‘Let it Stay for One More Year’ - Overcoming Greed: A New Year Challenge

Re-Reading Luke 13: 6- 9 

Life and life narratives today are defined and drawn on the parameters of greed, be it the ‘unregulated urbanization’ which is the root cause of recent floods in Chennai, or the ‘consumerism’ (driven into excessive shopping ‘buy one get one free’) which drives people towards accumulation of wealth or be it ‘selfish individualism’ where domination of the powerful over the powerless for all are zeroed on ‘greed.’ The caption that very well captures the greed of human beings today is “Yeh Dil Mange More”, ( this heart desires more) and therefore puts in perspective the struggles for life across the globe against corporate giants, be it the anti-globalization struggles, anti-posco struggle, or be it the anti-nuclear struggle etc. Captions like, “Owner’s pride, neighbour’s envy” have been used as captions of virtue, taking for granted the vices like envy & greed.  In such a context of greed, which affects the whole of creation, discerning the common creed of life is a challenge for us all as communities that wrestle with faith in making it more contemporary and relevant. At a time like this, when corporate greed dominates the society today, the gospel need and the Christian public witness is to affirm life, protect life and sustain life, life in all its fullness.

Jesus as recorded in Luke 13: 6-9 narrates a parable about a fig tree that continues not to bring forth fruits when the owner comes searching for its fruits. After three years of thorough inspection and waiting, the owner pronounces his judgement to cut down such a tree with no fruits, for it even wastes the soil. There comes the gardener, who pleads the owner to let it stay for one more year, for he would give extra care and effort and strive to bring fruit, and then takes a grace period of extending the life of that tree by an year, ‘if it doesn’t yield fruit even then, you can do as u want, to cut it down’, says the gardener. Now I would like to attempt to re-read this parable of Jesus from our own given context and try to decipher the voice and position of God in this parable, and find implications for us in our faith journey.

The Economic-Corporate Greed: Here is an owner of the land, who planted a fig tree in his vineyard. His understanding of a garden is to yield fruits all the time, be it grapes or figs from his garden. When he kept looking for fruits for three years from a lonely fig tree among the vine groves, he kept judging the fig tree by its yield. He wasn’t satisfied with the yield that comes from the vines in his vineyard. He like any other corporates gives a time period of three years for the fig tree to produce its yield and prove its mettle.  He believes that by only bearing fruits, a tree is worth, if not, it ceases to be worthy. All he wanted to make was profit from his garden, and therefore pronounces a judgement that three years of waiting for fruits from the fig tree is of waste of time and waste of soil and a waste of employees working on her. So he says to the gardener to ‘cut down the tree.’ This is exactly the ideology of greed, to have more and more, to have profit and to judge by those norms of profit, in this case the external visible fruits of figs.

The Eco- Feminist Creed: There comes a common powerless gardener, who dares to speak on behalf of the fruitless fig tree appealing him for one more year and one more opportunity to prove its credibility. It is this employee gardener who spends lots of time with the trees and the vines in the vineyard, and knows the worth of each tree in the garden and befriends all of the trees with whom he keeps working. The gardener does not join the owner in judging it by its fruits, instead he assures the owner to take extra effort, extra care, by digging  around and by putting manure for her and appeals for yet another chance to affirm her life. Cutting down the fig tree just because it does not bear fruits is not the available option for the gardener, on the other hand the gardener wants to save life, affirm life and build a community of unity & diversity seasoned with justice & peace. Probably, according to the gardener, the fig tree would have been a space of shade for him in that scorching sun, where he could take some rest. Or the fig tree could have been a nesting place for several birds in that vicinity, or the fig tree would have had the strings of the vines tied to her, bearing the tension of those grapes on the vines. The gardener developed a cherishing relationship with the trees and the vines in the vineyard, and cannot think of any tree being cut off for any reason, and therefore the gardener’s creed was ‘do not cut down the tree.’ For cutting down the trees have both sociological and ecological problems, and the small farmer very well recognises this fact and pleads not to cut down the tree.

The Encouraging Seed: We recognise the voice of God in the gardener, who counters greed by affirming life, who doesn’t judge by mere fruits, but seeks extra time and opportunity in preparing the tree to fruit. Imagine, the owner who is all powerful could have easily neglected the voice of the gardener nor would have punished the gardener for not listening to his command, yet the gardener, who cares for every tree equally, whether it has fruits or not, takes courage to speak to a person with power, risks his life and employment and appeals to give him an opportunity to prove life. We see an eco-feminist in this gardener, who relates to all of the creation with equality and justice, and wants all trees and plants to live and let other creatures live. The gardener knowing the ill effects of cutting down the trees prevents such a mishap by placing his life in a state of jeopardy, in speaking back to the greedy owner. The eco-feminist towards the end of the parable says, ‘if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down’, which only shows that he is confident that the tree would bring fruits, life of the fig tree would be affirmed in dignity by next year, otherwise he wouldn’t have agreed to such a deal.

