Drawing the faith: My vision of a church @Pentecost 2020

In response to the Pentecost story of birthing a new church, Jai ho, in this drawing expresses his vision of a church for today, picking the verse from Acts 2:17, "...your young people will see visions." Jai ho says, "My dream of a church today is a church in an open space where it does not need to be contained in a building but is open to every one in the entire creation. Church for me is a place of healing, feeding, fun, friendship and listening. In the open hands of Holy Spirit church happens, where Jesus rides the boat." 

The Feathers are Fastened on the Door: Birthing of a new Church at Pentecost - Reflecting on Acts 2:1-21

Churches have been on the news these days for all sorts of reasons. Recently on a Sunday, when zoom services were down nationally, it was reported that “churches broke the internet.” A few Bishops were on the news raising their voices against leaders who don’t practice what they preach, for which they have received death threats. In other news, a government minister was responding to a Bishop who has asked him a question as a responsible father in a similar context, “I wish him well.” On another totally different news, a video of priests performing an Irish dance at the end of their online service went viral, for it was reported that, “it lifted their spirits.” With many of the services of the church happening online these days, it was commented that, “the church building is closed, but we are open online.” On this Pentecost Sunday, all these discussions about church, directs us to reflect on the birthing of the early church. In the North-East part of India, there has been a practice among the Tribal communities, to announce the birth of a child, which is to fasten the feathers of a bird on the door outside, for the community to know that a child is born in that particular family. A new birth calls for the celebration of a community. At Pentecost, as I read Acts 2, I recognise the ‘feathers are fastened on the door’ announcing the birth of a new church. Such a recognition allows us to dream and reimagine the birthing of a new church during and beyond the current lockdown? By the way, the bird and her feathers represent for me that mothering Spirit under whose wings the church not only finds warmth, love and direction, but also will be like the bird travelling to unknown destinations, whose path is ambivalent, unpredictable, intangible and elusive.  

On the day of Pentecost, when the disciples gathered, the Holy Spirit came upon on them, there was fire, wind, speaking of many languages, hearing & understanding of different languages by those people living there, amazement and even criticism that they were drunk, all happening at that event. The early disciples were under different kind of lock down, living in the fear of death from the Roman empire, living in despair as Jesus is no more with them as their leader, for he ascended commanding them to be his witnesses and also living with an unfulfilled dream of seeing the messiah ruling them as a king.  Amidst all of this, as the Holy Spirit came upon them, they started their life as witnesses in the public sphere, sowing seeds for what was going to be a church. Pentecost therefore was a moment for the birthing of the early church, for at that stroke, the church began to go out, and from then the early church began to grow in faith and in commitment. Allow me to discuss the goals on which the church took its birthing at Pentecost.

1.     Birthing of the church happened on the rediscovery of inclusion:

Who is in and who is out? This has been an age-old question that people had to address right from the days of the early church. If you have to pin down one theme that runs across the book of Acts, it would be inclusion. Soon after Jesus’ ascension, the disciples brought in Mathias to be an apostle in the place of Judas. And when ‘they’ all gathered together, the holy Spirit came upon them. In Acts 1: 14, we see that, ‘they’ included the eleven disciples of Jesus, certain women, the Mother of Jesus and his brothers, and now with the new recruit Matthias (Acts 1:26), for they were all gathering in an upper room and constantly devoting themselves in prayer. Upon this community of people, the holy Spirit came down, for they all witnessed to the life and works of Jesus Christ from then on. That early church (thankfully they did not have a name/denomination for their group) was an inclusive diverse church, which included mother Mary and some unnamed women, besides men disciples including Mathias. Women did not enjoy equality due to the patriarchal society in which they lived, and so they were either excluded or forgotten. That early church was an inclusive church, which included women and men, old and young, longstanding members and a new comer. As soon as Jesus was ascended, the holy Spirit should have come upon the disciples immediately at least at Acts 1:14, but the Spirit waited till they all gathered, including the new entrant and then she came upon them. It was according to the agenda of inclusion, that the early church took its birth. This was a radical inclusion, for they had women and a new entrant apart from those men disciples of Jesus. The men disciples some fifty days ago on the Easter day, they did not trust the women disciple’s testimony of Jesus’ resurrection and treated that news as ‘idle stories,’ (Luke 24:11). But after the ascension of Jesus, I assume that the men disciples would have resolved with the women disciples and acknowledged them to be the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrections, and the Spirit of God was upon them to be an inclusive gathering.

In Acts 2: 17-21, as soon as people began to speak in diverse understandable languages, Peter stood up to speak invoking the prophecy of Joel, which further stresses the importance of inclusion in that early church. He begins his speech by calling all his audience as ‘friends’ (14v), where Peter builds bonds of friendship with the community gathered there. Peter, then spoke that the ‘Spirit of God will be upon every one,’(17v), and everyone means everyone, for the recipients of the Spirit of God includes, sons and daughters, young people, old people, servants again both men and women, each performing their own functions of visioning, dreaming, prophesying and towards the end the Lord will perform wonders and saves everyone (21v). In that early gathering at Pentecost, we recognise that the Spirit of God breathed a breath of inclusion, dismantling all barriers informing the readers that their gathering was an inclusive gathering as the Spirit of God came upon everyone, transcending divisions and barriers, affirming and recognising the worth and dignity of all people.

One of the problems for the followers of Jesus in the book of Acts was deciding who could belong to God’s people. In the book of Acts, we recognise that since Jesus came both for the Jews and the non-Jews, and that the Spirit of God wanted everyone from every nation and race to be part of God’s people, explaining that the spirit of inclusion, affirming diversity was the bed-rock of the early church. The early church was birthed on the rediscovery of inclusion as its key goal.

