What is God doing in the Church?

I recently participated in a Holy Qurbana when I had this thought.

Clueless!

The Holy Qurbana (Eucharist) was going on at its pace. Songs were followed by prayers followed by responses followed by songs. Some people were singing, others were not. Someone was going out of the Church, some one was coming in. Children were playing at the back. Some were making the sign of the Cross at the appropriate times, others were standing still. Some had hands folded., others had hands in their pockets. At the altar some people seemed lost in thought, some were singing along, some were fiddling with the books, while others were going through the motions. Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing; the Qurbana was going on and everyone was pretty much clueless!

The thought occurred to me. The Lord of Lords is sitting at the altar. What will the Lord be doing? Is he observing these happenings? What is He thinking? What does the Lord do during the Holy Qurbana?

Is He like the Indian King of the old movies, sitting on the throne, the centre of attraction at the scene of a performance, nodding His head in acknowledgement, accepting the prayers? Is that our idea of God?

Is this like in the setting of a Qawali or Shayari session, where the Lord is saying "Wah Wah"* at the songs we sing? Is that how we feel the Lord reacts when appeased?

All the people in the Church seemed like busybees, wanting to finish off what they were doing, so that they could get out, to do other important things in their lives. While the Lord seems to have no qualms sitting at the altar all the time. Is the Lord the only person in the Church who has a lot of time to kill?

It then dawned in me - the Lord's work never ends. 

He has been busy preparing the people, slowly prodding them to come to Church (despite all excuses they throw up). He has been continually and patiently nudging someone to repent, even though he keeps sinning instead. Maybe someone in the Church that day maybe at the door of death, maybe this is his or her last Holy Qurbana - the Lord is trying till the very last instant to save that soul. He is actively engaging the person, He is trying to make him focus, so that He may repent, so that he may have communion with the Lord, so that the Lord may enter into his weak body and try to work from within him. 

The Deceiver is always on prowl

The Lord knows the danger of the Devil waiting to devour the person, and is trying His level best to snatch him away from death. He is constantly working with each person. He is making the sacrifice at the Cross carve salvation out for every single person. Maybe someone in the Church that day has sinned a grevious sin and is unrepentant. The Devil has hardened his heart. The Lord is actively trying to melt his heart to guide him into confession and reconciliation.

Maybe someone in the Church that day is about to commit something sinful. The Lord is working hard to make him change his plans. 

Maybe someone in the Church that day has never led a life in the Lord, even though she has always been 'active' in the Church. The Lord is actively focussing on her to bring her to Himself. 

The Lord is our Advocate who is constantly trying to fortify our case, even though we usually throw it all away again and again, so that when the dark angels come at our death to ask for our soul, there is a case strong enough for the Lord to keep us, for that is why He died on the Cross, that was the reason for His suffering, to redeem our souls. And so His work continues through the ages.

All this work happens amidst all the commotion in the Church. The Lord is not measuring the length of the prayers, He is trying to find a moment within those prayers when He can touch us. He never rests, He is always working, and His work is always for us. 

Only if those who came to Church also realized how much the Lord worked each moment to help us escape death, we would perhaps have tried a little more not to hurt Him. Perhaps then, we would enjoy the Church a little more.

* Typical reaction to a Shayari session in an South East Asian setting.

Gay Marriage - HG Mar Nicholovas responds

I got a chance to attend a Parents and Couple's conference in NY last weekend and I asked a question when it was time for asking questions.

I asked: Today in the secular society we have a lot of discussions about gay and straight relationships. What is the Church's understanding about these? How does the Church approach these issues?
Who is a gay? Is this a disease? If so, can it be remedied? Or is it an orientation with which certain people are born? If so, how does the Church preach and teach Christ in such a society where people are of this orientation? What if one of our daughters or sons tomorrow opened out to us that they were gay?..etc"

HG Zachariah Mar Nicholovas

I was not actually expecting any real answer, because I knew the general approach of the people in this regard (of hushing around it, of playing the ostrich, of using some sarcasm to avoid the core issue, etc). All I wanted was to raise the issue, so that there was some kind of awareness going on, because I felt this question might become something for the parents and couples in our
Church to address in the years to come. I was surprised when I really got something to take back as a response. So here I share (I have paraphrased the response, for clarity purposes. What follows below is not the response itself but my understanding of the essence of the response, which I have elaborated adding my own words for illustration and emphasis and am using Thirumeni's name with permission):
----------------
Our Diocesan Metropolitan, most respected and beloved Zachariah Mar Nicholovas was taking the questions. His Grace started with a disclaimer not to consider the response as any 'official stand' of the Church because the church's opinion was only evolving, the issue itself was quite complex and the discussion was something very new to our society.

Thirumeni explained his thoughts by clarifying the difference between 'being a gay' person and 'practising as a gay'. A common school of thought that has evolved so far seems to be that when someone is a gay, he or she is like that by orientation (meaning, he\she is created like that).If at all it can be considered a disease, it must be something like a genetic disorder or so. Being a gay in this manner, is in itself, not a problem. The issue that the Church has to deal with is the issue of a gay practising same-sex relationship and of acknowledging a gay marriage.

Obviously any extra marital relationship is not condoned by the Church. As for the issue of gay marriage itself - for the Church, one of the primary purposes of marriage is 'procreation'. Without any blame or ill feeling towards those couples who are unable to have children of their own after marriage, we have to see this primary purpose behind marriage as 'for procreation'. That is where the
Church has issue with a gay marriage - where procreation is never in the picture.



