The Pattas, our family name reminds me of our roots,our strong and proud Dalit Christian roots, for once we were no people, but God called us and made us God's people,sustains us to journey with God towards liberation and inspires us to be the channels of life. All those who share such experiences as ours are most welcome to join this blog and join hands in making liberation and freedom a reality to all those that are oppressed.
On the 12th August 2010, the United Nations launched International Year of Youth, calling the attention of the worldwide youth to raise their voices in all freedom and courage, and also calling the attention of global citizens to rise to the occasion of listening to the voices of the youth, whose voices have been either unheard, or neglected thus far. Approximately about 1.7 billion in the world are young people, and the world has more young people now than ever before. This directs to a phenomenal change in the demography of the world, and necessitates for the upsurge of the voices of youth be it in governance, community building or any other facet of life. The theme for this year proposed by UN is “Dialogue and Mutual Understanding” and the slogan for this year is “Our Year Our Voice”. Thanks to the efforts of NCCI-Commission on Youth for highlighting this year and for joining with other youth movements in raising our voices for a just world.
The youth speak the facts as truth without any adulterations to their voice, for they believe in the strength of truth. They are bold in calling, ‘a spade a spade’; for they don’t mince their words nor doctor their speeches according to their conveniences. Unfortunately, these voices are regarded as cacophonous, worthless and sometimes called immature, and are not heed to.
The Context The recent suicides of young Dalit men and women due to the unbearable torture of discrimination on the basis of caste continue to be a reality of our times. Institutions of higher learning are not an exception, for such incidences have been happening unabatedly. Mr. Senthil Kumar, a research scholar in Physics at Hyderabad Central University committed suicide and Mr. Bal Mukundh, a final year student of MBBS in All India Institute of Medical Sciences committed suicide, due to caste discriminations highlight the plights of young people today. These young peoples’ voices were unheard, their cries for justice were unheard and their tryst for destiny had to come to an end abruptly. These young men’s road to death started with the day they joined their institutions, for the institutions of higher learning have become fertile crescents for caste perpetrations. The voices of the dominant continue to amplitude their power by suppressing the cries of the oppressed communities. They bring in the argument, as those that have ‘merit’ will be rewarded, and lets do away with the reservation systems. And students, who enter these educational institutions through reservations and quotas, undergo a hell lot of discrimination and humiliations. Where is the space for the voices of our young Dalits to speak out and articulate? Where is the space for dialogue and mutual understanding in situations like that of this? Is the society open enough to listen to the cries of the Dalit communities? Questions concerning this go on and on, but the fact of the matter is, in this year of our youth, are the voices of Dalit youth heard or muted?
Time has now come to listen to the voices of the youth from across our Churches and societies, and more certainly the voices of our Dalit young people, whose voices have been marginalized, for being Dalit and for being young. Jesus Christ as a young man, voiced out against the injustices done in his days, and has given space for those voices that were marginalized in the society to be heard. As a Church, we need to confess that not enough space was given to the voices of young people, for always their voice was sidelined under the guise that these voices are from inexperienced and so on.
Jesus' Silence In Matthew 15: 21-28, we see a Canaanite woman, who cried to Jesus for healing her daughter who was demon possessed. Here is a voice of a woman, a Canaanite, and more over who had a daughter who was demon possessed. I assume that this woman would have been a young woman, who took all the courage to voice out the need of her daughter. At that very instant verse 23 says, ‘Jesus did not answer her a word’. Did Jesus become deaf at that point to listen to the voice of that woman? Was Jesus closed in making a conversation with a woman, who was from a different community? Was Jesus worried that his Jewish male identity would be maligned if he spoke to a woman in need? Was there not a space at Jesus for the voices that are in deep distress and pain? Jesus’ silence and his reluctance to answer to her voice probably would have pained that woman at that moment. Now enters the disciples, to add fuel to the fire and not just asked or requested Jesus, but were begging Jesus ‘to send her away, for she is crying after us.’(23b)
Disciples Grievance The cry of that distressed woman was jarring to the ears of the disciples, was a disturbance to their following Jesus and the disciples were even prejudiced, thinking that the woman was crying after them. This act of the disciples is yet again to suppress the voice of that depressed woman. At the behest of the disciples, Jesus gives a political answer with some shades of theology and philosophy, telling that his jurisdiction is within the house of Israel and was destined for the lost sheep within that fold. By this answer, probably Jesus thought that this woman would leave that vicinity, for his intellectual propositions cannot be challenged. The woman did not give up, until her voice was heard, and in all desperation, probably in a louder tone, she knelt and asked Jesus to help her. Jesus now took the occasion to interpret his theological answer from a day-to-day affair and said how just it is to take the bread from the child and throw it to the dogs? Jesus probably again would have thought, with this kind of analogy, this woman would shut up and leave.
