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FOCUS January 2018 Vol. 6 No: 1
Pearls of Wisdom, Fr. Thomas Punnapadam, SDB, Bangalore - Page 17 Cover Photo: Transformation and Liberation (Source Internet)
A Publication of Diaspora FOCUS
From Preservation to Fulfillment, Rev. Dr. Valson Thampu, Trivandrum - Page 18
Editorial, Transformation and Liberation, Rev. Dr. Valson Thampu, Trivandrum - Page 3
Crisis: Reconciliation, Transformation and Liberation, Dr. Zac Varghese, London - Page 22 Self Transformation and Communion, Fr. Thomas Punnapadam, SDB, Bangalore - Page 7
Transformation & Liberation – What it means and How to Achieve? Dr. P. V. Cherian, Chicago-Page 10
Evolution as for Grounding HospitalityInterfaith Interrogations, Rev. Baiju Markose, Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago – Page 12
Ministering to the Transgender Persons, Rt. Rev. Dr. Geevarghese Mar Theodosius, Rev. Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam - Page 25
Urslem Yaatra Vivranam: An Alternate Reading, Rev. Dr. Valson Thampu, Trivandrum– Page 27
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EDITORIAL TRANSFORMATION-LIBERATION First, a word by way of clarification. I shall use, for purposes of this editorial reflection, the two words of which the title is compounded as mutually integrated and inseparable. To give this preference a linguistic base, I hyphenate the words. So, it will be “transformationliberation” as a compound word and not ‘transformation’ and ‘liberation’ as two words denoting two states or compartments. No one can be transformed and not be liberated, in the true sense of the word; and no one, likewise, can be liberated and not be transformed. Liberation that falls short of transformation proffers an illusion of freedom, or a cosmetic version of unfreedom.
pre-condition for, not the after effect of, liberation leading to transformation. Jesus came to set the captives free (Lk.4: 18). Freedom is fundamental to being human. In the biblical worldview, death is a cessation of freedom. When the ‘lost son’ returns, the father celebrates, ‘the son who was dead’. (Lk. 15:24). What died was not his body, but his freedom. How free can you be amidst a herd of swine and people no better living as they do? It is a question that should thunder in the hollow vaults of contemporary existence, when all are presumably free and do not know how to endure, much less employ, their freedom! What else, do you think, does this pandemic of mounting suicides point to? Now a word about ‘transformation’. The root of this word is ‘form’. Form is understood in two different ways: (a) as shape, as in water assuming the form of the glass that holds it and (b) a shaping principle, as in Greek philosophy. Forms of life come into being when ‘form’ penetrates matter. It is reasonable to interpret the biblical instance of God breathing ‘into” Adam as an instance of ‘form’ as life-kindling penetration quickening life in the medium of matter. ‘Form’ is the active principle; whereas ‘matter’ is passive. It is analogous to the interplay of ‘purusha’ (the active) and ‘prakriti’ (passive) in the Indian spiritual worldview or the complementarity between ‘yin and yang’ in Taoism, where yang is the active principle. Similar is the Hellenic view that creativity results from an integration of the Apollonian (Apollo-the god of light) and the Dionysian (Dionysus- the god of darkness); again, the interplay of the active and the passive principles. Irrespective of differing terminologies, the common core in these patterns is a ‘relationship’ between contraries. (They are ‘contraries’ only so long as they are apart from each other.) From what we have seen so far, we can identify ‘relationship’ as the core of life, and its shaping principles of ‘transformation’ and ‘freedom’. Freedom is thus a capacity mediated through ‘relationship’. So, it makes sense that ‘love’ is the essence of freedom. Fullness of love casts our fear (1 Jn.4:18). Fear signals the decline of freedom and the erosion of wholeness. All fears are born of disrelationships. To be not in the right relationship is to fear the object -person, situation, agency- concerned. Fear, like love, is a way of relating. It is a mode of relating that deforms and degrades.
Second, to me the primary concept is ‘freedom’. I insist on this because I deem freedom to be central to the vision of Jesus Christ. Jesus calls people to himself so that they may be free indeed (Jn.8: 36). Those who attain this freedom are transformed. So, St. Paul is to the point when he says, “He who is in Christ Jesus is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). Being in Christ (Jn. 15:4) is the
This is writ large in contemporary history. Even as love wanes, fear waxes and becomes the principle on which existence is erected. Consequently, everything is distorted. Neighbour seems an enemy; a talent, an insult; a home, a prison, and the Savior, an enemy of God. In his classic work, Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville observes that the irreverence to authority we
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have cultivated has enthroned fear in the public domain. The antonym of reverence is not irreverence, but fear. Fear, says Tocqueville, now exacts trophies greater than what was accorded by reverence and love. Freedom becomes a menace when vitiated by fear. This much we know: God-created state for humankind is founded on love. All man-made systems are driven by power. Power breeds fear. Adoption of power as the shaping principle implies an implicit rejection of love. Culture is a sphere of organized loveless-ness. This needs to be stated as bluntly as I have; for it is basic to our argument. The biblical worldview is ‘holistic’. That is to say, when constituent parts of an organism are separated from the whole, or each other, all parts suffer deformation. If a stone is broken into ten pieces, they remain stones, though each smaller in size. But if a limb is severed from a body, both are deformed and their freedom imperiled. They become death-oriented. Spirituality is a redemptive response to the death-orientation that distorts and deforms the human. De-formation is the paradigmatic human malady. It is also the seed of human freedom in practice. St. Paul brings ‘liberation’ and ‘transformation’ together in that haunting passage in his letter to the Romans, where he speaks of the paralysis of will in which the tyranny of the ‘death-principle’ is at work in him (Romans 7: 14-8:1). If we read this text side-by-side with 2 Corinthians 5: 17, we get a fuller view of his understanding of the liberativetransformative. The only counter-principle that can liberate him from thralldom to this ‘principle of death’ is becoming a new creation through Christ. “Being in Christ” (Jn. 15:4) is a liberating-transforming relationship. It is the redeemer and transformer of all relationships. This is the point made poignantly through Jesus’ interaction with the woman of Samaria (Jn.4). She is a classic case study in the deformation of relationships. She has had five husbands already. The present involvement -a quicksand, really, of a fragile live-in arrangement- has no chance of growing into a relationship. With each serial experiment her freedom to be in relationship shrinks. She gets progressively deformed. Nothing will change, and the sordid drama will repeat itself, so long as she is not liberated from her spiritual incapacity for relating in the freedom of love. It goes without saying that she also needs to find a man who is free to relate as two children of God. The alternative is to be fixed in an unending thirst that kills in the very process of being quenched. What, then, is freedom? The freedom that breaks open the tomb of deformation and sets free the captives trapped in the dungeon of emptiness?
Jesus gives us a valuable insight through the parable of the lamp. It needs to be lighted and placed on the lampstand; not hidden under a bushel (Mtt. 5: 14-16). Here, again, what is decisive is the manner of relating. How should the lamp relate to the world around? By hiding itself under a bushel? Or, by being on a lampstand? Even a lamp cannot be free, free to be itself, if it is not in a right relationship. Lamp that remains under the bushel is a notional lamp, or a lamp that was. The transformation that the ‘lost son’ in the parable needs is a restoration to his father (Lk15:11-32). Here too the pivot is a relationship. Zacchaeus needed to be reconciled to his fellow human beings (Lk.19:1-12). Till he met with Jesus and re-located his being from Mammon to God, he could not relate even to his own home! By the way, do not gloss over the silences of biblical texts! Why do you think, we are told nothing about Zacchaeus’ home? It didn’t exist for him. He was, vis-à-vis his home, a lamp under a mountain of silver. Jesus enters the house to set the lamp on the lamp stand and to make it glow. Zacchaeus begins to have a home at home. We shall be fooling ourselves if we assume that this is an extreme case that does not commonly apply. In Aristotelian thought, there are four aspects basic to the exercise of freedom: the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, the character to choose the good in preference over the evil, the strength of will to do the good chosen and, finally, the existence of a society in which what is so chosen can be practiced without let or hindrance. Virtue is, thus, recognized as the key to freedom. Only a ‘good man’ can be happy and free. Virtue is a matter, in Aristotle, of practising the doctrine of the mean that prescribes the avoidance of ‘excess’ and ‘defect’; or extreme options in every situation. Vis-a-vis money, for example, the extremes are miserliness and prodigality. The mean between them is liberality. One who is liberal is a free agent of action in respect of money. The Judeo-Christian tradition is a bit skeptical -or, historically realistic, if you like- about putting the whole load of liberty on the fragile shoulders of the individual. It recognizes the flawed will that the individual is handicapped with. This is the issue that Paul agonizes over in his letter to the Romans. He recognizes the right from the wrong. But that does not help him. He does the evil he despises, and fails to do the right he wishes to do. The problem is with his will, not with the inadequacy of his knowledge. To see this miserable predicament in perspective we must invoke the benchmark of pure freedom, with which the biblical account begins. God says, “Let there be” and there is! (Genesis 1). (In Paul’s case, he says, “let there be light” and there is, by his own admission, darkness!). To put it in philosophic categories, there is perfect oneness
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between will and desire in the case of God. What he desires, he wills; and what he wills, he desires. That is the essence of perfect freedom. Human freedom gets progressively reduced and paralyzed in proportion to the alienation of will from desire. The rupture between the two in politics is slavery and in nature, death. The symbol of light is used in the Bible as the objective correlative for perfect freedom: the freedom found in God. Jesus as the light of the world is an embodiment of pure freedom. Our exalted calling is to incarnate that freedom in this world, which is organized on un-freedom. I cannot refrain from recalling Pharaoh in this context. He is a classic case -which is the irony on which the book of Exodus is structured- of unfreedom. He is a king, by title. But in himself he is a slave, whose will is so paralyzed that he cannot stick to the decisions he takes; in this instance, to let the Jews go free. This is not unlike our own predicament, though there are differences in scale. Think of the ‘new year resolutions’ we have made and how long we maintained them! Or, consider that symbolic event placed so early in biblical history -the Tower of Babel. The intention is laudable: to create a towering emblem of ethnic unity. The outcome? The engineers of human unity end up scattered on the face of the earth. The Unity Project belches confused disunity. “Between the intention and the effect,” writes T. S. Eliot, “falls the shadow”. That ‘shadow’ is cast from the paralyzed will of man, which is a measure, as Marx would say, of his self-alienation. Now a word about God coming down and confusing the language of the builders of Babel. As Spinoza argued, it a familiar Hebraic pattern to attribute to God causes man cannot understand in the given context. Is God an enemy of human unity? Isn’t disunity the outcome of the disrelationship within every member of the human species that infects all of human projects? We are, if anything, a shade worse than the Jews in explaining situations in this fashion. If we succeed, it is because of our merit. If our foolishness backfires on us, “God, why have you done this to me?” The Christological doctrine of transformation needs to be considered against this background. Whereas Greek thought attributed human affinity to evil to ignorance, the Bible sees it as issuing from a deep, humanly ineradicable flaw in human nature. So long as this flaw remains, our species -individuals and collectivities alike- are incapable of freedom. We covet and kill freedom at the same time. Or, as St. Augustine says in City of God, we preach peace and prepare for war simultaneously. Jesus came to set the captives free. He was opposed and killed for that very reason, by those who thought he jeopardized their freedom, such as it was. So, prophets
are unwelcome and witnesses to truth -Stephen, a case in point- martyred. Given this logic, Jesus knew right at the outset of his ministry that the shadow of death was upon him. “The Son of Man,” he said, “has come to die.” (Lk.9:22) The preceding discussion was aimed at attaining an approximate idea of what ‘transformation’ involves and purports to. One way to understand the logic and scope of transformation is to see it as ‘reconciliation’; reconciliation of will and desire. In the transformed state which, according to Paul, is attainable through Jesus and only through him- the good willed, will also be the good done. Human beings won’t be crippled by the internal schism between will and desire. They become, as Jesus said, the light! Greek philosophical vision called this state one of “perfected self-mastery”. The Bible names it the transformed life. The change involved is so radical that it is tantamount to becoming altogether a new creation. Jesus refers to this, in his conversation with Nicodemus (Jn. 3) as being ‘born again’. The problem inherent in the first birth -birth in flesh and blood- is that it is flawed in the sense in which we have examined above. In being born again, the individual attains a reconciliation of will and desire. He becomes ‘whole’; instead of staying as an assortment of parts, each working at cross-purposes with the rest. This brings about a change that cannot be explained by cause and effect as ordinarily understood. Yet, even the phenomenal world provides for a transcendence of cause-effect determinism. It was to come to grips with this reality that Hegel evolved the idea of holism. When two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen combine to form a molecule of water, a change happens; but it is a change to the order of transformation. The ‘emergent potencies’ function on a different level and meet a different purpose. In water, the singularities and potencies of hydrogen and oxygen are reconciled to create an order of possibilities that not only quenches thirst, but also keeps the world clean, nature bright, and steam engines thundering away, shooting a tremor up your spine. The doctrine of transformation faces two formidable hindrances today. We can do no more than list them. The first is modern scepticism. We, the inheritors of European Enlightenment -with its baggage of scientificsecular-materialism and the dialectical materialism- find it hard to believe that changes of a transformative scope can happen. We can accept a moving to B on the application of sufficient force; but we cannot reckon a shifting to another orbit beyond the width of the alphabet. No one is at fault. The system of thought and imagination
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we have created is too small to accommodate such possibilities. So, we feel insecure in the face of such possibilities. It is like the story in Aesop’s Fables. If the gallows is too small for the convict, hang one small enough, instead. The height of the gallows cannot change. Our systems are too small for God. As Alexis de Tocqueville, the foremost French political philosopher of the 19th century, wrote with unmatched common sense, “I am unacquainted with His (God’s) designs, but I shall not cease to believe in them because I cannot fathom them, and I had rather mistrust my own capacity than His justice”. Scepticism about transformation presumption of human omniscience. therefore, it exists not.”
