When I Survey The Broken Cross...

On the Christmas Eve of 2007, this Church in Balliguda, Khandamal District of Orissa, India was attacked and burnt by the fundamentalist groups. (Photographs Courtesy: Bishop. Samantha Roy)



When I survey this broken Cross
On which the nailed hand of Jesus hanging
I see harmony among people at a loss
And peace broken & community raging

Jesus on an old rugged cross was pressed
And was beaten again and again,
He came to liberate all the oppressed
But the greedy attack Him for vain gain

Though Cross is the reward for His acts of Liberation
Death could not chain Jesus, the Liberator,
For Resurrection is the reward for that crucifixion
So shall every victim 'll turn victor.

CNI Church Attacked in Barakuma, Khandamal Dist, Orissa during Christmas 2007

In a village called Barakuma, the CNI Church was attacked and was put on fire during Christmas 2007. Nearly 400 houses of Dalit Christians were burnt to ashes along with some other Dalit Hindu families. Their certificates, vehicles, food grains, shops were all put to fire. It was said that nearly 4000 to 5000 people attacked them on the Christmas day with weapons and the Christians had to flee into the jungles to save their lives. They had to live in Jungles for four to five days and had to starve there without food. Several people are still missing and it is so pathetic to find that many do not know what has happened to their dear ones.

AN OCTAVE IN FASTING FOR AN ACTIVE FASTING

Fasting in the context of the Turmoil in Orissa

The Prelude
The unabated violence on Christians in Orissa continues for about a fortnight now, where nearly 20 people are killed, nearly 40, 000 are homeless hiding in the forests, where several houses are burnt, churches and schools attacked and where life is also quite threatening in the government relief camps, for some tried to poison the drinking water to kill Christians and violence on Christians simmering to other parts of the State and to other neighbouring States, the situation is highly volatile and perplexing. As a response to the violence on Christians in orissa, Sunday, the 7th September has been called by the National united Christian Forum (NUCF), a united platform of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) and the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) as a day of prayer and fasting in solidarity with the victims in Orissa. Several circulars in English and in vernaculars have been sent to all the constituents of the NUCF, and information is that in many villages, towns and cities, the churches and the Christian communities have been preparing to observe the day in prayer and fasting.

The Instrument
I asked a friend of mine in my town about 7th September and immediately he told me about the efforts and arrangements they are making and involved in organising this day of prayer and fasting. I had to appreciate and admire the commitment of Christians for the day of prayer and fasting. As our conversation went on, I asked him, “Why should we fast?” He was so quick to answer and evangelises me, “the reason for all the Christians to observe this day of prayer and fasting is that, when our co-Christians in Orissa are attacked, when our Christian peoples houses have been burnt, when our Churches are attacked, when our Christian institutions have been attacked and when there is a lot of animosity and anger on the Christian missions in Orissa, we as Christians need to pray and fast, for we need to call on the intervention of our God in such a time of crisis to Christians in India.”What is special about fasting in calling on the intervention of our God? I asked my friend. He was as usual spontaneous in replying me, “Prayer is like a tablet, which we take when we are sick for relief & recovery, and fasting prayers is like an antibiotic or an injection, which brings in a quick relief and recovery from our sickness.”

These replies startled me and have further made me to ponder on what it means to fast in such a situation like the Orissa turmoil? I am sure my friend is not just the one who thinks in this wave length on fasting, I am sure there are several of our Christian brothers and sisters, across the latitudes and longitudes of this globe who thinks about fasting in resonance with my friend’s understanding on fasting. Quickly if I have to spin the yarn of my friend’s understanding into the forefront, several layers of textures which are so complexly interwoven into the fabric of Christianity comes into light.

