The Magnificat & its Magnitude

Re-reading the Canticle of the Virgin Mary
Luke 1: 46-55

My soul is deeply wounded with hurts, insults and pains
And my spirits are drowning in the floods of sorrows and rains
my soul still glorifies the Lord, seeking justice as all gains
And my spirits rejoice in God my saviour despite my stains & strains

When I am rejected and discriminated as polluted
People conspired, laughed at me, brought me to public and collated
For except you O Lord none has been mindful
Of me your humble servant to do any thing needful

Though all my family members call me cursed
Blaming me that I made the image of our family bruised,
But there will come a day when all generations call me blessed
For the Might One has been doing me great things so impressed.

As a Wonderful Counsellor, God solaced and comforted me as lovingly yours
As a Mighty One, God strengthened me with all God’s powers
As an Everlasting God, God journeyed with me in my darkest hours
As a Prince of Peace, God encouraged me to win over all conflicting towers
For holy is God’s name and truly victory flowers

When I am surrounded by fear
When I am pushed down to death near
I could only fear God who is so dear
Realising that God’s mercy is with me now here
From generations to generations vivid and clear

When several arms geared up to stone me to death,
God’s mighty arm guarded me from above and beneath;
When the proud religious heads gathered to take me for a ride,
God scattered the pride, saving me as his bride

Those that are drunk with power and are lusted with hierarchy,
God will throw down such to their cruelty and anarchy;
God shall lift up those who are humble and suffer sinful tyranny
For God shares freedom to both few and many.

Those that go to bed every day in hunger,
Those that curse the selfish accumulators in anger,
God will fill them with good things satisfying
And sends the rich empty, for God it’s justifying

God has always remembered to be prudent and merciful
Helping all the slaves in the history to be liberated in their full
Making all our ancestors to be such channels so graceful
Leaving a legacy to carry forward and be fruitful

(This Magnificat has been re-read by juxtaposing two important contexts. One situating Mother Mary as a young woman, who faced great challenges in her society as she had to be conceived even before she knew her husband Joseph, and the other in light of the realities of violence against women, a continuing reality in all histories.)

Hope against Hope

The Message of Christmas Amidst Human Rights Violations

The ongoing episodes of violence in India, where violence on account of terrorism, violence in the name of religion, violence in the name of caste and violence in the name of patriarchy, have been on the rise. Due to which, the secular ethos of our country and unity among people of different faiths has been at stake. Against the canvas of this scenario, what does it mean to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ? What is the relevance of Christmas for our times? When human rights violations are recorded on a higher scale in India, what is the message of Christmas?

Yesterday on the 9th Dec 2008 it was observed by the media that Bakrid the Muslim festival was celebrated on a low key due to the recent bomb blasts. Madam Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Congress Party in India did not celebrate her birthday yesterday, to be in solidarity with the victims of the recent terrorist attacks (this was for a political mileage). In the context of the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai & Assam, in the background of the recent killings and attacks on the Dalit Christians and Tribals in Orissa by the fundamentalist groups, should we as Christians celebrate Christmas?

Generally, Christmas these days is associated with the pleasure and pomp, leaving the significance of it at the back door. Every day there are carol-singing groups that visit every Christian house, door after door to share the joy of Christmas. All through the month of December, there are several celebrations of Christmas, children Christmas, women Christmas, youth Christmas, elders Christmas, pre-Christmas, town Christmas, and united Christmas etc. you name it and you have it, so many celebrations. All of these either end in a good fellowship dinner or exchanging gifts between one another, in which all Christians are satisfied and are self content. We Christians are least bothered of our neighbours who are living in pain and pathos due to the human rights violations in their localities. Can we really think of what is Christmas to such people who are undergoing trauma, fear, and anxiety caused by violence, oppression, discrimination and marginalisation? Particularly in the context of the nun, who was raped in the violence in Orissa, and where such incidents have become rampant, is there hope in Christmas?

The birth of Jesus Christ in a manger in a small town of Bethlehem basically is a challenge to all the human rights violations that are being done during his times. Allow me to present the context of Jesus’ birth, particularly the life of a young woman who had to been the innocent victim of discrimination. The context then had been ruled by human rights violations, and the birth of Jesus gives a hope to all those victims.