Woman's Resilience All the more the woman was more challenged and replied in all boldness to the analogy with yet another analogy, that ‘even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the masters table.’ That day she made it a point to make her voice be heard at any cost with any kind of theology. Her strong voice for healing, her cry for justice and her tongues for liberation challenged a person like Jesus and brought in a change in him. No doubt the disciple would have been dumb at the response of Jesus when he said, ‘ O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.’ The woman’s voice was finally heard.
As Church we have most times been reluctant to listen to the voices of youth and voices for healing, and all the more like Jesus and the disciples, our adults and elders in the Churches have every reason to let down the voices of youth. This woman, challenged Jesus, challenged the disciples and I believe even the Church today for we need a change from within, where we can move from speaking and being a noisy church to a church where we allow the voices of youth and those in distress speak out, where we can move from preaching mode to listening mode, and where our Churches become the platforms for the varied and diverse voices of youth to be heard and attended to. The silence of Jesus, the grievance of disciples was challenged by the resilience of this woman, who spoke in all courage to voice out for her daughter’s need. The voices of youth are always kept in a mute mode, and let us give them a voice. Wake up Church to voice out the voices of young people in this year. Wishing you all an eventful International Year of Youth. Our Year, Our Voice and lets make it our choice.
Reflection on “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?”
Psalm 121: 1
Introduction
The recent James Cameroon’s blockbuster movie Avatar takes along the viewers to the hanging mountains and dreamscape of flora and fauna of planet Pandora.Famous theologian Kwok Pui-lan in her review of the film titled“Avatar: A Subversive Reading of the Bible?” she writes “in Avatar, planet Pandora is not only a land of milk and honey, but also has a large reserve of a precious metal unobtanium. The avatar of Jake is sent as a messenger to ask the natives to relocate so that the humans can mine the unobtanium. Jake learns the native ways, falls in love with one of them, and becomes so identified with the natives such that he helps them to fight against the colonizers. The movie invites us to look at the world from the point of the indigenous people—to see the beauty of their interconnected way of life and learn about their culture.”
Britain’s Vedanta Resources, the multinational bauxite mining company, has pitched its tent in Orissa, one of the eastern states of India. In August last year, the Supreme Court of India allowed Vedanta Resources to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa. The mined bauxite would feed the company’s proposed $800-million alumina refinery in Kalahandi district and an aluminium smelter project, costing Rs.70 billion, in Jharsuguda districts of Orissa. This project is going to damage the livelihood, their daily bread and environment of more than 8000 Dongria Khond adivasi people. The Na’vi in the film Avatar and the Dongria Khond adivasis in India share several common issues for justice and peace.
The above two situations sets our given text in our context to ponder and delve upon. Psalms 120-134, which are popularly called as ‘songs of ascent’, where used as hymns that were sung by pilgrims as they gathered to Jerusalem during the appointed feasts for the whole of their nations. As the pilgrims journeyed to the elevated Jerusalem, their eyes were continuously upon the hills, for the hills were their solace and destiny to which they were journeying. The pilgrims anticipated for help, calling on the accompaniment of the divine, which the psalmist records in the first verse of the Psalm, and the assurance from the divine was recorded in the succeeding verses.
Taking cognizance of the realities of our adivasi people, our indigenous brothers and sisters and their struggles for daily bread, their ongoing campaigns to affirm self-dignity and their fight for justice, allow me to reflect the given verse from the perspective of the marginalized communities. The Dongria Khond peoples daily prayer is ‘we look up to the hills, from where will our help come?’ In a context, where the hills are broken down for profit, and where the forests are cut down for selfishness, from where will our help come from?
