The Journey 304
Wednesday, October 31
Read; Acts 17:16-43
     Today is October 31st. People here in North America will remember it as Halloween day. But there is also another important day in the history of Christian Church. Today is the Reformation Day. It was on this day that Martin Luther nailed his ninety five these to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, thus provoking a lively and fierce debate, leading finally to the Protestant Reformation. Is isn't strange that both the Halloween and Reformation day falls on the same day? Halloween has Celtic roots. It was linked to the Celtic festival Samhain [ pronounced as sow-in or sah-win].  In Irish mythology, it marked the end of harvest season and beginning of the winter or the darker half of the year. According to the Celtics, this was the time when the door to the other world was opened so that souls of the dead, and other being such as fairies could come and revisit their homes.  Feast were laid and a special place for the souls of the dead was also kept at the table.  But sometimes harmful spirits and fairies would also come and people took steps to ward off these evil spirits and it is these thoughts that have influenced the custom of Halloween today. It is believed that Halloween is also influenced by the Church’s celebration of All Saints Day, which is celebrated on November 1st and All Souls Day on November 2nd. All saints day was day when the church remembered and honoured its Saints while some of the church’s like the Catholic Church remember All Souls day as a day to pray for the dead who have not reached heaven. Thus according to tradition, the souls of the dead would wander the earth till Halloween eve, and that was the last chance for these souls to wreak vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world. Hence in order to avoid being recognized, people would don mask and costumes so as to disguise their identities. Thus the custom of wearing different costumes during Halloween.  Celebration of Halloween in North America began only in the 19th century when there was mass immigration by the Irish and the Scots. Though this was a celebration of these immigrant communities, this gradually got assimilated into main stream society by first decade of 20th century, and today with market and media determining of how and which festival to be celebrated, celebration of Halloween has become a million dollar industry. I think most of the people tend to celebrate the festivities associated with Halloween without taking pains to understand whether there is anything symbolic in relation to Christian truths or something that characterizes any aspect of our Christian living and witness. On a day when Martin Luther wanted the common people to read the Word of God and be moulded by the Word, that brought about reformation, I think we also consciously needs to takes steps so that we are not blinded by certain festivities or traditions that have no significance to our Christian life so as to regain the true essence of gospel and make it relevant to the people and to the times. It is this mission that we can find in the ministry of the apostles in the early church.
              We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Acts 17: 16-43. This is one of the most beautiful portion in the Bible where we find apostle taking a unique approach in witnessing and preaching of the gospel. As he came to Athens, Paul realized that the city was full of idols. Greeks had idols or a god for everything and every need and hence they also had an idol known as “unknown god” in case they had  missed anyone. It is in such a so called religious context of the Greeks that Paul presents the gospel of Jesus Christ. When he acknowledges the Greeks that they are “extremely religious” here is Paul, whom I feel acknowledging Greeks in their interest in knowing and search for the true path in life. It is here that Paul says that their search for religiosity and God ends in the gospel and in the knowledge that God does not live in idols and shrines and that God wants everyone as His offspring, to be a part of his family. Paul also brings another truth through this passage. He does not limit the power of God or the way God can work even when he is not recognized by people. Thus at a time when people were trying to make life religious by the erection of statues and idols, Paul tells them that more than these statues and idols, it is ones relationship with creator God that make our life meaningful leading to the resurrection of the dead or to eternal life. As this country celebrates Halloween, as Christians let us remember we should involve in a celebration only if it leads to a more meaningful and abiding relationship with our Lord. If not we may need to have a reformation just as Martin Luther did in his day, so as to bring back the true essence and message of the gospel.  

The Journey 303
Tuesday, October 30
Read: Luke 10: 38-42, Mark 1: 35-39
       Sandy came and struck. But the people are heaving a slight sigh of relief. Though there has been widespread damage due to uprooting of trees, breaking of power line and issues due to flooding, precious lives seems to have been saved. Though fear was looming large in each and every individual living on the east coast, though Sandy brought about destruction, it also brought about something positive. Because of the fear of the storm, families all over the coast were huddled together in their homes. A phenomena that is so rare in families here, as everyone is so engaged in their work and studies, working at different shifts to make ends meet. Though the power lines were down, at some places, most of the families were all together. For me personally it was after a long time that I got some time all by  myself. To renew, to recharge and to relax. I never had an opportunity to watch some good movies as it was impossible for me to sit continuously for two to three hours at a stretch either because I don't like to sit idle or I am always on the move, because of my pastoral engagements and responsibilities. But finally yesterday, with a state of emergency declared here, and not able  to move out, I decided to catch up with some good movies. Finally out of random decided to watch a Hindi movie “Rock On”. Wow, that was a movie that made my day wonderful. A movie which I feel every youngster should watch. A movie about a four friends who are passionate about their singing and music, creates a music band, but due to misunderstanding all the friends separates, not only from each other but also getting detached from their passion of music. Finally they all are able to unite together to rekindle their passion for music, but at the cost of their friend who dies dues to a malignant illness. It made my day as I feel what drives my ministry is the passion that my Lord gives to me each day. I think if each one us has a passion for the job or the ministry that we do, we will never regret even one day in our life and will always wait every day to bring out the best in us. But  more than that another wonderful lesson that I learned yesterday as we all were huddled together, and as hundreds of families were also huddled together, is the fact that we need to consciously reorganize our time and energy so that our lives are made more balanced. Time and energy being balanced among work, family, hobbies so that we feel that life is worth living every day.
                   We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from two portions in the Bible. The first portion is from Luke 10: 38-42 and the second portion is from Mark 1: 35-39 . In these portions I find how Jesus organized his personal life and His time as He did His Father’s business. Even as He ministered to the poor, the outcaste, and healed people of their infirmities, taught the apostles, rebuked and corrected the Pharisees, and spread the news of the Kingdom of God, we find Jesus doing two specific things that helped him to relax and bring more balance in life. The first thing that He did was spending time with his friends. His close friends was the family of Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus. This was one home I presume that Jesus loved visiting, and this was a family that Jesus loved deeply. Here is Jesus consciously organizing His time in his ministry so that time is also spent with friends and families that He loved. In the second portion that we have chosen for our meditation is Mark 1: 35– 39. Here we find another way by which Jesus brings balance in life. He deliberately spends time all by himself, connecting with His Father. Here also there is something that we can learn in organizing our time and balancing of our life. Jesus spends time all by himself and in prayer and this is what He does before he goes out to preach the good news. In a world of today, where family living and personal lives are in a state of chaos and totally disorganized, Jesus teaches us that we need to get our priorities right and our lives to be re-organized. We could do that if we follow the model of our Lord. Let us spend time enriching our lives by strengthening the different web of relationship that God has given to us. The relationship that we have through our family, the relationship that we share with our friends, all these relationship needs to be strengthened and cultivated. In an age of Facebook, we just tend to post certain updates rather than connecting on an intimate way with our friends. I fell I am also guilty in this aspect. In the same way as we enrich our relationship it is also essential that we also have time for oneself, ones hobbies and passion that makes our life creative, time with the Lord that makes us spiritually dynamic. Let us not always depend on Hurricanes like Sandy or Hartals in India to spend time with our family and friends.

