Here I Stand

Today, 10th November is observed in our Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC) in India as "Pastors Day", commemorating the birth anniversary of Martin Luther, who initiated Reformation 500 years ago. Our Church ordains new ministers on this day, and it was 14 years ago i was ordained on this day. It is at this time, I introspect my calling, and reflect how important it is to stand in the faith of Jesus Christ, stand firm and act on it. 

“If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all.” Isaiah 7: 9b. The context of this statement from the book of Proto-Isaiah was the Syro-Ephramite war, where there was a political impasse in the kingdom of Judah. The oracle conveyed to the king Ahaz has recurring effects on today’s readers of this text as much as it had then.

For Martin Luther, Sola Fide (faith alone) is a hermeneutic in unlocking ‘justification,’ for his context then was dominated by the rule of Sola Roma (Rome alone). In this verse above, there are three important facets of faith, firstly the grounding of faith, which is in its ‘standing,’ secondly the binding of faith, which is in its ‘firmness’ and thirdly the longing of faith, which is ‘fullness of life.’ With the epoch of secularization, most societies today define themselves as post-secular for there has been a decline on the public role of faith in our public spheres. However, today’s text reminds us faith is neither privatized category nor enlightenment has taken over the realm of faith, but being firm in our faith has its relevance in our society. For it is our faith in a revolutionary Jesus Christ that inspires us to partake in the transformation of our society, for such a faith compels us to translate faith into praxis and roots us firmly in life and life giving mission. It is "Here I stand on the faith of Jesus Christ."

Allow me to quote what Luther said on this occasion. In his reply at Diet of Worms in 1521, he said “Since your majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns and teeth. Unless I am convicted by the Scripture and plain reason--I do not accept the authority of the Popes and the Councils for they had contradicted each other--my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise, God help me. Amen."

Prayer: God, the origin and the beginning of faith, help us to stand firm in our faith in Jesus and challenge us to transform our faith into actions so that we can become the channels of life in situations of lifelessness and death. May we stand firm in our faith, so that we can stand firm in our life. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Thought for further Reflection: How can you translate your faith into actions? Has your faith has a public relevance in the context of post-secular societies?

(Written for Fresh from the Word: Bible for a Change, IBRA 2017 Devotions)

The Politics of Re-Presentation: Reflecting Matthew 25:1-13

As a child I remember the ‘parable of the ten virgins’ enacted as a musical play by the moms in our local Bethany Lutheran Church in India, where all the ten women were dressed in white, holding lanterns in their hands and journeying to meet the bridegroom. On the journey they were tired and lowering the flame of their lanterns, they all fell asleep. Suddenly at repeated loud shouts, they woke up one after the other, and started to adjust the flame for more light. Five of those women carried a bottle of oil and were filling their lanterns to increase the flame, and the other five did not have sufficient oil and were struggling to trim their lanterns. These five women with no extra oil requests their friends to lend some oil, at which the others replied that it wouldn’t be sufficient to both and directs them to a dealer to buy for oil at that night. The groom arrives and takes the five women who had their lanterns burning with him and entered the wedding banquet. When the other five women came and knocked the door calling him Lord, Lord, the reply that came was he does not know them. The facial expressions of the five women who made it into the wedding banquet were gloomy that their five other friends couldn’t make it inside. The woman narrator of the play concludes by announcing keep awake, be prepared to meet the returning groom, for he can come at any time of the day or night. The play was written, directed, sung and enacted by the moms of our Women’s fellowship in our local Church. This enacted parable stayed in my memory all along, and now when I am reading Matthew 25: 1-13, it comes alive, making me nostalgic of my local congregation. 

Follow the link below to read further:

http://www.politicaltheology.com/blog/the-politics-of-representation-matthew-25-1-13-raj-bharat-patta/

Hidden and Revealed

“Truly you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.” Isaiah 45: 15

In a context of growing violence, abuse, exclusion, marginalization, oppression, hatred, hostility, and discrimination, with which our signs of our times are defined, some are puzzled and perplexed to enquire, why on earth are all these happening? Some others question, why is God allowing such things to happen, or where is God in all these incidents? Is God present or God absent in such situations?

Dues absconditus, (the hidden God) has been one of the major theological themes with which theologians like Aquinas, Luther, Brunner, and Barth etc. have attempted to unearth and unravel the mystery in this very being of God. Drawing from Deutero Isaiah’s context, where Cyrus, a foreigner was chosen to restore people of Israel from Babylonian captivity, the oracle of the prophet provides a non-neutral statement, where on one hand God hides God’s self and on the other hand God reveals God’s self as a Saviour. Luther exegetes this by saying, God is hidden in forms of reason, and God is revealed in situations of experiences. God hides God’s self in the context of captivity and oppression, and God reveals God’s self in the saving and liberating acts of our times. In other words, when humans create contexts of oppression and violence, God’s self is concealed, and when such situations are addressed and overcome, God’s self is revealed, for only then salvation and liberation are realized.

Prayer: God, our co-companion in our struggles for life, forgive us for constructing walls of oppression and hierarchy in the name of class, caste, gender, ethnicity etc., by which acts we have been concealing you, and challenge us to be the channels in revealing you by partaking and participating along with you in the struggles of our creation and people for justice and liberation. God, in your mercy, hear our prayers. Amen

Thought for further Reflection: How can we creatively rediscover God’s presence in situations of where we think God is absent? Or Is God’s silence God’s absence?

 (Written for International Bible Reading Association's (IBRA) Fresh from the Word: The Bible for a Change on Sunday, October 29^th, 2017)