The parable is silent of what has happened the next year after all these extra efforts of the gardener, but if we stretch our imagination, two primary things would have happened. One, the owner would have realised over the year that it is not always by fruits that one needs to judge a tree, for he would have changed his mind to acknowledge life in all forms in the creation and recognises the worth of every creature as he or she comes forth. There would have been a change of mind to the greedy owner on recognising the extra efforts of the gardener. On the other hand, the other possibility would have been to visualise the fig tree filled with lots of amazing figs on her branches to surprise the owner, and the owner would have realised how mean he was in being judgemental on the tree and by wanting to cut the tree. 

Implications for us today:

At the time like this, when ecological narratives and paradigms are contaminated by human greed and selfishness, Christian Public Witness is to affirm life, support life, protect life and sustain life, life in all its fullness.

·         This New Year, this parable encourages the local family farming by houses in the household to give extra time, efforts and energies to plant and work on farming and also encourages us to recognise the small landless labourers and farmers, their hard labour and their creative initiatives for food security.

·         Let us not be driven by values of greed and profit in our lives, for affirming life in all its dignity to all of the creation is all that matters in the journey of faith. Let us make a commitment to participate in the struggles for justice of all the victims of greed in our contexts. Let us pledge to give up, overcome and defeat greed this New Year.

·         Let us not judge creation and people merely from our own perspectives try to look life in all its totality, wholeness and fullness and learn to respect the equal worth of life in all creatures of God. For justice is beyond borders.

·         Make a commitment to befriend our creation, make them as our kith and kin, stop cutting down trees, and be committed to our environment and ecology. Rise and respond to the needs of our creation.

·         Explore God among the powerless and those among the margins, for justice and peace comes from them to the entire communities. For it is no longer mission to the margins, but it is mission from the margins.

The gospel need in the context of corporate greed to is to affirm life in all its fullness and trying to explore and locate God among those on the margins, specially the landless labourers, small farmers, daily wage employees, un-seasoned and off-seasoned workers etc. and continue to work for community of peace and justice for all. May God, the farmer who seeds God’s creation in all equality continue to inspire each of us to channel peace, equality and justice to all of our creation.

Rev. Raj Bharath Patta,

Christmas Greetings to Bethany Lutheran Youth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2ldFbCqUNs

‘Born is the Living Waters’: Re-telling Christmas story in the Context of Deluge

The Context of Deluge in Chennai:

The torrential rains, followed by deluge in one of the oldest metropolitan cities in India, Chennai in the season of Advent in 2015, came with a cost of 270 people dead, several thousand injured, and several hundred thousand becoming homeless soaking under the grips of water. The city which has seen these unprecedented rains and floods is slowly coming back to its terms, though life is still in its uneasy calmness. There have been several stories of victims of survivors of these deluge being shared, stories of people helping in the floods, stories of resilience, pouring of philanthropy from across the globe, actions and reactions on social media, some being able to mark safe on facebook, scientists attempting to trace the reasons and analyzing the context, politicians trying their best in scoring a point through their relief activities (some photoshopping the pathos, while some imprinting their photos on relief materials), journalists busy capturing the moments and penning down editorials, some religious institutions opening their doors for temporary hospitality for the flood affected people, NGO’s and churches getting busy with their relief activities, some Churches cancelling their Christmas celebrations in solidarity with the survivors of the deluge, etc. all happening around the context #chennaifloods.

There are several questions that go unanswered, like who is accountable for the deluge that happened? Why is the State not prepared in its disaster preparedness? Are there any lessons that we learn from this situation? How to rebuild the lives of the people in the context of crazy development? How can life be restored to normalcy? The list of these questions goes on and on, with very few answers or no answers left for us. The irony of the situation is that when people were dying in the floods with life coming to a standstill, the global leaders were meeting in Paris to settle climate change talks and negotiations. At the end, the State neither addressed the local Chennai deluge nor solved the global puzzle of climate change, and got back to business as usual.

Christmas as the Birth of Living Waters: Living Water-Mas

When the whole world is busy during this season of Christmas with their celebrations, carols, decorations, shopping, parties etc. does a situation like this have any relevance to us as faith communities? How should we understand the birth of God becoming a creature in Jesus? I heard some preachers say that such natural disasters are the signs of end times, and this is a sign for ‘rapture’ to happen and therefore let us get prepared to meet the Lord. I only thought how eccentric and selfish we Christians have been, thinking all about our own being ‘taken up’ when the rest the world is fighting against death, still struggling under pains of homelessness and deluge. It also irritated me to hear some Christians invoking the story of Noah, and how they and their Churches have been kept protected like in an ark, out of deluge.  I was further infuriated to read one of the forwarded prayer requests for Chennai mentioning ‘to pray for all gospel activities and revival meeting go uninterrupted during this time.’ Such requests only reveal our insensitivity towards our neighbours, cities and creation and expose our fundamentalism nakedly. I leave this discussion for another occasion as there are several themes that emerge out of these perspectives, however for want of time, allow me to engage in a much serious issue of this season, what it means for Jesus to be born in a context of deluge? I would like to read the birth of Jesus, as the birth of living water in the context of a deluge, for as living water, Jesus was born to give life, life in all its fullness.