Young Woman Mary, the victim of Discrimination:
Young woman Mary had to be conceived even before she got married to Joseph. Imagine the plight of this young woman, the insults she had to face, the criticisms she had to hear to and the amount of depression she had to go during her early trimesters of pregnancy. The whole society looked down upon her and discriminated her on many fronts of her life. Probably she reflects the norm of her society, where many men raped, exploited and spoiled the lives of women. Probably she is one among many women who had been the victims of human rights violations of her day, and she represents those victims. Hearing that young woman Mary is a pregnant, her family would have rejected her, her friends would have rejected her, her society would have thrown insults at her and at every nook and corner of her little town, ‘young Mary & her pregnancy’ was the talk of the town. No one came in rescue of her. Socially she was crushed, it was unbearable for her to take on the discrimination the society had shown to her. Probably no doctor in her town would have preferred to give her the required medical assistance, for she was treated as polluted. The religious leaders of those days would have passed on several sanctions on Mary, for her so called ‘unethical’ and’ illegal’ conception, and would have even banned her to enter their worship places and community gatherings. Probably many of her co-woman and family members would have advised her to go for an abortion, so that not many would come to know about her pregnancy. Mary sorrows knew no bounds that even her betrothed husband Joseph had also made up his mind to divorce her secretly. Even to think still ahead, probably Mary had this tag of stigma of ‘pregnancy from unknown’, and that would have been one of the reasons for no room for Mary to deliver the baby in Bethlehem, for most people in Bethlehem were reluctant to offer their houses and rooms to such ‘illegitimate’ births. Mary had to bear everything to save the saviour Jesus. On the whole, the young woman Mary had to bear the brunt of being the victim of the Human Rights violations of her times.

God, the Hope for Human Rights
In this Christmas story, when young woman Mary become the victim of human right violations, when her right to live, right to enjoy life have been curtailed, the message of hope comes to her from the God of hope. In all through the nine months of Mary’s pregnancy, if at all she had endured to any of the insults and succumbed to the pressure and depression she underwent and imagine if there would have been a miscarriage for her or was forced to abort the baby, baby Jesus would not have born, and there would have been utter hopelessness in their family and to the whole strings of Christian faith. God provided hope to the victimised Mary and stood by her in her times of trouble. When no one came in rescue of her, she replied to the angel o God, “ behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) She realised that it was only from God that she has hope, and no one can really understands her position and pain in her situation. God is a God who gives hope to the victims to overcome their situations of hopelessness. God is the one who journeys along with the victims in their journey of struggles. That’s the message of Christmas, the message of hope to all those in helpless situations and hopelessness. God stood with Mary, and she emerged victorious from all her insults and injuries.

Therefore the role of those believe in the birth of Jesus Christ, is to become the beacon and channel of hope to all those victims of human rights violations today. and I affirm that is the calling of Christmas to all of us. Until we become the carriers of hope in our fragile and volatile situations, our Christian calling has no meaning, message and direction. In the context of violence, let us give hope to this world to become peacemakers. In the context of fundamentalism, let us be the hope in resisting such forces in our communities. In the context of casteism, let us be the hope in liberating all those people that are oppressed. Christmas is the celebration of hope, and in hope, let us all resolve to become the harbingers of peace and hope in our contexts. May the spirit of hope enlighten all our hearts and minds to become the light of hope in our local contexts, and only then Christmas is meaningful.

Wishing you all a very meaningful observance of Human Rights Day, a hope filled celebration of Christmas and a challenging new year with hope as our guide and strength.

“Singh is King”

Thanking God for the Life of Mr. VP Singh

The sudden demise of Mr. Vishwanath Prathap Singh, the former Prime Minister of India on 27th November 2008 creates a vacuum in the modern political history of India, for his ardent fighting spirit for the cause of the social liberation and transformation, cannot be filled or replaced. His death comes on a day when the NSG Commandos in Mumbai are fighting against the terrorists in saving several citizens, who had been held captive, in an outrageous terrorist attack in the country.

This fighting spirit of the commandos’ parallels with the life of MR. VP Singh, who all through his life had fought against forces of evil with out any fear. The people of India cannot forget the great soul Mr. Singh, for his creative and innovative visions and plans in transforming the society. He remains immortal by his initiative to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission, which brought the Backward Castes into the main fray in the political scenario. His straight forwardness did not yield him power for long tenures and always held the image of ‘Mr. Clean’ all through his political career. If his tenure had continued for long, the long pending just struggle of Christians of Dalit origin in granting them Scheduled Caste Status would have been ensured.

He is also the one who spiritualised politics, when he went to Punjab seeking open forgiveness for the ‘Operation Blue star ‘, by arresting Mr. LK Advani, who was on his ‘rathyatra’ to Ayodhya. He did had that courage and boldness in being firm on his beliefs and values for justice, and least cared for the consequences to follow, where even his government had to fall by the withdrawal of support from BJP.

