As time went by, families moved around; some
left the country to try pastures new. Now in 2014,
there are 50 registered members spread across
five area prayer groups. The various organisations
of the church now are up and running playing an
active part in the growth of the Parish. At present
worship service is at Christ Church, Ward End,
Birmingham.
There are approximately 30 Sunday school
children with a team of dedicated and trained
teachers. The youth wing is very active organising
activities and taking part in the main worship.
Sevikasangam plays an important role in creating
a platform for fellowship. Choir has now been
established leading the services and prayers.
Thus we are growing with aspirations that one day
we will be able to have an individual Vicar and a
Church building to call our own.
News & Reports
Family Conference-2014 A Synopsis of the Mar Thoma Family
Confernce-2014
Dr. D. Ninan*
The 32nd Mar Thoma family conference of the UK
and Europe was held during 29th to 31st August at
Yarnfield Park Training and Conference Centre. It
was, by the grace of God, a great success. God’s
guidance was felt by all during the yearlong
preparation for the conference. A group of
members of Tabore Mar Thoma Church,
Manchester, with different personalities and
points of views came together in prayer and set
the agenda for the smooth running of the
conference, which was indeed a great challenge
for a fairly young and growing parish.
The venue has been a surprise revelation to all–a
huge complex comprising of a large conference
hall, numerous meeting rooms, and thoroughly
modern living accommodation. All the
participants were impressed and appreciated
various facilities available to them. The logistic
committee did a fantastic job under the
leadership of Mr. Abraham George, the vice
president of the Tabore MTC. The inaugural
programme was meticulously anchored by Miss
Abraham Christy and Miss Rajie Rajan.
Revd Alexander Tharakan presented the theme of
the conference– ‘Christian family life in a
migrated context.’ His Grace Rt. Revd Dr.
Geevarghese Mar Theodosius delivered an
eloquent, solemn inaugural address. His Grace
then expanded the conference theme in some
considerable detail, drawing on the width of
knowledge and experience of churching the Mar
Thoma Diaspora.
The chief guests, His Grace Dr. Yuhanon Mar
Meletius, Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan of the
Diocese of Trichur, Kerala and His Excellency Mr.
Ranjan Mathai, High Commissioner of India, in
the UK enlightened the audience with their
emphasis on upholding our traditional Christian
family values and at the same time staying loyal to
24 ECHO - December 2014
the nationhood and ethos of our adopted country.
Theodosius Thirumeni then released the souvenir
of the conference, handing out copies to the chief
guests.
After the evening worship, Revd Jaisen Thomas,
from the United States did the theme exposition.
His humour, eloquence and Power point
presentation delighted the audience. Tabore MTC
choir presented few melodious hymns to the
delight and warm appreciation of the delegates,
setting the stage for a very harmonious inter
parish singing competition in which six parish
choirs participated. This was a fitting finale to the
opening day’s proceedings. The smooth running
and meticulous organisation of the first day’s
events were in no small measure to the sheer
dedication and hard work of Revd Sam John, our
previous vicar, Revd Alexander Tharakan, Mr.
T.O. Rajan (Parish secretary), and the conveners
(Mr. Agi George and Mr. Jiju Simon) and our
choir and youth leader, Mr. Subin Mathew.
The second day started with Yoga classes under
the personal supervision of Mr. Jiju Simon. After
the morning worship Revd Jose Punamadom took
the Bible study. This was followed by the second
part of the theme exposition by Revd Jaisen
Thomas. The key words of achen’s dissertation-
recognition, reorientation, and restoration- would
still be reverberating in Yarnfield conference hall.
Delegates then broke out into different groups for
discussion of two topics: 1) How can you work for
positive change in your relationship with your
spouse? 2) In what way can you initiate and
encourage further openness and communication
with your children?
Representatives from each grouped presented a
summary of their discussions at the general
assembly. A brief summary of the main points
discussed by various group is given below:
Answers to the first question:
Open communication; mutual respect; sharing
decision making process; time and space for
communication; choosing words carefully; set-
time for prayers; anger management; sharing
responsibility; avoiding criticisms as far as
possible; coming closer to God; making time for
each other; never assume something or anything;
non-verbal communication; show patience;
express love; share and care; give compliments;
show tolerance; supportiveness and know each
other’s needs.