The Journey 302
Monday, October 29
Read: Jonah 1
    A state of emergency has been declared in certain parts of the country here in United States.  This is because it is estimated that the lives of more than 50 million people is going to be affected by a storm named Sandy which is going to hit the eastern coast today. Tens of thousands of people  who live along the coast of Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have been asked to evacuate. Sandy storm is considered more powerful than Hurricane Katrina that devastated the country in 2005. This is because on Monday it is full moon and this brings in tide and with the resultant rain and strong wind along with the merging of winter storm system, the  meteorologist considers the effect of Sandy could be devastating. The city officials in New York and New Jersey are worried about possible flooding, and also due to heavy surge of rain and strong wind, there is dangerous possibility of trees being uprooted and power lines coming crashing down. The subways in both  New York and Philadelphia have come to a complete stop with trains and buses also getting cancelled. Most tragic is plight of people who were supposed to fly from New York to India and other gulf  countries with more than 2000 flights being cancelled. People are also living with a fear psychosis  since life here without the basic necessities like water, electricity is unimaginable and if power line gets tripped then it could spell total disaster. With this impending natural disaster looming large, the people have taken precautions and most of the citizens were in a mad frenzy trying to stock their house with essential items like water, and other food items and also with emergency equipments like torch, candle. With this mad frenzy of stocking ones house with essential items, most of the super market have totally sold out their stock of water, milk, fruits, meat and other essential items. Generators are the most sought out item of all with people desperately trying to procure one so as to tide over a possible power crisis. People who has experienced power cuts on a daily basis in India may find the steps taken by the people in the country a bit far fetched. But then that is the situation. A  storm that is coming and the whole nation getting prepared to face the storm and taking all emergency measure to creatively face the effects of storm. When I think of how people have taken precaution to face Sandy my thoughts goes as to how prepared we are to face the storm that comes in our life. Preparing for life storms are more difficult and is more rigorous. Just as preparing to face Sandy storm is essential, more essential is our preparation for the storm in life so that each storm in life leads to higher level of qualitative Christian living and to greater and abiding relationship with the Lord and His plan. How can we go about doing this type of preparations and living?
         We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Jonah 1. The context of this portion is when Jonah runs from the away mission of the Lord, runs away to not to do His will but to consciously rebel against the will of God and also may be to  an alternative plan to which he considers more worthy than the plan of God. God had specifically asked him to go to Nineveh to preach the good news, but he was a self righteous person who would rather see the destruction of the Ninevites rather than the repentance and transformation of the people of Nineveh. Jonah has no guilt feeling to catch a ship to Tarsus and more strange is that though he knows that he is running from the presence and plan of God he goes to the lower deck and has a nice nap. Jonah represent those type of people who takes the will of God so casually that they have no issues in rebelling against God and also trying to relax and sleep as if nothing has gone wrong. It is at this juncture that a storm comes and the people in the boat panic and they do not know what to do. They find Jonah and the captain ask him to call on his God so that their life could be spared. Jonah tell them about how he has rebelled against God and he asks them to throw him to the sea. When the sailors does this, the sea becomes calm.  Some storms are natural, while some storms in life are due to once conscious rebellion against God. As we all prepare to face Sandy, let take time to examine our lives and give priority in doing His Will rather than permitting storms to come in our life or sometimes forcing God to bring storms in our life to so as to make us realize that we are rebelling against God and His plan. Just as Jonah realized that to conquer the storm one had to get back to will and purpose of God, let us also take a decision that we shall always live by submitting to God’s plan and purpose. When we do that even if storm comes, our Lord is there to take care of us and our lives will never be uprooted.  What types of storms come into your life and how prepared are you to face it?

The Journey 300
Saturday, October 27
Read: Acts 10
    We all know that gospel message transcends culture, race and religion. The message of gospel is now seen by many groups of people, that could be incorporated in their life, in their own social, cultural and religious milieu. There was a time when the thought process was that if one had to be a Christian one had to leave the very social fabric in which one was born and adopt the lifestyle and cultural practice of the church or the person who shared the gospel with the individual. But certain developments in the northern part of India, especially in the state of Punjab, reveals a landmark trend that challenges the present style of functioning of the Christian church and the way gospel is presented and way it is practiced both in an individual’s life and also in the corporate matters of worship and ministry. The group that now missiologist are both supporting and also criticizing is a group called Yeshu Satsang. Yeshu is the Hindi word for Jesus and Satsang is a Punjabi word for  gathering of people or in other words fellowship. Thus today you have believers in Punjab who calls themselves Yeshu Satsang, who join together for fellowship and worship. When they meet for fellowship and worship, they use the traditional ways of worship like singing of bhajans and kirtans and use traditional instruments that people of Punjab are familiar with. What is unique of these Yeshu Satsang is that they also have communion service and other sacraments, but the only difference is that the communion elements that they use is not bread and wine, but coconut milk and other food that they are familiar. They also have the sacrament of baptism for the new converts. But one of the important aspects that the group Yeshu Satsang stress is that when you become a member of Yeshu Satsang and wants to become a Christian you don't have to forsake your social and cultural practices in which you were born, nor your social and cultural identity. So you have a church that exist in the Sikh and Hindu cultural traditions, practicing and witnessing ones faith in the cultural and social setting that they were born. These Yeshu Satsang began about seven to eight years back and now it is presumed that there are lot of people who are interested in the message of gospel and want to have the life style of the believer who belong to the Yeshu Satsang group. In fact there is a Yeshu Satsang group in Toronto, Canada and they have a Facebook page too.  When we hear of groups named Yeshu Satsang, I am sure people in this part of the world especially in Europe and North America will wonder and may sometime feel that this is not the way ones faith and ones commitment to the Lord is to be practiced. But as said in the beginning, the message of the gospel transcends all cultural, religious and social context, making transformation in the lives of people. It is in such a context that we need to analyze and think whether as members of the church, whether through our expression of faith and witness, have diluted the message of the gospel and whether we are blind to the new patterns of church and fellowship groups that want to make Jesus Christ not a model of institutionalized religion but a life style that each one of us has to follow.
       We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Acts 10:1-16. This is one of the portion that is an eye opener in the context of the early church especially with regards to ones understanding about the mission and ministry of the church. Here we find God being pleased with a man named Cornelius. Cornelius was not a Jew, he was Roman Centurion. According to the traditional understanding that existed, Jews believed that they were the chosen ones and that God would not like to show his favor to anyone else other than Jews. It is at this context you find God communicating through his angel that He is pleased with Cornelius. As God communicates his favor to Cornelius, God is also teaching a lesson to Peter by showing his disfavor when Peter refuses to eat what God had purified. This was the vision that Peter had seen. Soon both Peter and Cornelius meet according to the divine plan and that is when Peter makes the most wonderful faith exclamation “God treats everyone one the same, He welcomes everyone who receives him”. Thus you find a new way by which Holy Spirit worked in the early church and it is for the first time that a non Jew becomes a believer and Cornelius experiences the power of Holy Spirit. Peter is later reprimanded by fellow Jewish Christians saying that this type of mission and ministry was not acceptable. But God moved in a powerful way in the early church and later in Acts 15 you find the landmark decision taken by the Jerusalem Council. As  members of institutionalized church’s or non denominational church, each of us claim that we follow the message of the gospel by the way  we live our Christian life and do our ministry. But let us remember that it is God who works through the Holy Spirit to create new landmarks and new and fresh avenues so that message of the gospel transcends not only cultural, social and religious boundaries but also all limitations and discrimination that we carry in our mind with our own understanding of the gospel and what it means to be a “church’.