People may ask, how this ‘birth of living waters’ is relevant for a context of deluge? This context challenges us to change our discourse of Christmas story from more triumphalist and paternalistic understandings of the birth of a baby Jesus. The context of deluge demands and creates a situation to interpret Christmas as the birth of living waters that saves and quenches the thirst of people dying in floods and in homelessness. On one hand the birth of living waters is a hope to all those who have been washed away by the floods, and on the other hand it is comes as a critique to all those who have been insensitive to the creation, for here comes saving waters, addressing the greed of human beings over creation and paving way for liberation. All those who adhere to the reality of the birth of living waters, are called to become tributaries of such a spring of living waters and address the dry, wet, soaked and washed away lives by providing life to all. ‘Born is a little living water called Jesus to save our creation from all human greed and pride.’ As Churches we are called to observe ‘Living Waters-mas’ in the season of Christmas.

The other way of re-telling the Christmas story is that, Jesus is born as homeless, just like those who have been forced to be homeless because of floods and therefore, in that homelessness, Jesus as living waters identifies with all those who have been made homeless, and brings hope by promoting life in the context of contaminated waters made by the (post) natural flood situation.

The birth of Jesus, the Messiah took place in a context of Roman Empire, where exploitation and greed were at its pinnacle. The reason for the floods in Chennai have been zeroed on ‘unregulated urbanization’ which has been a result of exploitation of natural resources in Chennai, with several water bodies have been destroyed to make them into concrete jungles. Therefore, it is into such a context that Jesus, the living water is born. The message of hope to Chennai is “it is living waters” that is born during this Christmas. The context demands us to re-tell the Christmas narrative in a ‘living waters’ discourse, and here is an attempt to show a tributary of it flowing.  This attempt of the presentation of ‘born is the Living Waters’ is very tentative, introductory and needs more application and analysis in utilizing this metaphor of ‘living waters’ in the context of floods as a Christmas theme. The metaphor of ‘light’ born in darkness is more evocative, where as ‘the birth of living waters’ in the context of floods need more attention and application. However, the birth of living waters is to save the creation from all forces of death and inspire people for life.

1.      Re-Telling ‘The Living Waters’ Incarnation Narrative:

Jesus Christ as the living waters, who held the Sprit of God upon himself, came down to the earth incarnating into human form, as a living spring flown into the nations. When the divine logos became flesh and dwelled among the nations, the streams of the living word flown from the divinity into human form and has flown as living waters. To understand the incarnation of the living waters from heavens into the nations, St. Augustine’s understanding of incarnation comes handy. According to St. Augustine, “the meaning of Word being made flesh is not that the divine nature was changed into flesh, but that the divine nature assumed our flesh.”[1] Therefore when the living waters which was the spring of all creation when was being made in to human form, the living waters of creation did not change into the human form, but the spring of creation assumed and continued to flow as living spring according to the currents of the nations. How do we understand ‘flesh’ (sarx) in the context of living waters? When the spring of creation, Jesus Christ became living waters, moreover being made as flesh, the living spring assumed our waters, for flesh is to express life in this world. Flesh takes life only in combination of blood and water, for flesh cannot exist on its own. Therefore John records, "This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. (I John 5: 6) The living waters came into the world by water and by blood that is to be in flesh. This is further warranted and testified by the Spirit, which is truth. “The Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement." ( I John 5:8)

The incarnation of the living spring into the living waters can be further understood by re-narrating Pauline Christology as explained in his letter to the Church at Philippians. Jesus Christ as the living waters were the very nature of God and that nature is life giving. But as living waters, Jesus Christ did not ever consider equality with God, for always upheld God for God’s creative spirit, and continued as the waters that carried upon himself the liberative Spirit of God upon him. As living waters, Jesus Christ always preferred to be the carrier of God and God’s spirit, and always waited upon God for the streams of life in him. The living waters not only did consider him as equal with God, but also made him nothing. The living waters, which were full of streams and life self-emptied and became a dry spring, even unto the point of crying that he was in thirst from the Cross. The living waters took the very nature of a servant, for he served every community and creature with waters. When the living waters served the humanity by quenching their thirsts and watered every generation and history with his streams, the humanity made a dominion over the streams of living waters. The living waters as serving streams bore that dominion, for the humanity have been polluting his streams, misusing and abusing waters and were responsible in drying those streams out. The living waters though was made in human likeness, once again life as the common likeness, the men in particular oppressed and marginalized the living waters. The living waters being found in the appearance as a human being in life generating nature, the living waters humbled him and became obedient to death, even unto a murder on a Cross, where the streams are nailed to become dry. The living waters thus incarnated into the nations and have flown into every generation and history giving life to all. The living spring incarnating as living waters is all inclusive paradigm, for they give life to anyone irrespective of their identities of religions and affirmations. Such an understanding of incarnation also goes against all the exclusive claims of and in Christology.