Answers to the second question:
Maintaining intimacy and openness with
children; understanding children’s views;
involving and engaging children; do not be
tempted to compare one’s children with other’s
children; listening to children; parents’ prayerful
life should inspire children and maintain and
healthy emotional attachment.
Revd Jaisen Thomas in summing up talked about
the importance of couples going beyond the
general questions they usually ask each other. He
felt that they should share the personal
experiences of the day. Engaging in an activity
together would improve the relationship; so does
changing or reversing the role as parents and
partners. He also touched on ‘Tiger parenting’
(see, Amy Chua's (2011) book, Battle Hymn of the
Tiger Mother) as one of the biggest challenges of
the migrated community.
In the afternoon, Revd Canon Jules Gomes led the
theme exposition. He began by saying, ‘The Bible
begins with migration.’ He narrated the history of
the migration of the Israelites and also described
the fascinating role of art in the presentation of
the history of cultural and religious migration .He
quoted Jeremiah: ‘pray for the city where you live.
Turn exile into an opportunity.’ He advised the
Mar Thoma Diaspora to do the same.
The later-half of the afternoon was set apart for
out-door activities, sports and photo session.
Following evening worship, it was time for
testimonial led by Revd Dr. Thomas Philips.
These testimonials narrated their faith journeys
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and
glorified our living and loving God.
After dinner, it was time for some fund-raising
activities through auctioneering. Revd Jose
Punamadom kindly contributed one of his
beautiful paintings, which fetched a substantial
amount of money through the generosity of the
participants. This was followed by the finale of the
singing competition, which was won by the
Tabore MTC.
25 ECHO - December 2014
On Sunday, the final day of the conference began
with yoga classes. Holy Communion followed,
conducted by Theodosius Thirumeni. Revd
Thomas Philips conducted a Bible study and this
was followed by a final theme exposition by Revd
Jiasen Thomas.
After lunch, the conference got geared up for the
closing ceremony which included a felicitation
session, handover the conference organising
responsibility to St. Johns MTC, Hounslow for
next year’s family conference. Theodosius
Thirumeni highlighted the key points of the
conference theme. The final presentation by
children and the youth, conveying the conference
message captured the hearts and mind of
everyone. A new publication, ‘The Mar Thoma
ECHO’ in both e-format and print version was
released by Theodosius Thirumeni for the
fellowship and the spiritual awakening of the Mar
Thoma Diaspora community in Europe. A vote of
thanks was followed by prayer and benediction by
Theodosius Thirumeni. Thus the conference came
to a close.
* One of the conveners of the conference and the
senior member of the Tabore MTC.
First Communion: Hermon
Mar Thoma Church,
Midlands, UK
Giboy George, Secretary
The Mumbai Diocesan Episcopa Rt. Rev. Dr
Thomas Mar Theethos blessed Hermon MTC,
Birmingham with his visit on 25th October 2014.
Thirumeni led the Holy Communion service at
Christ Church, Birmingham in which Revd
Mathew P, Vicar of St James MTC, Central
London and our Vicar Rev’d Vinoj Varghese
assisted Thirumeni for the service.
Thirumeni gave an inspirational sermon during
the Holy Communion service in which His
Lordship emphasised the importance of partaking
in the Holy Communion service. Thirumeni
mentioned that if we as individuals, take the body
and blood of Christ, it will not only affect us but
all those around us as well. In addition he said the
phrase, ‘you are what you eat,’ which in turn
relates to how if we eat the body and blood of
Christ, we become more Christ-like: perhaps not
physically but spiritually. He also explained that
as we are taking the Holy Communion through
our mouth, we need to keep our mouth and body
clean by saying good words and being kind to one
another.
Eleven children of Hermon Parish and two
children from Harrow Sinai Parish received their
first Holy Communion and thereby entered into
the full fellowship of the Marthoma Church.
Thirumeni also enjoyed the fellowship meal
arranged after the service. About 200 members
participated in the Holy Qurbana. As a Parish, we
were honoured and blessed by His Lordship.