The first layer of the texture happens to be the parochial understanding of fasting. When our co-christians, when our people are attacked, when our Christian missions are attacked… so on so forth, only when ‘our’ is in trouble, that we are called to fasting. Are called to fasting only when ‘our’ and ‘me’ are in trouble? The second layer happens to be the parochial understanding of God. When ‘our’ people are in trouble fasting is calling on ‘our’ God to intervene and battle for the Christians in India. To that extent my friend was quite open enough to call on just the intervention of God in a time of crisis, for he did not spell what that intervention means. I am not surprised that our Christian friends even stretch that intervention of God, like calling on ‘our’ God to take revenge on Orissa. For they quote that every time such incidents happen and when floods or drought or earthquake or cyclone hits that place, our Christians immediately proclaim that the ‘wrath of God’ is on them (where several innocent people die due to these natural calamities). The third layer is the petty understanding of fasting. Is fasting a matter of inward activity within the body or does it have any outward activity in the community? Is fasting giving up eating for a day or does it have something beyond? When we feast all the 365 and half days in a year to the core, just giving up eating for half a day is that all called fasting? What legitimacy do we have in calling it a day of fasting? There is a wide paradox between the fatting and fasting in Christian lives. Is such a fasting acceptable to God? There are many more layers that have been into our Christian living, but for want of time, let me restrict to these three layers and address them from a Biblical perspective. Once again I know and I am reminded that I am entering into a difficult horizon of the conventional understanding of faith and fasting, which has been deeply rooted in all our Christian understandings. However for the sake of the Gospel, I have to risk gospel, so that all of us become the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

The Notes
To further take us through in reclaiming the essence of the Gospel, and to draw our focus what does it mean to fast in a situation like Orissa turmoil, I have with me one of the popular texts in the Bible, the book of Prophet Isaiah chapter 58, verses 6 & 7.

“ Is it not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”

Tuning the Frequency
The above words of the Trito-Isaiah comes with much force today in order to explain what it means to fast, and what activities it include in fasting. These two verses summarise the character of fasting for our Christian ethical living. These are very old sayings in the Bible and happen to be an old rhetoric in the Church tradition to which we had been listening. However, I found these verses very profound for our context of September 7th, when the whole Christians across the globe observe the day of prayer and fasting in solidarity with the Orissa turmoil victims. From these two verses I found eight characteristics of fasting, and which provide a way to what it means to fast in our times. Before I deal with the eight characteristics of fasting, which I call the ‘Octave in Fasting’, let me unravel the truth that fasting is not parochial rather fasting is more communitarian, which is for the society, by the society and in the society. Fasting is a communitarian process, where through fasting it benefits all in the society for the aim of fasting is it brings in justice, peace and equality and never done by a particular sect people because they are affected. Allow me also at this point to disentangle the truth that God is never parochial, rather God is of all people and of all faiths, for it is in God all faiths exist and in God all faiths sustain, for God is just and seeks the same from his people in the society to administer and execute justice to all, and that is where fasting is directed towards.

With these perspectives in mind, let us start to organise the two verses into an octave to draw out the essence, the direction, the meaning, and the message of fasting for our times today. Octave is a famous module, which has been used to explain many categories in the sciences. Music has been a famous one, which has an octave to determine and define its melody. An octave in the Indian version of music is sung as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Da Ni Sa, likewise prophet Isaiah also gives us an octave in fasting. It is harmony in singing in the octave, and it is disharmony, when some one sings little lesser to the given octave or sings little higher to the given octave. Similarly, octave in fasting also maintains the same. As every musician is aware of the octave in music, so also every Christian should be aware and be used to this octave in fasting for such an octave is an active fasting.

The Rag / Tune
As the frequency is tuned and with the given notes it is now time to draw the scale in the octave of fasting. All these notes in the octave are complimentary to each other and reveal the rich character in fasting.

Sa - to loose the bonds of injustice
Re - to undo the thongs of the yoke
Ga - to let the oppressed go free
Ma - to break every yoke
Pa - to share your bread with the hungry
Da - bring the homeless poor into your house
Ni – to cover the naked
Sa – to hide not yourself from your own kin

The Composition
As the notes have been spelt out and the tune has been given, its now time to reveal the composition, and therefore draw what it means to fast in the context of Orissa carnage. Some practical directions are given below.

Part I
The first four notes can be summarised since injustice, yoke, oppression and breaking the yoke all go in the same line and is broadly discussed under the rubric of injustice for want of time. Therefore in the whole Orissa episode of violence on Dalit Christians, here are some of the bonds of injustices? Here are the un-weaved threads from the bonds of injustice.

a. The injustice of religious fundamentalism,
b. The injustice of violence,
c. The injustice by caste,
d. The injustice by the unjust governance,
e. The injustice of not to exercise the freedom of religion.