issues from “I know it not;
The second hindrance is Christian cultism that passes for charismatism, which endorses transformation but vulgarizes it. Transformation is turned into a magical thing. You give your heart to Jesus Christ one day, and live happily ever after. There is no need to grow. No responsibility to handle. No struggle. You live the rest of your life in a privileged existential incubator, sealed off from the realities of the world; like Peter saying to Jesus on the Mountain of Transfiguration, “Lord, let us stay here….” No! Transformation is ‘second birth’. All births are an inauguration of growth. To not grow after one’s spiritual birth is even more pathetic than to stay a cretinized midget since physical birth. When we commit our lives to Jesus, we are brought to a new beginning, and not to a finishing line! The teachings of Jesus are all about our growing up in spirit and in truth. It is about multiplying the talents entrusted to us. It is about living fruitfully. It is about abundant life, and not about cosmic indulgence! In the first birth, earthly parents are the medium. In the second, Jesus takes their place. Our growth thereafter is between him and us. But this growth has a reference to the world that God created out of love. Escapism -which is a serious form of deformation- has no place in biblical spirituality, which is a mandate to transform persons and societies in partnership with Jesus Christ. To Jesus, freedom is the seed of growth. That is why transformation cannot bypass the problematics of freedom. Hence it is that we hyphenated the two words. They are as inseparable as light is from the fire that emits it, or fragrance from the flower that perfumes your garden. Well, we are approaching another year. Will 2018 be a year of transformation-liberation for us? Do we believe that God can intervene vertically into time and transform realities on its horizontal axis? We are free to disbelieve
and discount this possibility as belonging to old wives’ tales. And to remain under the merciless determinism of material cause-and-effect, and stay entrapped in the misery and paralysis it entails. But that would be a perilous abuse of freedom. Freedom, as redeemed by Jesus, becomes the freedom to choose life, not death. As Moses tells the people he led for forty years to within sight of the Promised Land, “This day I place before you the way of life and the way of death. Choose life!” Let us resolve. How we use our God-given freedom shall be the shaping concern for us in 2018. Are we fit for freedom? Is there a way other than Jesus to enduring freedom? And does Jesus offer an easy way to freedom, bypassing the painful process of growing into life in all its fullness? I do not, customarily wish people on New Year eve. Not because I do not want everyone to have a great year, but because I know that nothing can happen to anyone without one’s own earnest longing and self-effacing participation in the run-up to the desired blessing or breakthrough. Miracles sprout in the run-up. Thereafter the causation of the Kingdom takes over. It is pure logic all the way! In that sense I wish the diasporic FOUS fraternity a blessed 2018. We enter into another year through the freedom immanent in time; or, so it seems. We lead a transformed life through the freedom granted by the Light of the World: The Word become flesh. Rev. Dr. Valson Thampu, Trivandrum Member, Editorial Board
http://www.issuu.com/diasporafocus http://www.scribd.com/diasporafocus Disclaimer: Diaspora FOCUS is a non-profit organization registered in United States, originally formed in late Nineties in London for the Diaspora Marthomites. Now it is an independent lay-movement of the Diaspora laity of the Syrian Christians; and as such Focus is not an official publication of any denominations. It is an ecumenical journal to focus attention more sharply on issues to help churches and other faith communities to examine their own commitment to loving their neighbors and God, justice, and peace Opinions expressed in any article or statements are of the individuals and are not to be deemed as an endorsement of the view expressed therein by Diaspora FOCUS. Thanks.
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SELF-TRANSFORMATION AND COMMUNION Fr. Thomas Punnapadam, SDB, Bangalore The story is told of a young doctor who was assigned to a ward for mental patients. He was totally committed to the care of patients and spared no efforts to assist them. One day one of them confessed that they too really loved him. When asked the reason they chorused: you are just like one of us.
to a set of dogmatic pronouncements; nor is it a human achievement. It is becoming ever more deeply of the existential reality of the human person in relation to God and leading to unconditional trust in God. Salvation is never a reward for moral behaviour and performance of rituals.
On the 500th anniversary of the ninety-five theses that sparked off the so-called reformation among the followers of Christ and the consequent birth of the protestant churches, all Christians are challenged to take another step on the path of Christian unity for which Jesus Christ prayed at the Last Supper: Holy Father, keep in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one (Jn 17/11b; also v 22). Martin Luther sought a reformation of the church, an honest and fraternal academic disputation on the theses on indulgences and not a division among the followers of Jesus Christ.
As Luther reminded us, the primacy of grace, cannot be diluted. Religion primarily is not a system of beliefs but a way of life, which primarily creates an attitude of repentance, an acknowledgement that one needs to change. The very first demand of Jesus is, the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel (Mk 1/15). It is noteworthy that in the first of his ninety-five theses Martin Luther emphasises this: “When Our Lord and master, Jesus Christ said Repent, he called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance”. So the supreme criterion of authentic Christian life is the humble acknowledgement that repentance and conversion are absolute necessities not just at the beginning of one’s faith journey but every moment of one’s life.
The council of Trent was indeed reformative and brought in many changes in Roman Catholic theology following Luther’s line of thought. It was probably the prevalent circumstances of mutual hostility and antagonism that brought about a definitive division. This spirit of hostility prevailed until a few decades ago. The year 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the comprehensive dialogue between churches, particularly Roman Catholics and Lutherans. The clarion call to lay aside prejudice and mistrust must be heeded to not only by church authorities and acclaimed theological thinkers, but by every authentic follower of Jesus Christ. As Pope John XXIII reminded us decades ago, the things that unite us are greater than those that divide us. And as a joint declaration of Lutherans and Catholics acknowledges, Martin Luther is a witness to Jesus Christ. The unity envisioned by Christ is essentially a unity of mind and heart and soul, a unity patterned on, and nourished by the unity of the Father and the Son. This unity is far more an inner reality than an external one, it is a unity of hearts rather than of minds. It is a journey toward communion springing from the premise that there is far more that already unites us than what differentiates the followers of Jesus Christ. This awareness is not primarily an intellectual one as an emotional one, an individual and personal one rather than an institutional one. One can be graced with this enlightenment only to the extent one undertakes the personal inward journey of self-transformation. It is beyond doubt that it is faith that justifies, just as our father Abraham was justified because he believed (Rom 4/3). Genuine and profound faith is not intellectual assent
A little reflection brings home to us that today in the world at large, including the religious domain; there is so much attention directed to the external, tangible doctrinal level and not sufficient attention to the psychological and spiritual domain. It is often forgotten that our external behaviours and actions are immensely coloured by our mind set, often so very prejudiced, judgemental, and negative. So unless there is deep inner personal transformation in individuals, no change in externals can even be dreamt of. In the field of Christian ecumenism, it would not be an exaggeration to aver that often there is an unconscious Pharisaism in many of us. Each one of us individually and collectively lives on the premise that we are right and the others are wrong. More than genuine dialogue each one hopes for a conversion of the other. Unless each one is open to the need for change in oneself, there can be no genuine dialogue. Often the prejudice, superiority complex and even Pharisaism may be unconscious or too deep-seated to be noticed. As a Roman Catholic I am aware that we use the term ‘separated brethren’ to refer to other Christian denominations. The pharisaic presumptions in the term are too evident to be ignored. We are ever more anxious about the pollution of our environment, which will eventually destroy the earth. We are commendably conscious about cleanliness of the body, necessary and praiseworthy no doubt. Nevertheless, unless the mind and soul are purified, no
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one can ever hope to fully purify words and actions, behaviours and institutions. Jesus himself warns us that, not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man….,. but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man (Mt 15/11, 18-20a).
individual daily self-transformation one experiences and manifests in one’s life-style. As wells and lakes, streams and rivers all contain water, so do all believers possess some dimension of ultimate truth. For Jesus of the Gospels, the greatest sin is pharisaism. One of his strongest warnings is: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves (Mt 23/ 13,13). The primary focus of change and transformation is inevitable one’s own individual self and the community one joyfully belongs to. It cannot be denied that often there is a holier-than-thou attitude in us individually and collectively. If each one of us, as also our communities, makes a daily, honest, persevering effort to be more and more Christ-like, there will be far greater unity among all the followers of Christ. As the common sense knowledge assures us the closer one is to the centre, the closer one is to the other. So the only way, the surest way, the quickest way, to come closer to one another is to come closer to Christ, become Christ-like through inner self-liberating freedom from all prejudices and rash judgements about the other individuals and communities. As Pope Francis has enlightened us in his well-known Apostolic Exhortation, Joy of the Gospel, the Church does not grow by proselytising but by attracting new members.
Mahatma Gandhi, the mystic politician and honoured as the Father of the nation, is rightly acknowledged as one of the greatest leaders in obtaining political independence for India. Unfortunately, his profound warning is far too often forgotten. He often reiterated that when the British rulers leave India Indians would win swathantra not swaraj. Political freedom and democratic governance is to be clearly distinguished from the inner freedom of all that binds us from within, genuine self-rule, liberation from all that binds us within. The core of religion is not a set of intellectual concepts or formulations of dogma, but a basic attitude of profound devotion to the divine and a consequent/resultant feeling of ineffable oneness with all human beings in and through the Supreme Being. Religious truth is not primarily theoretical in nature, pertaining to intellectual assent but a lived, noble truth that transforms one’s life and societal structures. Rather than focus on theoretical formulation of religious truths, we are invited to focus on channelling all these resources to fight the common enemies of all religions like faith-crisis, value-crisis, secularism, fundamentalism and consumerism. The authenticity of religion is evidenced by the depth of
The profound purpose of genuine dialogue is not to change the others but simply to encounter the other to know and love the other. In a genuine encounter, difference is recognised as a gift, not resisted as a threat. Authentic and fruitful dialogue implies facing the challenges of truth in genuine love. Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ (Eph 4/15). This is the challenge of truth to humbly acknowledge that none of us possesses the truth in its fullness. The commitment to truth, satyagraha, is a life-long commitment. The desire for truth is inseparable from non-violence, absolute refusal to do any harm to another. Truth never precludes the very same love for oneself and for the other. This is precisely the virtue of charity, which accords genuine respect for a different formulation of truth and befriending others as co-pilgrims in the universal search for ultimate truth and cooperating with them as partners in building up the Reign of God. This is undoubtedly a constructive and proactive process. Divinity is diverse, but division is diabolical. Satya in Indian spiritual understanding is not an impersonal dogmatic formula but the ultimate ground of
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existence, God, I-am-who-am. From this perspective there is a spark of satya in everyone and hence everyone deserves this basic recognition and profound respect. The core of human dignity is religious, in so far as every human being is bound to seek the truth and live by it. This sincere search is the greatest source of transformation and liberation. The sure path to transformation is first of all the liberation from all one’s presumptions and prejudices. This life-long attitude of sincere search is the most powerful safeguard against evils of intolerance, hostility, fear, suspicion or indifference to those who perceive truth differently from us. No individual or community can claim to realize this absolute truth, since the grasp or perspective of ultimate truth is always time-bound, space-constrained and culture-restricted. Every individual and group is a votary of God totally committed to seeking the absolute truth ever more profoundly. One lives in the awareness that the best way to change the other is to transform oneself. The Khristbhakta Movement is indeed a bright star on the horizon of Indian Spirituality today. Born in Varanasi, a pilgrimage centre of Hindus, this movement attracts more and more followers in the name of Christ the Sadguru (universal teacher) and unites them in genuine fellowship not only for worship but also for harmonious, nondiscriminatory living. The union of hearts is emphasized more than a consensus of ideas and dogmas; ‘belonging rather than believing’ is the vision of this community. Everyone is a seeker who accepts Yesubhagavan (Jesus Lord) as their absolute inspiration. It is essentially a religio-cultural movement that empowers and inspires people in their struggle against oppression and discrimination in society. Many seekers proclaim boldly the inner transformation they have experienced. To all Christians this movement offers great hope. It is a new way of being Christian, not so much belonging to a religion as living by the Gospel. It is a break-through in dialogical mission. Khristbhakta movement is indeed an inspiring contemporary model of dialogue, achieved not merely as an academic exercise but as a living example. The supreme goal is to know Christ as God’s universal love and the source of all grace; profound awareness that we are children of one Father urges us to live in ever greater understanding of one another; all come to know one another, share what they have and be equally open to learn from one another. These Khristbhaktas prove by their lives that the heart of liberation is the liberation of the heart. When hearts come closer to one another, minds cannot remain distant. In the joint statement of Pope Francis and Bishop Younan, President of the Lutheran World Federation, on
the occasion of 500th anniversary, they affirm, that we are freed by grace to move towards the communion to which God continually calls us. Indeed it is grace that frees us, liberates us. It acknowledges that both Lutherans and Catholics have wounded the visible unity of the Church that theological differences were accompanied by prejudice and conflict, that religion was instrumentalised for political ends. Our common faith in Jesus and our baptism demands a daily conversion. Everyone is invited to pray for the healing of all wounds and listen to God’s call, to set aside all conflict and enter into ever-deeper communion. Witnessing together to the Gospel of Christ means to stand together in service; to welcome strangers, defend the rights of the weak and oppressed; to pray for a change of heart and mind that leads from mental conflict to communion of hearts.
May we never forget that the way we relate to one another shapes our witness to the Gospel. Jesus prayed to the Father that they may all be one . . . so that the world may believe thou hast sent me (Jn 17/21). Living Christ’s love in relationships, we open ourselves to the power of God’s love, which will affect the cosmic and human transformation assured us by God. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. . . Behold the dwelling of God is with men . . . Behold I make all things new (Rev 21/ 1, 3; 5b). Everyone is invited to begin from a perspective of unity not from division and strengthen what is held in common even though differences are more easily seen and experienced. So, one lets oneself be continuously be transformed by the encounter with the other and commits oneself to seek visible unity by rediscovering the Gospel of Jesus Christ for our times and witnessing together to the mercy of God in the world. This genuine encounter in utter openness is the ultimate service to truth we are called to render. This service is impossible without deep love in one’s heart. In concrete, this love implies desire to alleviate suffering in every form, to break all walls of separation and discrimination. True liberation is achieved by being the change one wants to see in the world. This is the unique contribution of each one of us to the building up of the Reign of God. Fr. Thomas Punnapadam, SDB.
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Transformation and Liberation: What it Means and How to Achieve? Dr. P. V. Cherian, Chicago The word transformation became widely used since the 1960s and 1970s as a new wave of universal thought and awakening of the spirituality of human nature. However, the word became a synonym for changes in the corporate world, the government agencies and in the new millennium to the everchanging transformation in technology, industries and the daily changes of fashions, style and beauty make over in the secular world. At the present ageless wisdom-seeking era, people are running back and forth to gain true wisdom of transformation to liberate them from the entanglements of life. Learning more about the physical wellbeing is but one facet of present world culture attempting to reinvent the self. Some sit COM television programs are all about “make-overs,” remodeling, looking good or even surgically altering one’s appearance, all in the name of some form of transformation. In all these attempts there is a hidden truth that suggests a personal dissatisfaction and unhappiness in life. The present generation, irrespective of age is unhappy with themselves because they do not know who they are, despite religious observance of all organized ceremonies. They are unhappy because they are unsure of their true identity and the purpose of human life. Every human being struggles with the questions who am I, why I am here on earth, and what is the purpose of one’s life. Many are adrift in the culture without knowing what true transformation is from a biblical perspective. Being a biologist and a medical scientist with some knowledge in the biblical theology, the analogy for transformation that I can use is the biological metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly that flies away from its cocoon, to fulfill its purpose in the ecosphere for which it was created. Every butterfly hatches as a larva, crawls around on the leaves and blades of bushes and trees, eating through its way.