26 ECHO - December 2014
First Communion and
Confirmation: A Historical
Ecumenical event in London
The members of the St. Georges Anglican Parish
in north Harrow and Sinai MTC, north London
came together on Sunday 26th October, 2014, to
give glory to God through a joint Holy
Communion service using Mar Thoma liturgy.
This was a very significant historical event in the
intercommunion relationship with the Church of
England, which started in 1936 and solidified
through various stages over the last 78 years. This
service is a milestone event because three children
from the Anglican parish of St. Georges came
forward for the confirmation and the first
communion with 16 children of the Mar Thoma
Church. The vicar of the St. George’s parish,
Father Stephen Keeble, and the vicar of the Sinai
Mar Thoma Church, Revd Dr. Thomas Philips,
should be congratulated and thanked for their
prophetic vision and leadership.
Rt. Revd Dr. Thomas Mar Theethos of the
Mumbai Mar Thoma Diocese confirmed the
children, gave them their first communion, and
blessed them. This happened because of the
ecumenical understanding of our Metropolitan,
Diocesan bishop, Rt. Revd. Geevarghese Mar
Theodosius, Bishop of London, area bishop of
Willesden, church wardens and the executive
committee of two parishes. It was a God-given
opportunity to welcome Bishop Theethos to North
London to mark such a milestone in the faith
journey of the young people of both parishes
taking Communion for the first time, to be
confirmed and to celebrate our sharing of the
Gospel across denominational, national and
cultural boundaries. Over 400 people participated
in the service, choirs of both parishes contributed
to the beauty and serenity of the service under the
leadership of the organist, Mr. Huw Jones. We
look forward for more such fellowship and
worship services through the grace of God.
Our fear of death is a measure of our
understanding of life. Less you fear
death, the more you possess freedom,
tranquillity and understanding of the
greatness of your spirit and the joy of
life. The understanding of eternity is
part of the nature of the human soul."
- Leo Tolstoy
27 ECHO - December 2014
Carol Services
St. Peter's MTC, East London
Date & Time
21/12/2014 from 3.00 pm
Address:
St. Luke's Church
Baxter Road. Illford
Essex- IG1 2HN
St John’s MTC, Hounslow
Date & Time
13/12/2014 from 3: 00 pm
Address:
80/96 Cambridge Road,
Hounslow,
Middlesex - TW4 7BH,
Hermon MTC, Midlands
Date & Time
20/12/2014 from 3:00 pm
Address:
Christ Church,
Burney Lane,
Ward End,
Birmingham - B8 2AS
St James MTC, London
Date & Time
14/12/2014 from 4: 00 pm
Address:
St Katherine Cree
86 Leadenhall Street
London - EC3A 3DH
Tabore MTC, Manchester
Date & Time
21/12/2014 from 3: 00 pm
Address:
The Holy Innocent Church
Wilbraham Road
Manchester- M14 6JZ
Nazareth MTC, Dublin
Date & Time
20/12/2014 from 5: 00 pm
Address:
St Maelruain's Church
Main Street,
Tallaght, Dublin 24
Sinai MTC, North London
Date & Time
07/12/2014 from 5.00 pm
Address:
St. George's Church
Headstone, Pinner View,
Harrow- HA1 4RJ
All Saints MTC, Peterborough
Date & Time
06/12/2014 from 5.00 pm
Address:
St. Jude's Church,
Atherstone Avenue,
Netherton, Peterborough
Carmel MTC, Liverpool
Date & Time
20/12/2014 from 5.00 pm
Address:
All Saint’s Church,
Irvine Street.
Liverpool- L78TT
St Thomas MTC, Bristol
Date & Time
20/12/2014 from 5.00 pm
Address:
St Anne's Church,
Eastville, Bristol - BS5 6JN
28 ECHO - December 2014
ECHO Garden
‘Demons’
Vivek Zachariah Samuel, St. Johns MTC,
Hounslow
The subject of “demons” are rarely discussed as a
serious topic so here is an opportunity to explore
this further.
Demons are often referred to as "fallen angels," or
"Satan's angels."
Satan was the very highest angel, but made the
mistake of rebelling against God and was cast out
of heaven, (Is. 14:12-15). The evil angels who
followed Satan were also cast out.