Hills Represent Strength
For the indigenous people in Niyamgiri, Orissa and for several others like them else where in the world, hills are the symbolic representations of their life systems. For generations they have lived on the hills and their livelihood, their sentiments, their religion, their culture, their beliefs, their civilisation and their value systems all are interwoven with the hills. Their strength is their relationship with the hills; their stronghold is in their association with the hills, the fauna and the flora there on.Life for the Dongria Khond people is their hills in Niyamgiri, and they cannot expect life with out their hills. ‘We look up to the hills, from where will our help come?’ continues to be the echo that’s heard from that hill, and help shall certainly come from the God of the hills. ‘A mighty fortress is our God…’ is the hope against hope with which these our people live and God of justice who cares for the displaced and the indigenous people shall come in rescue of them. Hills do not represent power, rather they are part of God’s creation and their strength lies in being a help to the others, be it in causing rains, be it in protecting the forests and be it in giving a livelihood to the people and nature.
Hills Replenishes Succor
The people will be forced to leave and will be displaced from their original inhabitations, they continuously look towards the hills, for they know out of the hills they see the sunshine and out of the hills their help will come from. The modern technology may blast the hill into pieces to dig out the mine, but the will of those on that hill is so strong, that no force on earth can disunite nor shatter them, for they affirm that their hills are their strength. Hills serve as healers for these our people; they give succor and comfort to the wounded and tired. The natural eco systems give them fresh air of healing, for there is interdependence of humans and creation, in its perfect balance. The LXX has the Greek work boetheia for ‘help’ in Ps 121: 1 and is used in Acts 27:17 as ‘supporting cables’, therefore the supporting help to hold together in all harmony comes from the hills, which is the belief and comfort to the people there. God of comfort, who succors God’s people through the presence of Holy Spirit, is the driving force for the people who are fighting against the mining industry.
Hills Reassures Solidarity
When the rights of the indigenous people are violated and violence against them is rampant, the hills unite people to stand for justice at any cost. The indigenous peoples’ lives are at risk, and they are in need of support and voice from across the globe for justice. Hills, which sees that the nature is in solidarity with the people there, and the people in solidarity with the nature for they both live in mutual harmony, establishes a strong bond of kith and kin among them. Therefore when one is in trouble the other comes in solidarity with the other. Thanks to all the social activists fighting for justice and thanks to the Church of England, who have withdrawn their investment support in this particular firm, for they are violating the human rights of the indigenous people in Orissa. God of justice, who has created the heavens and the earth, builds communities of peace and solidarity for the good of the creation. God holds together the creation and human who work hand in hand with each other. Solidarity comes from God, for God is the local inhabitant with the people on the hills, and we need to accompany the victims of injustice towards liberation and justice.
Conclusion
At a time, when huge structures of Churches are being built across the country competing with each other to build expensive structures, at a time when the orthodoxy of the Churches limits us to perform certain rituals within the four walls of the so called sanctuaries, at a time when Churches criticize among themselves on the basis of doctrines and dogmas, at a time, when we as Churches are struck with our orthodoxy, it is certainly a challenge to turn towards an ortho-praxis understanding of the Church. How practical are we as Churches? Does our existence as Churches have any meaning and relevance to the society in which we live?
The Churches today needs to be like that of the hills, where the human beings, the flora and fauna and the entire creation live in mutual harmony with each other. The Church needs to give strength to those indigenous people for they look up to the hills of the Churches, which objectively needs to be the homes of justice. The Church is the place where succor and comfort is granted to those victims of human rights violations, and it is time that we as Church needs to rise up to the occasion of replenishing succor and tranquility to the communities around. When people look to the hills of the Churches, are we able to come in help to them? The Church is the place that reassures solidarity, for we need to journey with the marginalized and the oppressed towards their destined liberation. No matter what the identity of the people is, no matter what religious affirmations the people practice, if the struggle is for justice, Church needs to be in solidarity with them, even at the expense of their lives. People look up to the hills of the Churches for solidarity, from where will the help come?
