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Drafts by Thomas Baby

Today is the 13 th day of lent. "Lent stimulates us to let the Word of God penetrate our life and... more Today is the 13 th day of lent. "Lent stimulates us to let the Word of God penetrate our life and in this way to know the fundamental truth: who we are, where we come from, where we must go, what path we must take in life..."-Pope Benedict XVI. I think we need to ask these basic questions in our lives every day, especially in the lent season. Today the church, faith communities are not ready to ask the above questions. The above questions are very pertinent and give challenging dimensions in relation to mission of the church. As a church we need to ask this question, this question leads us to do our mission and ministry meaningfully in this world. Today's biblical portion is St. Mark 13:1-8 here Jesus saying the destruction of the temple, many will come in my name and say Iam he…….when you hear of wars and rumors of wars do not be alarmed:…….beginnings of the birth pangs. Scholars have come to call this portion as the " Little Apocalypse, " even as debate goes on concerning the extent to which it can be considered formal apocalyptic literature. When we deal this portion we think this portion is always related to the end things or it is related to end of the world. Now also most of the believers interpreting and argues that the end of the world already started, the wars, famine, earth quake, tsunami are the signs and symbols. But we are preaching and prophesying about the end of the world and investing and earning more money and property in this world? .Here JESUS emphasizes not only the end things but also saying very important and interesting things. 1. Jesus says these are the signs and symbol but you need to watch carefully every incident 2. These are the signs and symbols but you have a responsibility to do your mission and faith meaningfully. 3. These are the signs and symbols but you need to trust GOD continuously. We always criticize and watching the incidents around us. But as faithful and a vigilant community we are not partaking in our duty or we are not faithful to our responsibility. In this lent season we need to think about our roles in the present scenario. I think we are like Jonah " after the preaching of word of GOD he sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city. ". We are also same like that, we are also watching to see the sorrows and pains of others, other people, city…..etc. In this lent season are we ready to define our roles and responsibility among this critical situation of the world. C. Radhakrishnan wrote a good novel in Malayalam, the name of the novel is " munpe parakkunna pakshikal " are we like that in this world? Are we continuously watching the incidents and praying for this world?

Respected teachers, community members, and my dear loving friends I greet you in the matchless na... more Respected teachers, community members, and my dear loving friends I greet you in the matchless name of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. I humbly accepting that it is a great privilege for me to stand here and sharing word of God in your midst. Our lord Christ gives the energy, grace, and strength to do this responsibility in a faithful manner. Today's scripture portion which is read to us is St. Luke 19: Vs from 41-44. It states that Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. My Christian faith and practices developed through small stories which I got from my grandfather. He was an army person, always very happy to share small stories to his grandchildren. So my faith, bible reading and interpretation of scripture portion is also depends up on those stories. Here I would like to narrate two stories for an entry or as an interpretation of this passage. The first one is related to weeping and fasting. In one Christian family they conducted a good fasting prayer. After finishing this prayer family distributed good food also. The leader of the prayer asked to head of the family. What is the reason for this prayer fellowship, I noticed you all the family members were crying in all the prayer times, and also you have given a good food also. The head of the family replied, " Faith is the assurance of the things of hope for, the conviction of the things not seen. " The leader amazed and asked so what is the reason for the cry? The reply was like this! Pastor it was the reason for our cry that due to the grace of God we had an opportunity to bring something's from abroad without paying proper tax in the airport to the government. It may cost around minimum Rs 50,000/-but due to the grace of God, the eyes of the customs officers were closed and we saved that tax amount. So our prayer, cry, good food is the thanks towards God. The second story which was I got from my grandfather. Whenever we goes to church it was the habit of my grandfather to tells us short stories. In my childhood I was a member of Kayankulam Mar Thoma Church which is in Kerala. Those day's our church was very big and beautiful. It has also decorated lights and benches to sit. My grandfather told now you are seeing the beauty and marvelous atmosphere of the church. But in our day's we were the members of Orthodox Church until the division happens between Orthodox and Mar Thoma Churches. After the division we had nothing, also there was no place to worship. We got a place CHAKIRIKUZHI which is Malayalam word. It means place or big pit which is using for the decomposing of the husk of coconut. So this big pit always emits the bad smell. We your grandparents were worked hard. We carried all the materials like rocks, sands, etc. on our head and shoulder to construct this church in the Chakirikuzhi which we got. People think this pit was useless but by the grace of God, we transformed the place of bad smell into a beautiful church. So whenever you go to the church you should remember your grandparents and their hard works. You just look the walls of the church; you can hear the cry of your ancestors. Here also Luke states that Jesus came near Jerusalem and saw the city and wept over it. So the question is what is the reason of this weeping of Christ? We already heard two stories of different cries. Here it is my imagination, Jesus' cries or weeps may be because of remembering the pain, struggles and the pathos of the ancestors for the construction of this city. This city of Jerusalem and the Temple is the part and parcel of Jewish people's faith and identity. Jesus' cry related to the agony of the ancestors in the history of Jerusalem. Here the cry of Jesus is not for any kind of personal matter. This cry is a sign or symbol. It is also a response towards those who are negating the painful memories of ancestors and their hard work with God. The walls, city, temple also have many stories to reveal related to God and their ancestors. But existing generation of this city was an opposite of Jesus, because and they never remember the past and painful history behind this city and temple.