However, they enter a stage called pupa during which it may appear dormant, but genetically and physiologically
very active. Caterpillars spin cocoons during their pupal stage by secreting a silk-like thread wrapping it around their bodies in a figure-eight motion. It produces its own silk thread for the cocoon from the two glands located inside the insect. Inside the cocoon it undergoes dramatic changes, acquiring beautiful pigmentation, its antenna, wings and legs and liberates itself free from the entanglement of the cocoon and flies away. Yes, the butterfly transformed from a larva through cocooning, gained its beauty and sought freedom, but how did it transform? God created butterflies to maintain a well balanced ecosystem. Nearly 90% of all plants needs pollination and butterflies carry out that role along with bees and other insects. They cannot remain in the cocoon forever; they must transform to fulfill the purpose for which it is created. Does humanity have a designed purpose to fulfill? We shall be able to fulfill our purpose in life only after a full transformation. Human transformation must first take place in our mind by which our soul must be fully satisfied so that it does not abscond in the open air when we die, but returns to the Creator as the Scripture teaches, “For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7). If we know this eternal truth, all our aim must be to transform our soul, which would make total change in our body, mind and spirit for a whole change of personality. Those of us who are of Indian origin perhaps very well know that the Sanskrit word Moksha variously known as vimoksha, vimukti, mukti, a term Hindu philosophy refers to liberty and freedom. In its theological and eschatological sense, it means freedom from samsara, continuous cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Psychologically moksha means freedom from ignorance, self-realization and self-knowledge. Every major religion, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam teaches the ultimate freedom or liberation of the soul when a person dies. Hinduism believes the soul merges with Brahman, the absolute God, the eternal truth, who does not change, yet is the cause of all changes. The usage of the term nirvana is more common in Buddhism than the widely held view of view of moksha in Hinduism. In Christian theology transformation means a renewed life from the life hitherto that reflects a new character, attitude, behavior and a change in total personality that more reflects the likeness of Christ. A transformed person will no longer want to conform to the pattern of the world, but show visible changes by the renewing of the mind in thoughts, actions and faith (Rom. 12:2). A transformed person should be able to prove that his actions and behaviors are good and acceptable to God and fellow
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brethren. Transformation must liberate us to see that God has only good, pleasing and perfect plans for us, and we humble ourselves to accept the will of God, abide with God’s plan for us, no matter what it might be. Our plans and expectations in any sphere of life may collide with God’s plan for us but accepting God’s will shall liberate us from the constraints of our minds, and our soul becomes free from bondage. Transformation helps us to put off the old self which exhibited our former character and manner of living, and put on a renewed newness created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. The mysterious doctrine of Christian theology is that if we live according to the world of sinful nature we do not gain eternal life, but we die with the physical death. But if we live by the Spirit, we put to death our old self, misdeeds and deceitful nature and we live beyond the physical death and live eternally. Thus, a grave is not the end of our lives, just as three nails and a sealed grave could not hold Jesus. This is the truth behind Christian doctrine of eternal life with God. Different religions explain this in various ways, but God planned a redemptive process for us long before the foundation of the earth. That process is through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Christ is the Son of God and by accepting him we become brothers and coheirs with Christ, our brother (Rom.8: 17). This is how we become the children of God (Rom. 8:13-14). How did a caterpillar become a butterfly? Inside the cocoon it transformed everything in its genes the Creator designed for the particular species of that butterfly. God has put into our genome every aspect for the betterment of life in this world, both physical and spiritual by transformation, and thus to fulfill our purpose in life. Each of us has a responsibility to our generation.
Transformed life not only liberates us free from the passions of the world but also shall strive not to grieve the Holy Spirit so as to depart from us. Therefore, David sincerely prayed, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” (Psalm 51:11,12). It is not enough to say we are transformed but is very important to know how we are to live our transformed lives. We must have steadfast faith that must exhibit visible virtues in life along with good deeds. Apostle James asked, “What good it is if we claim to have faith but has no deeds; can such faith save him” (James 2:14). Apostle Peter has instructed us what these virtues are, and given us the recipe for obtaining the eternal life for those who are transformed and wanting to liberate them from the abhorrence of this world (2 Peter 1:211). Since the latter half of the twentieth century people have been running to and from in search of knowledge to satisfy the soul and liberate it. Prophet Amos foresaw this trend in eighth century BC and warned that “People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from border to border searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it” (Amos 8:12). People are staggering and reeling from west to east, north to south or in any direction they think knowledge is available. The truth of the matter is, in the clamor and clatter of life they haven’t found the true knowledge of transformation from the cocoons of our life. In a culture that provides satisfaction through self-glory and entertainment many people try to be stars only to find that their stardom is temporary. But God teaches that we can be shining like eternal stars forever by being wise to be transformed to do his will and lead many to righteousness. Prophet Daniel was told to seal the book of knowledge until the time of the end when many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase (Dan. 12: 3-4). We are living at the time of increased knowledge in everything except the true knowledge about God. But a time is coming soon when they will seek the eternal God. Are we transformed to lead others to God? Being professing Christians, the questions we must ask are: Am I transformed by the grace of God through Jesus Christ? Am I leading a holy life consistent with Christ’s teachings? Am I fully liberated from the cocoons of my life to do the will of God? Have I discerned my purpose in life? Am I a new person because Christ lives me? May the Lord help us to answer in the affirmative!
The power to grow in the grace of God is not easy nor it comes from within us, but from God through grace and power of Lord Jesus Christ. We humans simply do not have the resources to be truly godly, yet God allows those who are transformed to participate in his divine nature in order to keep us from falling to sin and worldly life. When we are truly transformed, God by His Holy Spirit empowers us with an aversion to worldly sins and a likeness to his own moral goodness. (See John 3:6; 14:17-23; 2 Cor. 5:21 and 1 Pet. 1:22,23).
Editor’s Note: Plammoottil V. Cherian, M. Div., PhD. Buffalo Grove, Illinois 60089 USA. Dr. Cherian is the Former Associate Secretary of the Diocese of North America & Europe. Currently he is a member of the Chicago Mar Thoma Church, USA.
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Evolution as Grounding for Hospitality: Interfaith Interrogations Rev. Baiju Markose, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago “[Hu] man is not only evolved, [s]he is evolving.” Theodosius Dobzhansky We are living in a world of hostility; the militant reactionary movements, exclusion, separation, fear and anxiety etc. are at all time high levels today. The disconnect between the ‘self’ and ‘other’ has elicited a culture of fear and produced ‘gated communities’. An inevitable violence of exclusion within the human existence is being taken for granted. In this context, it is the responsibility of the faith communities to search for meaningful paradigms and practices of hospitality. Our world today needs practices of hospitality instead of hostility. How science and religion can contribute or promote practices of hospitality? This paper is a humble attempt to revisit the ‘theory of biological evolution’ as the basis for opening up new vistas of inter-faith relations and to encourage scientific and religious dialogue in a broader context. Evolution: A Theological Re-visit Charles Darwin’s classic work, ‘The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection’ was published in 1859. Today, it is one of the most captivating works of historical, philosophical and scientific research. Darwin’s theory of evolution scientifically explains the process, and the logical sequencing of life. It also explains the existence of various forms of biological life. As a scientific theory and meta-narrative, it answers several important questions like the reasons for bio-diversity. It also discusses the similarities and differences among various species; and how biological life survives? So the theory of evolution tries to answer the most fundamental questions about life that Religion and Theology engage. However, it is very interesting to note that Darwin begins the book ‘The Origin of Species’ by referring to a theological task, in the form of a quote from Whewell’s (from Bridge Water Treatise). He quotes: but with regard to the material world, we can at least go so far as this – we can perceive that events are brought about not by insulated interpositions of Divine power, exerted in each particular case, but by the establishment of general laws.1 So one can assume that Darwin is putting beliefs about the material world in a dialogical frame shared with ‘beliefs about God’. This is evident in the reference about God and God’s relationship with this world. So I would l 1
Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life and the Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (New York: Random House, 1936), 2.
like to argue that, Darwin’s work has theological intentions. There is always a space for hospitality within the theory that Darwin proposes. Here I would like to explore some theological themes in connection with the spirit of Darwin’s evolution theory. Tree of Life: Argument on Common Origin Darwin’s concept of the ‘Tree of Life’2 is a wellconstructed model of biological evolution. He speaks about the effects of natural selection on the descendants of a common ancestor. The model explains how the populations of various species change and branch off through the process called Transmutation. Over a period of time populations vary from a common ancestor, creating diversity. The changing climatic conditions also have a role in the difference among populations. This theory affirms that all living species share a common ancestor, and that this ‘common origin’ has some theological implications. Gayle Woloschack, comments: ‘There is a unity that exists in creation that is a direct result of the common evolution of all of life on earth within the confines of our common yet varied environment.’3 The interconnectedness of all forms of life is a profound theological theme. Woloschack continues: ‘life on earth all shares the same elements (Carbon, nitrogen, trace metals), the same processes (cell division, replication and repair of DNA, transcription of RNA, Translation of proteins), even similar genetic code. These shared processes are sufficiently complex to make any two living organisms more similar to each other than anything nonliving in the universe . . . Thus, mankind and every other species share in unity as they evolved into diversity. Both unity and diversity of life have profound theological significance that is missed if we do not incorporate the theory of biological evolution into contemplation of Creation.’4 So here we see how this theory affirms the unity in diversity, and suggests some profound theological points. After Darwin, the idea of ‘Tree of life’ was analyzed by several other scientists; however, the idea of common origin remains the center of most scientific viewpoints. But it can be perceived as the unfolding of life itself. A believer can comprehend it as the unfolding of God’s plan. Continuing Creation
2
Ibid., 87. Gayle E. Woloschak, “The Compatibility of the Principles of Biological Evolution with Eastern Orthodoxy,” St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 55, no. 2 (January 1, 2011): 213. 4 Ibid. 3
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In the ‘Origin of Species’, Darwin tries to keep the possibility of mutations and modifications in creation. According to Darwinian’s Theory, all species ‘have been modified, so as to acquire that perfection of structure and co adaption’5 through natural means and not through separate creation. He discards the possibility of an independent creation of new species, as nature continues the creation process. This is a theologically pregnant subject, since co-creation with the universe is a wellaffirmed idea in all the eastern religious traditions. Evolution and Religious Compatibilities Having discussed some of the Theological implications of Biological Evolution, I would like to explore the Theological compatibility of eastern religious traditions namely, Hinduism, Eastern Christianity and Buddhism. The main objective here is to explore the compatibilities and sensibilities of Eastern Religious Traditions by entering into an understanding with ‘biological evolution’ (and thus with modern science), in order to create a broader platform for interfaith engagement. For this I will be exploring the commonalities that shared by these religious traditions with the biological evolution from a cultural perspective. Hinduism Generally, some consonance between modern science and Hindu tradition can be found. Scholars like Varadaraja observe that the Hindu concepts on reality ‘anticipate’6 modern scientific knowledge. Vedas depicts the creator of the universe as Prajapati (Lord of the people). And, according to Vedas, this creator made three primordial gods: Agni (fire), Vayu (air) and Surya (Sun). Then he made the sky and water. The prerequisites for the origin of life! In this Vedic imagery, one can easily establish the presence of sun, air and water for the origin of life. Another mysterious parallel between evolution and Hindu thought can be traced in the doctrine of Dasavatara (ten incarnations). Theory of Evolution and Dasavatara Doctrine Lord Krishna teaches Arjuna, the secret of Avatara. For whenever of the right A languishing appears, son of Bharata, A rising up of unright,
Then I send Myself forth For protection of the good And for the destruction of evil doers, To make a firm footing for the right I come into being in age after age.7 Here the word used for righteousness is ‘Dharma’, which means the ‘order/rhythm’ of the universe’. According to Gita, God’s descent happens when the order of the universe (course of life) is at stake. And this happens throughout the ages, as needed, ‘for protection of the good’. The Avatara doctrine is well explained in Bhagavata Purana with the concept of Dasavatara (means ten incarnations of God). This concept also has an uncanny parallel with the theory of Biological Evolution. ‘Biological evolution is defined as descent with modification.’8 This ‘descent with modification’ is well illustrated through Dasavatara’ concept. The ten Avataras are namely, Matsya, Koorma, Varaha, Narasimha,Vamana, Parsurama, Rama, Balarama, Krishna, and Kalki.9 These Dasavataras (ten incarnations of Vishnu), in sequential order, demonstrate evolution starting from the ‘aquatic animal’ to ‘humans’. The sequence is as follows; 1. Matsya (fish)- origin of life in water 2. Koorma(Tortoise)- Progression of life from water to land 3.Varaha(Wild Boar)- life in its Animal form 4. Narasimha(Man-Lion)- Half human, half animal form 5.Vamana (Dwarf)- Progression from half humanness to fullness but incomplete 6. Parasurama( Human with axe)- representative of stone age human 7.Rama ( Human with a bow and arrow)-fully human, responsible form of life) 8.Balarama(Human with a Plough)-Development of Agriculture 9. Krishna (Person of Intelligence, and Love) 10.Kalki (Destroyer/ Redeemer so that the evolution could take place again) The Biological evolution by natural selection and causal explanation of change, are ‘mythologically’ explained in this sequential order of Avataras. Since the sequential order has similarities with the tree of life, proposed by Darwin: it is easy to connect the Hindu view of reality with 7
5
Darwin, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life and the Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, 66. 6
Varadaraja V Raman, “Traditional Hinduism and Modern Science,” in Bdidging Science and Religion, 1St Edition (London: SCM Press, 2009), 186.
Franklin Edgerton, The Bhagavad Gita: Translated and Interpreted by Franklin Edgerton (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1944), 23. 8 Woloschak, “The Compatibility of the Principles of Biological Evolution with Eastern Orthodoxy,” 209. 9 Bhagavata Purana 1:3. Refer “DASAVATAR - TEN AVATARS OF LORD VISHNU | Sri Srimad Bhagavatam Katha,” accessed May 8, 2015, http://srisrimadbhagavatamkatha.blogspot.com/2012/11/dasavat ar-ten-avatars-of-lord-vishnu.html.
