The Journey 307
Saturday, November 3
Read: Mark 12:13-17
             The US Presidential election is scheduled to be held next week. With onslaught of hurricane Sandy, the election campaigning of both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney encountered some rough weather. Precious time seems to have been lost to both the candidates as they not only had to deal with the inclement weather, but also needed to get their act together so that relief and restoration of the lives of millions of people in New York, New Jersey could be done in right earnest and fast. After the fiercely contested presidential debate, both the candidates have now shared on CNN their visions for the country, and one of the request of CNN to its viewers is that as both President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney have shared their vision for this country, they wanted their viewers also to share about their vision for this country. People have started responding to this unique request of CNN. But that  made me ponder as to how many Indian Americans especially youths of Marthoma Church would share their vision about what they wanted to see happening in this country in the next five or ten years. Somehow I feel not only the youths, our Indian community at large seems to be least interested in activities like nation building, or community building. I feel our concept of community building is when our church or our malalayali organization needs something to be passed or approved by civic agencies, that is when we all go in hordes for a civic meeting and once our need is taken care by the civic authorities then we are not concerned with what happens to other issues of that is affecting our neighborhood. Hence it is reported that the local people always looks at us with suspicion. With presidential election happening next week, I don't know how many of our youngsters or our members have registered to vote. There has been a wide campaigning by civic authorities encouraging people especially the youngsters to vote. Why are Indian Americans especially malayalis so lethargic and complacent in matters of prime importance like voting, sharing vision for the future of the country, in participating in community building activities?. This is true in India too, where the youngsters of today are least interested in politics and when  people like Arvind Kejriwal who is a graduate from IIT, joins politics to bring a transformation in the political system, he is finding it tough as he does not get support of even common people. It is in this context that I feel if we don't involve seriously in nation building activities we are negating God’s plan for this country and hence it is our Christian responsibility and commitment to come together as a part of our witness to nation building.
           We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Mark 12: 13-17. This is a portion, that describes how wisely Jesus gives answer to the question raised by Pharisees and Herodians with respect to whether one should pay taxes to the emperor. More than the genuineness of paying taxes to the country, the people who wanted to raise the question not only wanted to trap Jesus Christ but also see as to what His opinion is about working for the country. Since the message of Jesus Christ was all about coming of Kingdom of God, the Pharisees presumed that here is a person who is preaching about a kingdom which has no connection to this world and presumes that what Jesus is preaching is all about negating this world , ones responsibility to this world and also to its rulers. It is in such a context that Jesus takes a coin and ask the question as to whose head and title is inscribed on the coin and tells the famous quote “ render unto Ceaser what is Ceaser, and to God, things that are God’s”. The Pharisees are speechless. They think that Jesus could be caught on the wrong foot, if he argues against paying of tax to the emperor, but on the contrary he not only says that one needs to  give what is due to the emperor but also what is due to God. Here is Jesus Christ emphasizing through his statement, that God expects each one of us to contribute to nation building and that is the commitment of each Christian so that it is through such contributions, we become channels of doing God will in the country and working for the extension of God’s kingdom on earth. The writer of Hebrews says in that we need to obey our leaders and submit to them, both leaders of the church and political system. If this has to happen we need to think what type of leaders do we elect and what do we get. Involving in nation and community building activities is a spiritual activity since we are working with God in building up of Kingdom of God on earth. Therefore let us take a decision that we shall deliberately involves ourselves in the political system so as to bring change and transformation in the system. I therefore encourage all youths and others to register and vote for the forthcoming presidential elections. Many of us are registered to vote without even knowing it. I want you to confirm if you are registered to Vote by checking the PA voter registration Database at https://www.pavoterservices.state.pa.us/Pages/VoterRegistrationStatus.aspx. Enter your information and your County. It will also give you the location of your Polling place. You could also visit Votespa.com for more information" . I hope and pray that we all could work together with our Lord in nation building as our witness to the building of God’s kingdom on earth.