2.      Re-telling ‘The Living Waters’ Birth Narrative:

There have been a lot of controversies around the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. However, mother Mary carried Jesus in her womb for about ten months, and had to deliver him in Bethlehem, similar to other childbirths. Jesus Christ as living waters, like any other foetus grew in the womb of his mother in a sack of amniotic fluid, which is the water that surrounds the embryo of the mother.  From the gush of that fluid, Jesus Christ, the living waters came into the light of the world. Jesus is Christ the anointed because, he held the Spirit of God upon his face at the time of creation.

At Bethlehem, the house of Bread, when Jesus Christ the living waters were born there was no room for him in the inn, and had to be placed in a manger. The origins of most rivers take place at high altitudes in all liberty and freedom, and from the origins their course of flow is determined. For this Jesus Christ the living waters, his origin was from a manger, probably a low lying area and had to take his course of flow from very humble beginnings. (There has been a finding that the Greek word kataluma which is usually translated as ‘Inn’ is the same word used for ‘Upper Room.’)[2] The angelic pronouncement to the shepherds as Jesus Christ the living waters were born is, ‘do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born; he is Christ, the Lord.” (Luke 2: 10-11) Jesus Christ, the living waters birth is certainly good news of great joy for all people, for as living waters his birth shall make all people irrespective of their identity and region merry and joyful. To hear a birth of living streams in the context of deserts was indeed a matter of great joy, for everyone from the child to the old shall enjoy the taste of the sweet streams. The living water is anointed one and is the Lord for no one can contain the force and ferociousness of the waters. The birth of Jesus Christ the living waters is peace on earth and goodwill to all humanity, for water builds peace and will benefit all humanity.

At the birth of Jesus Christ, the living waters, certain people like Herod were disturbed, for they could not think of any other king beside him. Many other streams till the birth of living waters enjoyed the sacredness and power by their depth and length, and the birth of living waters was an eyesore in their lives. The magi were led by a star, who had to travel crossing several rivers and seas to see the living waters. On seeing, they offered gifts to the living waters, for they were filled with awe and wonder to see the streams so pure and life giving. Baby living waters had to undergo the purification rituals according to the law of Moses, and people like Simeon have seen salvation in that pure and transparent stream. The tiny living waters grew in wisdom and stature, as it continued its course of flow and also grew in favor with God and in favor with humanity, for those waters were thoroughly refreshing.

Drops of Relevance:

·         When Jesus Christ is understood as living waters, for he identifies with the waters and rivers today, it is the duty of the Church to take on the saving nature of the waters and to save waters, for the Church is one of the tributary of the living waters here on earth. In the situations of climate change, particularly in the context of deluge in Chennai, where several water bodies have been destroyed for greedy development, let us make a pledge to save our rivers, water bodies, lakes, ponds etc. If we are not conscious of this fact of taking care of these water bodies around us, we may again crucify the living waters to the Cross. As a tributary of the living waters, we are called to rebuild the lives of people who have been washed away by the waters of greed and domination. May we as Churches launch a campaign ‘water saves, and save waters’ and create awareness on saving water and water bodies.

·         This Water Christology is an all-inclusive model. For irrespective of any creed, identity, religion and gender can feel at home with the understanding that Jesus Christ is the living stream. Such a model can build a community, where everyone can be at peace by protecting our rivers, waters and our nature.

·         This Christology calls on the disciples of Jesus Christ to become like that living waters in our contexts in providing safe and drinking water to all that has been denied. Each of us should become a living stream in our context.

·         This Christology encourages liquidity in the adherents of faith, for such a nature can beat out the exclusive, stubborn and absolute claims of our faith. Such liquidity will give a chance to seek and explore newer Christologies for particular times.

·         This liquid Christology defeats the ‘imperialist’ creedal formulations of Christ, for ‘living waters’ is authentically contextual and ecumenical, inspiring people to work towards a water theology.

·         In such a context, the role of our communities is to resist every move to commercialise water, first by bringing awareness about the sensitivity of water, then by applying that in our lifestyles by saving water and desist to wasting waters at homes and colleges. We also need to discourage buying bottled waters and encourage drinking water by purifying our waters through our indigenous methods. We also need to fight against denial of access to water to Dalits and Tribals, for water is life and she is for all.