These days, when the Lutheran World Federation in its General Assembly in July 2010 is discussing upon the theme, ‘give us today our daily bread’; if our Churches can be Bethlehems, the houses of breads, we can make our Churches more relevant for our times. As we join in the breaking of the bread, let us forget our orthodoxical Church traditions and affirmations and cling towards ortho-praxis, where we will be willing to be broken for the cause of our communities around, for only by being broken we can quench the hunger of many around. It is not the hill top Churches, that we are in need of, but the Churches, which serve, as hills of strength, succor and solidarity are the need of the hour. The will of the Churches should be the hills of help. Let us as Church wake up to see the grim realities around and lets commit ourselves to be in solidarity with the people of Dongria Khond in saving the hills of Niyamgiri in Orissa, and be a channel of liberation and justice. We may be distanced by space and time from Niyamgiri, but our sensitivity towards the indigenous people and their struggles needs to be taken into the cognizance of our Churches lives, for we need to garner support in favour of the people by expressing our total support to this cause of life and justice.
May God grant us God’s strength, succor and solidarity as we pledge to make our Churches the hills of help for people around who are fighting for their daily bread. Amen.
Key verse: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But Jesus answered, “It is written, one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” 3-4 V
The tempters direction to the hungry young Jesus, who was in fast for forty days and forty nights, is a challenge for Jesus. Jesus who turned water into wine, with all his powers at this point would have easily turned the stones into loaves of bread to satisfy his deep physical hunger. In Jesus as human, his divinity was put to test, but Jesus though is divine affirmed his human dignity and countered back at the tempter accordingly. For the tempter, the physical hunger was not important; rather a miracle to turn stones into loaves of bread was of high regard.
In our times today, to the hungry, to the weak and to those in poverty, most times the tempters of today the rich and the powerful show forth stones like situations and asks the poor to work on those stones until they are made as bread. The tempters of today crib and complain, because the poor are lazy they are not willing to turn stones into bread, because they are technically not sound enough they are unable to turn stones into bread, because they are not meritorious and always fight for reservations they are unable to turn stones into bread. Such complains go against the human worth and dignity of these our friends. On the contrary the tempters enjoy life and privileges at the expense of the vulnerable poor and hungry people. Those people who toil day and night are paid meager wages, but the huge bulk of profits go into the hands of the rich, for they have capital and power. The tempters of today are hard task masters, for they do not want any stone unturned in making profit for themselves, even though it costs human dignity to those poor workers.
Jesus, therefore affirms his self-dignity and counters the tempter by not performing any miracle, rather quotes the Scripture, the voice, where he says that it is not bread alone that will quench the hunger, but the voice of God, which is the word of justice, equality and dignity that keeps life going. Word of God shows right direction to earn bread through right means and right modes. Word of God counters the rich who make profit by easy means and by exploiting the weak and the poor. Word from the mouth of God, which is in hunger when lots of people go with hungry mouths, affirms human dignity and provides means and methods in addressing hunger. Word of God is life giving and hunger satisfying.
Prayer: God, who has sent the Word to become flesh in order to know the hungry, help us to be prudent in affirming dignity in all people and help us to voice against all tempters, who exploit the weak and the poor of our times today. Amen.
(An offering on the eve of the 35th anniversary of coining the term 'global warming'. It was on 8th August 1975, Wally Broecker for the first time used this term in a scientific journal. )
Bombs on civilians were thrown in Hiroshama,
Making many innocent fight against comma,
Tombs have resulted for those in trauma,
For death spread around its stinking aroma.
Let there be peace in land filled with violence,
Make our faith to take cognizance
Of conflicts around, using our lives lens,
Seeking forgiveness for our deep silence.
Temperatures of our earth are rising,
Apertures covering the earth are widening,
Creatures on the earth are vanishing,
Raptures within the earth are deafening,
Departures from the earth are increasing,
Signature the earth to save her from shrinking.