The Journey 299
Friday, October 26
Read: Genesis 2,3
     Watching news can be very enlightening as you are made aware of what happens in your part of the world and also in the rest of the world. But in the last three four days listening to news on CBS Philly or watching the daily report of news happenings on CNN or Fox News in this part of the world and news channels in India especially at the recent happening in our home state of Kerala,  has become one of the most disgusting factor. This is because of the news of brutalities that are taking place which is making people go shell shock. The people here in Philadelphia are still shocked at the abduction of a 10 month old baby girl named Saanvi Venna, who was abducted by someone whose identity is still  not established. This abduction follows the brutal killing of her  grandmother who had come from India to visit her family. This tragedy unfolded even as people were coming into grips at the  news of a thirteen year old girl from Gloucester County in the neighboring state of New Jersey being killed by two teenage brothers aged fifteen and seventeen.. The most tragic part of this murder was that the both the boys were neighbours of the girl and the motive that is now being assigned for murder seems to be a bike that the girl owned. Way back in Kerala, people seems also to be shocked at the spate of abuses, where even girls of age of eleven and thirteen have become victims of abuse. What is most devastating and tragic of these abuse has been is that the abusers were people like stepfathers and old neighbours, the very people who should have protected this young kids from abuse. Listening to these type of brutal news about crimes committed kids who are still in the teens and abuses by elderly folks who are actually fatherly figures, makes one feel that the saner, moral and the humane element in human being which God had bestowed on each ones one of us, as He created us in His image, seems to be overridden by passions of the flesh. In the creation story, we find creation of  both human being and animals and God giving the pride of place to human being– proclaiming us as the crown of creation. But looking at these instances that are happening in our society, we need to hang our head in shame and confess that we have fallen down so low that today sometimes I tend to think that animals have better morality than human being.  How can we redeem ourselves from this pitiable state of living and rise to higher levels of meaning and existence in our life. Unless each one of us don't think on these lines our, lives could once again manifest in action and deeds that only brings disaster to the community. How can we reach to that level of existence?
                          We are meditating on the theme “Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Genesis 2 and 3. It is in these two chapters of Genesis that we find God’s purpose in creation of this world, the animals and finally human beings. When God created each of these created order, He looked at it and found it good. Ultimately when God created human beings in His Image, He proclaimed that it was very good. It is after the creation of human beings, that God gives them the direction of life, giving them the basic understanding that human beings need to work with God so that the world that they live in is made better and through this relationship with the creator, human being could channelize God’s creative power in them to a higher level of existence of living and also transforming this world into God’s kingdom. But we find instead of living in divine relationship with God,  human being rebelled against God, because they wanted to live a life in isolation without any creative relationship with God and also to use the creative power bestowed by God to bring about death and destruction in fellow human beings. It is this rebellious attitude that is found when Eve entices Adam to do what was sinful and they both sin. Thus we find that instead of using God given creativity and potentials to build up each other and the world, we find human beings using creative power to negate the very existence of life. History is later repeated when Cain kills his brother Abel. As we become disgusted at the horror news about  various crimes committed by people, let us take decision that we all will live in a qualitative relationship with our Lord, through that relationship we can use the creativity and potentials that Lord has given to us for the welfare of humanity and for the transformation of this world.

The Journey 298
Thursday, October 25
Read: John 6
    We live in a computerized and digital world where all our information's are stored on computers, tablet and communications are done through email and accessed through different digital medias. Thus to access all these information's each one of us has a password. What is important about password is that, we should be able remember it easily. But in today’s world the reality is that each of us have needs multiple password so as to access our Facebook account, our multiple email accounts, bank accounts, the daily utility bills and so on. What happens when a person has to have  multiple passwords for his different accounts?. The normal routine  is either have one password for all the accounts or have different  password that are simple and easy to remember. Hence the number of password being hacked have reached enormous proportions. Recently in an article written by Jeff Schapiro in the news magazine Christian Post, brings to the notice of his readers about how in the spring of 2012 about 6.5 million password of site LinkedIn was posted on website to be hacked and how hackers obtained a file containing the username and password of more than 400,000 yahoo users. All because of very weak passwords that majority used in their accounts. Jeff in this context also brings to the notice of readers  a list released by a Smartphone provider with regards to what are the strong and  weak password people use. Some of the weak password that have been used and is still on the list from last year are “123456”, “12345678”, abc123, qwerty, 123123, and so on.. The new weak password that have been added to the list is “welcome”, ninja, mustang and password1. Strangely a new password that has been added to the list and is supposedly the most weak password. This word is “Jesus”. Strange...I was wondering why anyone would have used the word Jesus as a password. May be the word Jesus is the most powerful word in the life of a Christian, but to be used as a password? This raises a question as what is the ultimate objective in using the word “Jesus”. For many of us Jesus is a magical word used unknowingly in a vain and wanton ways, without even giving a slightest thought of the meaning of the word nor the context of the situation. Is Jesus a word that could be used as a password or does Jesus the Word leads all of us to new light and understanding in our life and calling, a Word that leads us to fullness of life is the focus point that we need to examine in our life today?
                   We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from John 6. This is the portion where we find Jesus giving a new meaning to the concept of bread. In the beginning of this chapter we find Jesus having compassion on the multitude because they were hungry. He uses five loaves and two fish brought by a young boy to feed more than 5000 people. This miracle creates ripples in the mind of the people and they suddenly follow him everywhere [ v: 22 onwards] thinking that Jesus will always be there to satisfy their physical hunger. It is in this context that Jesus starts teaching his disciples and the crowd that followed him, not only about physical nourishment but also about spiritual nourishment. Thus Jesus uses the example of manna that their forefather ate, and told them that though they ate manna in the wilderness they died [v: 49], but He is going to give all of them bread of life and whoever eats this bread will not die but will live forever.[ v: 51]. This claim of Jesus offering the living bread is disputed by Jews and this also causes a huge argument among them. Even the disciples suddenly found the concept of Jesus “ of partaking in His Body and Blood” very difficult to comprehend and they also start complaining. This results into people deserting Jesus as he spoke these words. That is when Jesus asks his disciples whether they are going to stay with him or not and Simon Peter replies emphatically that “Lord where can we go, You have the word of eternal life”. Here is Peter emphasizing that though the world is only looking at Jesus casually, focusing only on using Jesus to satisfy their physical needs and material need, he affirms that it is only in Jesus that one finds Words to eternal life. As we live in this world we also need to examine whether Jesus merely becomes a tool or a word to be used as password, or  to satisfy one physical and material need or does Jesus becomes the Word in our journey to the fullness of life that is eternal.

The Journey 297
Wednesday, October 24
Read: Acts 4: 32-37
     Marketing and advertisement was something that business houses, the retails shops used to do to advertise their products. But today it seems that more than the business houses and retails shops, it is the different church’s that use advertisement, both through print media, radio network, while the majority advertising through internet and their web page to advertise about their church. Each day you find church’s proclaiming loudly “ Come and attend our Spirit filled Worship”, “Hear the sermon– sermon of a life time”, “Come and experience the mighty power of God”. The attractive slogans and dictums goes on and on. Hence today you have also the main line church’s adopting the strategies of the mega church's’ to remain in God’s business. A new book titled “Sons and Daughter” by Pastor Brad Boyd of the New Life Church basically critiques the style of functioning of the newly sprouting mega church’s or smaller church’s.  A Christian Post reporter Lillian Kwon, has written a wonderful article about this book and about the observations about Pastor Boyd. According to Pastor Boyd, it is a battle between hype and Holy Spirit in the church’s. He says that today every church is trying to create a hype in the church through latest praise and worship songs that is sung, the sermons that is going to be preached next Sunday, claiming all of this as a work of Holy Spirit. With the result of this hype is that church today is full of consumers rather than true worshippers of God. Thus  church’s of today have built marketing strategies, borrowed practices from the corporate, capitalistic and entrepreneurial world so that it becomes relevant to the people. Pastor Boyd says that his goal is not to make his people happy and create a consumerist type attitude in the church but more than that he says what he wants to do in his ministry is to give his members directions in life, that comes from ones submission to the Holy Spirit.  What Pastor Boyd is talking about is something that every church member, a pastor or a clergy needs to seriously think about. I understand the need of the church has to be relevant for the times, but by being relevant I feel we should making our members more and more committed to the gospel rather than consumers of the gospel .
                     We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall meditate is from Acts 4: 32-37. The whole book of Acts describes the not only about the growth of the church but also the nature of the church. There are various accounts of how the church functioned in its early stages of growth. The portion for our meditation in Acts 4, describes the life and ministry in the church and of believers in  general and about Barnabas in particular. One of the hallmarks of believers of the early church was that as they gathered for worship and fellowship, the message of the gospel transformed them and they became more and more committed in their life and to the gospel message. It is this commitment that is seen by their action of seeing that nobody had any private possessions of their own and each of them consciously saw to it the needy people were taken care of. It is in such a context that we find the incident of a Levite named Joseph bringing  the money that he got by selling his field and laying at the feet of the apostles. It is this Joseph who is renamed Barnabas by the apostles.  Thus we find that through the life style of believers in the early church that both worship and ministry of the church transformed the very living and life style of early Christians. Church was not a super market for them where every need would be taken care of, thus converting people who come to worship more as consumers but church was a furnace for them, a refiners fire that transformed their life through the gospel message. Hence as each and every parish and church tries to ape corporate strategies to reach out to the people, and make the church and its ministry relevant, we need to deliberately take steps so that we create more committed and transformed followers of Christ rather than consumerist Christians whose attitude can be like that of a soda can. Break open a soda can, the first few sips are wonderful, but keep the soda can open, the fizz goes off and the soda could be sometime worse than water. Let us not go for the fizz while attending church. Let us think whether our participation in the worship and ministry of the church make us committed to Christ or just consumers of the gospel?