·         Our call for way forward is to make our commitment for water justice, when justice is being watered away in many contexts, like that of in Chennai.  Let us organize public awareness on the plights of the urban poor, who are denied water, and who have been washed away by the waters of greed and pride. Let us raise our voice against all moves of the government on privatization of water, for water is our right and our life and against the filling of water bodies by greedy developers. Let us imbibe a water discipline, where we do not waste the precious water we have, and conserve the water resources in our localities. Let us collect the water testimonies from our contexts, stories of struggle, stories of victories and how the communities organize the water audits. Let us be water sensitive, and try to reflect the outlook of life from the perspectives of water. Let us join hands in solidarity with other civil society movements striving for water justice, for Jesus the living water inspires us to do so.

Who knows the pains of deep blue waters,

For her tears wept and kept within

What’s for a man but domination that matters

For his power swept and crept herein

When she tries to quench the thirst of the poor,

He grabs it from their mouths for sure

For he dictates that water is for money and not for any

And pours her in the rich houses for waste

Arise O waters, Arise O people,

Water for life and water for all

Injustice to water and injustice to people

Speak out and speak aloud

For man’s injustice to be watered away

And justice to be for waters again

Let Waters roll down in justice and

And let the streams be ever flowing to all in righteousness.

May God bless our initiatives for water justice and let justice roll down like waters, let righteousness flow like a never ending stream!

Raj Bharat Patta

17^th December 2015

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[1] As quoted by Donald G. Bloesch, “ Jesus Christ Saviour & Lord” (Carlisle: The Paternoster Press, 1997) Pg. 53

[2] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/jesus-christ-not-born-in-stable-theologian-new-testament

HOPE AMIDST HOPELESSNESS: AN ADVENT CHALLENGE

“Lent” as we all know means “to spring forth”, which implies that in our liturgical calendar of the Church, if Lent is the time to spring forth and bloom in our faith, then one can derive that Advent is the time “to sow the seeds of faith”, and therefore this Advent challenges us to sow the seeds of ‘hope’, so that we can look forward for flowers of new hope and the harvest of new hope in the days to come.

Today we live in situations of hopelessness, where people and creation are yearning for hope to be breathed into them. “What is oxygen to human life, hope is for Christian faith”, has been a very well known truth in the lives of Christians’ faith journey. As we observe Advent this year, we have been challenged to reflect on the ‘advent of new hope’. The text from Matthew 11: 2-6, brings into light four levels of hope expressed in knowing Christ.

1. Hope Proceeds from Hearing Christ (2 V)

John the Baptizer, who baptized Jesus Christ, on hearing about his works when he was in the prison, expressed his hope, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. The whole world under the Roman Empire in his time was awaiting a Messiah as the only hope to liberate the people from all bondages and clutches. The hope in John was proceeded only by hearing Christ. As Paul writes, “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” (Rom 10:17). Therefore the hope in John has led him to enquire Christ.

2. Hope Progresses from Hearing to Enquiring Christ (2-3V)

John on hearing about the works of Christ the Messiah couldn’t stop but sent forth his disciples to enquire whether Christ was the one to come or whether they have to wait for another. There is a progression in hope, because hearing leads to clarification or questioning to know the right. Though bodily John was imprisoned, his spirit was at liberty, therefore has the spirit to enquire and to know the truth and sent forth his disciples to find out the Messiah. On hearing he exercises the hermeneutics of enquiry in the Messianic identity of Jesus Christ.

3. Hope Strengthens from Enquiring to Knowing Christ (4v)

The enquiring spirit is led to knowing Christ. As they enquired about the identity of Jesus Christ’s Messianic role, they were led by Jesus Christ to hear and see with their own senses the Messianic works of Jesus Christ. The knowledge of the disciples of John has increased by leaps and bounds on knowing Christ very closely. Knowing Christ is to visualize Christ’s works, to feel Christ’s power and to experience Christ’s strength. The hope of Christ as the Messiah deepened as they saw the liberation of people from several bondages. Bondages in every sphere of life was the order of the day, and hope of liberation was a distant dream to those people then, but the advent of Christ revealed that hope was no longer a mirage, but a true reality which is at hand. Christ as the messiah was the hope, and Christ as the liberator was the fulfillment.

4. Hope Sustains from Knowing to Witnessing Christ (4-6 v)

John’s disciples knew Christ as the hope who liberates people from their chains of oppression, heard from Christ to ‘Go and tell to John what they heard and saw’. Hope does not end in just knowing or hearing or seeing Christ, but rather hope is hopeful only when witnessed, so that hope is alive and only on witnessing, hope is experienced.  Hope is a continuous reality, every stage of history people have been waiting to see the fulfillment of hope. And therefore, the role of every Christian believer is to carry forward such a hope that Christ is the liberator and sustainer of life. If we as Christians are not carrying such a legacy, then we end up in hopeless situations. Therefore the task of every reader today is to be heirs of hope, which is in knowing and witnessing Christ.