2.     Birthing of the church happened on the rediscovery of margins:

At Pentecost, when they were filled with the holy Spirit, this inclusive gathering spoke in diverse languages as in Acts 2:4, we read, “The holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak.” The wonder of Pentecost is not just in speaking different languages, but it was more about understanding those languages, for the people who heard them were excited asking each other “what does all this mean?” (2:12). With the hearing and understanding of different languages, we recognise that the birthing of the church happened on the rediscovery of including the people on the margins.

Firstly, those people who understood the diverse languages spoken on that day were migrants from every country in the world who were living in Jerusalem and were working hard in keeping the city of Jerusalem alive through their work and contributions. These migrants were the first to understand the fiery tongues of Pentecost. Imagine if these migrants were not present on that day of Pentecost, the diverse languages that the disciples spoke would have been mere waffling with no meaning and purpose of speaking in tongues. The migrants added meaning to the fiery tongues of Pentecost, for in their hearing and understanding, the tongues found their meaning. The early sounds of the early church were to speak in the language of the ‘other’ and finding meaning of their speech in the understanding of the ‘other.’ Here it is also important to notice that at the noise of the fiery tongues a crowd gathered (6v). I assume in that gathering, there would have been some locals who did not understand what these disciples were speaking, who at the end remarked that these men were drunk. But these migrants “were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own language.” (6v).

Secondly, among these migrants some were born as Jews and others were chosen to be Jews (11v), and came from the margins of Jerusalem, the epicentre for religion and commerce. It is important to name these sites of margins, for many times in our readings we either bypass such names or overlook reading them thinking they are of no worth to the story. But by naming these sites of margins, we affirm dignity and self-respect to these people who were living on the margins. Bracketing the people on the margins has always been the logic of the empire, for their plight and struggle has either been unrecognised or trivialised based on the prejudices of those people in power. Luke in recording these sites of margins, was giving us a clue to recognise that the early church came to birthing, finding their meaning in the hearing and understanding of those people living on the then margins. These migrant communities came from Parthia, Media, Elam, Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, Rome, Crete and Arabia (8-11v).

I am always fascinated by the African philosophical term for community Ubuntu, which is translated as “I am because we are” or “humanity towards others.” I am mindful that the African scholars gives a caution in (mis)appropriation of this philosophy, but since I am short of any better vocabulary to communicate this idea, I will (ad)venture to use this African term Ubuntu for mutual solidarity in a community. I recognise such an Ubuntu in the early church, for they recognised that “they were a church because the rest of the people are there” or “they were a church because of the community around, particularly the people on the margins.” The early church rediscovered and recognised themselves as a church only in relation to the people on the margins, and their inclusion of the people of the margins has always been the ingrained DNA of the early church.

3.     Birthing of the church happened on the rediscovery of resistance:

Pentecost offers for me images of divine resistance. The logic of the empire has always thrived on the idea of creating ‘oneness,’ and ‘uniformity.’ The God of Pentecost resisted that idea of monopolising communities with oneness, in this case with one language. The Pentecost experience communicates an alternative politics of language. In other words, Acts 2 reflects that God has no one official language. This is the shocking revelation of the day of Pentecost, but this is often lost amid the day’s more bombastic metaphors of rushing winds, descending doves and intoxicated disciples with tongues touched by fire. Pentecost is a celebration of multilingualism, celebration of a community at its core with multicultural experiences. With the recognition and acknowledgement of multi-ethnic community with multi-languages, the early church envisaged for a diversified community and celebrated diversity in their life and practice. In those many languages spoken there, diversity was affirmed and upheld as part of the Spirit’s primary work.

The rediscovery of resistance is further understood when the God of the Pentecost resisted in speaking the majoritarian languages of their day. The God of the Pentecost resisted speaking the language of the temple liturgies of Jerusalem, Hebrew. The God of the Pentecost resisted speaking the language of the Roman empire, Latin. The God of the Pentecost resisted speaking the language of the Galilean dialect, Aramaic. The God of the Pentecost resisted to speak in the languages of the dominant and powerful, and chose to speak in the languages of the people on the margins. In such an experience the miracle of Pentecost is witnessed.

When Peter stood up to speak in a clear voice to the crowd (14v), he retells the words of prophet Joel, and mentions that the Spirit of God chooses the young people, the old people and the slaves upon whom she will be poured on. In resistance to those powerful, the Spirit of God chooses the ordinary, the weak and the outcastes to be her partners in her mission. By choosing such people, the Spirit of God was liberating them, by taking them as her partners, and by working through and in them. The young, the old and the slaves, are the people who have been vulnerable, and among them the Spirit of God dwells, which is in a way saying that church happens among and with such people. 

Reimagining the birthing of a new church today:

If Pentecost served as a birthing experience to the early church, which was primarily based on the rediscovery of inclusion, margins and resistance, in 2020 during this lock down, how do we reimagine the birthing of a new church today? Perhaps the rediscovery of the early church might serve as a signpost in our reimagining the church today.

1.     As a church to take a rebirth today, the question that is still relevant is who is in and who is out? Who decides the boundaries? Can the boundaries be burnt by the fire of the Spirit, so that all are included, and all means all?

2.     Are we as a church able to be understood by those people on the margins today? Are we speaking in languages that people in our communities are able to hear and understand? As a church how do we recognise the role and functions of migrant communities today?

3.     Are we as a church subsumed by the languages of the powerful or are we joining with the divine Spirit in resisting to speak the language of the power and seek to identify with those people on margins by speaking their language?

The Spirit of Pentecost invites us to dream, to reimagine and to envision birthing of a church, that is relevant, open, resisting powers and being with and among the people on the margins.  As a relevance of this reflection, I want to present to you my dream of a church for today.