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the theory of evolution. Despite both coming from different systems of thought and developed in different historical contexts; there are several criticisms and reactions regarding the commonalities between the Hindu doctrine of Dasavatara and evolution. According to Varadaraja: the avatara stories reflect not only biological, but also cultural evolution. Humans have been evolving from wielders of brute force, symbolized by axe, to proponents of moral principles, and ultimately to agents of deeper truths about the world . . . I have come to see the mythologies of bygone days much meaning in the context of both biological and cultural evolution.10 Jonathan B. Edelmann argues that the two different systems can be re-interpreted in the light of each other for new understandings of reality.11 Meera Nanda reminds us that reductionism may happen by the selective interpretation of the Hindu thoughts.12 Yet, we cannot bypass the startling parallel between the Hindu view of reality and Biological evolution. Thus, another demonstration of the compatibility of Hinduism with modern scientific developments. Eastern Christianity The terrain of science and religious dialogue has been dominated by western Christianity. However recently, Eastern Christian traditions have gained renewed importance in these conversations. The work, ‘Science and Eastern Orthodox Church’, by Buxhoeveden and Woloschack is a very good example of this new focus. The churches of eastern and western traditions differ from each other in their theological emphasis. Buxahoeveden, sums it up when he says: ‘these differences are reflected in the areas such as anthropology, salvation and creation.’13 And these areas have the potential to transform religio-science interactions too. Now, I also would like to focus on the Eastern Christian traditions practiced specifically in South India. The eastern Christian traditions follow similar worship traditions and liturgies. These traditions share commonalities with the eastern orthodox traditions (like Russian Orthodox Church). While there are no theologies formulated as creeds or doctrines, the liturgy is considered as doctrinal in these churches. 10
Theistic Evolution Theistic Evolution is the belief that God was and is the cause of biological variations and God drives evolution towards purposeful ends. Paulose Mar Greogorios, explains the idea of theistic evolution in the eastern Christian tradition, He says: the creative energy of God appears to have taken a gradually ascending path, with humanity emerging at the last stage. Nature making the ascent, as though by steps . . . from the smallest to the things more perfect. But although humankind appeared at the top of the ladder, it is not totally unrelated to or independent of the rest of the created world.14 According to Greogorios, humanity shares the fundamental nature of all creation. But at the same time it represents a unique element in God’s creative process. It is the unique vocation of humanity. Mar Greogorios, draws inspiration from the writings of St. Gregory, the fourth century Church father. And he attributes some notions of evolutionary theory in the theology of St. Gregory. Mar Greogorios, rephrases the core theological theme of eastern Christianity as: ‘ life ascended gradually from plants to animals to humanity and that human nature incorporates the vegetative, the animal, and the rational.’15 [C]Theosis/ Deification Theosis or deification is the one of the major affirmations of eastern Christianity. The concept of Theosis, is all about personal evolution. It is considered to be a gift from God in eastern Christian tradition. Georgios I. Mantzaridis, quotes Maximus the confessor: ‘We undergo deification, and do not create it, for it is supernatural’.16 In a Liturgical song of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar, this deification process is clearly mentioned. The spiritual evolution of the image and likeness of God is affirmed. It is depicted as a journey from animal likeness to Christ likeness. ‘Let us remember those who exhorted us, when we were animal like. They guided us in the journey to become Christ like. And let us follow their footsteps in the journey to the completion.’17 The spiritual evolution affirmed here shares similarities with the biological evolution.
Raman, “Traditional Hinduism and Modern Science,” 189.
11
Jonathan B. Edelmann, Hindu Theology and Biology: The Bhagavata Purana and Contemporary Theory (Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs, 2012), 61.
14
12
Zainal Abidin. Bagir, Science and Religion in a Post Colonial World: Interfaith Perspectives, vol. 8, Science and Theology Series ; (Adelaide, S. Aust.: ATF Press, 2005), 28.
15
13
17
Daniel Buxhoeveden and Gayle Woloschak, Science and the Eastern Orthodox Church (Farnham, Surrey, England ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2011), xi.
Paulos Mar Greogorios, The Human Presence: Ecological Spirituality and the Age of the Spirit (New York: Amity House, 1987), 63. Ibid. Georgios I. Mantzaridis, The Deification of Man (Crestwood:St.Vladimir Seminary Press,1984),61. 16
Selected Hymns and Order of Worship, 53rd ed. (Tiruvalla: Mar Thoma Sabha Publication Board, 2012), 92.
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These elements of Eastern Christianity are the best resources to re-imagine the theory of evolution as a common ground to meet together. Buddhism The central point of ‘Evolution theory’ is the continuing dimension of the evolution process. According to the Evolutionary Biologist, Theodosius Dobzhansky this point is strangely over looked. He says: ‘Man is not only evolved, he is evolving. This is a source of hope in the abyss of despair.’18 And this dimension of evolution is a very important theme in Buddhist philosophical thought. The Bodhisattva ideal of Mahayana Buddhism is one of the important Buddhist doctrines. “A bodhisattva is the highly evolved human being on the way to becoming a Buddha, who is not seeking enlightenment for himself alone, but has vowed to help all other beings achieve Buddhahood before he enters into nirvana.’19 It is considered as the culmination of this Buddhist thought has reached in Avatamsaka school. The school is based on the Avatamsaka sutra. Capra connects Avatamaka sutra and modern physics and says: ‘the central theme of the Avatamsaka is the unity and interrelation of all things and events; a conception which is not only the very essence of the Eastern world view, but also one of the basic elements of the world view emerging from modern physics.’20 The Avatamsaka sutra tells about various stages in the path of awakening. The path begins with Bodhicitta, who wishes to liberate all the conscious beings. Then ‘the aspiring Bodhicitta becomes engaging Bodhicitta upon actual commitment to the Bodhicitta vows. With these steps, the practitioner becomes a Bodhisattva.’21 The whole process of evolution undergoes through ten stages (Bhumis). Each stage mark advancement in the process of spiritual evolution. The course of the process from the lowest to the complex follows the similar sequential order that we have noticed in Hindu and Eastern Christian thought. So it is evident that Buddhist tradition also shares the ‘evolutionist’ paradigm. We have been reflecting upon the religious compatibilities of Eastern religious traditions with biological evolution. The arguments are not neither polemical nor apologetic in 18
Theodosius Dobzhansky, Mankind Evolving : The Evolution of the Human Species. (New Haven : Yale University Press, 1967), 346. 19 Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism (Berkeley: Shambhala Publications, 1975), 98. 20 Ibid., 99. 21 Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune: The Complete Buddhist Path to Enlightenment, 2nd Rev and Reset ed. edition (Ulverston ; Glen Spey, N.Y: Tharpa Publications, 1995), 535.
intention. But the intent was to trace the religious resources in India, which are compatible with science. Generally, the eastern religious traditions are overlooked as non-compatible with science, but the reverse is actually true. Capra comments: “There is a harmony between the spirit of eastern wisdom and western science. The modern Physics goes far beyond technology, that the way or Tao- of physics can be a path with heart, a way to spiritual knowledge and selfrealization.”22 It is evident that the eastern religious traditions are not only compatible with modern scientific research, but also complementary to each other. Evolution as a Paradigm of Hospitality: I Think in the Indian context, where we have a strong disconnect between Religion and Science, these types of religious resources (that we mentioned earlier) can be used positively rather than rejecting them as something pejorative. These resources can act as a catalyst to scientific and religious dialogue. The theory of Biological evolution can be used as a common platform. In the past, the evolution process has been interpreted as hostile territory by both scientists and theologians. However, it is the time to re-visit the evolution theory, from a hospitality perspective. Recently I read about an interfaith initiative launched by Global Negotiation Project at Harvard University, which seeks to build a route of cultural tourism following the footsteps of Abraham. The project is known as ‘Abrahamic path.’23 It helps to develop a greater understanding among Judaism, Islam and Christianity, claiming the common heritage and meeting each other in the Abrahamic footsteps. While the project has had some significant impact and many positive responses, it also has its limitations. For example, it doesn’t propose a common ground for everybody; and it is confined within the religious trio of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, specifically excluding Hinduism and Buddhism. For a broader vision of interfaith relations, I propose ‘biological evolution’ as a common meeting place for interfaith relations. Practicing Hospitality: Some Suggestions The practice of hospitality is grounded in the idea of common origin and shared lives as proposed by Biological Evolution. Since ‘Evolution’ is a logical grounding, it can open up a new platform where everybody can come together including atheists, theists, scientists, priests, philosophers, teachers, students and 22
Capra, The Tao of Physics, 25.
23
Andrew Shepherd, The Gift of the Other: Levinas, Derrida, and a Theology of Hospitality (Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2014), 251.
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so on. This practice should initiate interfaith and interdisciplinary engagements, as well as practices for a better world. Some of the practical suggestions are provided in the following sections of this paper.
creation. Local Parishes/neighborhoods should be reestablished as eco-friendly communities that initiate sustainable practices. Science as Interfaith Practice
Hermeneutics beyond Literalism Religious scriptures should be re-read from a hospitality perspective rather than literal interpretation. More specifically, the ‘creation narratives’ should be interpreted in a way that is compatible with science. The recent comments made by Pope Francis regarding the creation story and evolution can be viewed as a positive sign for such an undertaking. The Pope stated: ‘evolution in nature is not opposed to creation, because evolution presupposes the creation of beings that evolve.’24 The interpretation of the creation story in the book of Genesis by Sergius Bulgakov is also important, when he says: the sequence of ‘days’ in the creation story (Genesis 1) refers to ‘a gradual evolutionary actualization of all forms of life.’25 Interdisciplinary Pedagogy/kerygma There is a need to develop an interdisciplinary pedagogy for teaching the religious narratives on creation. For example: a revision of the catechism curriculum with an interdisciplinary perspective so that science and religion dialogue can be promoted. Eco-sensitive Community The idea of the Common Origin of life and its unity also has profound ecological implications. Woloschock says with strong conviction that unity helps humanity to see the relationship of all creatures, indeed our relationship with the earth itself. The diversity of creation helps humanity the need for all creatures, all of life, all niches and environments to support each other and our planet. With both of these concepts come a profound ecological consciousness and a view of humans as priests of creation.26 The recent ecological problems in India27remind us to reassert this unity and the interconnectedness of all 24
“Pope Francis: ‘Evolution ... Is Not Inconsistent with the Notion of Creation,’” Religion News Service, accessed May 10, 2015, http://www.religionnews.com/2014/10/27/pope-francisevolution-inconsistent-notion-creation/. 25
Sergius Bulgakov, The Bride of the Lamb (Grand Rapids, Michigan: W.B. Eerdmans, 2002), 173. 26 Woloschak, “The Compatibility of the Principles of Biological Evolution with Eastern Orthodoxy,” 213. 27
For example, the unethical /improper use of ‘endosulfan’ in the cashew fields in Kasargod, has caused severe health problems among the people over there. “Kerala’s Endosulfan Tragedy,” OPEN Magazine, accessed May 8, 2015,
Science and Technology can also be re-established as interfaith practices in the Indian context. The implementation of technological innovations for the common good at the local level without considering religious divisions and differences can foster inter-faith relationships within the community. Conclusion A theological review of the theory of ‘Biological Evolution’ can shed new light on the trajectory of science and religious interaction. This theory affirms a common origin for all forms of life, and serves as a common ground for differences and diversity. The eastern religious traditions have immense resources; through which they can claim compatibility with the theory of evolution. The core of Hindu, Eastern Christian, and Buddhist philosophical thoughts are all in line with the evolution theory. These types of religious resources should be affirmed positively not polemically or apologetically, and from a hospitality perspective. This new perspective of viewing ‘biological evolution’ can have many positive consequences in community life. In the Indian context, the hospitality perspective can promote meaningful interfaith relations and ‘science and religion’ dialogue in a very practical way. I believe authentic scientific expression should be complimented by moral and religious resources. In the same way an authentic religious experience should be enriched by scientific research and truths. The time has come for religion and science to hear each other, and heal each other!
Bibliography Bagir, Zainal Abidin. Science and Religion in a Post Colonial World: Interfaith Perspectives. Vol. 8. Science and Theology Series ; Adelaide, S. Aust.: ATF Press, 2005. Bulgakov, Sergius. The Bride of the Lamb. Grand Rapids, Michigan: W.B. Eerdmans, 2002. Buxhoeveden, Daniel, and Gayle Woloschak. Science and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Farnham, Surrey, England ; Burlington, Vt: Ashgate, 2011. Capra, Fritjof. The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism. Berkeley: Shambhala Publications, 1975. Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life and the Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. New York: Random House, 1936. Dobzhansky, Theodosius. Mankind Evolving : The Evolution of the Human Species. New Haven : Yale University Press, 1967. http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/kerala-sendosulfan-tragedy.
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Pearls of Wisdom
Edelmann, Jonathan B. Hindu Theology and Biology: The Bhagavata Purana and Contemporary Theory. Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs, 2012. Edgerton, Franklin. The Bhagavad Gita:Translated and Interpreted by Franklin Edgerton. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1944. Gregorios, Paulos Mar. The Human Presence: Ecological Spirituality and the Age of the Spirit. New York: Amity House, 1987. Gyatso, Geshe Kelsang. Joyful Path of Good Fortune: The Complete Buddhist Path to Enlightenment. 2nd Rev and Reset ed. edition. Ulverston ; Glen Spey, N.Y: Tharpa Publications, 1995. Mantzaridis, Georgios I. The Deification of Man. Crestwood:St.Vladimir Seminary Press,1984. Raman, Varadaraja V. “Traditional Hinduism and Modern Science.” In Bdidging Science and Religion, 1St Edition., 185– 95. London: SCM Press, 2009. Shepherd, Andrew. The Gift of the Other: Levinas, Derrida, and a Theology of Hospitality. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2014. Woloschak, Gayle E. Beauty and Unity in Creation: The Evolution of Life. Minneapolis, Minn: Light & Life Pub, 1996. Woloschak, Gayle E. “The Compatibility of the Principles of Biological Evolution with Eastern Orthodoxy.” St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 55, no. 2 (January 1, 2011): 209–31. Online Resourses “DASAVATAR - TEN AVATARS OF LORD VISHNU | Sri Srimad Bhagavatam Katha.” Accessed May 8, 2015. http://srisrimadbhagavatamkatha.blogspot.com/2012/11/dasavat ar-ten-avatars-of-lord-vishnu.html. “Kerala’s Endosulfan Tragedy.” OPEN Magazine. Accessed May 8, 2015. http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/kerala-sendosulfan-tragedy. “Pope Francis: ‘Evolution ... Is Not Inconsistent with the Notion of Creation.’” Religion News Service. Accessed May 10, 2015. http://www.religionnews.com/2014/10/27/pope-francisevolution-inconsistent-notion-creation/. Document Selected Hymns and Order of Worship. 53rd ed. Tiruvalla: Mar Thoma Sabha Publication Board, 2012.