As we meditate on this text in this season of Advent, we are challenged to be the channels of new hope, who is none other but Jesus Christ and to his work of setting at liberty all that are oppressed. In today’s situations of hopelessness, the world is in need of a new hope. When there is a huge exile of people fleeing away from wars, poverty and violence, as refugees, what is hope for them? When nearly 180 million and more Dalits are oppressed in the name of caste for several ages, what is hope? When several people in Chennai have lost lives due to the deluge and torrential floods, cause by poor urban planning coupled with human greed, what is hope? When there is growing intolerance on minorities by majoritarian fundamentalism, where is hope? When our earth is groaning with several imbalances in the creation, what is hope? When violence is growing deep into the nook and corner of the society, what is new hope? When exclusion, discrimination, exploitation, marginalization etc. are on the rise, from where does our hope come from? When counties are voting for a decision to bomb other countries, where is hope?   … Knowing Christ, perhaps is the hope, and knowing Christ is to witness Christ, and knowing Christ is speaking truth and knowing Christ is to live as Christ and knowing Christ is to strive for liberation and justice, no matter to the extent of giving up our lives. There is hope in knowing Christ.  

As Jurgen Moltmann says, “The motive that impels modern reason to know must be described as the desire to conquer and dominate. For the Greek philosophers and the Fathers of the church, knowing meant something different: it meant knowing in wonder. By knowing or perceiving one participates in the life of the other. Here knowing does not transform the counterpart into the property of the knower; the knower does not appropriate what he knows. On the contrary, he is transformed through sympathy, becoming a participant in what he perceives.” By knowing Christ, we are called to be transformed and join with Christ as a co-participant in the sufferings of the people and creation for their liberation and transformation.

Hope is to be shown in action, by opening our doors and hospitality to the strangers, by addressing system changes for climate change, by being and becoming peace-makers, and by living out justice, driving away injustices from our contexts. You are the hope the world is looking for, and become that hope.

Raj Bharath Patta

Second Sunday in Advent 2015

Advent is Adventurous: Rediscovering, Redeeming and Recovering

For God is Near, Here and Now

In a context of a fragile world, if gospel writer Luke is in residence of our world today, he would call and discern the signs of our times such as conflict of Palestine Israel (today 29^th November being the UN declared International day in Solidarity with Palestinian People) and other such conflicts among nations as “distress among nations” as recorded in Luke 21:25. Luke would also call the forthcoming discussions on climate change by the global leaders starting from tomorrow, 30^th November 2015 at Paris, where the ‘future of the planet’ will be on the table for discussion, as “confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves”. He would further call the long unsafe, undocumented travels of refugees across lands and oceans as “people will faint from fear” for they are fleeing due to war and situations of violence from their home countries. Such a fear is also due to the rising intolerance of the governments on minorities and other indigenous communities.

In such and similar other contexts, Luke proposes that “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory.” (21:27) Such a sign of Son of Man coming, is a sign of hope for the communities who are in deep distress and suffering. Advent, therefore as a ‘time of waiting’ is an affirmation in the ‘nearness of God’ for our time. The existing signs of our times in the world are not just ‘end of our times’, rather are ‘times at our end’, and ‘times on our end,’ which needs a recognition of the coming of Son of Man into our times. Advent is an adventure, rediscover it, recapture it and reaffirm it.

1.      Rediscovering the Nearness of God’s Presence:

“Son of Man coming in the cloud” is a landing note for faith communities today, for the recognition of this Christological title, which was picked from the apocryphal literature of Daniel, is situating God in Christ amidst the dirt, dust and dawn of our contexts. There is a nearness of God’s presence among us and amidst us when God in Christ pitched his tent among the materiality of our contexts. Advent unsettles the God of transcendence, who was above the clouds and resettles it with a God of immanence, who as ‘Son of Man coming in a cloud’, coming near to the creation and the creatures. The distance between God and creation is reduced in this process of ‘nearness,’ where God’s velocity of coming down to earth is accelerated, with the brewing of signs of our times today. This serves as a sign of hope for communities longing and waiting for transformation.

2.      Redeeming Redemption for Reparation:

With the coming of Son of Man, Luke proposes that ‘redemption is near,’ for God in Christ has redeemed the creation from its traps and chains. However, one has to recognise that ‘redemption’ is a market term, which means a ‘repurchase.’ Our context today demands us to untangle this soteriological metaphor, which has been subsumed by the language of market and globalisation, for a costumer is encouraged to redeem their reward points of buying. A subversive reading of ‘redemption’ would be to redeem our rhetoric of faith and turn them into praxis. For the Son of Man’s presence among our contexts is to redeem his transcendence and turn it into immanence. Redeeming justice from the bonds of injustice is the sign of hope for our times. Redemption for our times may have to be interpreted as reconciliation and even more towards reparation. If redemption is ‘pay with’, reconciliation is ‘pay together,’ and reparation is ‘pay back.’ Advent therefore affirms in the nearness of God’s redemption, which calls us for reparation as a way forward.