Our life giving earth’s womb is soon turning to be a tomb
Plumb and do not succumb to it. Save our earth
Our mother earth bleeds because of our greeds,
she ‘ll be pleased if we can take care of her seeds/needs
Food for thought, food for life and food for all, Good for thought, good for life and good for all, Said our thought, said for life and said for all, Live our thought, live for life and live for all.
Forgive us O God for we eat in greed,
For selfishness is what we breed,
Forgetting that sharing should be our creed, Forever we are insensitive those in need.
O God, the maker & the giver of life,
You have sent your son as bread of life,
Broken for us to save from death & strife,
Promising those that taste you, eternal life.
Is starvation swallowed up in victory of sharing?
Its sting, accumulation broken by caring,
Root of greed is uprooted in that sharing,
Food for all and life for all will be its bearing.
Key Verse: But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger.” 17 verse.
Occupational discrimination has been still a rampant phenomenon in India, and particularly in the name of caste and gender there has been unequal distribution of wages. Unequal treatment of workers at work, some occupations are being looked down and have been attached to caste-based works and work force has been divided and ruled by the oppressive ruling class in our society.
The Parable of the Prodigal and his brother, when re-read in out times of hunger and food security, it is surrounded around food politics. The younger son in a distant land, when he was dying of hunger thinks of his father’s house, his memory cannot but think of the plentitude of food the workers enjoyed there. The house of his father was an inclusive community where there was equal food for all at that house. No matter what the identity of a person is, what the work of a person is, if they are at father’s house, whether hired ones, temporary workers, permanent workers, day labourers, his own sons and even himself, all had the privilege of enjoying food, which was served equally and justly. Probably what the father and his son ate so was it for those hired hands in that house. All sufficient food was available for all those working at father’s house. No discrimination, no exclusion, no barriers, no boundaries, no gaps and no individualism, the bread was enough and was even to spare for all those working at that house.
This parable calls us to fight against occupational discrimination in our society today. There should not be any discrimination at work. Like the father’s house in the parable our Churches and homes should be examples where equality and sufficiency is maintained to all at work. When there is equality at work, there is peace and productivity at work. Give us today our daily bread is meaningful, when there is equal bread and sufficient breadto all at work, transcending all barriers. Equal bread builds an equal society.
II. Feasting Together Builds Inclusive Community
Father said, “…And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.” 23 V
Bishop VS Azariah, in 1910 Edinburgh World Missionary Conference in one of his speeches he said that ‘missionaries have always prayed for granting us thrones in heaven but have never given their chairs in their rooms to sit for us.’ This has been so, for most of the Christian mission engagements elsewhere, which is even practiced today. Most of us when people come in hunger, forget to address their hunger and have either prayed for those who are in hunger to be fed, or made hunger as the vulnerable situation for us to evangelize and show mercy and charity, and least of all have forgotten to feed them when they are hungry. By doing so, a hierarchical society is further made, with donor and receiver.
But the father in this parable, on seeing his son coming from a distant country in hunger, first of all addressed his hunger by ordering a grand feat of non-vegetarian dinner. Even though the son has asked for forgiveness, and expressed his unworthiness to be called as his son, long before he forgave him, he addressed the hunger of his son. By ordering a feast, father builds an inclusive community with the others over there. The father did not order to give his hungry son some left over food, nor did he give some snacks that were available instantly, nor took him to a restaurant for an individual private dinner. But the father organized a feast, where his hungry son was fed as well as the others in the community was also fed. I assume that every time a hungry person comes to this father, there would have been a feast for the whole of the community. By doing so, probably father was building an inclusive community, where the ethic was if one is hungry in the community, every one needs to feel for them and when is fed, every one in the community needs to be fed.
Therefore let our Churches and houses become the places where hunger is addressed not by mere prayers, nor by charity but by inclusivity and justice. Let us as individuals feel hungry, when one in our community is hungry, and let us make feasting for when the hungry are fed along with them.
III. Complacency A Threat to Inclusive Community
Key Verse: But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.” 29 V.
Complacency has been one of the manifestations of self-righteousness of our times, and has been a dire reality of Christian living. The ethos globalisation has always taught us to be self-content, self-satisfied and made us more individualistic and selfish, no matter what happens to the other in our own community.