[Somebody once asked a Christian friend, “I can’t
understand you Christians because India is the home of many religions that it is an exceedingly religious country. Why then do you introduce yet another religion and add to the confusion? Surely, India has enough religions.” The Christian friend answered, “Friend, I’m not interested in *religion*, but I’m deeply interested in the Gospel. I would not walk across the streets for *religion*, but I’m willing to go around the world for the sake of the Gospel. There is a difference between the two.” Religion is man-made; the Gospel is God given, Religion is what man does for God; the Gospel is what God has done for man, Religion is man’s search for God; the Gospel is God’s search for man, Religion is man trying to climb the ladder of his own selfrighteousness, with the hope of meeting God at the topmost rung; the Gospel is God coming down the ladder of the incarnation of Jesus Christ and meeting us as sinners at the lowest rung (forming the steps of a ladder), Religion is good views; the Gospel is good news. Religion is good advice; the Gospel is glorious announcement. Religion takes a man leaves him as he is; the Gospel takes a man as he is and makes him what he ought to be. *Religion* ends in an outer reformation; the Gospel ends in an inner transformation. Religion white washes; the Gospel washes white. Religion often becomes a farce; the Gospel is always a force, the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. There are many religions, but only one Gospel.]
Editorial Note: Fr. Thomas Punnapadom, a Catholic priest and theologian, sent the following quotation for us to meditate over this advent time. It is worth spending time on this short reflection on religion and the impact of the Gospel in our lives.
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FROM PRESERVATION TO FULFILMENT Rev. Dr. Valson Thampu, Trivandrum Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfil them -St. Matthew 5:17
true, purpose of tradition. Tradition was a living thing. To that extent, it was open to change. Not any kind of change; but change necessary for its own fulfillment.
Jesus makes an important distinction here. Clearly, it is not enough to be zealous about preserving one’s tradition. As philosophers and social scientists have told us many times over, it is simply impossible to preserve. Or, preservation, in respect of what is dynamic and vital, is an impractical and unspiritual approach. Only mummies are preserved as they are.
There are three things, relevant, to our theme we know already. First, nothing is in a statement of fulfillment at the given time. Second, what stops transcending itself is death. Third, what approaches fulfillment is transfigured; which is why the episode of Transfiguration is there in the Gospel. There is a direct spiritual link between the Mountain of Transfiguration and Calvary, which still echoes with the words, “It is fulfilled”. Jesus’ clothes became radiant at Transfiguration. After that clothes are superfluous. That’s why the Body on the Cross is not perceived by us as ‘naked’.
Let’s see why. Change is of the essence of nature and life. Nothing remains the same. We cannot step into the same river twice because it is, insofar as it flows, changing continually. We ourselves are not the same from day to day. Scientists tell us that once in six months nearly all cells in our body -apparently numbering some 100 trillion! - are replaced. In that sense, each one of us is only six months old at any given point in time! Now, imagine a religious tradition, committed inflexibly to orthodoxy that remains the same over centuries. The identity of anything, including traditions and individuals, is contextual. That is easy to understand, if you consider for a moment a person living alone in an island. He has no identity. That’s because identity is a collaborative construct between you and your species. Or, imagine your becoming a space person, orbiting the earth or any other planet lifelong. Your identity will change at once. Now you are a space man, not a human being who belongs to the species Homo Sapiens. Or, consider another possibility. You became a sleeping beauty, slept for two hundred years, and woke up in a different world. You cannot be you, then. You were you, two hundred years ago; but now you are anachronistic, which you were not when you slipped into sleep two centuries ago. You were preserved exactly as you were, but you have ceased to be you! This illustrates the paradox at the core of a living faith. According to Jesus, therefore, there is a need for a paradigm shift. To be spiritual at all, we need to shift from ‘preservation’ to ‘fulfilment’. Preservation is a static concept. Our idea of tradition is, alas, static and petrified. It does not have to be; but, sadly, it is. It leaves no margin for fulfillment. But that was not the original, or
What did Jesus mean by saying that he came not to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them? Why would the Law and the Prophets be not fulfilled through the Judaic religious establishment? That’s simple. The only concern the custodians of this great tradition had was to preserve and to protect. They were too blind; spiritually callous, to see the contradiction inherent in this outlook. This needs to be understood clearly, as it continues even today to be a widespread aberration. The outlook of ‘preservation’ stems from ownership mentality. To own a spiritual tradition, it has to be reduced to a lifeless and static object. You keep your jewels in lockers. You don’t keep your children there, do you? It is as simple as that. Children need, and have the potential for, fulfillment; jewels don’t. The worst form of atheism is degrading the living faith into a dead object, shrouded and embalmed in orthodoxy. Now, let us see how Jesus went about fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. The first thing to note is that Jesus had profound respect for the Law and the Prophets. But, to him, they did not constitute orthodoxy. They were livewire realities impacting the world. Most people, even while praying to God, think of God as pretty distant and ancient! That was not how it was with Jesus. Recall, once again, Transfiguration. Why was Jesus in the company of Moses and Elijah, both separated by centuries? To Jesus, Moses and Elijah were contemporaneous with him; they had no relevance as
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relics of the past. This outlook is the key to the outlook of ‘fulfillment’. In contrast, preservation is rooted in the past.
different from abandoning. The latter implies a full stop, and the former a beginning. So, he conjoined a mandate with the gift of life: seek is fullness (Mt. 5:48, 7:7, Jn. 10:10). Jesus came to lead all people into life in all its fullness. Fulfillment of life is God’s spiritual agenda. It is by this yardstick that we need to measure religions, religious establishments and denominations. I am aware that this could sound heretical! My only comfort is that this is purely biblical. It issues an unadulterated from the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. What was the main hindrance or limitation in the path of the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets?
The proof that we value a living thing is that we do all we can to ensure that it is developed to the utmost and fulfilled. A spiritually responsible husband, for example, will not treat his wife as an object, or feel insecure on account of her empowerment. He will be mindful of his duty to minister to her need for fulfillment. That is the essence and energy of love. How do we love our children? By freezing them in time and holding them back from the world? Or, by doing our best to ensure that they sprout wings and fly towards the fulfillment of the promise in them? Jesus said to his disciples: “Go!” The world out there, with its multiple challenges, responsibilities and opportunities, is the theatre of our growth. The stereotypical ‘mission compound’ is, in comparison, a hide-out. If we are convinced of the spiritual importance of the purpose of Jesus’ mission, as under consideration here, surely we would want to know: how did Jesus go about the task of fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. This ministry has a two-fold dimension: positive and negative. The positive part is the revelation of the true scope of the spiritual tradition inaugurated by God through the Law and the Prophets. This made him proclaim the Kingdom of God. The seemingly negative task - which is also essentially positive - was to remove the limitations and hindrances on the path of this spiritual tradition, as it was institutionalized and preserved. To preserve is to impose man-made limitations and conditions. Personally, I am convinced that it is wrong to present God as preserver of life. God is the giver of life. Giving is
There were two main issues here. First, the Jews misunderstanding what it meant to be a chosen peopleappropriated the Law and the Prophets as their exclusive religious property. This was a blatant contradiction of the prophetic truth that they were called to be a light unto the nations (Isaiah 49:6). The Law and the Prophets were the oil in the lamp of their spiritual calling and witness. Most importantly, they were to shine for the sake of humankind as a whole. Jesus affirmed the same truth in St. Matthew 5: 13-16. We are the salt of the earth, the light of the world! Our resource for functioning as such is Jesus who is the light of the world (Jn. 9:5) and not light for Christians alone. We do no better than the Jews of Isaiah’s time. Perhaps we are a shade worse. We think that Jesus is a tribal hurricane lamp, meant only for ‘believers and denominations’. What we are to do with that lamp, is a question rarely asked. Be clear about this one thing: so long as we think that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is property of believers and denominations, we will not take a single step forward towards fulfilling the Gospel. Secondly, Jesus removed the baggage of territoriality and ethnicity from the Law and the Prophets and made the spiritual tradition they unveiled universal. This meant insisting on the changes it took to do so. The Kingdom of God, we often forget, can have no walls or boundaries. Jesus came, as St. Paul says, to dismantle the walls of division. We repeat these words largely because we do not care to understand their practical application and liberating power. Surely, the paradigm of ‘fulfillment’ is at work in transforming a regional faith monopolized by an ethnic
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group -the Jews- into a universal spiritual heritage into which all are welcome without the mediation of middlemen. Building on this Peter emphasized ‘the priesthood of all believers’. Our denounced the clergy of his times as whited sepulchers. Sepulchers may be venues for embalmed preservation, but certainly not for fulfilment. Then, as now, the most formidable stumbling block to ‘fulfilling’ the faith is the clergy. Out of good intentions, they become experts in preservation. Hardly anyone realizes the subtle sarcasm Jesus embedded in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Why couldn’t the priest respond to the misery of the wounded, bleeding man? The clue lies in the attire of the priest. It is so designed, as scholars point out, as to prevent the priest from doing any manual work. The Samaritan was a worker. He was not bound within a comprehensive and cumbersome uniform. But the spiritual mission Jesus entrusts to us is not confined to the scope of a maintenance department. Imagine, for a moment, what our plight would have been if Jesus, instead of fulfilling the Law and the Prophets had merely preserved it. We would have been Gentiles aliens and strangers to the way of life. That is a measure of the gravity of the theme we address here. Herein comes the sting in the tail. How can we be more than ‘aliens and strangers’ to the way of Jesus, as long as we continue to remain stuck, body and soul, to the preservation of our many traditions, and not the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets? Hence it is that Jesus says-
speak in tongues! As a result, no one knows what is being discussed. How is our idea of speaking in tongues different from this? Is there no limit to the despicable mockery and dishonesty we practice in the name of Jesus, who is the truth? (Jn. 14:6) Why, do you think, Jesus had the ‘donkey tied to a tree’, as a prelude to his Passion and Crucifixion set free? That too is a parable. The donkey in Bethany symbolizes the predicament we have willingly embraced. The tree offers shade, no doubt. Occasionally, provide fruits too. It is easy and safe, besides, to go round and round the tree. But there is no scope for fulfillment in such a condition. Jesus came to set the captives free (Lk. 4: 18). In the Kingdom of God, the last must be the first. (Mt. 20: 16). So, the stupendous mission for the liberation of humankind begins with setting a tied donkey free, so that a beast of burden too may march to the City of God! The lamentable thing is that preservation as the operating principle effects a pathetic reduction in the scope of our understanding and actions. To the preserve the donkey only two things are necessary: provide fodder and ward off predatory animals. What else?
Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name, drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers.” (St. Matthew 7: 21-23).
The High Priest and his religious vigilantes were experts in preservation. We may denounce the cow vigilantes of our times, without wondering how different our religious outlook is from theirs. Cow vigilantes will kill beef eaters; but will not burden themselves with looking after the welfare of cows. This is an accurate illustration of the limitations in the ‘preservation alone’ approach. It was to preserve their religion that the Jews killed the King of Life. It was for the same reason that they divided the world into two unequal halves: the Jews and Gentiles! It was very piously that they excluded the Gentiles from the sanctuary of God’s love and mercy. And built huge dividing walls and kept relentless vigil. All that they achieved was becoming killers in the name of the God of love and compassion.
This serious, straightforward stuff! In my three decades of serving the Christian community, I haven’t come across more than a handful of people who see a scope for the biblical faith beyond mouthing, “Lord, Lord.” In many pockets, it is a lot worse. They speak in tongues! The best you can do when you cannot speak sense in a single tongue is to speak in several tongues. If you watch “news hour’ programmes on Indian TV channels, you will understand its logic at once. What do party spokesmen do when they have to defend the indefensible? They too
We have to decide if we want to be Jews or Christians. In doing so, it would be helpful to keep in mind the distinction that Jesus has mercifully provided to us; the reason why we examine it here. Those who think that religion is all about preservation -preservation of God, traditions, and vested interests- are potential killers. Well, that’s what the Bible says; and I have no reason to believe otherwise. Wasn’t it to preserve his own interests that Cain killed Abel? And Herod sought to eliminate the new born babe? And Caiaphas, the High Priest, had
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Jesus killed to preserve his God from the harm? Recently Swami Agnivesh, the founder president of Bonded Labour Liberation Front and social reformer was my host for a week. He came to discuss the relevant spiritual responses to the emerging situation in our country. I had, earlier, got him to come as the chief guest of the youth conference of the Church of South India, Madhya Kerala Diocese, on the bishop’s own request. Agnivesh has addressed several Christian conferences with me, including a seminar on inter-faith dialogue in the World Council of Churches in Geneva. Because of his cooperation with me, and willingness to stand up for the interests of the Christian community in the face of injustice, he was accused of having been converted to Christianly by me! I thought it desirable to provide my Christian brethren in Trivandrum an opportunity to interact with him informally. Invitations were sent out. A day before the meeting, which happened to be a Sunday, the priest in charge of my congregation, made an express announcement that members of the congregation should not expose themselves to “those who do not receive communion”. They are not to meet such people, even if the meeting takes place “in the house a member of the congregation.” The congregation was very obedient. None did. I met the priest a few days later and asked him why he did so? This is what he said- “I have a duty to protect my sheep and as long as I am in charge I will do it. I know how to do it. No one needs to teach me.” I quote this instance only to prove that my reflections, based entirely and scrupulously on the Bible, are not mere speculations. There is a hard and harsh reality that needs to be addressed. I conclude by quoting St. Paul-It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Gal. 51). From the Prophets to Jesus, the message simple and the same- Set my people free. Years ago, I happened, by sheer chance, to address a Pentecostal meeting in Kuwait. The pastor in charge consented to the pentecostally unthinkable - a priest from any other denomination preaching to his congregation- because the recommendations were too important to be defied without serious loss of personal income. I shared the message. Late in the night that day, I got a phone call. Here’s what the caller said- “Sir, I am a recent convert from Hinduism. After listening to you, I realized that I was no more than an animal tied in a cattleshed. All of us are kept in darkness.” Is this true only of Pentecostal outfits? Well, your guess is as good as mine.
The Altar Trio - Gazing at the Altar in a Cathedral: Rev. Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam
A wooden Cross heavily guarded and decorated by 12 lighted candles. Candle––the symbol of light––placed far away from the pulpit and the pew The light knows no caste or creed, being a religionless symbol. The candle burns and illumines the cross for what it should stand for It gives itself by burning as a symbol of kenosis. I asked myself: Was Jesus crucified on the cross, decorated with lighted candles? Where are the two thieves on either side of the cross? “Jesus was crucified outside the gate” Where are the wall and its gate? Who has demolished the wall and the gate? The flowers kept at the side of the cross carry a message of their own They lead the worshippers to the abode of beauty and truth in a plural world It speaks to the worshippers with a plea: Live as “the aroma of the Christ”! Sing praise to the Lord of Creation! In the Post-Truth world, the altar beckons the worshippers to move “outside the gate” And erect the cross along with the thieves on the right and the left, Being decorated with flowers and illumined by the lighted candles. What is truth? It is now socially constructed to serve those in power.