These have been the bonds that have griped so tight the lives of Dalit Christians in Orissa during this turmoil. These bonds have so griped, that the Dalit Christians in Orissa are unable to breath the breath of life and are pushed to the edges of death. To be more explicit, the injustice of religious fundamentalism has brewed hatred and anger of the fanatic Hindus towards the Dalit Christians and had to pay the price of their lives. The injustice of violence entangled the Dalit Christians to be attacked, raped, killed, be burnt alive and run for life into forests. The injustice of caste has further pushed into margins the Dalit Christians, and there has been a struggle for them in demanding a Scheduled Tribe Status, for Dalits converted to Christianity has to bear the brunt of injustice from all quarters of the society. The injustice by the unjust governance is exposed in the State governments failure to safeguard the lives of Dalit Christians, though this has been the second of its kind in attacking them. At some places policemen were mere spectators to the violence. When the Constitution of India guarantees all its citizens to exercise faith in any religion, Dalits are denied the right to choose their religion and either termed as ‘converts’, ‘re-converts’ and even sometimes ‘de-converts’.

Therefore the calling to all those fasting for the cause of Orissa is to loose the bonds of these injustices, break the yoke of discrimination and set at liberty all that are oppressed. Fasting does not in any ways mean to loosen the size of the waist clothes by reducing to eat or by not eating, rather to loose the bonds of injustices surrounded and suffocating Dalit Christians in Orissa.

· If fasting means to loose the bonds of injustice, then it means to loose the grips of religious fundamentalism in all religions, including Christianity. We as Christians, who fast should condemn religious fundamentalism in all forms and modes and try to maintain cordial and harmonious relationships with other people of faith in our localities. As we fast, let us give up aggressive and inflammatory talks from our pulpits, criticising the practices and worships of our neighbours. As we fast let us call on the Christian missions to respect the indigenous cultures of the people and not to force the western cultures on them in the name of gospel. As we fast, lets resolve to preach the good news of love that Jesus preached and practised and try to become more like Christ, rather than ‘chruchians’. Let us as Christians initiate inter-faith activities that create peace and harmony in the society we live in. When Christians all across the globe become more spiritual by becoming religion neutral through following the paths and ways of Jesus Christ, religious fundamentalism in addressed, and the bonds of such injustices will loosen both in Orissa and else where, and that’s what it means to fast.
· If fasting means to loose the bonds of injustice, then it means to break the yokes of cruel violence, which has taken the lives of several Dalit Christians. In the context of violence, fasting means to overcome the culture of violence by calling on the State and Central governments to arrest all the perpetrators of violence, who have caused it in the name of religion and all those who have taken law and order into their hands. To fast means to exert pressure on the government to probe into the reality of the killings of the Swamiji and into the killings of the innocent Dalit Christians by the Central Bureau of Investigation along with a probe from the National Human Rights Commission. As we fast, let us resolve to become the ambassadors of just peace in our societies.
· If fasting means to loose the bonds of injustice, then it means to set at liberty from the heinous grips of caste and caste practices, which has further pushed the Dalit Christians to the peripheries of the society. As we fast, let us lobby for the equal rights of the Dalit Christians by exerting pressure on the Central government to give justice to them. As we fast, let us also as Church confess our caste-ridden mindsets and give up caste from our churches. As we fast, let us break the barriers of caste and sub-castes within the Church and live the values of the reign of God. As we fast, let us denounce caste, and affirm Dalit rights as human rights. As we fast, let us demand for a Dalit-Tribal interface, an interface between faith and ideologies and an interface between social movements and the state to address the caste issue in Orissa. As we fast, let us call for a thorough analysis of the caste discrimination done to Dalits in Orissa and call the state and the Church to address it.
· If fasting means to loose the bonds of injustice, then it means to loose the grips of the unjust governance in the state of Orissa. To fast means, to be bold in calling the state government accountable for their failure in safeguarding its people and in maintaining the law and order situation, where violence erupted in the presence of the government policemen. Since the state government has been failing to safeguard the Dalits in Orissa with the consequent attacks one in December and one in August, to fast at a time like this is to come open in writing to the President, the Prime Minister and the Governor of Orissa to impose Article 355 by dissolving the state government and held Presidents rule in the State, for there is no longer a trust in the State machinery. To fast, at a time like this is also call to ask explanation from the ruling Central government, for it has not been able to nail the miscreants and being soft to the fundamentalist groups. As responsible citizens to fast means to pray and vote for a government with secular values.
· If fasting means to loose the bonds of injustice, then it means to loose the grips of the injustice of not to exercise the freedom of religion. To fast at a time like this is to affirm and assert in the constitutional rights of the people to preach, practice and propagate any religion in all freedom. To fast also means to condemn all forcible conversions done with any allurement or inducements in our country by any religion. To fast means, giving up our statistical goals in winning souls or in planting churches rather to get committed to resolve to work towards the quality of life of the people.