In this parable, the younger son is projected as dying in hunger, the father as giving life out of hunger, and the elder son as depressed in anger. When the elder son saw and heard that there has been a feast at his home, he was depressed in anger for out of his complacent character, he replies his father in anger that he never has given even a young goat to celebrate with his friends. What was more pressing for this elder son was, when the property was divided equally between the two sons, the property where his father was, legally speaking the elder ones portion. Therefore, when his father on the return of his younger one threw a feast, it was from the elder’s portion that he cooked some beef for the community. And probably that did not taste good for the father shared from his portion. Complacency makes us not to share, and therefore frustration is shown. Complacency also made the elder one to further point down the allegations of the younger one, that he being hungry was his own making. Complacency breeds greed, and makes an individual excluded from the community living. Complacency made him to grumble that the father never gave a goat to be cooked for him and his friends.
In today’s context, it is high time that we Christians need to give up complacency in our lives. Our attitudes need to change, for sharing; caring and not alleging are all part of community and inclusive living. Let us give up our complacent nature, let our churches give up complacent nature and even let our missions give up exclusive and complacent attitudes. For today, complacency is the great threat of inclusivity. Complacency is the new aristocracy, which is a threat to inclusivity.
1. Logo Courtesy: http://www.lutheranworld.org/Images/LWF_Photos/Photos_Assemblies/Stuttgart2010/Logos/Assembly2010_logos/2010-Assembly_square-EN-448.gif
Reflection on Mark 6: 30-42 : Exploring the Theme of LWF Assembly 2010
“How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”38 V
India is home to the largest number of hungry people in the world, accounting for more than 20% of the total. [1]With rise on the inflation in the economy and with the adverse effects of climate change now being realized, food crisis has been a grave need for our times. The ratio of the food production and food consumption has been so glaring that the food produced is not enough to satisfy the needs of the common people. On the contrary huge amount of food grains are exported, which is part of the globalisation technique incorporated into developing countries. Therefore, the old famous saying once again comes to the forefront, ‘India has enough for its needs not for its greed’. With the greed of the few rich people increasing, the needs of the common people are not met. Local foods are now replaced by the fast foods and by tin foods that are imported. Organic food, where most of it is synthetic is slowly pervading the context of food today. What is the way out in the context of food crisis?
Jesus Christ in his times addressed food crisis, which has relevance for our times also. Jesus started preaching to the huge crowds that have been gathered near the shore, and had compassion of people for they were like sheep without shepherd, and began to teach several things. And when it grew late, his disciples informed Jesus to send people away to buy and eat their own food, for that was a lonely place and the hour has been already late. But Jesus immediately was conscious of their needs and attempted to solve the hunger of those people over there.
I. Jesus critiqued the culture of consumerism
When Jesus said to his disciples to give them something to eat, his disciples immediately replied, ‘are we to buy two hundred denarii’s worth bread and give it to them to eat’. Jesus by feeding the five thousand, critiqued the culture of consumerism, where buying from outside is its norm. The culture of consumerism is driven on the very value of profit, which makes the rich richer and the poor poorer and has no concern to the holistic good of the society.
II. Jesus made use of local recipes
When the disciples were more concerned about the cost of the food to be served, Jesus then enquired, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” The disciples found and said they had five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus to feed the five thousand made use of the local recipes, the bread and the fish, which were the local staple foods normally people eat.
III. Jesus organised the people into groups
Jesus then commanded the people to be organised into groups by hundreds and fifties on the green grass there, so that the food will be served equally, probably meeting the needs of the children and women with a preferential option.
IV. Jesus broke the loaves and divided the fish
Jesus then took the loaves of bread and fish and looked up to heavens seeking the help of God, the baker of bread and the maker of fish, so that these local recipes would be shared among all people over there. Jesus did this to share among all with what they have, with the available local resources.
V. Jesus would have ordered the disciples to collect the remains
Jesus would have asked the disciples to collect the remains, which they did, and collected it in twelve baskets. This is to teach people there not to waste and to eat according to the need and not according to the greed.