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Crisis: Reconciliation, Transformation, and Liberation Dr. Zac Varghese, London We are living through the biggest crisis and challenges since the two Great Wars, industrial, political, sociological, economic turbulences of the last century. Great religions of the world provided some confidence to take on these challenges to some extent, but the tragedy today is that religions themselves are the cause of the most of the modern conflicts. In addition, the interests in religions are also fading. The 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Centre in New York, Iraqi invasion, and religiously motivated wars and revolutions in the Middle East, Africa, and other parts of the world have destabilised the world in many directions. Their weapons of mass destruction are not conventional and it is not always located in specific geographic territories and its guerrilla tactics are difficult to predict and eradicate.
People who are attracted to these atrocities could even be our neighbours or ordinary people whom we meet in high streets or shopping centres. Even the social media has become a weapon for mass destruction by cluttering and deforming minds and personalities of impressionable people. When we look back, we see how the Church had faced some of these challenges and survived including the excesses of crusades and dogmatic imperialism of the Church. When we celebrate the 500th anniversary of Luther’s Reformation in Europe and its impact on the world around we should be thinking of factors which are preventing the Church to make effective responses to ongoing challenges. As Christians, we have an undeniable faith that God never abandons His people because He is our God and we are His people. By this I mean the whole mankind, not just Christians or selected groups. In this covenantal relationship, we have a Godgiven purpose and responsibility to be custodians of this world and its inhabitants. It is in this wider context we should look at the urgency of reconciliation, change, transformation, and liberation. Of course, the above sketch is on a big canvas with board strokes, but all of us are there represented in that
picture as microdots and mini strokes contributing to the problems that we are facing in our communities, churches and parishes. Now to many people, the influence of the church is minimal; to some of them the church is the problem than being a solution with its exclusiveness, and patronising escapist attitudes by looking for a heaven ‘up there’. Sri Aurobindo29, the Indian Mystic, wrote: “A yoga which requires me to give up the world is not for me; a solitary salvation leaving the world to its fate was felt almost distasteful.” We need to learn that ‘faith, hope and love’ are essential requirements for the survival of whole mankind. It is in the human community that we live, work and have our being in Christ. It is for this communitarian, interconnected and interdependent life that Christ came to the world. He lived in an inclusive community of sinners, widows, orphans, tax collectors, and outcasts – representing the whole mix of humanity. The crises that I mentioned at the beginning provide us a choice between chaos and community. A Godless world will be returned to chaos, God created order and rhythm of communal living. If we were to challenge and tackle crises of our age we need to rebuild communities under the grace of God. It may sound simple, but we use the word community for a whole host of lose associations and in the process it has lost its real meaning and impact. Scott Peck30 in his book, ‘The different Drum’ talks about communities in great detail and he says, “We apply it [Community] to almost any collection of individuals – a town, a church, a synagogue, a fraternal organisation, an apartment complex, a professional association – regardless of how poorly those individuals communicate with each other. It is a false use of the word.” He further quotes from a speech John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, to give us the characteristics of a true community for he said, “We must delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labour and suffer together, always having before our eyes our community as members of the same body.” This is how the early Christian community lived as described in the Acts of the Apostles; a Christian understanding of the community and its fellowship (koinonia) embraces the above experiences. It is where God and His people are drawn together in intimate communion (1 Cor. 1: 9; 1 John 1: 3).
29
Sri Aurobindo, Satperm, ISBN 81-85137- 060- 9, Printed at Tech Prints, Mysore, India, 2003, page 41. 30 M. Scott Peck, The Different Drum, Arrow Books, ISBN 0 09 978030 5, 1990, page 26 &59.
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The greatest need of our time is to face these crises and build true communities where we can see the face of God in the day to day affairs of mankind; if we do not accept this option of creating true communities we only will have chaos. When Jacob and Esau met to reconcile their differences after twenty years of separation Jacob said to Esau, “For seeing your face is like seeing the face of God” (Gen. 33: 10). Archbishop William Temple had a vision about an ideal Church and he said, “The Church is the only club (organisation) that exists for its nonmembers”. However, the institutional nature of the Church prevents meaningful encounter and engagement with a wider human community. The strict organisational boundaries of the Church prevent freedom of expression for the good of whole humanity. This prevents its members to develop a longing for justice and a hunger for true and intimate relationship with the creator and all the humanity without prejudices of one sort or the other, as the sons and daughters of God. Jesus has given us the privilege to address God as our Father in Lord’s Prayer and bring the heaven on earth for establishing the kingdom values in prayer: “Let Thy will be done of earth as it is in heaven.”
The Church has become a closed system with boundaries, restrictions, articles of faith, clauses of exclusions and inclusions, codes of behaviour, etc. In effect, we have a captive Church were we are restricted in expressing the freedom in Christ. Bishop John Robinson, the author of Honest to God, wrote that it is the bad theology which has prevented the modern man being addressed by the word of God. The restrictive practices of the Church are operated through the power structures of clericalism, parochialism, and denominationalism. These influences and power struggles are destroying the authentic nature of the Church. Parish boundaries and loyalties restrict its members from expressing solidarity to a build a wider inclusive community. It is often easy to read Matthew chapter 23 without a guilty conscience and think of Pharisees, Scribes, and the Temple hierarchies as hypocrites, as Jesus described them, who ‘clean outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. But when rightly understood, Jesus’ outburst and anger may strike close to our present
condition too. We are no better than them in many instances. A true Christian community is ‘something more’ than the sum of the members in its electoral role and the demarcation of its parish boundaries. This ‘something more’ defines the character of the community as I mentioned earlier on. Our humility and generosity of heart in developing an ‘I- Thou’ relationship with the other is an aspect of this ‘something more’. Instead of keeping the other person out we must walk the extra mile needed with the other person to bring him in, as we see in the Emmaus road encounter of two disciples and Jesus (Luke 24: 13- 33). We see an ideal community in our understanding of the Trinity. Scott Peck says exclusivity is the greatest enemy to community and it appears in two forms: excluding others and excluding oneself. Excluding others is easy to understand, but if ever one is faced with a situation to say quietly to oneself that this parish or church is not for me because of certain decisions or remarks, and then one is inadvertently becoming a part of the process of destroying that community. “A community is a group that has learned to transcend its differences.” We need repentance and humility to go through a transformational process to reach this stage in our spiritual journey. This is often a very heavy cross to carry, but God in His unconditional love would help us to obtain that transformational change in our life to enjoy liberation. Under that circumstance, alienation will be transformed to reconciliation, appreciation, and joy. It takes a great deal of self-examination, compromise, and prayer to a resolve a conflict, causing tension in a community. The health of the community very much depend on resolving the issue by understanding the other and putting oneself in the other person’s place. This would help in creating a ‘safe place’ in our community life so that a person can find freedom in being oneself without the need to wear a mask in order to hide insincerity or hypocrisy. Such a community is a heavenly sanctuary for caring for each other without any inhibition. This is the thinness of spirituality and innocence. In such a community we feel the freedom to express thoughts on our faces, and others would be able to read our thoughts. This is indeed an experience of heaven according to Swedenborg31. In an ideal community one should be able to respect each other’s contributions and accept each other’s faults and limitations. In Christian communities we often come across tension with traditional hierarchical pattern of leadership. In a true community, everyone knows their role, and in fact 31 Swedenborg, ‘Heaven and Hell’, Swedenborg Foundation,
ISBN 978-‐0-‐87785-‐476-‐0; 2016
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everyone is a leader in carrying out the responsibility entrusted to him or her. A total decentralisation of authority is characteristic of such a model community, where we would see the meaning of the ‘royal priesthood’ of the laity in practice. This is indeed the freedom in Christ that St. Paul prescribed in his letter to the Galatians (Galatians 5: 1- 12). Such a community is indeed the meeting point of heaven and earth. I often wonder whether we have hidden equivalents of circumcision in our churches for excluding people from fellowship and community living. Where do you put gender, colour, caste, class, ethnicity, and such other difference in excluding people from Christian fellowships? These restrictive practices prevent the flow of God’s amazing grace into our lives. The answers to these questions are at the heart of the epistle to the Galatians. “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).
St. Paul’s quote above is based on his personal experience of transformation and liberation when he encountered the question from Jesus: “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?” This Damascus road encounter with Jesus was the turning point in his life; he was transformed as Paul, an Apostle of Christ to Gentiles. Paul talks about his freedom in Christ because of this transformation (Galatians 5: 1-15). The source of true freedom lies in seeking the truth; Jesus said: “Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8: 32). We further read Jesus’ declaration: “I am the way, and the truth and the life” (John 14: 6). Leading the life in the way of Christ is the only way for liberation.
St. Paul gives us further advice for our age: “Do not let you be burdened again by the yoke of Slavery.” Christ has freed us by paying a very heavy price and let us reflect on this and identify slave traders of our age who curtail our freedom in Christ. Now we are allowing ourselves to be salves by our inertia, indifferences, and passivity. Paul, a staunch Pharisee, knew what it was to use religion to exclude and coerce others. Then he discovered the astounding good news of freedom and unity in Christ. St. Paul further suggests in the Romans12 that it is entirely possible for a local church to think, act and live according to the pattern that he outlines as a result of the transformation in Christ: humble, considerate, joyful, prayerful, passionate, righteous, hospitable, peaceful, forgiving, and the rest. Let us move through transformation to transfiguration under the divine grace so that the world will see us, literally, in a new light: for the same light that showed the glory of Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration will show the glory of Christ in our lives and in our parishes, and the promise of the glory of Christ for the whole world. Letter to the Galatians is a necessary corrective measure to those who impose religious rules and regulations to imprison people and take away God’s gift of freedom and unity from the people. If a new community is to be found Christians must be liberated from every restrictive attitude and structure which threatens to hold them prisoner. What we need is a ‘Church of the people and not Church for the people’. The former Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright32, in his book – ‘The Day the Revolution Began’ – says: “Theology, after all, was made for the Church and not Church for the theology.” He is asking us to replace the popular vision of the prescribed Christian hope of ‘going to heaven’ with the biblical vision of a ‘new heaven and new earth. He argues that Jesus’ death on the cross is for restoring human beings with a vocation to play an important role in God’s redeeming purposes for the world. It is about replacing a ‘work contract’ of doing seemingly good things as an investment and insurance policy to go to heaven with a ‘covenant of vocation’ to establish kingdom values on earth through community building, which is indeed the essence of radical Christianity. Let us become freedom fighters for Christ ‘with a longing for justice, a hunger for relationship, a quest for spirituality and delight in the truth’33. This would allow us to enjoy our freedom in Christ by realising that the God who loves is here with us. In this partnership we begin to recognise miracles as they occur in our lives. 32 Tom Wright, ‘The Day the Revolution Began’, SPCK, ISBN
978-‐0-‐281-‐ 06145-‐7; 2016 33 Tom Wright, Simply Christian, SPCK, ISBN 978-‐0-‐281-‐ 05481-‐7; 2006,
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MINISTERING TO THE TRANSGENDER PERSONS Rt. Rev. Dr. Geevarghese Mar Theodosius Episcopa & Rev. Dr. M. J. Joseph, Kottayam [It is indeed proper that the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church has initiated a project to honour the Birth Centenary of The Most Revd Dr. Philipose Mar Chrysostom Valiya Metropolitan by establishing a Rehabilitation Centre for the welfare of the Transgender persons. The Metropolitan of the Church, The Most Revd Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma, is giving leadership, and he is assisted by the Diocesan Episcopa, Rt. Rev. Dr. Geevarghese Mar Theodosius, and the office bearers of the Church. It is commendable that during the first year itself (2017-2018), the Church has budgeted Rupees One Crore to be raised and spent for this project to catch its momentum in a phased manner.] In this brief article, an attempt is made to look at the problems and the possibilities of the Transgender from a theological perspective. The term, transgender is an umbrella term. It may include people who are not exclusively masculine or feminine (people who are gender queer. e.g. bi-gender, pangender, or agender). Their gender identity is different from the sex assigned to them at birth. The word and its modern definition came into use only in the late 20th century, although people who would fit under this definition have existed in every culture irrespective of their religious affiliation throughout the recorded history. The transgender community is incredibly diverse Owing to the social stigma associated with their identity; they face a unique set of challenges such as discrimination, unemployment, lack of educational facilities, homelessness, lack of medical care and umpteen problems associated with marriage and adoption. In 1994, transgender were given voting rights in India, but ironically the task of issuing them voter identity cards required them to declare their gender. The group is often deprived of inheritance and property rights. Many of them feel that they are marginalized and end up in begging and sex work for their survival. Even though they too enjoy the Fundamental rights of the Indian Constitution articles 14,15,21 and 23, they are not effectively implemented. However we believe that the constitutional provision will not alone provide security to them. The spirituality of the people at different levels must be strengthened. It is indeed heartening to note that the recently started Metro Service in Cochin have given jobs for a few of them with regular salary and other basic human protection. As Church is called upon to minister to the weak and the powerless, it is quite legitimate for the Church to become “the voice of the voiceless” (Uppsala-1968) so as to break the conspiracy of silence in the society. The faithful has to remember again and again that “Life through Death” must happen in history for the establishment of just peace. As
the Bussan Assembly of the WCC (2013), affirms, the kairos of the Church has come before us to affirm life for all in a pilgrimage towards justice and peace. This is the call of the Spirit to cross religious and social boundaries in search of “mature manhood in Christ”. The transgender project of the Mar Thoma Church is a pioneering effort with spiritual and social goals. It is nothing but rekindling the divine truth bequeathed to the Church. The initiative is to discover new area of mission by focusing on mission possibilities in the truth of Christ. It is pertinent that we need to heed to the words of Marcus Barth: “whoever considers those table companions of Jesus too bad, too base, too little and too far removed from salvation, does not know Jesus as he really is The Being of the Church in the world enables her ‘ to go’,’to teach’ and ‘to heal’ as “ the conscience of the human community”(Vatican II). There are several daunting challenges and hopes in each era of Christian mission. God who acts in history The incarnation of Jesus is to be understood as the involvement of God in human affairs. The Holy Bible particularly the Exodus Story speaks of God’s act of redemption in the world particularly through the story of Israelites. This is a Christian paradigm. The Christian understanding of God is one that tells us the story of redemption of the suffering humanity for a better future. In an act of liberation, there are three component elements to be recognized: God, people and the leader. In Exodus 3:7&8 we read: “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out… and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them…” The three verbs, “seen”, “heard” and “rescue” are worth considering as they speak of the compassion of the Lord for redemption and restoration. This means that God has a concern for the transformation and liberation of the “least”,” the last” and “the lost”. As Church is the Eucharistic presence of the Kingdom of God in history, there is a tremendous responsibility before the Church to continue the reconciling act of God in Christ. It must happen through the ministry of the word (logos) and the ministry of service (diakonia) of reconciliation (2 Cor.5: 18-21.). Mission is thus understood as participation in the reconciling ministry of Jesus. As co-workers with God” (1Cor.3: 9) it carries a sense of urgency and dignity. The prophetic and the pastoral role in Christian ministry is a call to humankind to realize the Plan of Salvation in Jesus Christ. The challenge is to build the city of God brick by brick as the eternal presence of the divine. The divine urge before us is to move in the Spirit of God pursuing hope for justice and peace. The biblical phrase “justification by faith” is to be understood as God’s acceptance of us as we are. In the story of the Samaritan woman and the encounter of Jesus with Zacchaeus in the Gospels are indeed truths for us to move in the right direction towards “life in all its fullness” for others. “The other” is no longer outside the Church. But the ones who have been
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marginalized and branded as “useless.” As Jesus suffered “outside the city gate “(Heb.13: 12), every possible effort is to be made to meet him outside the camp bearing abuse for him (Heb.13: 13). Mission in the Truth of Christ God’s gift of New Humanity in Christ is not the gift of the Church to the people of other faiths and ideologies. It is the manifestation of divine solidarity on earth. The Kingdom in our midst creates a new consciousness and a new style of action for the transformation of the world. The thread that passes through all the religions of the world is nothing but the thread of agape revealed in Christ on the cross. The mission of the Church is to strive with God for the fulfillment of the prayer that Jesus taught us: “Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven”. (St. Mat. 6: 10). The prayer has ecumenical and ecological dimensions. What happens on earth creates joy in heaven (LK. 15: 10). The reference to God “as our Father” is an inclusive umbrella for us to search for the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of humanity. In our care for the Transgender, there is no element of discrimination as human need is our sole aim. Our care for others is the measure of our greatness. To touch the bleeding points we need to have sensitiveness and compassion. As St. Paul puts it in Gal.3: 28, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave or free, male or female” in our affirmation of the new humanity in Christ. For this, we need to seek the meaning of Grace over Law for the affirmation of human rights and gender justice. For the establishment of an inclusive society, the Oikoumene of domination must give way to the Oikoumene of solidarity. The vision of the Gospel as rooted in the Kingdom of God and manifested in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ urges us to stand against marginality and to seek for a movement from charity to justice. The parable of the labourers in the vineyard (St.Mat.20:1-16) is a classic example to illustrate it. The Church is called upon to translate the Jubilee vision in the Nazareth Sermon of Jesus (Lk.4:18-22) into social realities. In the Magnificat (LK.1:51-54), the great redemptive power of God manifests itself for the sake of “the sinned against”. “The scattering of the proud” (Lk.1:52) is a process in social leveling. God is at work in history to set right what has gone wrong in the human community (cf.Ps.146: 8). In Mark 2: 16-17, the opponents of Jesus levelled a criticism against Jesus: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but the sinners”. Mission in the truth of Christ is a radical search for the defenseless and the unrecognized. It has been well said, that “a great city is one that handles its garbage and art equally well”. The measure of the presence of the Kingdom in our midst is the measure of our caring for the least. It only facilitates the falling of the dews of Hermon on the mountain of Zion (Ps. 133). The Church is called upon to create “refreshing spots “in the world. The initiative of the Mar Thoma Church in this said area of ministering to the Transgender persons is only a sign of pilgrimage to the mature manhood in Christ.