Firstly, my dream is for an Ubuntu church, where we find the meaning of our existence only in relation to our community. “I am because we are” kind of a church. The longing of the community becomes our priority, the language that the public sphere understands today will be our communication, and the location of the margins becomes our dwelling and serving place. Secondly, my dream is for a ‘Fluid church,’ which is not bound by principalities and powers, but which takes its course following Jesus the living water in watering people’s lives and striving to quench the thirst of the creation around. This kind of a church can be online, offline, in line and out of line, but a church which is willing to be flown into the corners of a village and into the highways of the city, meeting people where they are and working with them for food, peace and justice. In order to achieve our dreams, we need to be open to the Spirit of God so that we are led by her and give up all that is me, mine and myself and take on we, us and together so that we can be flown as justice flows down like rivers and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. I invite you all to join in dreaming the birth of a new church today, for we need a shared vision, a bold vision and a transforming vision. The communities around us are waiting for the feathers to be fastened on our doors to announce the birthing of a new church today.

May the God of Pentecost journey with us in our dreaming, and join with us in achieving that dream, where our church takes a new birth in being and becoming a transforming community.

Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta,

Pentecost,

28^th May 2020

Picture credit: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Northeast-Indian/Social-organization

A Living Pentecost: Song

Streets are filled with many people, voices raised in every tongue,
Bring first-fruits of their harvest, gift to God from old and young.
In the midst of celebration, comes a new unsettling sound:
A cacophony of praising, Word alive, Spirit unbound!

Chorus:

God is here, speaking our language, speaking as we do,
Christ alive, here in Spirit, and turns the tables, upsets conventions,
Brings a new church to birth, today a living Pentecost.

Mighty wind blows through the city, sweeps a new age into birth,
Holy fire to burn the boundaries, and ignite God's work on earth.
Aramaic, Persian, Coptic, Parthian, Arabic and Greek,
Heard and understood and spoken, God in multi-lingual speak!

God is here ....

Wake up call to every nation, chaos melts, new paths made plain,
Harvest now for new creation, these the first-fruits of Christ's reign.
We, God's Church, arise for action, move in faith to break new ground,
Spirit, take us to the margins where your living work is found.

God is here ....

Words and Music © 2019 Raj Bharath Patta and Clare Stainsby

You can hear the song on this link: https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/worship/singing-the-faith-plus/posts/streets-are-filled-with-many-people-a-living-pentecost-website-only/

Prayers of Adoration and Confession: Wesley's Conversion Sunday, 24th May 2020

For God who works through Christ, we adore you

For God who assures us liberation in Christ, we adore you,

For God who strangely warms our hearts, we adore you,

For God who visited John Wesley at Aldersgate on this day in 1738, we adore you

For God who surprises us by meeting us, when sometimes we unwillingly join in prayer or faith discussions like you did to John Wesley, we adore you,

For God whose ways are strange and different, for at a Moravian Church, listening to Luther’s preface on the epistle of Romans, you O God granted assurance of salvation to John Wesley, we adore you,

For God who has been faithful to the life and witness of the church today, for continuing to warm the hearts of people in all generations, we adore you,

For God who continue to act in God’s own diverse ways, in meeting people where they are, we adore you,

For God who has never given up on people, though we are imperfect and inconsistent, we adore you,

For God who has never stopped God’s visitations to this creation, we adore you

For God who is collaborating with each us in transforming our world today, we adore you

For God who is never partial to those privileged or chosen, but whose grace is for all of the creation, we adore you

For God who is supporting us to cope with this lockdown, whose presence we experience at our homes, at our communities, at these online services and at several other places we did not know, we adore you

We also come to your presence dear Lord, confessing our own weaknesses and sins,

We confess for being selective in our listening and for not being open to listen to you, who have been speaking through many of ways which we did not know or did not want to know,

We confess today for drawing boundaries in trying to know you only in certain parameters and for not being open to your creative and diverse ways of strangely warming our hearts experiences,

We confess today for being self-centred only thinking about our church buildings and for not being able to locate and situate God’s presence among our communities and in our public spheres,

We confess today for keeping to ourselves the hearts strangely warmed experiences, and for not being to able to witness to Jesus Christ in the context of inequality, injustice, poverty, hunger and homelessness.

Dear Lord, come now and warm our hearts,

come now and ignite our faith,

come now and inspire us to be your witnesses today,

come now and lead us on to carry the mantle of your gospel relevant for our times today.

Come lord, come. We pray these prayers in the name of Jesus Christ who strangely warmed the heart of John Wesley. Amen.

                                                                                    @rajpatta

Drawing the Faith: You Shall be my Witnesses (Acts 1:8)

As Jesus was ascended into heaven, he left his disciples saying, "You shall be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8), so that we continue his mission and ministry with the collaboration of the Holy Spirit. Jai ho here depicts what does it mean to be witnesses of Jesus today. Having heard about "Your Local Pantry" project of the Church Action of Poverty, which is striving to unlock food poverty, by offering food to those people on lower incomes, Jai ho places such an initiative as witnessing Jesus today. We see Jesus in the Pantry joining with others in addressing food poverty. For more details on the Pantry scheme visit: https://www.yourlocalpantry.co.uk/. Also join and support Church Action on Poverty in addressing issues of poverty, for they have been on the mission of justice, and for more details visit: https://www.church-poverty.org.uk/. 

Stay Alert to Justice

Returning after Lockdown? Ascension as a Re-turn towards being Witnesses: Reflecting on Acts 1:6-14

In the context of the pandemic today, as we are preparing towards the return from one kind of a normal to a different kind of normal, the discussions have been dominated by the term ‘new’ normal. We need to ask for whom is it going to be ‘new’ and who defines ‘new,’ for to the people on the margins the return is going to be a difficult normal, with issues of poverty, hunger, discrimination and inequality have been up on the rise. Many have been discussing about returning back to work after lockdown, with businesses and workplaces assessing on the preparations for return. While some have been suggesting ‘building back better’, others are working on making work spaces safe and secure from this virus. In such a context what should be the Christian response to that return? Ascension of Jesus Christ offers us some sign posts in that direction.