3.      Recovering the Demos-cracy of God’s Reign:

Jesus in Luke’s gospel explains his coming with a fig tree, for when the leaves sprout it is a sign of a coming of summer, like wise with these signs of our times and the signs of hope sprouting; the kingdom of God is at hand and is nearing. God’s reign is a non-monarchical and non-hierarchal space, where there is no distinction between king and their subjects. God’s reign is a ‘democratic vision’ and a ‘democratic space,’ which is defined as by the people, for the people and of the people. It is here in this space, the Son of Man becomes a co-subject along with the creation in that democracy of God’s reign, where he partakes and participates in that space. Some may argue, having seen so many democratic countries, is democracy a successful form of governance that can be construed as a form of God’s reign. I would argue, democracy has not been fully realized in those countries, people’s collective participation has not yet realized. But in the reign of God, with Son of Man as a subject, God’s reign will be fully realized one, where creatures in the creation will define, describe and decide the reign. God’s reign is a space that would emerge from below among our contexts and communities. It is a reign that contests all forms of autocracy, authoritarianism, colonialism, dictatorships and other such forms. Advent therefore is an affirmation in the nearness of God’s reign, where Son of man along with his creation decides in that reign.

 The relevance of Advent today is to invoke the nearness of God’s presence, redemption and reign into our contexts, for the Son of Man has already come and pitched his tent. Reconciliation and reparation becomes the key in striving for justice to situations of Palestine and also on the climate justice talks, for human greed has taken over the earth for all these years. The nearness of God inspires communities to work for justice, for Son of Man as a co-pilgrim participates in the struggles of the creation, striving for its liberation. Advent is adventurous, get into it, work for justice and become channels of hope, for you are the hope that world is in need of.  

Raj Bharat Patta,

29^th November 2015,

(From the notes of the Sermon Preached at St. Peter’s Church and Chaplaincy, Manchester on the First Sunday in Advent from the text of Luke 21:26-36)  

#WallWillFall

#WallWillFall

Reflection on World Week of Prayer for Peace in Palestine Israel 2015

The theme for this year’s World Week of Prayer for Peace in Palestine Israel (WWPPPI) 2015 has been “God has broken down the dividing walls.” When religious tourists travel in the so called ‘holy land’, the wall between Israel and West Bank cannot go unnoticed. But the Zionist tour guides inform the tourists, that the walls are built for security reasons, for those living on the other side of the wall are all terrorists and therefore to protect the land and people of Israel these walls are built. The wall runs around for about 400 miles long and about 25 feet height, and has concrete walls, fences, barbed wires, barriers etc. It is a separation wall; it is a wall of apartheid; separating people and communities, for the walls are built right in to the communities, only to divide and distance the communities. Walls are the ‘unholy sights’ in the so called land of the ‘holy sites’. #WallWillFall is a prayer of hope and a cry of justice that soon the dividing wall will be broken down.

Walls between Land without People and People without Land:

Journeying into the streets of Palestine would lead any one to anger, distress, disappointment and frustration, for visualising the segregations and separations made by the state of Israel by their cruel occupations, confiscating the Palestine lands, by building walls, fences and gates and thereby dividing and dispersing towns and villages of Palestinians, which is beyond one’s imagination in this so called ‘holy land.’ It is a paradox to see one hand the foreign ‘settlers’ on mountain tops guarded by the security forces living in comfortable zones with all amenities and on the other hand the native inhabitants of the land of Palestine living in the most deprived conditions. “The land without people and people without a land” is the greatest paradox that one encounters here. There are lots of ‘check-posts’ to cross across for the people of the land, the Palestinians, for these walls is a huge wall of separation and division.  The humiliations, discriminations and the human right violations done against Palestinians knew no bounds.

Come, let us not build the walls: A Hermeneutical Recovery of Biblical Texts

In such a context, what do these walls mean to us as Christian faith communities? How many times have we triumphantly quoted, used, misused and abused texts from the book of Nehemiah, ‘come let us build the walls’, not realising what that would mean to our Palestinian friends living in the context of Israeli occupation? The occupiers have appropriated such Biblical texts to their advantage in building the walls, and have taken them as divine sanctions in raising the walls. They have also taken for granted that the biblical Israel is today’s political Israel and therefore there is a divine sanction for them in occupying land in Palestine. However, WWPPPI provides us an opportunity to recover such Biblical texts from the occupiers’ territory and to redeem it from the occupiers perspective by re-appropriating it to the given context of the occupied Palestinians, who are today’s biblical Israel, forced into slavery and occupation by the state of Israel. This also gives us an opportunity to confess for being Christian Zionists in many ways confusing today’s political Israel as equivalent with Biblical Israel. Time is ripe now to rediscover the narrative God’s revelation amidst the growing signs of our times today.