The Journey 296
Tuesday, October 23
Read: Genesis 22, Mathew 14
     Fear is one of the major obstacle in an individuals quest to create landmarks and create new avenues of achievement in life. Once we are able to conquer our fears then we will be able to move from the level of mediocrity to excellence in life. Last week an attempt by an Austrian sky diver points to this fact. Space Jumper Felix Baumgartner created history when he jumped to earth from the stratosphere[ jumping from a helium balloon from about 128,000 feet] and making him the first man to break the speed of sound in free fall. His free fall took only about four minutes and 22 seconds. As he was about to jump, the mission control told him “Our guardian angel will take care you”. He was wearing a specially designed survival jacket that kept his body intact against the varying pressure that marked his drop back to earth. It is said that without this survival kit, his blood would have boiled and his lungs could have exploded.  With this jump, Baumgartner broke a 52 year old sky diving record. The previous record was held by a US Air Force Col Joe Kittinger who jumped from 102, 800 feet in 1960 and is actually Baumgartner’s mentor. He created also multiple records, breaking records for the highest free fall and the highest manned balloon flight. Baumgartner spent almost five in years in training for this mission which was basically designed to improve human understanding of how body copes with extreme condition at the edge of space. Baumgartner is person who has done daring acts in the past. He is a former paratrooper and has parachuted off from skyscrapers and mountains and also once into a 600 foot cave. After this record jump, Baumgartner wants to inspire a generation so that some one else could break his record and he wants to sit next to him just the way Kittinger his mentor was sitting next to him.  As I wrote earlier, here is the daring adventures of a man who is ready to let go his fear factor and then take the plunge with hope and assurance. When I think of this historic jump, I am forced to believe that this jump represents to me the concept of faith in Christian life. Faith can be present only when the fear factor is gone and when fear factor is gone that is when we develop and grow in our faith and in our trust of our Lord Jesus Christ. I think that is what God also expects from us.
                 We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Genesis 22 and Mathew 14: 22-33.  We are using two biblical portions because you have two characters in the Bible who show contrasting attitude to their concept of fear and bring out precious lessons about faith. In Genesis 22, you find Abraham who is the first character in our mediation. A person who gets a child after 100 years of his life is asked to sacrifice that son. One can imagine the plight, the agony and the mental anguish that he went through as he walked with his son on their journey to Moriah, to the mountain that he was supposed to sacrifice. The fear of the future and helplessness at the strange request of God combined into one. But as far as Abraham was concerned it was faith and not fear that ruled his life.  May be for matter of time, fear may have overtaken him, but ultimately faith took over. It is this that makes Abraham to go ahead without any murmur to do what God wanted in his life. Faith in the trust that God is good and He know what is best for me. On the other hand in Mathew 14 you find the character of Peter who is also trying to develop faith in his life. As he sees Jesus walking on water, he also wants to try this extraordinary feat. A feat which requires total faith and trust in the Lord and that is why Jesus tells Peter to come and walk on the water toward him. Peter takes the first few steps in faith but then after a few steps more than faith it is fear that takes control of him. In the life of Abraham you find faith overcoming fear, while in the life of Peter you find fear overcoming faith. I think we all are either like Abraham or Peter. God wants to explore the wide avenues of life so that we can be co workers with God, showing to the world what human being can do in relationship with God. But if that has to happen what is needed in our life is to let go of our confirmed and unconfirmed fears in life and trust in God, in His plan, purpose and in His providence. This is not something that we can do all of a sudden. Baumgartner took five years in training to do this historic jump and in the same way we need to daily train ourselves in our growth of faith and knowledge of our Lord [ Eph 4: 15] so that we also could achieve mighty things for our Lord.
Let us think is it fear that rules our life or is our life governed by faith principles?

The Journey 295
Monday, October 22
Read: 1 Corinthians 12
      India’s national airline is always in the news, seldom for the right reason. Last week it caught national and international attention for absurdities that the aviation authorities, the crew members of the airline and passengers created in an Abu Dhabi– Cochin flight.  The problems for the travelers began even before the take off. The flight from Abu Dhabi to Cochin which was scheduled to take off at 9.15 pm from Abu Dhabi took off only at 12.55 am, flight delayed by three and a half hours. As the passengers settled down in the flight they did not know that there were more misery in store for them. The flight that was supposed to land in Cochin at 3.30 am had to diverted to Thiruvanathapuram following bad weather at Cochin. The passengers That was when all the problems seems to have begun. The passengers seems to be visibly upset at the change of destination and as they raised their genuine concerns the crew members seemed  to be very evasive. This  made some of the passengers to go near the cockpit and raise a ruckus at the unjust treatment being meted out to them. Hearing the commotion, the Pilot pressed hijack alert, throwing all  the security agencies round the country and defense establishments in a tizzy and an emergency situation was declared at Thiruvanathapuram airport. The security forces surrounded the aircraft and problems seemed to go out of hand. The passengers who had to go to Cochin were told that they would be taken there by road and this led to further argument. After a wait for over 10 hours an alternative flight was arranged and passengers finally reached Cochin at 4 pm. A four hour journey for passengers costing them almost a one full day.  At the end of this harrowing experience who learnt a lesson– the passengers or the airline?. The loss is always borne by passengers who tend to depend on national airline for various reasons. But there are certain facts that we tend to ignore. The national airline tend to always treats its customers in a very shoddy manner, not only in the gulf and the north American route, but also in the European sector, but this is more on the gulf sector since  passengers also behave in the most unruly and abusive manner in this sector.  Why does this happen always to a malayali….I think we the malayalis need also to be blamed. When we are in a foreign country we abide by the rules and go strictly by the rule book, but the moment we are in India, then it is a totally a different outlook. There is brazen show of muscle power, political connections or verbal power. We do not have the patience to seek a prudent and an alternative way when a problem arises and try to take law in our hands. More than that one can never find a malayali agreeing on another malayali with regards to a solution to a common problem. Unity is very hard to find among malayali population because each one wants to score a fast buck on the other. My friends have told me that when they have agitated for a better pay in the gulf countries, their agitation failed because there came another malayali who was ready to work for wages lower than the one offered earlier. This put a spoke in unity and combined efforts to bring justice to the job. What happens in all these cases is that each one tries to think about his own benefits and gains rather than thinking of corporate or community gains. Thus in the end everyone suffers. I believe this is true in community of believers too. You have today believers who are concerned only about themselves, their spiritual needs, their fellowship, their group of so called friends, thus creating a group of self righteous Christians not concerned about the needs of others and living often in isolation without any commitment to the community, to the church and to the society. How do we bring change in such setting and situations?
                    One of the most beautiful passages the describes the relationship of one believer to another is seen in Paul’s description of the church in 1 Corinthians 12. In verse 26, Paul says that if one member suffers all suffer together with it and if one member is honoured all rejoice together with it. Here Paul brings to our attentions an important aspect in our community faith living. The first aspect is to understand that when one member suffer, the effect of that suffering will be borne by others too. Or in other sense Paul teaches us that we should be willing to travel with the one who suffers in his journey so that ultimately both the person and the companion finds hope and peace in crisis situations. To isolate oneself from another persons suffering creates an environment where tomorrow as I suffer, I may not find anyone to share my grief and sorrow. The result today especially among us is that each one goes through pain and crisis but not ready to share with others and there are others who are not willing to bear in another's burden nor to listen to what  others go through. Hence all of us live stressful lives with no sense of community, nor qualitative relationship. This is not what God has envisage in his concept of Church. The body of believers needs to be united so that the suffering and the pain of others affect us too and we make a common effort to cope up with the crisis of others thus also being united in our witness for Christ. It is this corporate effort needed not only in our Christian life but also in the problems that we face when we travel with Air India too.