The Acts of the Apostles is the second book, after ‘Gospel according to Luke’, that Luke writes to his audience, explaining the work of the early Church, as a testimony of following Jesus Christ in their time and age. However, for the audience of this book, the ascension of Jesus Christ serves as an introduction, as a genesis to understand the work of the early Church. By making the ascension of Jesus Christ into the heaven as an introduction to the rest of the book of Acts, Luke invokes some lessons in the ascension of Jesus for understanding the work of the then early church and to our church today. To understand that we need to reflect on the last words of Jesus’ earthly ministry as recorded in Acts 1:7-8.

Ascension of Jesus as a re-turn of the particular being to the cosmic being:

From ground zero on earth, for the disciples who witnessed the ascension of Jesus as recorded by Luke, Jesus ascended up into the heavens. But from the perspective of the trinitarian God, what we know as Jesus’ ascension was in fact, a reception, as Jesus re-turned into God-self from material-self to a cosmic-self, from local-being to universal-being. In other words, in ascension, Jesus takes a (re)turn from a particular-being to a cosmic-being, and in that turn, God in Jesus calls his disciples to be witnesses to the ends of the world. In that re-turn of Jesus into the God of the cosmos, Jesus entrusts his local role, function and mission to his disciples to carry forward by being his witnesses. Having recorded the life and ministry of Jesus as the one who always chose to be with the people on the margins in his gospel, Luke mentions no detail about the kind of re-turn and reception of Jesus in his ascension. There is no coronation ceremony with all the pomp, glitz and fanfare in the streets of the heaven, like we assume to happen for a king (6v), in this episode of Jesus’ ascension. Such silence on the part of Luke, re-emphasises the servant kingship of Jesus, whether in his earthly ministry or on his re-turn, God in Jesus always resists and denounces power, for God choses to be among and with the vulnerable people always as Immanuel. The material broken-crucified-risen body now ascends into heaven, for the broken body becomes the site of a transfigured body, seating at the right hand of the Father of the holy Trinity. The love of Trinity receives and embraces bodies into their fold, and the ascension of a bodily Jesus is a foretaste to such a reception of material body. Those that are embraced by the love of Trinity, are called to receive the broken-hearted and partake in the healing of their broken-infectious bodies.

The call for us as a church is to a re-turn of just rebuilding by being and becoming Jesus’ witnesses, receiving people as they are, particularly those people who are on the margins and deliberately striving for inclusion of all people irrespective of their identities. For our communities, as we re-turn to that post-pandemic future, we are called towards building a society of justice, for we as churches will have to serve as spaces of loving embrace, caring and supporting one another transcending all barriers. God in Jesus, in his ascension took a re-turn from a particular-being to a cosmic-being, entrusting us as people of God to be his witnesses, which is to be Jesus’ hands of love in serving the poor and needy, to be Jesus’ feet of peace in walking a way of justice, to be Jesus’ compassionate presence with the lonely and sick, and to be Jesus’ mind in critically reflecting and asking difficult questions in addressing the unjust status quo,  and strive for peace and justice in our world today.

Ascension of Jesus as a re-turn to be witnesses in powerlessness:

On the Mount Olivet, the last question that the apostles asked the risen Jesus, prior to his ascension was, “Lord, are you now going to give Israel, its own king again?” (6v) This question explains the disciples yearning for a political messiah in Jesus, for they were assuming that since he came out victorious from his death in resurrection, he would be enthroned as a king of Israel over against the Roman empire. In the ascension of Jesus Christ, the disciples had to witness a different kind of kingship in Jesus, which was founded on a way of grace and not on a way of power. Jesus’ ascension was not a self-centred, pompous coronation ceremony as a king, but a reaffirmation of his servant-kingship, where he disperses power through the Holy Spirit to his disciples, ordaining them to be witnesses, beyond themselves, beyond geographies, beyond histories and beyond times, for it is recorded in 8v, “you shall be my witnesses from Jerusalem, to Judea to Samaria and to ends of the world.” Jesus’ ascension into heaven is not an occasion of celebrating the centralising of power, but a moment where he decentres his powers through the Holy Spirit to his disciples to witness his life, death, resurrection, ascension and coming again. So when Luke starts this book of Acts with the ascension of Jesus as his introduction, he was emphasising that the church of God and the people of God are called to be his witnesses not by centralising powers, but in decentralising power, sharing in the vulnerability of people, for it is among such locations of vulnerabilities that the Holy Spirit does her work, starting from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria and to the ends of the world.  

The call for us as churches is to take a re-turn in being and becoming corporate witnesses of Jesus Christ, sharing our time, ministry and resources in the decentralisation of powers, identifying with the powerless people, recognising that among and within such sites of vulnerability, the Holy Spirit dwells. The early church received that message from ascension seriously, addressed exclusion by deliberately involving and including people from every nation, race, ethnicity and identity to be part of God’s movement for transformation, making the relevance of church felt. The later chapters of Acts of the Apostles are a testimony to such radical inclusions. This ascension Sunday is an opportunity for us to resist ascribing and seeking powers to the self, willingly giving up our privilege to be with the powerless people among and around us, and striving for inclusion of all people, dismantling any and every kind of walls. In such acts, witnessing to Jesus Christ births, evolves and happens.

Ascension of Jesus as a re-turn to witness beyond our spaces:

In Jesus’ re-turn, Jesus promised the downpouring of the Holy Spirit upon God’s people and also invited them to witness about God in Jesus from their own locality to neighbourhood to community to town to region to the ends of the world. Witnessing to Jesus has a ripple effect, for it cannot be contained to a territory but transcends territories to the ends of the time and space. Witness is not time bound, nor space bound, for we are called to live out for Christ beyond our parochial clusters and groupings with consistency. In verse 8, the word ‘witness’ in the Greek translation is ‘marturios,’ which is to say we are called to be witnesses, living out the values of Jesus Christ till the point of death. Re-turn as witnesses is costly, inviting us to join with Jesus in not settling to the normal but to move beyond in striving for justice and peace today. It is also important to note that Jesus pronounces ‘witnesses’ in plural seeking a corporate witnessing in our public spheres. It was an invitation of Jesus to live in the ‘now’ as a preparation for the future.  