#WallWillFall with Christ and in Christ:

In light of this, the text of Paul written to the Church in Ephesus as recorded in Ephesians 2: 11-22, finds great relevance, for in verse 14, it is written, “For Christ is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is the hostility between us.” The context at the Church at Ephesus was the division between circumcised Christians and the uncircumcised Christians, and therefore Paul exhorts the Church that Christ Jesus is our peace who has broken down all the dividing walls of hostility, ethnicity, and ritual, for he has brought reconciliation and love among all people in the Church. This statement of faith made by Paul is a statement of hope & trust, for God who in Christ Jesus has broken those dividing walls will also bring down these walls of separation and division in today’s Palestine Israel. Allow me to reflect on this verse in three sub-sections for more clarity and commitment.

1.      Breaking down the Dividing Walls is a Christological Necessity:

Christ Jesus is the reconciling point, where peace is made between the two dividing groups, where all of them gather in the name of God. It was mentioned that it is in his flesh that the two groups are made as one common humanity.  Where flesh here refers to the ground realities, in its brokenness, and in its weakness, peace is made between the rival groups. Peace is made in Christ’s fragility of flesh. Being in Christ does not allow us to affirm in raising dividing walls, and therefore breaking down the wall of apartheid is a Christological necessity for us today. Out of our fragile contexts, we called in Christ and by Christ to praying for the breaking down the wall of separation.

2.      Breaking down the Dividing Walls is a Missiological Necessity:

Breaking down the dividing walls today is a missiological necessity, for those of us engaged in mission cannot but partake in continuing Christ’s activity in our contexts today. If we believe in Christ, there is unity of all humanity, and in Christ all divisions and hostilities are broken down, then following such a Christ Jesus compels us to advocate in breaking down all dividing walls of hostility, particularly in the context of Palestine Israel. Breaking down the walls would yield liberation and freedom to Palestinians, for their self and their lands would be free from confiscation and occupation. Breaking down the dividing walls should be on the mission agenda of all Churches, for such a mission is part and parcel of God’s mission.

3.      Breaking down the Dividing Walls is a Contextual Necessity:

The dividing walls in Palestine and Israel are against the UN International Border agreements, and therefore advocating for the breaking down of the walls is a cry of all responsible citizens from across the world. Garth Hewitt observes the Eucharist celebrated at Cremisan Monastery, at Beit- Jala near Bethlehem, where a huge separation wall is being built to cut across the community as an act of protest. ‘Eucharist as an act of Protest’ is a challenge to the Christians globally to strive for the breaking down of the dividing walls of hostility and separation in Palestine Israel. If this dividing wall is broken down, communities will be united, liberation will be realised and unity among people will be established. Breaking down the dividing walls in Palestine Israel is a 21^st Century’s contextual necessity.

Let us as communities of faith, pledge that we shall strive and advocate for the breaking down of these dividing walls in Palestine Israel, and to ensure that justice and peace will be restored in this land. Let us be prophetic in our faith, address the human rights violations done to the people in occupations, speak to the principalities and powers of occupation by joining in movements like Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) etc. to express our dissent with occupation. Those going on pilgrimages to this land, want to spend their time at Wailing Wall piercing their prayer requests to be answered. May pilgrims recognise the walls of separation and understand the political moorings of such walls, and pray for the breaking down of these dividing walls, for only in those breaking of those walls can one find the living God in Christ. Today we don’t need walls, but we need bridges, for Christ has come to become bridge of reconciliation, and so does God call us to become bridges of reconciliations.

With God, the walls at Biblical Jericho fell down; in Christ the dividing walls of hostility broke down, and Inshallah in God, by God and with God the walls of separation in Palestine Israel will fall down. #WallWillFall. Amen

I thought young Joseph would be there welcoming

but it was young men with guns at checkpoints incoming

I thought young Mary would be there welcoming

But it was young women with guns at checkpoints incoming

I thought then it would be the manger that’s welcoming

but shockingly, it was the huge concrete wall of separation.

a wall of division

a wall of segregation

a wall of occupation

a wall of humiliation

a wall of discrimination

Making the birth of Jesus’ place invisible.

O Jesus, come now to be born again here

to break these walls of domination

to tear down these walls of demonization

to break open the cruel hearts of oppressions

to restore liberation and peace on this earth

and to bring glad tiding of joy to all these people

Come Jesus, and come now!

In hope I leave, only to return to see Joseph, Mary and

baby Jesus - in all freedom - in this land.

02.09.2015