The Journey 293
Saturday, October 20
Read: Acts 3: 1-10
    Tragedy sometimes make people very cynical while for some tragedy brings out something extraordinary for the welfare of the society and community. One of the heroes of CCN 2012 is a person named Leo McCarthy. In 2007, a huge tragedy befell him when he lost his 14 year old daughter Mariah, in a case of underage drunken driver hitting her fatally along with her two friends., as they were walking along the sideway of their home in Montana.  But McCarthy decided to do something blessed, though the tragedy was something that was tough to come in terms with. He knew that the man who was responsible for the death of his daughter was not even 20 years old and legally not allowed to drink. Thus on the day of his daughters memorial service, McCarthy made a unique promise during the eulogy of his daughter. The promise that he gave the youngsters that day was that if the kids don't use alcohol nor use banned drugs, and are ready to work with their parents and give everything to community, he is going to pay them.  Paying for not drinking…...He started a non charitable organization called Mariah’s Challenge. What the teens had  to do was to go online and sign a pledge that they will not drink until they are 21 and also not get into car with someone who has been drinking. In the end of the school year if the teens are not convicted of possession of alcohol or drugs then they are eligible to submit a scholarship application along with an essay in 300 words explaining how Mariah’s Challenge has affected their life. The grieving father’s effort bore fruits.  Along with the parents of two friends of Mariah who survived the accident, McCarthy has been able to give more than 140 high school graduates scholarships worth $1000. What McCarthy wanted to bring about was a change in the culture of people, change in the attitude, being responsible in life and making wise choices. For him what was important was to usher a new culture that was based on responsibility, commitment to ones parents and society and live life with wise choices. Here is a parent who wants to bring a new culture among teens and in the community that he lives. Bringing out an alternative culture is an important aspect in our Christian living. When Paul in Romans 12, talks about not being confirmed to the patterns of the world what he was talking was of creating an alternate style of living, creating an alternative culture in the society as Christians. How can we as a Christian bring about this alternative culture and how relevant is that in our living and witness today?
                   We are meditating on the theme “Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Acts 3: 1-10. This is one of the most well known incidents that happened in the early church as the good news of Jesus Christ was being spread in the Jewish nation. Peter and John is going to temple to pray and that is when they are accosted by a lame man who sits in gate of temple and begs. It is this encounter of the lame beggar and apostles that paves way not only in the healing of the beggar, but also in helping him and us to understand the alternative life style as espoused in the gospel  message. When the beggar ask for alms, what Peter and John asks him to do is to first look at them [v: 4]. Here is Peter and John asking the beggar to look at them and see the difference. The difference is what the apostles say to the beggar. The apostles knew that the beggar expected monetary benefits from them, benefits that will only be temporary, but Peter and John tells the beggar that they don't have anything worldly especially in terms of money but they have something more than money, something more than temporal and worldly, something that has an eternal value. That was the good news of Jesus Christ and the relationship that they shared with the Lord. It is this relationship and commitment to the Lord that they valued more than monetary benefits in life. For the apostle life was not defined as to what you get financially and those monetary benefits, which the beggar was hoping to get. But on the contrary the apostles not only healed him in the name of Jesus Christ, but also gave him an impetus to start living with a new focus, a new attitude and new zest for living. What is needed from all of us is the perception of Peter and John. When the world is concerned with monetary benefits and of making life more secure and comfortable by moving up in the financial ladder, the apostles teaches us of an alternate culture where blessedness of life is not found in getting rich but making others rich through the gospel message. Though tragedy struck Leo McCarthy, what he did was to make the lives of others in the community blessed. What is needed in our life is also the resolve and commitment showed by the apostles that our boasting is not in silver and gold but our relationship and commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ, which creates a new culture and life style in us.

The Journey 292
Friday, October 19
Read: John 8:1-11
    A fiery speech by a woman in authority against another leader has received not only global attention, but it has also caused a dictionary publisher to redefine the meaning of a particular word. CNN in its news items has titled the speech as “ The Speech Every Woman should Hear”. What is the context of this speech and what is this speech that has caused such an uproar and attracted worldwide attention?. This fiery speech was delivered in the Parliament by Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard when she lambasted the leader of Opposition, Tony Abbot and described  him as a misogynist. There was a heated exchange in the parliament between Abbot and Gillard following an accusation on Speaker Peter Slippers. Peter Slippers was accused of sexual harassment by a former staff member and the opposition led by Tony Abbot barraged the Prime Minister with number of questions and accused her of being a hypocrite  for supporting Peter Slippers. It is at this context that Julia Gillard fired back at Abbot stating that “if Abbot should know what misogyny looks like in  modern Australia he does not need to pass a motion in the house of representative on the contrary, he needs a mirror”. It is these comments and statement of Julia Gillard that made her speech go viral with hundreds of thousands of views on You Tube. The whole transcript of Julia Gillard speech can be found on this link:http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/transcript-of-julia-gillards-speech-20121010-27c36.html .  This speech of Julia Gillard made Macquarie Dictionary to expand its definition of Misogyny. Misogyny was described as “hatred of woman” but now according to editor Sue Butler of Macquarie Dictionary, the meaning of the word misogyny will be expanded to “entrenched prejudice against woman”. There would have been hundreds of speech  made before, against sexism or for the upholding woman's rights, especially in the recent context of shooting of teenage girl Malala in Pakistan. What made the speech of Julia Gillard remarkable, was about the fact that she stressed that there are hundreds of opportune leaders who want to grab a mileage by speaking for cause of woman, but often these remains only in paper or in speeches. Hence her claim to people to always look at the track record of people who give fiery speeches in defense of woman’s right and issue. Are these people who give speeches have proven track record of championing cause of woman and have history to prove of what they have achieved in their life?. I think Julia Gillard speech is also a pointer to all of us, in the church- the clergy, bishops, the lay leaders, people in authority, people who suddenly use each every platform to make their views known, to examine whether we use just empty boasting words or rhetoric or do we have a track record of what we have stood for, in our life and in our ministry?.
               We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from John  8:1-11. This is the portion where we find Jesus Christ confronting the leaders and law makers of Jewish society, when they bring to the presence of Jesus Christ, a woman who was caught in adultery. What was unique about the  ministry of Jesus Christ was that though he worked within the cultural traditions of the day, he did not limit himself in those cultural traditions, on the contrary redefined it so that laws could be inclusive and that law could be more humane rather being treated as an end in itself. In this context the leaders and the law makers try to implicate Jesus Christ by bringing to his presence a woman who “ has been accused and guilty of immoral living”. Here are people who are championing the cause of just and righteous living. That is when Jesus observes silence and stoops down to write something on the sand and tells the crowd that “He who has not sinned, let him throw the stone first”. When Jesus said this, the crowd slowly withered away. Why this happened was because here was a group of people who were actually not concerned about moral issues in life or were concerned to wipe away all sorts of immorality from public and personal life, on  the contrary they only wanted to use the case of adulterous woman to further their own selfish cause. But look at Jesus Christ. He supports the woman not because of any personal gain, on the contrary he broadened and redefined the gamut of law so that people who champion the cause of the oppressed and downtrodden could understand the true meaning of what it means to fight for their rights. Just as Julia Gillard asked Tony Abbot to look at his track record and not just make speech in defense of woman right, I believe Jesus Christ through his ministry showed that it is not speeches that are important but actions that go along with ones speeches are more important. Let us examine whether we just make some impassionate pleas on issues or our life and ministry has records of what we have done to champion the cause.