The calling for us as churches as we re-turn is to be and become the witnesses of Jesus Christ in that different normal, which is living out Jesus and living like Jesus. To be a witness today is to reimagine the story of Jesus Christ relevant for our times today, so that we live out Jesus and live like Jesus, without any compromise. The church when it re-turns, it will not be the same as it was before, with fewer numbers, fewer resources, more challenges, and many pastoral issues to deal with. In such a context, witness is to offer friendships, building bridges in the community, offering hospitality to the vulnerable and in addressing hunger and poverty.  What would be the one thing you want to do as witnesses when the church re-turns? For me, it would be attending to the needs of the people in our communities as Jesus did, for in such acts, our faith is shown in actions, and witness happens.

Ascension of Jesus as a re-turn from the mountain-top experiences to ground realities:

In Acts 1: 1-11, the episode where Luke records the ascension of Jesus Christ, after Jesus ascends into heaven, the disciples were struck staring at this spectacle of amazement. “When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (9-11V) Ascension was a wake-up call to his disciples to not get struck with this gazing, but to get back to the ground realities in addressing the needs of the people around. Only in actions of compassion, justice, peace and dignity the descent of Christ happens and is witnessed. Douglas Farrow, proposes that the power of Spirit is left with the eucharistic assembly, for as they receive the body of Christ, they become the body of Christ, for ascension is ensured to all such bodies of materiality. Discipleship calls for a continuation of Christ’s work in ensuring justice and peace, liberating the bodies who have been bonded towards transformation into a new creation. Discipleship is attending to the grave realities of our context, and striving for the bodily liberation to all bonded by oppression and discrimination.

The call for us as churches as we seek a re-turn is to not pat our backs for the kind of worship services we have been leading online at this time, not to look at the amazement on (zoom)cloud, and not to be self-content with the performances at worship, but to get down to address the ground realities of hunger, poverty, homelessness, loneliness, issues of migrants, racial discrimination, domestic violence, etc. that we find within our own contexts. The two people who came and asked the disciples, “why do you stand looking toward heaven?” is also asking us the same question and is inviting us to descend, to re-turn to our communities, and witness for Jesus by attending to the needs of our people around us. Only in such acts, witness happens.

As we start to think about the return to the future, our call is towards a re-turn to be and become witnesses of Jesus by participating with Jesus in transforming our world today. One of the recent tweets from Learning Network in Northwest read out, “which approach to change and church leadership have you taken during lockdown? – transfer, translate, transform.” It is an important question we need to ask as churches as we plan to re-turn: transfer – carrying the same thing with a change in the medium; translate – interpreting in a new form with a change in communication; or transform – doing radically new thing for a new world, because the world around us is changing. After the lockdown we are called to re-turn towards that trans-formation as our act of witnessing collectively as a church.

Let me conclude with the words of an Indian writer Arundhati Roy, who has written recently on the pandemic:

“The pandemic is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.”

May God grant us strength to re-turn to the future where we will walk through lightly, with little luggage, imagining and striving for another world, a world determined and lived in peace, justice, equality and dignity for the entire creation.

Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta,

21^st May 2020

Ascension Day

Picture courtesy: http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48398

Wake us up O God - a Prayer

Drawing the Faith : God in Jesus Present at our Kitchen

Based on Acts 17:24, where Paul was speaking that God, the creator does not live in shrines made by human hands, the artist Jai ho presented that God in Jesus is present everywhere including our kitchen. This picture is not to domesticate Jesus at our kitchens but to affirm that God in Jesus during this lock down situations is very much present at our kitchens, along with the family members. 

Whom are we serving at our services? We are a church, only in serving ‘others’ - Reflection from Acts 17:22-31

 There have been many discussions around what does it mean to be a church during this pandemic? At one of the weekly webinars of the Church Action on Poverty, I heard John (name changed) commenting that, “people with disabilities and other minorities have been worshipping online for several years now as the physical church buildings did not provide sufficient access or inclusive liturgies, and all of a sudden with the lock down of the church buildings, they have suddenly come and colonised our space in the name of online services. They are only offering online ‘services’ and not an online church.” This comment from John speaks a lot into our context today and challenges us to understand the distinction between ‘service’ and ‘church.’ The other day when I was on a pastoral call speaking to one of my congregation members, he too raised a question about Sunday ‘service,’ asking me what does ‘service’ mean when we are gathering online or offline on a Sunday?

One of the popular texts that has inspired several missionary endeavours in the history has been Acts 17:22-33, where Paul speaks to the people of Athens, apologetically about the God in Jesus, whom he professed and proclaimed. On the other side, this text has been one of the many texts in the colonial enterprise that was (mis)used to condemn indigenous and non-Christian faith traditions as ‘heathen,’ and criticised other faith traditions as ungodly. This was also a text in the mission history that was utterly (mis)used to justify apartheid and racial segregation as God ordained institution (26v in particular). So, as we read this text today, we are called to read it with much more caution and grace in recognising the voice of God in this Word of God, seeking God’s forgiveness for misreading texts to justify discrimination and oppression of any and every form against the ‘other.’