Part II
In the context of Khandamal episode of violence, when people are hiding in the forests for life, with out food and shelter, what does it mean to fast?
Fasting means to share our bread with the hungry. Fasting means primarily sharing with the needy. It is not just giving a loaf of bread to the hungry, rather to give up our accumulating attitude and deeds. To fast means, lets give up our greedy attitude, our selfish attitude and our insensitive attitude towards our neighbours. Fasting, therefore means sharing with the needs of our people in Orissa. As we fast, lets collect special offertory as Churches and Christian communities and let us share with the people of Orissa in this time of distress and pain. As we fast, let us collect the relief material and organise it to send to Orissa, for there are people with special needs and their need is to be met urgently and immediately. To fast means, let us as Churches stop accumulating wealth to build huge towers and churches for our own selves, and start sharing with the people in need, our Orissa brothers and sisters now.
Fasting also means to cover the naked. When our people in Orissa are fled with out any thing to wear, the call as we fast is to cover them. To fast means to cover the naked, and also means to uncover the covered, which mean lets, expose our arm-chaired saturated comfort zones in our Churches, for we need to cover the naked in Orissa. To fast means, to be bold in uncovering the covered in order to cover the naked.

Part III
When nearly 40, 000 are hiding in the forests homeless and when nearly 5000 houses are burnt down in Orissa, what does it mean to fast?
Fasting means to bring the homeless poor into our houses. To fast means, to bring those home less Dalit Christians to a roof like ours, which has all the comforts of life. To fast means to re-build their houses just like that of ours and comfort them from their fear, trauma and anxiety, and also to adopt a child who has been orphaned because of this violence and make him/her part of our house. To fast means to open our houses for the homeless, to open up our hearts for those pushed into poverty and margins.

Part IV
When our brothers and sisters in Orissa have become victims of communal violence, what does it mean to fast? Orissa is far off from me, and how does it affect me?
Fasting means to hide not yourself from your own kin, and I believe that people in Orissa are after all our own kith and kin and we at a moment like this, if we hide ourselves from them, it is not fasting. Tomorrow or one day, you may be a victim and there will be none to be with you. Therefore to fast means, to be in solidarity with our people in Orissa, not to hide ourselves from the issue, not to be closed thinking me and my family are fine and am I my brother’s keeper? To fast is to realise that we are our brother’s and sister’s keepers and we need to be with them in this times of trouble and violence.

The Postlude
Let us therefore resolve to fast pro-actively for the cause of Orissa, and express our solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Orissa. The promise for all those who fast as said above is “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly, your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.” Isaiah 58: 8-9.

Rupees Three Hundred Thousand is the Cost of those died in Orissa Communal Violence

Shri. Shivraj Patil, the Home Minister of the Union Government of India, visited the violence erupted Khandamal in Orissa after 11 days of violence and has reviewed the situation over there. After his visit, he has announced a compensation of Rupees three hundred thousand as ex-gratia to each family of those killed in communal violence in Khandamal, Orissa. He also had to say that the present situation in Khandamal is somewhere between ‘normalcy and volatile’.

Thanks to the gesture of the Central Government in announcing an ex-gratia to those families who are in deep distress, sorrow, fear and trauma. But, as this was announced, several questions rippled around my thoughts. Can life be priced in terms of money? Will a price bring back the lost one in the family? If it is all with money, there are no ends to the killings? How easy it is to worth human life in terms of money? To put the debate in perspective the primary question that surrounds and summarises the situation in Orissa at the moment will be, in such a situation of turmoil and fear, what does it mean to achieve justice for the Dalit Christians in Khandamal, Orissa, who have been the worst victims due to the communal violence?