Long before, he joined the politics; he had been a pioneer in donating huge lands to the landless peasants as part of the ‘Bhoodhan Movement’, which reveals his virtues of selflessness and beliefs in equality, countering greed.

Today’s politicians have a lot to learn and follow from the life and leadership of Mr. Singh. His leadership skills, his passion for the cause of social justice, his desire for equality and his courage in countering any force that forges justice and peace have made an indelible impact on our country’s credibility and rich heritage. When the present political arena has been rotted to sub-standards, Mr. Singh becomes an icon, to whom the politicians can look up to in gaining strength and courage in being firm for the cause of justice. When the whole fraternity of politicians from across the nation stand up to salute the man with values and virtues, we the people of India lose a great statesman and an ideal leader of our times. Mr. Singh, we the India will miss you and we the India shall live up to the visions and directions of your leadership and promise that we shall carry forward the rich legacy, you have left. We thank God for the life and leadership of Mr. VP. Singh, and express our condolences to the bereaved family. Mr. VP Singh, you are truly a king!

The Wisdom of God is Christ

“ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” I Cor 1: 24.

Today’s world witnesses several inhuman activities, which emerge from the foolishness and ignorance of the people who are responsible towards it. Violence, terrorism, attacks on the religious and linguistic minorities etc. all piles up to show the dark side of the human mind. To be filled with the wisdom of God is the only rescue we have at hand. But how do we decipher the wisdom of God?

Paul in writing to the Corinthian church gives us a clue that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. There is no other clue to understand the wisdom of God but through the words & works of Jesus Christ, who was revealed as the Logos to this world. Jesus Christ’s presence of mind, application of thought, and quick actions all exhibit the wisdom of God to our histories. Born as the prince of peace, Christ demonstrated peace by healing, transcending the religious boundaries and by associating himself with least among the society. Christ’s way of peace is not a passive one, rather an active one, which tries to counter the forces of violence and thereby paves the way to peace. Christ is a peacemaker, peace builder and he himself if the peace and wisdom of God.

To address the violent situations in our times, we need to organise like Christ, who is the wisdom of God in bringing peace to our times. If Christ is the peacemaker of his times, we as joint heirs with him needs to be peacemakers for our times. Christ by being the wisdom of God paves the way to the kingdom of God. Therefore we need to follow Christ in all his footsteps, so that we become wise, act wise and remove all vices of our society. May the wisdom of God, who is Christ fill us all with the wisdom so that we live and let other live with the values of the kingdom of God.

If Christ is the wisdom of God, can we an extension to Christ?

My Memoirs of Diwali…

The whole world celebrates today in all lights and colours as Diwali, commemorating the victory of Satyabhama over Narakasura, as the victory of good over evil. May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Festival of Lights, the Diwali. May we all get challenged to become agents of good striving for a victory over evil in our times and localities.

Diwali, brings to me several reminiscences from my childhood. The happiness in shopping crackers during this season, the joy in firing the crackers, the awe in watching several fireworks in the skies, and the list goes on, had always made lasting impressions on me and on my upbringing. Diwali gave the opportunity to eat some good recipes with my friends at their homes and also gave us an occasion to watch films. They were real good times of childhood spent in all innocence and happiness.

Diwali, is memorable for me, besides all these happy moments, for yet another reason, which always kept me to be on my heels. In the school, Hindi language as subject was introduced in my eighth standard and Hindi was always a nightmare for me. For it was a total new & foreign language to be learnt at that stage from the alphabets, and for some reasons I could not cope learning Hindi as I did the other subjects. The friends in the class who were doing really well in Hindi, had been learning it by watching Hindi programmes in the television at home. We had television at home only when I reached to my tenth standard and had a very little access to the television for that privilege of watching Hindi programmes. At the background of this canvas, an essay on ‘Diwali’ was a compulsory essay that always appeared in our question papers in all most every standard. I always had tough time in attempting to write the essay on Diwali in Hindi, and as follows, I had a very poor scoring in Hindi. My Hindi teacher always had a red face on reading my script, specially my essay on Diwali made her much more infuriated. The reason was, I had a good introduction for my essay in Hindi and from second paragraph I was explaining the festival using Telugu (my mother tongue) vocabulary in Hindi script. My Hindi teacher was on top of her voice, and had to warn me to be serious in learning Hindi language. So no Diwali goes for me with out remembering my Hindi teacher and my essay on Diwali in Hindi language. I still remember my essay, it goes this way, “…Deepavali, Hinduyom ka ek pramuk thyohar hi…. Is thyohar me sarvejan chichbuds or kakarpovaths kalchenge…”

The other experience I had with Diwali, is the dilemma created by my Christian folks in my locality, that Diwali is unchristian and Christians should not celebrate it. So at some point in my childhood, we had to be mere spectators of the festivity and lights, remaining at home. Though all our minds were on the festival and crackers, our eyes and ears had to be closed to all of it. But over the years, I realised the importance of the festival, the victory of good over evil and now make sure to participate in this rich festival of our Hindu friends. Now I feel how Christian it is to participate in our neighbours festivals, share with them the joy and community living.