God is not absent in the unknown:

Finding his teachings strange (19-20v), Paul was brought up to Areopagus (a ‘Mars’ hill, which was an open space for discussions and debates) to explain further about it. Paul had a walk around the city of Athens, recognised how extremely religious they have been (22v), debated with the Jews in the synagogues, with people in the market places, with Stoic and Epicurean philosophers, and now in the open public sphere speaks out his faith in God, not for a publicity but with a public sensitivity. Paul picks a public altar from his observation in the city with an inscription, “To an unknown god,” and took the opportunity to explain his ‘strange’ faith to them. There were many Greek gods and goddesses around the city of Athens which were predominant then. If Paul had to preach God in Jesus as a replacement to their gods, he would have picked one of their well-known gods and would have explained the superiority of Jesus in comparison to them. If Paul had to preach God in Jesus as a fulfilment to their known gods, he would have again picked a well-known god, out of their many gods and would have done that. On the contrary, Paul picked an altar of an ‘unknown god’ and explained his perceptions of God, which he knew in Jesus, which explains his public sensitivity in sharing about the God he knows. Paul begins to share his faith at an unknown place, using an unknown public image, with an ‘unknown god.’ God might be ‘unknown’ to the people of Athens and elsewhere today, but to God there is nothing unknown, for God is not absent from any place and situation. God is ever present and everywhere present for “in God we live and move and have our being” (28v).

As we read it today in our cities and towns, our call is to locate these altars of ‘unknown gods’ or ‘unspoken gods’ in our public sphere to talk about God in Jesus. Speaking about God in Jesus sometimes mean to contest what is unjust, for that is who God in Jesus is. William Cavanaugh in his book, Theo-political Imaginations, explains how state, civil society and globalisation serve today as false-gods offering false salvations, trying to save people from the ‘wars of religions.’ Perhaps there are altars around us as skyscrapers, malls, walls, stadiums, etc. which we might not know as gods, for they have been symbols of creating gaps in the society nurtured by the rules of consumerism and nationalism. Into such altars of ‘unknown gods’ that we are called to speak about our faith in the God in Jesus, who has come to be among the poor, building a just world by preaching good news to the poor, which I always hear as bad news to the rich and greedy.

God does not live in the shrines made by human hands:

In to that altar of the ‘unknown God’ Paul speaks about his know-ledge of God the creator as the Lord of the heaven and earth, for such a God does not live in shrines made by human hands (24v). Paul offers his perspective that God cannot be contained into a particular space, in a way was speaking to those people there who still believed that God is only present in the historical temples, and on some pilgrim sites, for they kept moving from one altar to another seeking to find the presence of God only in a named religious place. As I read it today when our church buildings are locked down due to the pandemic, I hear it again and again that “God does not live in shrines made by human hands.” There have been many who are sad because of the closure of the church buildings, for they miss the worship, fellowship with one another, and also the Lord’s supper. I do understand that, because for many years, that has been their practice and to cope with the closure of the building will be quite distressing to many that came to the church building all their life time. But the situation of lock down is a reminder to all of us that God’s presence is everywhere, and cannot be contained into a building alone, for God is present in our neighbourhood, in our street, in our daily walks, in the nature around us, in our gardens, in our homes, in our study rooms, and in our kitchens. In this situation of ours, God might be helping us to discover that God’s presence exists in places which we did not know and did want to know, and locate God in the unknown spaces, places and people around us. There are some who are trying to open their churches to go in to record their online services and for some private prayers. John whom I mentioned in my introduction said about this, “either we are all in or we are all out,” where he is emphasising there is no privilege for one person to go in and perform on behalf of all people, excluding the rest outside.

My superintendent minister Rev. Cathy Bird in one of our recent circuit leadership meetings and in her circuit pastoral letter this week, challenged us with a very pertinent question, “how is the church being missed today by the community around us?” Answering this question may bring out the need and relevance of our church today, including the relevance of buildings. Cathy further emphasises how has the community, the wider public sphere missed the church during this lock down? Paul is reminding us again, “God does not live in shrines made by human hands.” In a recent survey by Tear Fund, it was said that a quarter of UK adults (24%) say they have watched or listened to a religious service online since the lock down. Why has there been a sudden increase in faith during this lock down? Of the many reasons analysed, I for one think, is this survey not saying to us that people preferred to be part of a religious ‘service’ from home/kitchen rather than coming to a church building? Paul is reminding us again, “God does not live in shrines made by human hands,” for God is ever present in the unknown and in the unthought of.

God is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything:

In to that altar of the ‘unknown god’ Paul speaks, “God is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything” (25v). This verse goes in line with the previous one, for God does not live in the buildings, and he is not served by human hands in such buildings, as though he needed anything. In that context, they believed that God is served by human hands in their designing the image, in their sacrifices by human hands and in their performances of prayers by their human hands. Those days human hands meant ‘able bodied’ human hands, and any offering by disabled human hands were considered sacrilege. So, Paul was offering his perception of God in Jesus, who has come to serve and not be served at all and in all situations. In a way, since God is not needing anything, God is not served by human hands, by which I think we are called to serve people and creation those who are needing anything. Our call during this lock down situation is to serve the vulnerable people, who are in need of help, to serve those hungry who are in need of help, to serve people whose mental being is affected due to this situation by offering pastoral care and to serve those on the margins who are in need of care and help at a moment like this. The message for us is to keep serving those who are needing anything, for in that serving we serve God. 

I recognise and appreciate all the contributions and efforts of the people at our churches who keep toiling for the upkeep of the church buildings, and any amount of saying thanks will be insufficient to them. Without their voluntary work, the church buildings wouldn’t have sustained thus far. On the other hand, I also think how many of us thought by going to church in its buildings, and helping with seating, playing music, making coffee, setting up flowers, reading Bible, leading worship, making an offering, preaching, breaking bread etc. that we are actually serving God? What does Sunday ‘service’ mean? Who is serving whom at the worship? This text calls us to introspect our actions, for we are called to serve the least, the lost and the last in the communities around and by serving them we are serving God in Jesus (Matthew 25: 31-40). When many people around us are in need of help, in need of friendships, in need of a person to talk to, in need of a job who has been furloughed, in need of a help with shopping, our call is to serve those needy. For in the first two weeks of the pandemic there has been an 81% increase in demand for food aid, with many going hungry, when calls to helplines for domestic abuse has increased by 120% in a month’s time seeking refuge place, when people from Black, Asian, Minority and Ethnic communities are two or three times more likely to die from coronavirus than the general population in the UK, when this pandemic is not a great equalizer, exposing the bare inequalities in the society for the marginalized communities are disproportionately affected, the calling for Christian ‘church’ is to be in ‘service’ of one another, particularly those on the margins, for by serving the ‘other’ we are serving God.