I know, that I am entering into a wider debate, which has several layers of viciousness and which has several ramifications and consequences. However it is worth to attempt to draw the parameters for what does it mean to achieve justice to Dalits Christians in Khandamal? I think, certainly announcing a grant of some rupees may not be the all in all for Dalit Christians at a moment like this. Nor, a mere visit to the streets of Khandamal is the solution at a time like this (like our Home Minister visiting the deserted streets of Khandamal, where people fled to forests to save their lives). Nor deploying some paramilitary forces will be what the victims would require (for the policemen were mere spectators to the violence done to Dalit Christians in Khandamal). Nor a mere Press statement by the government authorities is the response now in this situation (for the Chief Minister of Orissa talks to the Press telling that situation in Khandamal is coming to normalcy, whereas violence has simmered in Jeypore, Koraput areas and reports of fresh violence on Christians come in).

Therefore, in a situation, which is so volatile like this in Orissa, I envision that to achieve justice to Dalit Christians means

· To promote peace and harmony among communities of all religions in Orissa.
· To condemn fundamentalism and fanaticism in every religion, that inflicts violence and inflates the religious sentiments leading to violence.
· To punish the perpetrators of violence under law, who cause it in the name of religion & caste and in specific, in the name of religious ethos.
· To create a space and place for the Dalit Christians to come back home safely and to live in all safety and freedom, by overcoming the fear, trauma and grief.
· To initiate peace committees through inter-faith interventions in all local communities.
· To exert pressure on the state and central governments in ensuring justice through their government machinery, and make the state also accountable for failing to maintain law and order situation in the state.
· To organise a dialogue/interface between the Tribals and Dalits in Khandamal for a peaceful negotiation between the two communities.
· To enjoy the freedom of religion as granted by the Constitution of India, and to exercise faith in all freedom and liberty.
· To affirm in the richness of the people’s cultural identities, with out any dictation from external agencies.
· To assert the human rights of all people, and specifically the rights of Dalits.
· To strive for a community of transformation, a community of friendship, a community of love and a community of peace and justice.

These are just some pointers towards what it means to achieve justice in the context of turmoil in Orissa. Money cannot pay the price, nor cannot equate life, but affirming in the human dignity, human identity and human freedom can lead to he path of justice and tranquillity. Towards that end, may we all strive for and engage in. Jai hind.

A Violent Sight on a 'Silent Night' - A Dalit Carol from Psalm 23

(When Christians were attacked and Churches were burnt during Christmas 2007 in Khandamal, Orissa i was part of the solidarity mission team, which went to witness the attacked sites and to be in solidarity with the Christians who have been attacked. Having witnessed the attacked sites and the victimised people, one is but struck with shock as the attacks on Dalit Christians is so brutal and inhuman. The situation in Khandamal was so grim and disturbing. The Dalit Christians over there witnessed that "their faith in Jesus Christ cannot be shaken with these brutal incidents". It was a real challenging experience for me to be with the people, listening to their stories and their committment for the gospel of Jesus Christ.After witnessing the attacked sites, in my personal meditation, I read Psalm 23, and I had to read it from the perspective of the victims, who are living in fear and trauma. Since it is during the Christmas time, I thought in a context of violence and fear, this is how a carol can be sung in this situation.)

Re-reading of Psalm 23 from a victim’s perspective

Is the Lord is my Shepherd? I shall want you now
You promised me to make me lie down in green pastures; but why these saffron attacks on us,
You promised me to lead me still waters; but why this rain of fire on us,
You promised me to restore my soul; but now we have to run to save our lives and soul
You promised me to lead me in right paths; but why are we pathless hiding in jungles
Lord all this for we bear your name?

We are walking thro’ the darkest valley,
Come now O Lord our Shepherd to rescue us
I fear all evil now with trauma and fear
Come now O Lord our Shepherd to comfort us
Are you with me?