The Journey 291
Thursday, October 18
Read: Numbers 22: 1-35
          We all are committed in one way or the other. Committed to our job, to our faith, to our family and so on. We may show an extra commitment with regards to our family or friends and may be ready to pay a price for that commitment. But in our professional career we may often compromise in our commitment when we realize that we may loose certain benefits and luxuries in life, if we stick to our commitment. This week Indian newspaper were talking about a brave, committed IAS officer from the state of Haryana. The concerned officer is Ashok Khemka who joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1993. He is now in the news because he has been shunted out of his post of Director General, consolidation of holding and land records, where he joined only three months back. It is presumed that he has been shunted out because he blew the lid of several dubious land transactions by famous people who had strong political connections. Being transferred and that too while remaining in charge for less than three months is not something new for this dynamic IAS officer. His career records show from the time he joined IAS, in the last 19 years, he has been transferred 43 times. Official records show that Khemka who is basically a computer engineer, held eight post in various department for less than a month, while only once could he work for one year and ten months in a particular post. What a mockery of the Administrative System, a system that controls the whole functioning of a nation. Transferring an IAS officer is the prerogative of State Government, but in case of Khemka,  State of Haryana, the politicians in India, has made a mockery of the laws that govern the system. According to IAS rules, a particular officer has to remain in a particular post for a minimum of two years, but in case of Khemka this rule has never been applied and the concerned authorities tend to hide behind the so called rule that “transfers are the prerogative of state government”. With his latest transfer, Khemka has sought an explanation and in the latest news, it seems he seems to be satisfied with the explanation given by the government for his transfer. Whether there is justification in transferring Khemka or not is not the real issue, the real issue is that there are still people like Khemka who is ready to take on corrupt politicians and be committed, show honesty and integrity in their professional and personal life even if it cost them everything. This is also a paradigm in our Christian life. Today I believe there are many Christian leaders who have diluted the true message of the gospel and converted Christian living more in terms of its benefits both financially and materialistically rather than focusing on the cost and the price one has to pay to live as a true believer, as a true follower of Christ.
                     We are meditating on the theme “Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Numbers 22: 1-35. This portion is about  man named Balaam who is ready to compromise on his faith, and how an animal that he possess teaches him not to rebel against God. The whole context of this incident is that the children of Israel had pitched their tent on the plains of Moab  and when the Balak the King of Moabites saw Israelites pitching tents in Moab he became afraid because he knew how Israelites had destroyed Amorites. As Israel was a blessed and a chosen nation by God, Balak decided that the only way to counteract the Israelites is not to fight them but bring curse on them so that they do no harm to them. But Balak did not know that God had commanded Israelites not to attack the Moabites [ Duet 2:9]. Thus for this dubious plan he seeks the help of Balaam and he sent his elders to convince Balaam to curse Israel in return for material and financial favours. Balaam knows that Israelites were God’s chosen ones hence he seeks the will of God in this matter and he is told by God that he should be part of sinister plan of Balak. Balaam conveys God’s will to Balak but Balak is not ready to give up and he once aging tries to manipulate Balaam with more gifts and this make Balaam to compromise on God’s divine will and makes plan to act against God’s will. God is angry with Balaam but that does not concern him and he moves forward in his plan. It is then his ass rebels and refuses to move forward seeing the angel of the Lord in their path. Balaam beats the ass, when the animal  refuses to move forward and deviates from the path. Balaam goes down so low in his life and that finally God had to convict Balaam of his foolishness. Here is man who compromises on his faith, while the animal tries to restrain in his compromise. How low have we fell in our Christian living just as Balaam fell in order to achieve material and financial gain or are we ready to stand for our faith and our values, ready to pay a price for that. An officer like Khemka could do that, what about us?

The Journey 290
Wednesday, October 17
Read:  Mathew 1: 18-25
      Relationships are divine. One of the most divine relationships is that of the family. When spouses support each other in their marital and family living, one can experience the power and mysterious working of God in their life. Listen to this amazing incident that was reported by both K. Love and abc news channel. It is about a couple from Georgia, Bud Stringer and Dolly Stringer. In April, Dolly was diagnosed with breast cancer, which was a shock for her, but then she decided to be strong as she faced one of her most painful crisis in life. She decided to shave her head before beginning chemotherapy. When Bud saw that his wife had shaved her head, he felt that he needed to show solidarity with her, in her time of crisis and suffering. To show his solidarity, Bud also shaved his head and that is when he saw that he had black patch on his shaved head. He thought that this was a birth mark which he had failed to notice as a child and to confirm it he called his mother to verify whether he had a black patch on his head as a  birth mark. But his mother told him that he did not have such a birth mark. A bit perplexed,  Bud then thought that this could be a small mole. But later when he went for a biopsy of the mole, does he realize that he is also affected by cancer and that he is in the third stage of malignant melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer. Both Bud and Dolly were shocked, since Dolly was just coping with the news of her being a breast cancer patient and now out of the blue the husband also being diagnosed with cancer.  Since then Dolly has already had several surgeries while Bud is also having extensive surgeries. Though they are going through deep crisis, both Bud and Dolly are still enthusiastic about their family and their marriage. They have been married for the last 20 years have two sons aged 12 and 10. Both Bud and Dolly are thankful to the Lord. According to Bud this is what he said “ I am not a bible thumper, I am a Christian, But I really feel like God’s hand shaved my head. I really do….If Dolly had not lost her hair or chosen to shave her head, I never would have found this”. Praise God. How mysterious and amazingly God works in a relationship and bring hope, healing and joy where each of the partner is ready to take the suffering of the other on oneself. This is what our Lord teaches us and these are the values that ones should instill in all our relationships.
                           We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Mathew 1: 18-25. This is the portion which describes the birth of our Lord. What is often missed sometimes is the part played by Joseph in God’s redemptive plan in history. Here is a man who has dreams about his future and his marital life and with that hope he gets engaged to a poor village girl Mary. But to his shock, he realized that the girl with whom he is engaged is pregnant and therefore he thinks that he should separate from her, without causing her any sort of harm or humiliation. Here is Joseph who is only engaged to Mary but ready to understand the pain and the agony that Mary can go through because she has been pregnant outside wedlock. But it is here that we find God encountering in the life of Joseph and mysteriously working not only to strengthen the relationship of Joseph and Mary but also later when Jesus is born, God guides them to safety to Egypt from the wicked plans of Herod. Here is Joseph ready to take upon himself the burden of his wife and be a part of her suffering and also part of God’s redemptive plan. When he does that, he realizes that God leads both of them in every experiences of their life, in times of need, in times of joy and in times of pain. The whole birth narrative points to this wonderful part. My faith affirmation is that if I am ready to suffer for my family or for the sake of others, If I am unselfish and my goal in life is only goodness and well being of others, God will work mysteriously in my life, giving me hope and healing. What has happened today in most of the relationships is that we are not ready to take up the suffering of our spouse or the members of our family and we are only interested in our well being. It is this attitude that destroys family relationships. Bud and Dolly showed to the world what it means to live as husband and wife and when they did that God worked mysteriously in their life. Let us also live unselfishly so we carry the pain of others in our life and through that help others to find hope and healing and always seek wellbeing of others.