In our times today we as Church need to teach our congregations on food management, food sovereignty, food security, to share, to remind our people to be conscious of the people in need and to make use of the local recipes and resources to combat food crisis. Time and again our churches have romanticised this passage and have described bread and fish as spiritual food to be given to all people around, and have least been bothered about the needs of those people who are hungry and with out food. It is said that “Bible is not a cake to be taken on occasions but is a bread that is to be eaten daily”, and have been self-content with such reading of Bible every day, without living according to it. When we pray daily as “Give us today our daily bread”, this prayer reminds us that we need to be conscious to the needs of those without bread and food, and our prayer needs to be translated into actions. Let us all strive to make our ‘bread of life’ more relevant by sharing food with those that are hungry.
[1]Times of India, Dec.12, 2008
2. Logo courtesy: http://www.lutheranworld.org/Images/LWF_Photos/Photos_Assemblies/Stuttgart2010/Logos/Assembly2010_logos/2010-Assembly_square-EN-448.gif
In our times, when theological articulations and missiological enterprises are more explored in new vistas, in creative panoramas and in modern and post modern methodologies, it is not an over statement to express that our memory towards the contributions of significant people in the history has been slowly fading away. Our generations today subscribe to the saying ‘live the today, forget the past and forego the future.’ Personalities who have toiled for the mission of God in the past are either neglected or even forgotten from our memories.
9th July has been a significant day in the pages of the Indian mission history. Some Churches in India earmarked this day to ordain their pastors and some Churches celebrate as ‘Mission Thanksgiving Day’ on the 9th July. But I am afraid, whether the same is celebrated today in all enthuse and commitment as it was thought of. In our seminarian days, I remember on this day, we were sent to different denominational Churches to speak about the ‘mission day’, explaining the significance of the day. You may ask, what is so special of 9th July? I believe the whole Protestant Christians in India cannot forget this day, for it was on this day the first Protestant missionary to India, Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg arrived at Tarangambadi, now know as Tranquebar in South India in 1706. It was the day of the arrival of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to India through the Protestant missionaries and ever since then, the seed of Christianity, which like mustard seed grew into a huge tree, giving shade and solace to several people across the country. Thanks to all the contributions of Ziegenbalg, for his untiring and sacrificial missional engagements he had made, despite several hardships and hurdles. Ziegenbalg celebrated his 24th birthday on the very next day of his arrival in India, and I imagine probably he had to thank God for his life in a foreign land with out any friends as a stranger. However, in a span of 13 years he had had made an indelible impact in the lives of the people in India and breathed his last in 1719, at the age of 34 years. The young, the bold and the vibrant Ziegenbalg will continue to live in our midst with all his dynamic contributions. We need to thank God for the life and witness of Ziegenbalg and we all need to rededicate ourselves to participate in the widening and deepening of the reign of God here on our earth and in our times.
My only prayer is that our Christian nurtures need to include the mission contributions of Ziegenbalg in our curricula, for our children can get inspired and challenged by his efforts for the mission of God. Ziegenbalg continues to be a young icon in the world of mission, and let us all join in thanksgiving to carry forward the rich legacy of his service to the next generations. Jai ho Ziegenbalg!
A Violent Sight on a Silent Night: Missiological Discourses in the Context of Violence against Christians by Raj Bharath Patta, Delhi: ISPCK, 2009. pages 144
Rev. Raj Bharat Patta, the writer of the book is a young ordained minister from the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church and currently serves as the Executive Secretary for Commission on Dalits in NCCI. The author is an alumnus of Gurukul and his primary interest is in the field of cross-cultural and contextual theology.
The book is a painful, contextual reflection on the horrendous violence on Dalit Christians of Kandhamal district in Orissa during the advent season in the year 2007. The author had been to the affected area many times as part of the NCCI fact finding and solidarity Delegations. The book differs from most of the common Christian responses to religious violence in the manner that it does not blindly and solely find fault with any agency outside the church. Instead the author finds this time of crises in the life of the church in Kandhamal in particular and the church in India in general as an opportunity to contextualize its witness. Hence for the author, the time of persecution in the church’s life is not a time to switch to defensive strategies, but rather a time to contemporize its witness.