Mission and gender justice Gender justice is basically an issue of human rights. It is a search for human equality. Every human right is to be achieved through a constant struggle against the forces of Death. “In an age of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary action (George Orwell). The Church is called upon to say that its primary concern is to protest and protect others by following the Good shepherd, Jesus. Jesus said: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn.10: 10).As “Christian Faith is “a resistance movement against fatalism” (Faith and Order Commission Meeting, Bangalore1978), the mission of the Church is to search for new and radical mission paradigms. In such an effort, the Church has to present Christ as “the Yes” of God (2Cor.1: 19). If Jesus Christ is “the Yes of God”, we need to raise legitimate questions concerning human identity and dignity. It is worth noting that the Catholic bishops at their synod in Rome in October 2015 took an unprecedented step to “welcome” LGBT and noted that they too have “gifts and qualities” to offer the Church. In Rom.15: 7 St. Paul writes: “Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.” Pope Francis has changed the entrenched attitudes of the Church on many issues by opening the doors for further discussion. The humble attempt of the Mar Thoma Church in the area of Transgender rehabilitation will create a few ripples for the formation of new humanity in our wider community. To find a provision in the parish budget of the Mar Thoma Church is also a positive step towards our commitment to a just cause. “To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness” (Bertrand Russell). To offer quality of life for others, we need to cultivate the habit of caring for others’ welfare. Remember, “Anyone who is among the living has hoped. . . (Eccl.9:4).The Church has to give heed to the words of Pope Benedict the XVI: “In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading, an interior emptiness, an unarmed fear and quiet sense of despair.” In the name of Christ, the Faithful has to stand for a reversal motif as we find in the song of Mary. Conclusion The members of the Church should empty themselves following the kenosis of Christ. It is the only medium to carry God’s amazing grace in word and deed. As the Aroma of Christ for the empowerment of the community, there is always a MISSION MANDATE for the Church. To search for the human face of God in Jesus Christ is indeed the message of the Kingdom. “God in your grace, transform the world” (WCC- theme Brazil) be the prayer on our lips. This is a call to move from a religion based on creed, code and cult to a religion of spirituality. What is needed today is to seek a secular (religionless) dimension of spirituality. The Church should affirm with one voice that the Transgender community has a role to play in enriching the vision of the Church and of the community at large. “O Son of man will these bones live” (Ezekiel). “Yes, Lord”.
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URSLEM YAATRA VIVARANAM: AN ALTERNATE READING: Part-1 Revd Dr. Valson Thampu, Trivandrum [Saint Geevargese Mar Gregorios is popularly known as Parumala Thirumeni (Bishop of Parumala) and also known as Kochu Thirumeni, (15 June 1848 – 2 November 1902. He was a bishop of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. In 1947, he was declared a saint by the then Catholicos of the church, Baselios Geevarghese II. Later, in 1987, he was declared a saint by the then Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius Zakka I. He was recognised as a saint by The Malankara Jacobite Syrian Church and Coptic Orthodox Church. Editorial notes,]
I know the saintly Parumala Thirumeni only through his account of the pilgrimage he undertook to Jerusalem in 1895. Of course, I have encountered many who hold him in ardent, even if somewhat uninformed, reverence. None of them left an authentic impression in me. Most of them struck me as showcasing this saintly soul as a denominational mascot. All the same, the intuition grew on me, as days went by, that Thirumeni was far greater than what he was made out to be. So, I decided to see Thirumeni through his written words, rather than via words spoken about him by others. It is always safer to meet the man directly, in whichever way, than meet him through those who haven’t met him either. I began to read Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam (or, Journey to Jerusalem-An Account). My endeavour in what follows is to engage with this unique work and use it as a window to glimpse its saintly author. This of course means that I read this work differently from the approach currently in vogue. To me this work is not, primarily, a landmark in Malayalam literature. It is, instead, Thirumeni’s spiritual memoir, or a significant chunk of his spiritual autobiography. So, to engage with Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam is, willy-nilly, to undertake, if you like, a Parumala Thirumeni Yaatra. So, here is my Parumala Thirumeni Yaatra Vivaranam. A hundred and twenty-two years ago, “Parumala Thirumeni” - Sukumar Azhikode would say, “see how the name smiles through its second-syllabic alliteration”went to Jerusalem to encounter Jesus, the Risen Christ. Today we visit Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam to meet the Saint
who met with the Saviour. This is our version of the journey to Urslem; a journey by proxy. Those who have read this significant piece of spiritual literature will agree that only such a reading is harmonious with Thirumeni’s intention not only in writing this crisp and concise account but also in desiring earnestly that it should reach the business and bosom of the members, at least, of the Malankara Orthodox Church. Well-meaning Malayalam literary geniuses, critics and historians -from Thakazhi to Paul Manalil- stay focused on the literary worth and chronological significance of Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam. As a result, they treat this work as a landmark in the development of prose and the genre of travelogue in Malayalam. The more I read this work, the more I am convinced that to approach it in this fashion is to mistake the trees for the forest. It cannot help falling short of doing justice to the spiritual genius of Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam and, thereby, also to its saintly author. The reading offered below is a timid and tentative attempt to suggest -not advance in the full panoply of a rigorously argued thesis- an alternative approach that, I believe, is closer to the spirit of the work, which alone can honour its unique and ardent author. Our very first task is to ‘place’ Thirumeni appropriately in the typology of the Bible. Fortunately, this is a comparatively easy task. ‘Kochu Thirumeni’ stems from the spiritual stock of Abraham. The parallel between the two nearly jumps at us! Consider just this one thing: does anyone think of Abraham as an erstwhile native of Ur of the Chaldees? In the biblical account, God called Abram as he was known then- and asked him to go to a land he had never seen before (Gen. 12: 1-2). In the course of obeying this divine call, Abram dies out of his old identity and becomes a new creation. His association with Ur disappears in history. He enters the Promised Land and turns it into his God-given homeland. Generations after generations, down to this day, he has remained Abraham, the father of the faith; not, Abram, the Chaldean refugee. What are we to make, then, of Thakazhi’s surprise that none of the followers of Parumala Thirumeni he met knew where he was born? He had to tell them that Thirumeni was born in Mulanthuruthy! This might seem, from a perspective extraneous to the biblical heritage, a regrettable case of factual illiteracy. We cannot fault Thakazhi for not knowing that general knowledge of this sort is almost superfluous in respect of Thirumeni. Between the Geevarghese of Mulanthuruthy (affectionately called Kochu Ipeora in childhood), and the saint we know as Parumala Thirumeni, there is a radical discontinuity that is comprehended best through the insight of St. Paul- “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is
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a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5: 17). Abram left Ur, entered Canaan and became Abraham. Geevarghese was called out of Mulanthuruthy. He entered Parumala and claimed it in faith. He became Parumala Thirumeni. The old passed away. It is good and courteous to know where he was born. But, it is not an imperative. The author of Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam is the Saint of Parumala, not the Geevarghese of Mulanthuruthy. It may be important for the latter to be situated somewhere in the stream of the unfolding literary consciousness of Malayalees; not for the former. It is because this crucial distinction is overlooked, that otherwise irreproachable efforts to appreciate Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam tend, as I said, to mistake the trees for the forest. This is not to argue that Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam has no literary merit, or that it has no significant bearing on the genre of travelogue in Malayalam. I deny nothing. But I feel urged and obliged to insist that these are incidental, not central, to Thirumeni’s endeavour and intent. An instance from Jesus’ parables illustrates this distinction. A mustard seed, says Jesus, sprouts, grows and, in course of time, becomes home to the ‘birds of the air’ (Mt. 13: 31-32). The seed sprouts in response to the law of life the Creator encoded in it. Admittedly, the birds of the air cannot make their nests, if the mustard seed does not sprout and flourish. But that happy outcome is incidental to its growth. The seed sprouts in response to the logic of life; not as specific to birds’ need to build nests. Nests are valuable and wonderful things. We wish to take nothing away from their place in the larger scheme of things. But nests are not the reason the seed sprouts; life is the reason. Birds have a place in the great chain of being, ordained and sustained by God. So, their needs too will be met; but that is incidental to the seed’s sprouting. Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam, likewise, may have had a catalytic impact on Malayalam prose and literature. Assuredly, it is a significant milestone in the development of travelogues in Malayalam. But that happy outcome is merely incidental to the purpose with which the journey was undertaken; its account written and published. The spiritual parallel between Abraham and Parumala Thirumeni does not end with the former reaching the ‘land he had not seen’. Instead, it inaugurates another journey. At this stage, the idea of ‘journey’ begins to be transformed. It morphs into ‘pilgrimage’. Abram’s journey, leaving behind what was till then his world, was situated in the mode of travel. But evolving through generations and becoming a blessing on the land is far more than mere geographic displacement! Abraham’s transgenerational journey is not geographical, though it necessarily involves geography. That journey is spiritual; it
is a pilgrimage, a pilgrimage of immense significance for humankind as a whole. That is why I am constrained to insist that Parumala Thirumeni’s Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam is not, strictly speaking, travelogue as that genre is known and received. It should not be treated as though it is. So, let’s ask, why would an extremely busy bishop, the chief shepherd of a growing diocese, deem it worthwhile to set apart the time he could hardly spare to write what the world would call a travelogue? Clearly, it was not to gain for himself a literary crown that Thirumeni wrote Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam. Parumala Thirumeni, a soul of extreme austerity, had no use for praises or plumes. He held all worldly achievements to be fleeting and inconsequential. By the time we finish reading this work, it becomes compellingly clear that Thirumeni envisaged it as his witness and contribution to the church. It is analogous to Paul’s epistles; in particular, to his pastoral letters. It meant little to Parumala Thirumeni to be assigned a place of honour in the oeuvre of Malayalam travelogue, or among the pioneers of Malayalam prose. So, I am not greatly persuaded, or benefitted, by the scholarly assessments and approbations of the merit of Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam as the first published travelogue in Malayalam. The value this work has for me is irrespective of its literary standing or date of publication, though it is not hindered or diminished by either. Let me state my position upfront. The value I have for Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam will remain, even if it were not to be the first or the hundredth of the travelogues in Malayalam, and its contribution to the development to Malayalam prose, negligible. It is my conviction that efforts -however painstaking and well meant to secure a literary niche for Parumala Thirumeni are somewhat misplaced. They could even be unwittingly unhelpful. Almost certainly, the saintly author would have genially brushed aside all attempts to clothe this work with literary merit to the neglect of its spiritual significance. The argument outlined below emerges from an intuitive engagement with the spirit of Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam and reverence for the spiritual genius of its author. If we are not to read and venerate Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam as a landmark literary contribution, how else are we to approach it? What, indeed, is it? Where do we place it and how do we measure its significance? From the very outset of the Yaatra it is clear that the holy land existed in Thirumeni’s soul even before he set his face towards it. A traveler’s pleasure in visiting places of significance stems from encountering what is unknown and unfamiliar. In Thirumeni’s case, he was familiar with every bit of the relics and landmarks of this hagiological landscape in their scriptural and historical specificity. Though he emphasizes, at the close of the narrative, the value of seeing -the superiority of seeing as compared to hearing - it was not so much to ‘see’ the land haloed by
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the birth, work and sacrificial death of his Master that Parumala Thirumeni longed to visit Jerusalem. Even a casual reader will not fail to note that at no stage in this adventurous pilgrimage was Thirumeni driven by curiosity. He was, instead, aglow with spiritual zeal! Indeed, ‘zeal’ (erivu) is the word he uses time and again in the narrative. Thirumeni longed to commune with his Saviour. In this respect, he is reminiscent of the PsalmistAs the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? (Psalm 42: 1-2).