The Journey 289
Tuesday, October 16
Read: Esther 4
     The famous Columbus Marathon will be held this Sunday on October 21st.  This is a marathon organized by the Nationwide Children’s Hospital , Columbus where both walkers and runners participate. According to the organizers of this marathon the half marathon is already sold out. In a country like United Sates, what is most interesting and also amazing is the fact that lot of people organize marathon with a cause. Hence you have marathons or runs for cancer awareness, running for autism awareness and so on. There are also individuals who participate in these marathons with a cause in their mind. As Columbus marathon gets underway this Sunday, one young pastor named Eva Saunders from Lancaster, is going to run the 26. 2 miles of Columbus marathon so that he can get public attention to a worthy cause of his church. What is his cause and why is he running. Eva Saunders is the pastor of Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church and being a small church, the congregation is finding it hard to run the church. The church needs urgent restoration and maintenance work to be done. The congregation and the pastor did not know how to raise the money since it was tough on the part of the congregation to raise the amount though they have supported it with their own little finances  as and when time and need arises. That is when Eva Saunder’s wife Susan proposed the idea of competing in Columbus Marathon so that through publicity and competing in the race, money could be raised for the restoration of the church.  Saunders had earlier run a 5K race for Circle of Friends, but running a 5K race and 26.2 miles marathon is entirely different.  He is getting lot of encouragement from his parishioners and his family and he has started practicing running everyday so that he can compete in the marathon and in the process collect $15,000 dollars required for the maintenance of his church. What is remarkable about Eva Saunders is the tenacity of taking upon himself need of the parish and painstakingly going about achieving it not in the easy way but in a unique, different and arduous way. The context of this African American church may be different from the context of a Marthoma Church, as pastors unlikely in a Marthoma parish are sometimes appointed for a life time in parishes here in the United States. All said and done, the model of Eva Saunders has to be lauded but along with the cause of a pastor running for finding finances for his parish and underlying question comes to the fore “ The needs of the Church– Whose is it?. Does it belong to the pastor or to the congregation? When a parish has a need whether financial, in terms of mission, in terms of its functioning or otherwise, how is this responsibility looked by the pastor and the parishioners? Hence the need to ask “ Parish– Whose is it anyway?”
                  We are meditating on the theme “Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from the book of Esther 4. The context of the Esther 4 is the plot hatched by Haman against not only Mordecai but also against the entire Jews.  Haman in a crooked way wanted to eliminate all the Jews and with this evil plot in his mind he approaches King Ahasuerus with an indictment and proposal that a certain race in his empire were rebels, hence the need to exterminate them. The king did not inquire about who the people or the race were, but the king foolishly gives the signet ring to Haman as his approval to his sinister plan. When Mordecai hears about the sinister plan hatched by Haman not only to kill him but also his entire race, he starts mourning [ Esther 4: 1-3].  Along with Mordecai the Jews also gets to know the tragedy that is going to befall them and they also start mourning. With no hope around, Mordecai realizes that it is only Esther who can turn the tables on Haman and put an end to the evil plot of Haman.. Esther knows that Mordecai is mourning and she tries to get the truth and the reason behind his mourning. But Esther still takes her own time and that is when Mordecai exhorts Esther by telling her that if she remains silent at this time, her father’s house will perish. A people of a particular race faces the challenge of extermination, a group of people, a race in dire need of help in their darkest hour of their crisis, but no one to turn to. It is here in this context that Esther becomes their deliverer. What is a stark reality that is happening today in parishes, is the attitude of I don't care– which sometime unfortunately on the part of both clergy and parishioners.  Whatever happens to my parish or my church, I am not concerned or no use getting concerned about that matter. But as Mordecai said if we chose to remain silent and have these don't care attitude, the effects will be borne not by others, but the people themselves who have the “ don't care attitude. Let our parishes, be parishes where vision and mission is decided collectively both the members and the clergy thus taking collective responsibility– That is what Parish is all about.

The Journey 288
Monday, October 15
Read: Ruth 1
     One of the countries that is going through a huge internal crisis because of the unrest and war is Syria.  An armed conflict is still ongoing in Syria between the forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad and those opposing the president and wanting him to step down.  The Syrian government has taken extreme steps to quell this opposition  and government soldiers have been given rights to even open fire on civilians. This has led to opposition forces becoming more organized and armed, with reports that rebels  now get military aid from foreign countries. This internal war has taken a huge toll in the life of Syrian citizens. According to the United Nations report, more than 1.2  million people in Syria has been internally displaced, hundreds of thousand Syrian refugees have fled to the neighboring countries. As the whole country is slowly collapsing, CNN news agencies reports that there are few people in the country who are taking painstaking effort to get going. One of the area that these individual focuses is in the field of education. Syrian government itself has confirmed that more that 2000 of countries school has been damaged or destroyed as government forces have targeted even education institution because the government believes that rebel forces are hiding in those schools. Thus the major casualty is in the education field where students have been denied the right to study because of internal crisis. But amidst these crisis are simple people who love teaching with  a resolve to help the children move on with their academic life. The news agencies reports of a school that is held in  a cave, where both student and teaches sit on  floor and the teacher is in the process of imparting education to these children. According to these teachers, the students have a real desire to continue their education but with the present crisis their whole future look bleak. But it is the resolve of these teachers in Syrian who is willing to take risk and help the next generation to be consentized, is a model for all of us. When the majority of people are fleeing the country, here are a few individual who are not only staying back, thus risking their life, but also consciously taking steps to challenge and overcome the crisis and also do whatever they can to lead the next generation and their country forward.  These teachers stand as a model to all of us showing that in life, one needs to sacrifice ones interest, ones comforts and do whatever one can do, so to help in the process of transformation and change. I think this is the truth that Word of God also teaches us. Are we also people of God, who flee from crisis or do we dare to plunge into midst of crisis not only to overcome it but also become a catalyst to help others overcome the crisis?
                  We are meditating on the theme “Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Ruth 1. This is one book in the bible that is so poignant and a book that is epitome of what a true and genuine relationships are all about. In this portion one encounters the difficulties that a woman named Naomi faces. Because of famine, she along with her husband are displaced from their home land of Judah and are forced to sojourn to the land of Moab, along with her husband and her two sons. Displacement  is a huge crisis to the family as they have to not only adjust to the alien setting but also rebuild every aspect of their life from the beginning. The crisis of Naomi is compounded further with the death of not only her husband but also her two sons. This leaves Naomi not only as a widow, but without the support of her two sons, her whole life is shattered and the future dark and dim.  Soon the news comes that famine is over and Naomi with her daughter in law returns to Bethlehem. It is at this juncture that she tells her daughter in laws to return back to their families. The first daughter in law Orpah readily agrees but the second daughter in law Ruth is of a different mould. She tells Naomi that she will not leave her during her crisis hour and she will stay with her. The words that Ruth states are the most powerful words that characterizes what true relationships are made of- “I will go where you go, Your people will be my people, where you die, I will also die…….”. I think there is no powerful words of hope and words that helps a person to overcome crisis in life. Here is Ruth teaching that in crisis what is needed is not to run away, but to stay in the thick of action, may be suffer, but through participating in the suffering of others, bring hope, comfort and transformation in the life of others. If the teachers in Syria can do that, why cant we as Christians also creatively involve in the life of people going through crisis so as to be channels of hope and transformation in their life?

The Journey 286
Saturday, October 13
Read: Mathew 24
            The announcement of Nobel Prizes is looked forward by people all over the world, and one of the Nobel prizes that the world pays attention is Noble Prize winner for Peace. Nobel Prize for peace has been won by a  number of well known individuals like Mother Teresa, Bishop Desmond Tutu and so on. But this year the nobel peace prize was not awarded to any individual but a bloc of nations– European Union. European Union was given the Nobel Peace Prize this year for its effort to promote reconciliation, human rights, peace and democracy in Europe. The awarding of peace prize to European Union is very notable because at this point of history, the union is going through severe crisis. Though the union has been able to prevent any outbreak of war outside its borders, yet there is lot of simmering tension among the nations that make this union. At present the Bloc is going through a number of issues that tend to rip the union of different countries apart. The debt factor has increased and this has resulted in threatening the common currency Euro, used by almost 17 its countries. There is tension between north and south and the rate of unemployment has also soared.  Thus it is almost like a war zone out there in the Bloc, but the efforts of European Union has helped to transform a continent of war to continent of peace according to Nobel committee spokesperson. The European Union today has grown from its initial union of six countries to twenty seven. Though Nobel Peace Prize Committee has its own rationale to award the peace prize to European Union, there has been a strong reaction though from different corners of the world in awarding peace prize to European Union, each stating and having their own reason for their opposition in awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the Bloc.  But whatever be the perception of others, the Nobel Prize committee has acknowledge the efforts of European Union especially in building up of a collective effort in forging union among warring nations. I think this is what is needed today in the world. In an age where individual, family and even countries tend to go it alone, with the concept that I am self sufficient and I don't need others, awarding of peace prize to European Union is not only recognizing that it is not fragmented approach that is the need of the hour but a systemic approach, where every person in the world, every society, community and country grows in  awareness that without the other, we have no future. I believe this is a principal that has also been espoused in the Word of God and what God requires from us is to promote inter connectedness thus bringing about a sense of unity among the diverse people and culture and also a sense of union among nations.
        We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Mathew 24. This is the portion where Jesus Christ conveys  signs that is in opposition to the rule of God and the establishment of Kingdom of God. Jesus states that there will be a number of self proclaimed people who will act and behave as if they are Christ. Along with this self deception, Jesus also warned that there will be disunity among nations and there will crisis in all the front, with people going hungry and the occurrence of natural disasters. Thus sign of disunity and factions gearing for war and creating an environment of distrust among nations and people are signs that are in contrast the reign of God’s rule in this earth. Paul in his second letter to Timothy also states that as God’s rule on earth is resisted, what happens is that you have in the world, people who are narcissist, and ones who love money, who will brag and instead of promoting friendship and fellowship will bring others down. Paul further states that their focus will not be God but themselves and this attitude will cause lack of forgiveness among people, acting often out of impulse and form relationship that are loathsome to God. [ 2 Timothy 3: 1-6]. What is important about the truth that both Jesus Christ and Paul stressed is the fact that one of the signs of opposition to God’s reign is people attitude in living all by themselves, driven by forces of passion and selfish interest without taking into consideration needs of others nor concerned that we are supposed to live in harmony and in an attitude of inter connectedness with others. Nobel Peace Prize to European Union is stressing and recognizing this fact and importance of inter connectedness in this world. As Christians let us also run away from our selfish, individual focus to a more comprehensive focus on God and the unity that He wants to bring about in this world in the ultimate quest of establishing His reign on earth