Diwali builds community spirit and community living, and no one community should isolate from such community building festivals. Festivals add colour to life, and festival of lights adds grace and light to the communities in India. In this context of growing religious fundamentalism and religious fanaticism, festival of lights provide a space for friendship and fellowship among people of all faiths. Hatred among faiths is on the rise, and Diwali bridges that gaps among faiths and among people with love and sharing.

May this Diwali bring cheers and happiness to life. Wishing you all a very happy Diwali, and long live community living and community spirit!

Life Beyond Kandhamal for Dalit Panos

Relocation as an Option

As the situation in Kandhamal is uneasily calm after about two months of violence on Dalit Pano Christians, most of these survivors of the brutal violence are perplexed to think life beyond these incidents. On the one hand if they have to return back to their houses from the relief camps, they have to face the threat of being re-converted to Hinduism or face the ultimate consequences of it. On the other hand the district administration is slowly trying to persuade them to get back to their villages and start life, as they appear to be normal. Dalit Pano Christians are caught up between these two options before them.

These Dalit Pano Christians are firm in their faith for they believe in no turning back from their Christian faith and are ready to bear the consequence for it, for they have been experiencing the price for embracing Christianity in their lives. There is clarity in their position with regard to their locus standing of their faith, for they believe in a God of freedom and also affirm their Constitutional right in expressing their freedom of choosing a religion of their own choice and conscience.

To return back to their broken, burnt and destroyed houses in their villages, these Dalit Pano Christians are reluctant for they have been witnessing a series of violence, and expect much more to come in the future. When the destroyed houses of the December violence were rebuilt again, the august violence on them sprouted and their houses and property were again either burnt to ashes or destroyed. So these people knew that there is no longer safety in these villages of theirs and have been urging the government to relocate them to other places and villages in Orissa. Their no confidence in the district administration makes them to ask for a re-location. Their fear psychosis to live in terror and bloodshed makes them to ask for relocation. Their suburbs flooded with the Sangh aggression makes them to ask for relocation.

These Dalit Pano Christians ask for relocation not in all willingness, joy and pleasure. With great despair and out of compulsion, for there is no other option left for them but for relocation. Imagine the plight of these people; their tears knew no bounds. They are asking for a relocation at the expense of their homeland, where they were born, brought up, nurtured, lived for years and experienced community living with people of all faiths. They are asking for relocation at the expense of forgoing their ancestral lands, to which they have been so deeply attached with. They are asking for relocation at the expense of their deep-rooted sentiments of their own land with the ethos of the rich cultural setting they have been used to. They are asking for relocation at the expense of the rich flora and fauna they enjoyed with and by distancing from the historical indigenous traditions that evolved from their lands.

Despite all these reasons, is relocation a possibility for these Dalit Pano Christians? Will the government authorities listen to their pleas? The government can relocate them as a community and grant them pattas, land documents in other areas of the State, but all that is required is a political will for doing it. Earlier when the Church delegations have met the Chief Minister of Orissa and the Home Secretary of Orissa, they have promised to relocate the communities that have been badly affected, based on the requisitions made by those communities. Therefore, the State government has to keep up its word and relocate the affected communities to a safe place, providing them all the requirements of land, shelter and job.

If normalcy is to be required in this violent district in Orissa, relocation is a necessity that can help the communities that have witnessed violence and bloodshed. The role of the civil societies in this direction will be to pressurise the State government to relocate these communities to a safe and secure place within the State. Earlier stories of rehabilitation done to the displaced people in India has a record of providing lands that were unfertile and barren, where livelihood is not a possibility. May the State government in Orissa, keep in mind to provide relocation to these ethno-communally affected people at a land that is fertile and safe. May relocation not make these communities isolated, but may they imbibe the community building mechanisms to live in peace and harmony.

Am I my Neighbour’s Keeper?