Yes, Thirumeni had read and inwardly digested the layout of Jerusalem. To that extent, he did know Jerusalem. Its physical and historical layout was clear in his mind before he boarded the ship. But that was mere ‘knowledge’. Knowledge may be adequate for worldly or literary purposes. In the spiritual orbit, knowledge per se is inherently partial. Knowledge is comparable to the entrance to a temple. It is not enough that you see the gate from a distance. You need to open it, enter in, and join the on-going worship. To see this in perspective, it helps to recall the concluding section of the book.
I quote this passage on purpose. Who can fail to be struck by the connection the Psalmist establishes between ‘meeting with God’ and ‘going’? Going, for the Psalmist, is nothing, if it is not to meet with God. The pilgrim who went to Jerusalem in 1895 can be compared only to the ‘deer that pants after streams of water’. What the cargo ship carried to Port Said was a soul panting for the living God as revealed in Jesus Christ, his Son. Jerusalem was significant only as the matrix of that meeting.
“The inner tumult we experienced, the smarting sense of our sinfulness, the feeling of repentance that took hold of us, and the reverence that welled up within us as we prayed kneeling at the holy Sepulcher of our Lord, far exceeded everything we had ever known before.” All through the narrative Thirumeni puts the emphasis, not so much on the value of seeing in its cognitive scope, but on his thirst ‘to meet with’ the Lord. Spiritual intimacy, unlike factual knowledge, craves for wholeness and oneness. (Biblically speaking, ‘wholeness’ is possible only through ‘oneness’; oneness with Jesus. Cf. Jn. 15:4) It involves a paradigm-shift from ‘knowing about’ to ‘knowing’. ‘Going’ becomes, as a result, a spiritual experience. Spirituality involves an eradication of distance, or alienation. (The alternative to ‘going’ in this sense, in the biblical worldview, is ‘hiding’. Cf. Gen. 3:8) Spiritual devotion longs for experiential intimacy and the eradication of distance. This, after all, was the principle of incarnation. The Word became flesh and dwelt in our midst… (Jn. 1: 14). It is a logical imperative that incarnation involves ‘going’ (cf. Phil. 2: 5-8). Jesus came ‘to be with’ us. (Mt.1: 23; 28: 19-20). In this sense, the title of Thirumeni’s book happens to be a trifle misleading. This is not a journey to Jerusalem; at least in its familiar sense. It is an exercise that belongs to the order of his abiding in the Lord and the Lord abiding in him (Jn. 15:4). Jerusalem becomes a hallowed context for this experience of spiritual intimacy.
The Bible is, in many ways, an anthology of journeys. It begins with God who ‘comes’ into the Garden to have fellowship with Adam and Eve. It reveals a God who calls people out of their habitats, hideouts and comfort zones. Journeys result when human beings respond obediently, as Abram did, to that call. Profound purposes, bound by a well-defined logic, underlie such calls. They are instinct with God’s love for us. Our predicaments, in the given context, are inadequate to the goal of our attaining life in all its fullness. It is for our sake, and for the good of our fellow human beings, that God calls us out of where we stay stuck. This is why ‘transformation’ is at the heart of biblical spiritualty. To be transformed is to be set on course to the fullness of our scope and stature as creatures made in the image and likeness of God. The thirst of every human being is for ‘fullness’ in this sense. We become burdened and wearied (Mt. 11: 28) – for which the fashionable word today is ‘depressed’- for falling short of this fullness in our life. God calls us out of the partial and the perishable whatever is partial is perishable- into life in all its fullness. Abundant life is the anteroom to everlasting life. Parumala Thirumeni’s ‘zeal’ is akin to the ‘thirst’ of the Psalmist. Thirst, physical as well as spiritual, betokens the forfeiture of fullness. We experience thirst when the volume of blood circulating in the body becomes less than the volume that should circulate. Thirst stems from the shortfall in blood between the volume of circulation and the circulating volume. Only a soul alive enough to realize its spiritual thirst will experience the ‘zeal’ that seized the Psalmist and Parumala Thirumeni.
Incarnation is a hybrid of divine humility and human disability. Thirumeni makes it a point to underscore, at the conclusion of his narrative, that the need for pilgrimages stems from human limitations. I quote below a passage that dispels even residual doubts in this regard. After pointing out -with reference to Jesus’ immortal conversation with a ‘fallen’ Samaritan woman (Jn.4) - that God, being Spirit, can be, in principle, communed with and worshipped anywhere, he writes- “Even so, my travel to Jerusalem convinces me that, given how sinful and weak we are in faith, knowing by seeing is far more beneficial than knowing by hearing alone, in fortifying our faith and deepening our devotion.” (Italics added.) Seen in this light Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam is an elaborate and incarnate invitation to the community of faith to do all
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it can to grow in faith towards maturity and fruitfulness. It is appropriate, in this connection, to remember that ‘sending out’ was the strategy Jesus used to facilitate the spiritual growth of his disciples. It is this heritage of ‘sentness’ that the Kerala Christian community in particular needs to regain. The irony in this context should not be lost sight of. In material terms, Kerala thrives today especially its precariously prosperous ‘money order economy’- because of the ‘sent-ness’ of Keralites towards the Middle East and North America! Migrant workers from other states subsist on this economy of sent-ness, thanks to their own sent-ness! But, this very material buoyancy of Malayalees, or their sent-ness, suppresses their spiritual sent-ness. Of course, more people go to the Holy Land now than during Thirumeni’s time. They go and come back like the items of luggage that accompany them. The defining thing is not, therefore, that we go to Jerusalem. It is, as Thirumeni would insist, to address the reality of the ‘littleness of faith’ in which we languish today and to do all we can to be delivered of the existential paralysis those issues from it. If a trip to the Holy Land is needed to shore up our sagging faith, rush there right away! If loving your neighbour is the tonic that our anaemic faith needs, reach out today! If going to Jerusalem is no more than tourism for us, Thirumeni too would avow, there are alternate, better, and more convenient destinations available. This is no idle speculation; for that was indeed the view of St. Gregory of Nyssa -the distinguished scholar, philosopher and theologian of 4th century AD, who went back quite disappointed from his Jerusalem visit, in stark contrast to the glowing, radiant enthusiasm of Parumala Thirumeni. “There are places in Cappadocia,” St. Gregory wrote, “far saintlier than Jerusalem!” I quote St. Gregory’s words to emphasize that the person, not the place, is primary. It is not the person per se; but the spiritual vitality of the person whose heart pants for God. It is necessary to insist on this distinction. Surely, Thirumeni was aware of Jesus’ note of caution for Thomas, the skeptical Apostle: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (Jn. 20: 29). Jesus, in this context, was not belittling the usefulness of ‘seeing’. Even at the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus was aware of the value of seeing. He said to the Baptist’s disciples, who were curious about him, “Come and see.” (Jn. 1:39) Jesus, in the passage quoted above, merely cautions Thomas of the spiritual hindrance immanent in proof seeking. Faith cannot be preceded by proof. Faith generates experiences, which, then, serve as proof. Inward assurance, not material proof, is akin to faith. Proof can only be a by-product of, not a pre-condition for, faith.
We will distort the spiritual core of the remarkable work we are trying to unpack, if we over-emphasize ‘seeing’ in its familiar, empirical sense as the shaping logic of its genesis or genius. The ‘seeing’ that its author commends to his readers is seeing-as-going. It is, even more, seeing-as-going driven by the intent to ‘abide in’ (Jn. 15: 4). We will miss Thirumeni’s core message, if we stay mesmerized with a literary reading of this book, which could get stuck at the semantics of ‘seeing’ in the paradigm of travelogues. Ironically, we have to go beyond Thirumeni’s stated emphasis on the value of ‘seeing’ in order to ‘see’ the quintessential worth of Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam, and recognize the spiritual paradigm of seeing on which it is predicated. It is Parumala Saint’s meekness that prevents him from stating upfront that his is no ordinary seeing. What a person sees does not depend so much on where he goes, but who he is and why he goes. There is a world of difference between how a tourist, a scholar, or a theologian sees Jerusalem and how a saint-in-the-making sees, in Thirumeni’s words, ‘its spiritual treasures’. The book urges its readers, and the community of faith, to develop the discipline of seeing with eyes sanctified by devotion. This is as important in our familiar situations and sites, as it is in destinations of pilgrimage. This is Thirumeni’s insight and it is central to Urslem Yaatra Vivaranam. It is doubtful if either the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church, or the Kerala Christian community as a whole, has taken this insight, this spiritual schooling, onboard. It is often the case that our eagerness to celebrate the memory of a saint is not matched by a willingness to heed the message he offers for our edification, enrichment and empowerment. More than a century after the publication of this work (1895), in circumstances so vastly different from Thirumeni’s, his emphasis on ‘seeing’ – in the sense in which we have tried to understand it here – has acquired a resonance that he could not have foreseen. (This too is a mark of a person’s godliness. His example, insights and teachings grow, not fade, in significance with the passage of time.) Unlike Thirumeni, we are living in the age of visual media, the era of the seen. Our problem today is not that we have to take hazardous pains to supplement what we hear with what needs to be seen. Our problem is that we have eyes that see not what is already revealed, and ears that hear not what is already spoken. Ironically, even today, the crucial issue is that we still need to see as Thirumeni did! Thanks to the visual media, we can see Jerusalem without stirring out of our living rooms. The problem is that we are ill prepared to be in Jerusalem, the City of God, and to meet with the eternal King of the City. That is why it helps to keep in mind the example of a great scholar and philosopher like St. Gregory of Nyssa in this context. Even at risk of incurring blasphemy, I would borrow the words of Jesus and say, “Verily, verily I say unto you; unless your vision exceeds the vision of the scholars of this world, you shall, in no wise, enter into Jerusalem, the City of God.”
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More Than a Rock David Brand, All Saints’ Harrow Weald, North London Not being a cleric I am in no position to preach to anybody, however if I can leave you with a challenging thought that lasts as long as it takes to reach the car park or the lych gate33 I shall be more than satisfied. I would like you to imagine a beautiful sandy beach, possibly Fistral beach in Cornwall or Rhossili beach in Wales where the sea rolls in, breaks and sweeps up the beach. The kind of beach where children play dare and inevitably end up with wet shoes as reputably the seventh wave is larger than its peers. You will probably notice that these waves throw up small pebbles onto the sand and then greedily suck them back into the sea as it recedes. It is by this action that the pebbles are ground flat by the abrasive action of the sand and sea and on a calm day holidaymakers amuse themselves by skipping or bouncing them over calm water with a low trajectory throw. I would like you to remember this image as we go back in time to the moment when Jesus proclaimed that Peter would be the rock on which his church would be built, anyone hearing this for the first time could be forgiven in thinking that surely this must be a mistake, Peter was definitely a leader in his fishing community, you get the impression of a big bluff man who tended to talk or act first and think later. We have examples of this in his attempt to walk on water; then losing his faith and sinking, of being told “Get behind me, Satan!” by Jesus, falling asleep in the garden of Gethsemane when specifically asked to stay awake and was most likely responsible for cutting off the ear belonging to the servant to the High Priest. Although forewarned by Jesus he denied him three times during the night and also fled leaving him to die on the cross in the company of the three Marys’ and John. More a pebble than a rock, however if we were to judge Peter at this stage we would be reflecting on our own humanity by underestimating the power and wisdom of God, because three momentous events take place: the resurrection of Jesus, the presence of the Holy Spirit and later the appearance of Paul. Peter now shamed and forgiven becomes the natural leader of the disciples. He has been strengthened and inspired by the Holy Spirit but hardly a rock on which to build a Church and there is worse to come. Israel over the centuries had been part of a huge battleground involving Egyptians, Persians, Assyrians, Romans, Medes, Babylonians and Macedonians and as a consequence Jerusalem became a multinational city and its very existence depended on the diplomatic skills of Herod the Great. When he was succeeded by Herod Antipas Jerusalem learned dearly the cost of poor statesmanship
when the Romans finally lost patience with acts of rebellion and destroyed the city in AD70 and this would not be the only time in its history. In order to retain their identity in this multinational society the Jews kept very much to themselves by applying their strict mosaic laws to keep out foreigners whom they called Gentiles. As a consequence the Jews insisted that anybody wanting to join this new Christian Church comprising mainly of Jews had to become Jewish and this meant being circumcised. This policy suited the Pharisees as they hoped to bury this new religion inside the Jewish faith as just another sect and hopefully gradually erase it. Paul was committed to keeping the door open to all those wishing to join this fledgling Christian Church and initially Peter welcomed the Gentiles, he would socialise and even eat with them. However under pressure from the judaising group he changed his mind and refused to eat with the Gentiles on the grounds that he would endanger his position with the Jerusalem Church. Before the Council of Jerusalem in AD 48/50 Paul had stood up in the presence of the entire church and openly criticised him for his inconsistency by pointing out to him that if he was willing to eat with the Gentiles, why should he compel them to become Jews? So here we have Peter feeling like that small stone being rolled up the beach by Paul and dragged back into the sea by the Judeans. However Paul’s comments like that large seventh wave pushed the small stone so far up the beach no wave could ever drag it back again and at the AD 48/50 Council of Jerusalem Peter accepted the Council’s vote that Gentiles should be exempt from all requirements of Jewish Law except for those applying to their immoral practises or upon comity with the Jewish believers. At this point, as Jesus had ordained that small stone became Peter the Rock and that decision made by Peter is the reason why we are here today in this church. That now leaves the sand from the beach. Peter may be a rock but it has to be as Jesus pointed out on a solid foundation and you are that sand, when mixed with faith, love and devotion becomes a permanent foundation for our church that will ensure its continued survival to be handed down to others for centuries to come. Thank you for listening to me. Editor’s Note: David Brand is an elder and a Lay Reader of the All Saints’ Harrow Weald where Sinai MTC conducts worship services. He is a retired electronic engineer. This is a sermon given at the early morning Sunday Eucharist.
33 A roofed gateway to a churchyard used originally as a
resting place for a bier before burial. You can see one of these gates at All Saints’ Harrow Weald.
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