We can be and become a church only by serving one another in nurturing friendships, relationships and building bonds of trust as an act of our being a church today. To be a church during this lock down is to be in service of one another. Paul goes on to speak, “since God himself gives all mortals life and breath and all things,” (25v), we as a church are called to be givers, giving service to the needy, giving our spaces for those in need, and giving our time and resources for the well-being of our communities.

As Paul in his speech implore the words of a poet (28v), allow me to end with a prophetic poem by Ruth Wells titled, “God snuck home,” which speaks to us and calls to celebrate God who is present in the so far unknown places, at our home and surely at our kitchens. I did hear cynics commenting that by experiencing God in our kitchens are we domesticating Christian faith and privatising it to individualistic self, rather than offering public theology. Habermas would argue that home or oikos was the primary public where rational critical discussions happened, and at a lock down situation like this, experiencing God at our kitchen is a shift of the public, for conversations with children at family prayers at home still yield a needed public theology for our times today. Theology today happens as theo-poetry and as theo-art, for they are the forms of public theology for our times, as they reach out to many people in the public sphere.

God snuck home.

No longer bound by the expectations of a ‘consecrated’ building

She’s concentrated her efforts on breaking out.

Now in the comfort of a well-worn dining table

she shares some bread, with some friends.

And she laughs.

And she weeps.

In the sacred space of home.

Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta,

15^th May 2020

Pic credit: http://www.northrock.tv/nurses-rock/

Retelling of John 14:1-6

Drawing the Faith: Jesus is the way and not a cul-de-sac

Jubi and Jai ho the artists have drawn the faith in Jesus based on the text John 14:1-6, where Jesus said, "I am the the way, the truth and the life." Jesus is the way and not a cul-de-sac, not a dead end, but a way open to all irrespective of their identity. There is a free flow of grace in this Jesus the way. Jesus the way is full of truth, life, peace, compassion, justice, relationships, friendships, love, faith, humility, service, care, which is open ended. Jesus is the way and not a cul-de-sac. Drawing the faith for faith draws. 

Retelling John 10:1-10 Jesus is the gate for the sheep

Faith from a Child's Pencil: Jesus the gate for the sheep

Shared with my boys about Jesus' saying, "I am the gate for the sheep" John 10: 7. Here is their reflection with their pencil. The shepherd Jesus sleeping as a gate for the sheep. Hope you have found that sheep of all colour are in Jesus' sheepfold. I think this drawing speaks more powerfully than more words can do. Thank you my boys for inspiring and teaching us. Who said children can't do theology? 

It’s ok if you don’t understand: Jesus the gate is open - Reflecting on John 10:1-10

At a time, when the world is locked down due to the virus, how do we understand Jesus’ words to his disciples, “I am the gate” (9v).  Or to put it in other words, what is it for us today, when the people across the globe are longing to come out of their locked down experiences, and the text that comes to us this week is Jesus as the gate, the door.

1.     Opening the text:

Jesus in opening this text (1-5v) explains to his disciples in a figure of speech using sheep, shepherd, gatekeeper and thieves, analogy to explain about the life of those early followers of the first century. Jesus, picks these agrarian pastoral figures of speech because those were the images of the then public sphere that Jesus and his followers knew. Jesus never missed the opportunity to be publicly sensitive, and always preferred to explain things in the language, images and paradigms of their public space, which they were all familiar with. Perhaps that would be a learning for us today, to be publicly sensitive to the public sphere we live in, and communicate the gospel of Jesus in a relevant language and images that the public can relate with. The message here is that the shepherd comes in all confidence through the gate, whereas the thief comes in means and ways that look fishy and fussy, which includes robbing the sheep. The shepherd leads the sheep outside and the sheep recognises his/her voice and follows, for the shepherd is life-saving and life-assuring. The sheep not only resists to follow the voice of the thief that has come to rob and kill them, but also runs away from this thief to stay with their life-giving shepherd. If I am allowed to open this figure of speech for us today, it would go this way. The shepherd is Jesus Christ, the sheep are the followers, gatekeeper is God, thieves are the intruders who come in the name of consumerism, secularism, oppression, discrimination, patriarchy etc. to steal, to deviate, and to trap the disciples. It is also interesting to note that the shepherd and the gatekeeper are one and the same, but taking two different roles. Not to forget, Jesus is the lamb of God, one among the sheep in that sheepfold.

2.     Opening our understandings:

Verse 6, serves as a junction between the first five verses and the last four verses in this text. It reads, “Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.” Firstly, on the very face of this verse, yes many of us on many occasions did not understand what Jesus has said, in the Word or elsewhere. When Jesus said things figuratively, we have taken it literally, when Jesus said things analogically, we have taken it historically, when Jesus said things contextually, we have taken it universally, when Jesus said things universally, we have taken it alternatively. When we have not understood many things Jesus said, we pretended to have known it all and triumphantly eulogised our words as his words. This verse today calls us to humility to say in the presence of the Lord, yes Lord we have not understood your word as you want us to be understood. This verse also calls us to repentance for we have not understood the words of Jesus as he meant them to be and, in a way, misunderstood his words and excluded several people across histories based on the prejudices of a literal reading of the text. For us as readers today, it is absolutely ok to say that we don’t understand what everything is written in the Word. Jesus does not condemn us for not understanding but appreciates our honesty and works with us to understand things better. This verse also calls us to prayer, asking God in Jesus, the logos to help us understand the words of Jesus and the words in the scripture relevant for our time and context. Secondly, some of the public theological language that is used today may not be understandable to those that consider to be custodians of faith, for they might prefer to listen to the gospel only in their known categories and perspectives. Any attempt of conveying the message differently, different from their convention, tradition, perspective, then they immediately feel threatened, puzzled and insecure. This verse calls us to more honesty to say to Jesus we have not understood your words, and this was what happened in the given text, for they did not understand what he was saying to them.