A Call to Christians for Solidarity…

For the last few weeks, there has been clash among communities either in the name of ethnicity or religion and the ideology of conflict and the concept of hatred have been reaping greater fruits in this whole saga of violence. Innocent victims had to pay the price in this whole episode. What Samuel Huntington has predicted the ‘Clash of Civilisations’, probably is taking its deep roots with the clash of faiths, clash of interests and clash of cultures as its manifestation.

Ongoing Violence
The violent episode in Orissa, which has been unabated for the last seven weeks, though there has been an uneasy calmness during last one week, resulted in the killings of nearly fifty people, the majority happen to be Dalit Christians. Nearly ten people died in the communal violence in a village Bhainsa, Adilabad district, Andhra Pradesh during last week, the victims had been from the Muslim minority community. Nearly fifty-one people died in the violence in Assam during last few weeks in Udalguri and Darrang districts in Assam dodged by clashes between Bodos and Bangladeshi migrants, where the victims are the Tribals. Besides these major incidents, there have been reported communal violence in the states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat etc. Incidents of terrorism and bomb blasts continue to rock both the urban and the rural India, violence has crept into all corners of the Indian society.

Ongoing Solidarity
Time and again, it has been emphasised that the civil society needs to vigilant in building peace and harmony in times of crisis and build solidarity to communities that have been affected. Violence on any community is not a mere attack on that community, rather they are violation of human rights and a breach of citizenship guaranteed by the Constitution on India. Even the National Integration Council, which met on the 13th October 2008, under the auspices of the Ministry of Home affairs in New Delhi discussed and interacted on communal violence, and observed that the unity among different cultures in India has been tarnished by these acts of violence. On a whole the solidarity to the communities affected, particularly to the Christians in Orissa is tremendous and we as Christians need to profusely thank the solidarity that we have received from all quarters of the world, from all religious communities and from people of all walks of life. We as Christians also need to thank the solidarity systems and the pressure exerted both by the local and international friends put on the governments to intervene pro-actively, though they haven’t really could contain the violence. We as Christians need to thank all the responsible citizens of this country from all faiths, who walked with us during protest rallies, peace rallies, condemning the violence as breach on Indian secularism and for all those who stood by us in times of crisis and violence on Dalit Christians and Christians in India. We also need thank media, for airing the immediate incidents as an when happening, for exposing the inefficiency of the government machinery and for not being biased in their coverage of the violence, though few media people had reported it in their right-ideological perspective.

Am I my Neighbour’s Keeper?
But the real question that comes into light is, “Where are we Christians, in expressing our solidarity when the Muslims in Andhra Pradesh have been killed? Where are we Christians, in expressing our solidarity, when the Bodo Tribals have been killed in Assam? Where are we Christians, in expressing our solidarity, when Muslims have been killed in Gujarat?” These questions come at a time when we had the privilege of the solidarity from other people of faith, responsible citizens of India and from committed Human Rights activists and agencies, from across the world. Leave about the reason, since they have been in solidarity, so we should also be, but are we as Christians not called to be in solidarity with all those that are oppressed and attacked violently? What happened to our role as ‘Good Samaritans’, which we often preach and are boasting about, when our co-citizens are killed and attacked? Was not Jesus Christ in solidarity with those from other communities and cultures during his times? If we as Christians are silent at a time like this, I fear that our moral responsibility as citizens of India is at stake and I also fear our calling, as Christians will lose its savour and character. It is high time, that we need to join the civil society in expressing their solidarity with the bruised communities, with the wounded communities and with the communities who are in deep distress and despair at a time like this of now.

A Call for Solidarity
Therefore, now the calling for us Christians is to stand by those survivors of violence, express our solidarity and try to exert pressure on the government in ensuring safety and protection to all its citizens. As Christians, as Churches, let us engage with the civil society in countering the forces of religious fundamentalism, communalism, casteism and all ethnic conflicts. Let us all dedicate as Christians to be the ambassadors of peace and harmony, to be the ones initiating peace-building measures in our communities and to be responsible citizens of India. We as Christians need to be the apostles of secularism and democracy. We as Christians need to love our neighbours as we love our communities and ourselves. If we as a faith-based community can be a channel for promoting peace, secularism, national integration, unity, justice, and liberation, only then can we fulfil the calling as Christians. Let our voices be heard on behalf of all those victims, irrespective of their religion, region and caste. Only when we Christians stand with those affected people now, tomorrow we can expect their solidarity and support. Let us not escape the crisis, but let us be in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in other faith communities, who have been attacked and killed.

Let us be reminded with the words of Pastor Martin Niemöller who said
"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."