We need your rod to shield us now
And your staff to guide us

Will you prepare a table before us?
Where peace and reconciliation is mediated between us and those attacked us
We are waiting for your anointing of peace
May our cups of agony be replaced with your cups of comfort

You promised that goodness and mercy would follow us
Is it for sure?
If so we need it for all our community for all the days of our lives
Let our burnt houses and churches are re-built, so that we continue to dwell in them

Turmoil in Orissa - A Call for Solidarity

As you are aware about the situation in India right now, the state of Orissa is in utter turmoil, with the tension for the lives of Dalit Christians creeping up, after the brutal killings of nearly 30 people, Christian houses burnt, and ransacking several Christian institutions and Churches by the religious fundamentalist groups. Most Dalit Christians and their families have fled to the jungles and are hiding there in fear and life threatening situations. It has already been four days since the attacks on Christians have started, and the state government has utterly failed in bringing in peace in the state of Orissa.

On the call of the National United Christian Forum, a united plattform of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) Christian schools, colleges and other instituations were closed today, 29th August 2008 all across the nation as a mark of solidarity with the suffereing brothers and sisters in Orissa and as a potest against the communal violence on Christian minorities in Orissa.

Besides this, delegations of Church leadership have met the Prime Minister of India and has sought the quick intervention of the Union government in safeguarding Christians in Orissa and in establishing peace among communities in Orissa. Several Church representatives are sitting at the Orissa Bhavan in New Delhi building pressure on the Orissa government to act judiciously and to bring the law and order situation to control.

It was also decided that on the 7th September 2008, Sunday, the Churches will declare a day of prayer and fasting and will hold prayer services and memorial gatherings, highlighting the need for solidarity with all the victims and pray for peace and harmony among people of all faiths. Therefore i urge you all to join in observing the day of prayer on the 7th, wherever you are and take the lead in your local congregations to do so. At our NCCI secretariat, few prayers and a brief worship order have been prepared and are posted on our NCCI website for you all to make use of those resources for the 7th. As we all know 21st September is celebrated as the International Day of Prayer for Peace, which was initiated by the World Council of Churches, may i also ask you all to take the occasion from the 7th to 21st September, a fortnight, in calling all people of faith for prayer and solidarity for peace and harmony in India.

At a moment like this, we all need to be united in our efforts, and we in NCCI are working hard to get connected with people in Orissa through our regional council, the Utkal Christian Council. An inter-faith peace group is envisaged to be initiated for peace measures in Orissa, and i also request you all to organise inter-faith groups in your localities in sensitizing them in addressing issues on communal violence and for a wider network of solidarity for the Dalit Christians in Orissa.

I shall keep you updated on the situation, but we seek all your earnest prayers and support for the people of Orissa.

Trusting in the hope of Shalom.

Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Turns 166

Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church Turns 166
Re-forming the Mission agenda without De-forming the Gospel values


Reminiscing the past
On a day when the whole world is awaiting for Sachin Tendulkar to score 133 runs - perhaps with his 40th Test ton which is already a record in itself -to replace Brian Lara as Test cricket's greatest run-scorer in Galle when India play on Sri Lanka in a Second Test match, the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC), one of the oldest churches in India and one of the biggest Lutheran Churches in India turns 166 today, the 31st July 2008. This day the birthday of AELC is celebrated all across the churches in AELC as ‘Gospel Day’. It was on this day in 1842, when Fr. Dr. John Christian Fredrick Heyer first landed in Guntur, started a ‘Guntur Mission’ in the state of Andhra Pradesh, which blossomed and bloomed into AELC. Tirelessly and selflessly, Fr. Heyer served and brought in the relevance of the power of Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Telugu people. He established a number of hospitals and a network of schools throughout the Guntur region. The main ingredients in his missological endeavours include mission as evangleism, mission as education and mission as health. Despite several hardships, Fr. Heyer kept his focus and direction on the mission dei, and remained faithful and committed to his calling and to the values of the Gospel.