These evil beings represent the very depths of evil,
including hatred, bitterness and perversions.
Though often an expression of sinful flesh, they
can also express their presence in the lives of
people. Their purpose is to torment and harass
people, leading them away from God and His
truth. The Bible gives the following example:
"...This man lived in the tombs, and no one could
bind him any more, not even with a chain. For he
had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore
the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet.
No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night
and day among the tombs and in the hills he
would cry out and cut himself with stones" (Mark
5:2-5).
Just as there are archangels in God's kingdom
with higher powers, there are ‘principalities and
powers’ that rule over Satan's angels. There is
constant conflict, and battles between Satan's
‘principalities and powers’ and God's loyal angels.
We are told that our prayers offer a restraint
against their evil activity by summoning the
intervening presence of God (Dan 10:12-13).
Possession is not the same as being influenced or
attacked by Demons. To be "possessed," means to
be indwelled by, and under their complete
control. However, they regularly attack and
attempt to trouble and influence man’s behaviour,
even God's people. Christians must guard
themselves not only against the sin of the flesh,
but also their influence. These evil spirits can
influence and intensify the works of the flesh. This
must be recognized and stood against before one
can die to the flesh and walk in the Spirit.
However, we as Christian’s need not fear Satan or
his fallen angels. We are told "...the one who is in
you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1
John 4:4). We need to believe and allow this
promise to guide our walk with Jesus and be a
living testimony for Jesus.
29 ECHO - December 2014
Mother Teresa – A role model
to us all
Dia Miriam Samuel, St. John’s Church MTC,
Hounslow
In the Oxford dictionary the meaning of the words
role model is, a person looked up to by others.
The purpose of this short article is to show you
the deeper meaning of Mother Teresa as a role
model to all of us.
Many of us know that she is a remembered as a
Christian saint, who has changed many people’s
lives by setting up different organisations.
However, more importantly there is a deeper
meaning to her life and the things we can learn
from her.
Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa) was
born in Albania in 1910 and left her family at the
age of 17. She first travelled to Ireland and then 6
weeks later to India to be a teacher. For 19 years
she taught at a convent school. Then, one day she
had a message from God ordering her to leave the
convent and to give her life to the poor. She
planned to create a home for the dying in a Hindu
temple but that didn’t work out due to the fact
that they threw stones at her. Soon after, she
performed an ancient Hindu rite, which was
sprinkling water from the River Ganges on the
lips of a dying man. Ever since then, thousands of
people have been cared for at her centre in
Calcutta.
When I was in primary school, I had to write a
letter, wanting to be school representative. The
teachers gave us points and one of them was how
I can be a role model to the younger children.
That’s when I thought about Mother Teresa. Out
of all the famous people in the world she was the
only person that came to my mind as someone
that I enjoy looking up to.
The main thing that challenged me was that she
heard a message from God and she obeyed.
People threw rocks at her but she still listened to
God. A big lesson from this is that in all situations
we should make the right choices. If we don’t
what happened to Adam and Eve will happen to
us!
Mother Teresa has won many distinguished prizes
such as the Nobel Peace Prize, Padma Shri,
Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International
Understanding, Pope John XXII Peace Prize,
Albert Schweitzer International Prize, Golden
Honour of the Nation and many more shows that
even the smallest things you do in this world
could have the biggest impact on the future.
The main reason why she is a role model is we can
relate her to Jesus. God changed people’s lives
around, he helped people and so did Mother
Teresa. The fact that we can compare her to Jesus
shows that we can all aspire to be like her and that
is why she is a role model to us all.
"Just as one candle lights another and can
light thousands of others, so one heart
illuminates another heart and can illuminate
thousands of others." - Leo Tolstoy
30 ECHO - December 2014
Photo Gallery
First Communion at London
First Communion at Hermon Mar Thoma Church
31 ECHO - December 2014
ECHO Printed copy release by Metropolitan
ECHO online copy release by Diocesan Bishop &
ECHO team
32 ECHO - December 2014
Parish retreat of the Hermon MTC, Midlands.
Love, joy, peace, presents and
carols are essentials for a wonderful
Christmas. We hope that you find
them at this Christmas. May the
New Year open many great
opportunities for all of you.
– The Editorial Board
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