3.     Opening Jesus the gate in its context:

It is in that context when his disciples did not understand what Jesus said, that Jesus speaks again to them with much more public theological clarity and said, “I am the gate”, which is mentioned twice in 7 and 9 verses. To put it into perspective into the context of the text, Jesus in order to open up his figurative speech about shepherd, which was ambiguous to his disciples, picks another image in this case ‘the gate’ as a public faith image to explain about his being and becoming a human shepherd. One public faith image supplements another public faith image to understand it holistically. Jesus as the gate is used here to open the understanding of a shepherd, sheep, gatekeeper and the thief.

Shepherds in the ancient world of first century often built temporary pens for their sheep to sleep in at night. And those pens would have a small opening where the shepherds laid down in front of their sleep. They blocked the entrance with their bodies, so no sheep could go out during the night. Literally, the shepherd becomes the gate, or door, and no predator can get in without first killing the shepherd. This is the image that Jesus is drawing upon when he says in verse 11, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus as the gate explains his being as a gate and also his function as a gate to the sheep. In Jesus as the gate, he explains three functions, one there is safety for his sheep for as he said, “whoever enters by me (Jesus the gate) will be saved,” (9a) and secondly there is freedom for his sheep, “and will come in and go out and find pasture” (9b). Thirdly, Jesus as a gate has come to give life, life in all its fullness to its sheep (10v), in other words to see life is assured to all its sheep. In this entire text we see Jesus taking on the roles of shepherd, gatekeeper, lamb and now as a gate to his sheep. You can imagine the kind of care, support and freedom that this sheepfold was getting from Jesus, who at least plays four roles, including the lamb in that sheepfold.   

Back in the day, when I lived in a hostel during my college days, I remember that our hostel doors were open all day and but were closed at 11pm. All of us have to get in by that time, and those that did not enter by then were subject to disciplinary action by the authorities. As it was a student run hostel, there were many arguments about the opening and closing of the doors between students and authorities of the college. It even led to a point where the locks of the entrance door were broken by some students, who were not able to cope with these locking of the gates.

4.     Jesus the open gate:

But with Jesus as the gate to his sheep, there is freedom, for the sheep can go out and come in, because Jesus the gate knows his sheep and he has been guarding, caring, nurturing and preparing the sheep as a gate/shepherd/gatekeeper/lamb to face the challenges of the world. This Jesus the gate is not an iron bared gates with high security, allowing sheep only with their ID cards, but a gate with open doors allowing his sheep, whether with documents and no documents, to go out and come in freedom with responsibility, for the sheep follows the voice of the shepherd, wherever they are located in the sheepfold. In that freedom, the sheep enjoyed safety, which John records as ‘they will be saved’. Jesus the gate is a door for the sheep opening to God and to the world, allowing us to live a life in honesty and with responsibility. Jesus the gate is a bridge between sheep, shepherd and gatekeeper, explaining that the shepherd/gate/gatekeeper/lamb finds their meaning in the sheepfold as much as the sheep finds a meaning of their existence in following the voice of their shepherd who plays multiple roles in nurturing and supporting them. Jesus the gate is a shield to the sheep against the wolves and thieves who are trying to attack and deny life for their selfish desires, assuring fullness of life to all people, for that is the reason he has come.

5.     Opening Jesus the gate for us today:

At a time when people are frustrated with the lock down experiences, what is the relevance of Jesus the gate to us today? Firstly, Jesus the gate is an open gate gives confidence to his followers to be responsible and to engage with the world when it is safe to go out. Jesus the gate stays with his sheep as a lamb, opens the gates as a gatekeeper under right conditions, and leads the sheep as a shepherd in caring for the world. As followers of such Jesus the gate, we are called to be open to all people, specially building community spirit among our streets, of course with a social distance now. By waving at our neighbours, by listening to our neighbours’ anxieties and by helping our vulnerable neighbours, Jesus the open gate comes alive today. Secondly, Jesus the open gate mediates safety of its people and their participation in the world under the divine protection of the Good shepherd. Thirdly, Jesus the open gate is an affirmation to protect the vulnerable communities, for God in Jesus recognises the injustices around, disproportionately affecting the marginalised communities and offers hope in keeping them safe. Fourthly, like the disciples sometimes we do not understand the relevance of the image of gate at a time like this, but Jesus the gate helps in struggling with us to understand that he is not a dictatorial God trying to fix things from above, but working with the communities on the ground in overcoming this phase of the crisis, he willing to be a gate and inviting us to be gates for our communities in offering care, freedom and support. Fifthly, I see the relevance of Jesus the gate in all those care and medical workers who are nursing the people with PPE or not, risking their own lives and in saving several people’s lives today. Lastly, as churches we are called to be such open gates like Jesus offering care, nurture, nursing, and supporting our communities, even when we are closed as buildings, towards building new creations where life is lived in all fullness.

When the locks of our hostel doors were broken, the authorities understood the frustrations of the students and eventually left the doors open by trusting in the student’s responsibility and by building in their confidence.

Jesus the gate is always open to all people of God, and may all our sheepfolds reflect such an open Jesus in our welcome and inclusion of all people.  

Rev. Dr. Raj Bharat Patta,

1st May 2020