Revitalising the present
Those initial tiny seeds of faith, which Fr. Heyer has sown then, became a Church with nearly one million people, spreading across six geographical jurisdictions in and around the state of Andhra, with nearly 5000 local congregations served by 650 pastors. Thanks to the great efforts by Fr. Heyer and his mission colleagues, for their vision, passion and contribution to the people of Andhra. On this day the entire Telugu Lutheran world stands up to pay rich tributes to Fr. Heyer for the indelible impact and contributions he has made to the Telugu Dalit Christian community. Just paying tributes may not be a fitting manner to observe Gospel day, but this day also calls for an introspection of our AELC, to be bold in analyzing our Church and to accept our shortcomings in the light of the Gospel, to rededicate our call and commitment as a Church, to rediscover AELC’s mission and witness in the context of newer missional challenges and to strive consistently for justice, equality and liberation of Dalits in making the local congregations of AELC to be the channels of transformation in their local contexts.

With our proud historic and missionary legacy, the AEL Church has to play a prophetic role and should strive towards a just society. It should rise from its slumber and need to address the grave challenges around. The AEL Church should leave all its petty politics aside, and need to revive and reclaim the parameters of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If our Church is not able to be the channel of change, it ceases to be a Church, and all the rituals and activates of the Church will just be materialistic with out any meaning and relevance. In the history of AEL Church, one cannot but remember the brutal killing of our former Bishop/President on this same day in the campus of our AELC office in Guntur, for reasons known and talked aloud.

In the light of present challenges, how can the mission of AELC be reinvigorated and our missionary witness be felt in our localities? How can we become the proud heirs of Fr. Heyer in carrying forward the values of the Reign of God? How can AELC be an agent of transformation in the society? We may not have any readymade, blueprint answers to these pertinent questions, but we as a Church need to wrestle with in order to address these as we discern the signs of our times. Herewith I would like to propose ‘Ephaphta Church’ as a model for AELC to emulate and carry forward the mission of God, and thereby would like to bring out some avenues, where AELC can play its role for an effective witness.

Re-forming as an “Ephaphta community”
In the gospel according to St. Mark 7:31-37, we find Jesus healing a person who is differently- able, suffering from hearing and speaking problems. The interesting part of this healing is the role of a community or a group of people who played a very important part in the healing of this person. If we carefully read through this healing, we see that the healing is takes place in an unknown place (no clear place is mentioned), the healing happens to an unknown person (no name or identity of the person is mentioned), the people who bring the sick person to Jesus was an unknown community (it is only mentioned as ‘they, no other clue of who they are), and Jesus uses an unusual way of healing (taking aside the person to a private place, putting his fingers in his ears, touching his tongue with his saliva, looking up to heaven, sighing and saying ‘Ephphatha’), and transforms the person to a known one as his own one. The emphasis in this episode is the role of the unknown community, which played a vital role in the whole healing process. Here is where I strongly feel the relevance of this community for the AEL Church, as we celebrate the Gospel day. This unknown community, I would like to call them as “Ephaphta Community”, and this community was primarily instrumental in making the unknown place to a known one, for it would remain as a historic place for healing. This community transformed the person, his life and his future. I wonder, whether Jesus would have been marvelled by the faith of this community of people and healed the person. The community’s faith would have been a news headlines in their days, and if the writer of Hebrews would have know about this community, there is no surprise if he/she would have added this community in the heroes and the sheroes of faith mentioned in the 11th Chapter. This community was a group of unsung heros and sheroes, who did not crave for their name of banner, but rather concentrated on their neighbour and his healing. Kudos ‘Ephaphta Community’, you really are an exemplary one for all generations!

Therefore, today I pray AEL Church will be inspired to be like the ‘Ephaphta Community’, concerned deeply for their neighbours and be an exemplary one in its journey of mission and witness. To summarise the characters of the ‘Ephaphta Community’,

· It was an unknown community – for no identity is mentioned.
· It was a voicing community – for it voiced for this voiceless person.
· It was a faith community – but for their faith, the person was healed.
· It was an open community – no barriers for it, even the sick& weak were members
· It was a proclaiming community – zealously proclaimed the healer & the healing
· It was a loving community – its concern for the neighbour

I cannot but find a greater one than this ‘Ephaphta Community’ to be a role model for our AEL Church. Is AEL Church capable of becoming ‘Ephaphta Community’ of our times, addressing the needs of our neighbours? I am sure the faith of our congregations, the life in our congregations is impressive and the potential in our congregations needs to be harnessed and used creatively, missionaly and contextually to make our AEL Church vibrant.