Respected principal, faculty members, Gurukul community members' greetings to you in the name of ... more Respected principal, faculty members, Gurukul community members' greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. C. Radha Krishnan is a famous Malayalam novelist one of his book named by 'Kalikala Avasthkal' he says that " In earth distance became decreased but the distance between human beings increased. Luxuries also increased but the word peace decreased. In information lot of technologies arises, but there is no way to find the truth. Due to medical technology lifespan increased but lot of chronic diseases are sustaining. ie relationship became mechanical " One of the story in that book is very important in relation to today's our context. One of the students his name is Siddhartha he caught when he doing malpractices during his exam. When the teacher caught him and asks about it. That time he became angry and attacked his teacher. The teacher went to court and filed a case against the student Siddhartha. His parents and others approached the teacher to solve the problem without a case. But the teacher did not convince. But at last the student Siddhartha approached the teacher. Immediately after the visit the teacher convinces and returned his petition. The others especially the parents wondered why the teacher did not proceed his complaint. So the parents asked Siddhartha what he was done to convince the teacher. Politely and very lovingly Siddhartha answered parents I shared a simple truth if I attack or kill I will go a place that is called jail. So I have no problem, your family will lose you. The parents replied, you threatened the teacher. Siddhartha humbly replied, No parents I simply shared a new knowledge to my teacher. This is the vision and new knowledge we are sharing in our current society. Today we are celebrating Onam .Onam is a festival giving the vision about relationships. We can interpret Different meanings and dimensions from the festival Onam. But the important aspect I think in Onam is stressing the point, how can we maintain a relationship in an individualistic society. Today we read the biblical portion from Isaiah 11:5-9 also stressing the vision of an uncommon relationship. Here in this portion relationship is equating with wolf and lamp, leopard and kid the calf and the lion, cow and the bear, lion shall eat straw like ox, and weaned child shall put its hand on the addersden. Here we can see the uncommon or in other words unbalanced portrayal of relationships. In relation to Onam here the first point we can derive from this vision is transforming the binary opposites. With the help of postmodern understanding or using the deconstructive theory we can identify that our society is always build up with binary opposites for instance light vs darkness White vs black Men vs women Brahmin vs sudras. The characteristics of this binary opposite system one dominates its pair always. But in the isaihanic vision GOD clearly or beautifully coined a transformed vision of binary opposite's .here no domination but they are complementing each other. This vision eliminates the concept of otherness from binary opposites. onam also picturizes the transforming concept of otherness .one of the songs in Onam vividly analyzing this concept no theft nor deceive, no unjustified symbols and sayings they will not