The reflections on the witness of the church are dealt with in three parts; each one deals with different dimensions of Christian witness namely; Proclaiming witness, Public witness and Prophetic witness.
The section titled “Proclaiming Witness” is an attempt to draw energy from the available Christian resources to propel the church’s witness forward. This is a search for the life affirming biblical resources to stand against the impending violence. The contextual re-readings of the biblical passages are intended to inform the dalitness, marginality and liminality of the dalit Christians of Kandhamal and to instill ‘hope against hope’ in them. This section also deals with the interplay of various factors such as the business interests of the high caste business men, the age old rivalry between the dalits and tribals sustained through the carefully crafted fantastic “histories” (without any real historical grounds), male chauvinism, casteist hegemony and bad governance to engender a greater catastrophe with indescribable proportions for the Christian population. The riots emerging out of economic, ethnic and religious fundamentalism should not encapsulate the Christian community; instead the church has to give out its witness as “peace makers” and responsible citizens “fasting unto justice.”
The second part of the book is the compilation of author’s responses to the violence, intended to be read by the general public of the country, written and published during and immediately after the days of the violence. It is an invitation extended to the public, without any discrimination between their religious belongingness, to sensitize their conscience of the perilous human disaster happening at Kandhamal and other Christian pockets of Orissa. The public witness of the church must not delimit itself at organizing protest rallies and fasts, even though they bear symbolic significance in some way or other. It further urges the solidarity of responsible citizens from all walks of life to come together in condemning religious, ethnic and economic fundamentalisms, upholding the rule of the law, affirming religious freedom, acknowledging the cultural diversity of the country and asserting the basic human rights of all people. It in short is a call to strengthen the democratic foundations of the country to overcome all sorts of coercions on human freedom on the basis of any form of parochial ideology.
The third section of the book titled as the prophetic witness is again a compilation of appeals and statements on the issue by NCCI and other ecumenical partners. It is an appeal to all citizens of the country with clear conscience to join the chorus in pressing on the government to act promptly to ensure the safety of its citizens against all forms of violence. The statements and appeals are deliberately crafted in such a way to make the responses comprehensive by incorporating the aspects of solidarity, immediate intervention, emergency relief, advocacy, affirmation of hope and even protest. Most of them are attempts to update the ground reality at relief camps and forest dwellings of people to expose the false claims of the government agencies the situations are getting back to be normal. The statements also stress the need to be mindful of the livelihood issues, lack of law and order and other gross deprivations through which the people of the place were going perennially. The author being a dalit activist makes it a point to look at the issue in a dalit perspective. He looks at it as another instance of explicit violence against the dalits, in response to the efforts to assert their identity. The issue is also looked at from the women’s perspective, as women bore the brunt of the attacks. The statements in principle argues for a “common vision and united action” against all sorts of violence without differentiating it in religious, ethnic, racial or casteist lines.
The message of the book is very cogent and the proposals towards the solution of the problem are much realistic. The church should not waste its energy and resource base in simply lamenting over its unfortunate predicament. She has to turn the crisis in her witness as an opportunity to contextualize it in the changing world. The church must also be wary of the danger of falling into a tunnel vision in understanding the violence that she experiences. She has to rise up over the present sufferings to develop a broad perception of reality, which she may be able to share with all the concerned citizens of the country to resist the parochial ideological formations of any kind. The violence against the Christians should not be dealt with in isolation; it has to be linked with the struggles of the dalits, tribals, women and other subaltern sections for liberation. The author calls for an unbiased governance ensuring peace and security for the citizens, tribal-dalit interface to get rid of the frequently recurring conflicts and finally unconditional solidarity cutting across all sorts of divisions in the civil society. The simple language and the use of imageries (the use of the familiar slogan Jai mata ki to correlate with goddess Diana is an example) in re-reading biblical passages from the familiar communal discourses in prevalence are very much appealing and communicating. The reading of the book quenches the queries of the academician and the common man alike to be led by the insights to a better understanding of Christian witness in a context of abounding violence.
Reviewed by Rev. Jacob P. Thomas, who served as a missionary priest of the Mar Thoma Church in Orissa for six years, and currently is a student at Gurukul in the MTh (Missiology) program