Re-visioning the future
Here I would like to draw the attention to three avenues, where AEL Church can be effective in its witness as it progresses to the future.

· Re-thinking Evangelism: In today’s fast growing revivalism in the churches, healing crusades (the word crusades are used today for revival meetings, really not knowing how violent they were in history), healing revival meetings, prosperity gospel preachers have increased by leaps and bounds. Multitude of our Church crowds attend the healing crusades with a hope that their sickness shall be healed and their health be restored. Several healing stories are aired on the television to catch the attention of people to attend their healing meetings. Some healing evangelists have gone to the extent of commercializing the healing by announcing to attend their crusades, to subscribe to their healing magazines, sending them offerings for special prayers. The faith of the sick people on God has been taken for granted as their vulnerability for the healing evangelists. So AELC as an “Ephaphta Community”, on the contrary should speak, preach and practice justice, equality and dignity to the oppressed people and make people discern and understand to deepen their faith in Christ and not on modern day healers. “Ephaphta Community” are those who do not give false hopes, or speak about healing in the eternal life neglecting the health and happiness, over here in this life. Liberation from oppression and healing from sickness are the two sides of these “Ephaphta Community”. We as AELC need not seek publicity and popularity rather making people to live a life in all its fullness should be our priority.

· Re-imagining Solidarity: Mission today needs to be expressed in solidarity. Specially the case in point is the solidarity and advocacy for ensuring justice to Dalit Christian rights. AEL Church should own the issue of Dalit Christians, for 100 % of its members are Dalits and have been denied the constitutional right. Therefore AEL Church should come to the forefront lobbying for the cause, creating political pressure in the regional localities and be in solidarity with the cause of Dalits per se. The other area where AEL Church can be in solidarity is in addressing the growing corruption in the Church. Several churches are in chaotic situations, with misappropriation of funds or mismanagement of funds. A strong solidarity network within the church needs to emerge to tackle the virus of corruption in the Church. To respond to the call of solidarity is to affirm life and to learn to live in true solidarity. Daisy L. Machado says, “Solidarity allows us to see the imago dei in the faces of those not like us, and it gives us the strength to reach out to those we consider foreign, to “the other”, and to attempt to build community. And it is solidarity that condemns the radical individualism that pervades the lifestyle we find today throughout those nations that enjoy wealth and power, where the value of a person is measured in how much she or he can buy.” Therefore the grace of God calls us to praxis and to be in solidarity with all those striving for liberation and justice. If a transformed world in God’s grace is to be possible, firstly transformation needs to take place within us. If a transformed ME is possible, then a transformed world in God’s grace is possible. If a transformed world is to be possible, a transformed and reformed AEL Church is required.

· Re-mapping the boundaries: The boundaries of AEL Church need to be re-mapped in view of the changing contexts. All appreciations to the ministries of women, youth and relief for their commendable work in AELC. However, the trends have been changing, now every local congregation is confronted with new situations like the farmers suicides, child labour, HIV/AIDS, communication revolutions, ecological crisis, sub-caste divides etc. Therefore our AEL Church’s missological boundaries need to be widened. Plurality of religions, growing fundamentalism, terrorism, naxalism, displacement etc. should be incorporated into our ministerial approaches. One particular area, which is so grim in our Church, is the sub-caste divide. No local congregation in AELC is bold to preach that ‘caste is sin’ nor encourages the inter-caste dialogue and work towards their harmony. Politically both Malas and Madigas have been fighting over their own individual rights, I strongly believe, AELC should initiate a peace process between these communities and set a trend in this direction. When Church takes such a stand, I feel even the political rivalry can be healed and there is a space for a greater impact of it in the society. AEL Church can then be the light of the earth and the salt of the earth.

Re-dedicating our call
The above-mentioned are only some directions, and not an exhaustive road map for the AEL Church to carry forward. With these available avenues, putting aside all individual and selfish motives and agenda, if AEL Church can work in enlarging the tents of the Reign of God, there is a meaning, direction and a goal in our journey of faith. Pray that AEL Church will be transformed as ‘Ephaphta Community’, and inspire the Church and the society with its mission of love and sacrifice. Long live AEL Church, and many happy returns of the day, my dear Church!