The Journey 285
Friday, October 12
Read: Genesis 1: 27-31
           One of the dreams of every human being is to have a job, that is well paid. From the moment one joins college and is enrolled in graduate studies, the eternal hope is that once we graduate, one would land a good job. But one of the strange aspect that you find in this world is that once you land up a good job, there are many who find excuses not to do the job that they had dreamt once in their life and then going to work become one of the most arduous activity. Hence at times playing truant at work.  It is often considered that it is children and teenagers who feign illness to skip school or college. But this week a new survey has been published by news agencies and this  has  revealed that it is not only kids who feign illness or excuses not to go to school but even grown ups feign sickness, and take sick leave when they are actually not sick. According to this survey  more than 35% of adults have called sick, when they weren't actually sick, and offered them different types of excuses from not coming work. Some of the craziest and funny excuses that people have given for not coming to work are the following.1. I lost my  mind in the morning, and I cant find it and hence cannot come to work, 2. I cant come to work because my dog has a nervous break down, 3. Last night we had a party and I woke up with a strange lady in my bed and I was confused and it was too late when I realized it was my wife,  4. My wife is too sick to get out of bed and therefore I am staying home to take care of her, 5.I cant come to work today because of an eye problem.… Hence I cant see working today, 6. My dog is having puppies and I need to help her. 7. The blankets were too heavy for me to lift and hence I got stuck on bed all day, 8. My kids are locked outside. Even religious excuses were also given to abstain from work. One individual reported that “It is against my religion to work on Mondays and Wednesdays, and the best excuse was “I was up all night arguing with God and hence attend work”. I think we all find excuses one day or the other to abstain from work. But it is not the excuses that is to  be taken seriously on the contrary the question that we need to ask ourselves is whether we are passionate about doing our jobs that we have today?, What is the ultimate purpose in doing those jobs? Is it only for financial security or there is a higher meaning to the job that we do? I think only when we are able to answer these questions, does work and career have a meaning. Thus no need  to scratch ones head to find an excuse to call in sick when one is not.
              We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our mediation is from Genesis 1: 27-31. This is the portion that describes the creative act of God, creating this world and finally the crown of creation– Human Beings. But after creating both Adam and Eve, they are given duties of different kind. The first responsibility is the marital duties and responsibility. This could be found in Genesis 2: 18-25. Marital duty was all about being a suitable companion to each other and also in the act of procreation. Along with the marital duty, God also gives human being the responsibility to work. The earth and its resources are given so that human beings would toil it and tend it as God’s stewards. Here is God entrusting human beings the duty of tilling the earth– a sign of work. The gift to work and earn a living is something that God expects all of us to do. But I don't work just to do my living and it is in this context that my Christian commitment and calling helps me to view my work and my job as an extension of my working with God to establish God’s kingdom on earth. Just as Adam and Eve had to work in Eden as a part of God’s divine mission in the same way I believe we all have been placed in different work environment and work place,  to bring about change and transformation not only in the work set up that I am placed, but also in through work, achieve meaning and purpose in life, which is in reality God’s calling and purpose for each one of us. According to David Jensen, work is an activity that is done with a sense of obligation to self, others, to ones community and to God. Thus when we think of work that we are engaged in, let us thank God that He has given us the physical health to engage in work,  both mental, emotional and spiritual faculties which helps us to be more passionate in our work and also make our work more productive. It is this thought that should drive all of us each day, as we become co workers with God in the area of our work place.

The Journey 284
Thursday, October 11
Read: 2 Kings 22: 14-20
      A 14 year old girl from Pakistan has caught attention world wide. Her name: Malala Yousafzai. She is considered as the voice of  millions of Muslim girls in Pakistan. Malala and her friends were returning from school in the school bus when militants stopped the bus and singled out Malala and opened fire on her. She is still battling for her life. Her crime– She was shot because , through her blog she started raising her voice against the injustice and opposing the policy of Taliban, where woman were subjugated and denied the right for education.  The people, the media and all political parties in Pakistan have condemned this cowardly act of Taliban. Both the President,  Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf have condemned the attack on Malala and has vowed that they would fight and continue to support right of education for the girl child. It was in 2209, that she attracted international attention as a 11 year girl who started raising her voice through her blog for BBC Urdu service where she constantly exposed the suffering caused by militants in the Swat valley of Pakistan. The Taliban's had captured the Swat valley in late 2007 and what they did was the promulgation of Shariah law whereby all girls schools were closed down.  Some of the rural areas of Pakistan are still governed by the Taliban interpretation of Shariah laws. According to this interpretation woman are barred from working and the right to educate, playing loud music, laughing loudly were all prohibited. People who broke the laws were punished in the most barbaric ways. Thus slowly the country of Pakistan it seems became a country of coward with no one daring to voice their opposition to Taliban and their interpretation of religious laws. Though the death threat still loom large, the family of Malala is proud about her advocacy. Her father who has been a huge influence  in her life stated to the news agencies that he will never regret if her daughter dies for a greater cause. The Taliban's have vowed that if Malala survives they will try to kill her again. Here is a 14 year old girl fighting not only for education but also speaking out against the misinterpretation of religious laws. I think she also stand against those religious fundamentalist who claim to speak in the name of God and their religious belief. It is high time that prophetic voices in our community is given legitimate strength and right so that any injustice done through a wrong interpretation of the Word, or in the name of religion and faith could be corrected.
                        In our meditations titled “Transformed Living” we focus today on how God raises up prophets to be a spokesperson for Him and also in building up of a just society,  a replica of the Kingdom of God. In Deuteronomy 18:18, we find Lord saying to Moses “ I will raise a prophet like you from among their own people, I will put my words in the mouth of prophet who shall speak to them everything that I command”. In the old testament you have a prophet named Huldah, who played the role of a catalyst of change, one who played an authority figure in the correct interpretation of book of law. The prophecies of Huldah dates back to the eighteenth year of the reign of King Josiah, when he was going through deep spiritual and moral crisis. [Chronicles 34:14-21, 2 Kings 14: 14-20]. The book of the law is found and Josiah needs to know whether this work is authentic and if it is really the word of the Lord and what the word of the Lord is. So Josiah sends Hilkiah the high priest, Abdon, Shaphan the secretary and his son Ahikam, and Asiah. The instruction of Josiah to these men to seek the Lord or correctly interpret what is written in the book of law. It is at this juncture that the King turns to Huldah. What is unique about Josiah’ action is that there were other male prophets at that time, but he turned to Huldah. Huldah does not mince words when she speaks about God voice and His will in the life of Judah and  the contemporary context that they were living.  She tells Josiah that disaster is going to fall on the people because they have forsaken God’s law, but since the king is humble, he will not witness the doom of the land. Here is a king who is willing to correctly understand what is God’s will, seeks the help of prophet so that God’s will could be translated in people lives, thus be a channel in the establishment of a just society. It is sad that we live in a world where there are people who claim to be God’s voice yet bring injustice and oppression on people. What is needed today are people like Malala standing not only for justice, but also for the correct perception and interpretation of God’s word so that His will could be promoted in the life of a nation and individuals.