Procreation - a primary purpose of marriage

In a civil society, there are issues of benefits being denied when the couple is  gay - like the ability to file for joint tax returns etc, which has economic implications. These are the issues the civil courts have to deal with when they decide on matters concerning granting legal status to gay marriages. The Church does not bestow any such benefits to the couple.

So the Church is sympathetic towards the gay individual oriented that way, the Church loves him or her as Her own and is dutibound to work for salvation of such an individual like anyone else's, but the Church has a problem being the central figure in a wedding where procreation is not even a possibility. The Church is still struggling with this question in the light of modern scientific debates and scientific explorations in the subject matter. On the one side there is the traditional understanding and on the other side is the Church's pastoral responsibility  to these children of Hers.

The Church once believed the earth was flat

------
I applaud Thirumeni for taking the question and for responding sincerely. I feel the Church needs to take this further, ponder over such issues in prayer and develop this thought process. The knowledgable persons in this issue - in the theological, psychological, medical, sociological fields and in all such related arenas must contribute to help the Church in how she develops Her stand. The reason I feel this is important is - we need to be able to honestly answer our children as a Church, unambiguously and in one voice, whenever they ask. Because if we cannot satisfy them, in this information age, they will seek the answers elsewhere, and they will get many different versions of the answers from outside, and we may not like what they learn from outside. So, when they ask the

Let the Spirit reveal the path

Church, the Church must be there with an answer, not a diplomatic response to evade the question, but a genuine, sincere and honest answer, which the Holy Spirit has revealed to Her. For that to happen, the Church must take up the issue in prayer and contemplation, patiently try to understand the issue, and listen to the Holy Spirit's response, even if that response may not always be to our liking.

Sincerely
Mathew Samuel,
Albany, NY

 (Nichololovos Thirumeni's views have been published on this article with permission)

The Church cares for everyone

P.S.: This topic has been talking points in various forums in other Christian circles, including in different Orthodox Churches. The Indian courts have discussed the issue, as we are well aware. While responding to the issue, kindly stay focussed on the issue and not on the personalities. We need constructive debates, discussions, prayers and bold decisions; may our contributions in ICON
and elsewhere become instruments of change, if change is needed,and of conviction, if change is to be opposed, but in all cases, always only for the glory of the Lord and His Church.

How to approach other denominations?

You will usually not find me using the word 'denominations', because I feel Christianity was never intended to be a conglomerate of different groups called denominations. The Lord established one Church, and there was supposed to be only one Lord, one faith, one baptism. We were never intended to be "denominational" groups.

Yet, to make my point, I wanted to clarify, what in my mind, should be our approach to other 'denominations". We have our close friends, our blood relatives, our mothers, our fathers, placed in different denominations today. What should be our approach to them?

We have a Lord who prayed for those who shamed him, who bore the sins of those who spat on him, who sacrificed His life to save those who hated Him. That is the only model we have. 'Diakona' meaning 'servant' is a prime duty of every Christian.(this is from where the word 'deacon' has derived from). We have to be servants to those outside the Church. [In this sense, the faction fight is a terrible blot on our generation. I cannot help thinking, we could have done better than this.]

The call is not to be tolerant of other 'denominations', but to love them so much that you serve them. Are we doing that now? By no means! But that should be our goal. We should be there first to help, we should be willing to go the extra mile for them, we should be working hand in hand with them, if needed, we should be able to give even our lives for them. Are we able to do that now? No! But that is what we (myself included) should grow into. Then only do we become Christ like. Tough?!Yes. But this life in Christ was never meant to be easy.

How do we make this happen? How can we spread good will among Christian brethren torn apart by the designs of Satan into different 'denominations'? I see several things we can do at our level.

1) Volunteering Opportunities

Look for areas of volunteering together. For example, if we hear of something the Marthoma Church is doing nearby for volunteering or charity, join ourselves with them. Look for opportunities to work together to serve humanity.

2) Learn from them

I think one of the greatest contributions of the Marthoma Churches to Christianity must be the numerous lively songs. Learn the good songs from them. We have among us our sisters and mothers from the Marthoma background(Note that anyone married into the Orthodox Church, become one body with the Church in every way; it is wrong to think of them any other way), use their help to learn and adopt good things happening in the other 'denomination'. Learn from the perspectives and experiences of those who come into the Church this way. Allow them to blossom, grow and add to the fullness of the Orthodox Church. For example, one very good thing I think we could use is the idea of a parish or edavaka mission in our parish - I have seen this in the Marthoma Church. Learn from the passion for the Lord seen in those in the Pentecostal denomination. Have a passion to learn the Bible.

3) Have joint programs

I have already asked the Managing committee if it might be possible to hold annual song and other competitions between different 'denominations' in the Albany area. We must look for opportunities to come together, do things together, and walk together wherever it is possible.

4) Pray for unity

Denominations is just a sad reality. Pray for the end of all denominations. Pray for the healing power of the Lord to bring unity.

We need workers to work and strengthen the Church today, not people who sit on the fence and criticize. The Church needs volunteers to work in different fields, and one important field to work in is the area of ecumenism. The healing needs to begin. And it needs to begin from within us.

There may be many different areas we can work together, please comment and discuss. Please send feeedback.

Clapping of Hands in Worship

Is it wrong to clap hands when we worship? Is our worship contradictory to the instructions in Psalms 150?

This is something that has been in my thought since long, especially as we live

in the midst of different Christian groups.

I recently witnessed a glimpse of the worship of the Eritrean (Ethiopian)

Orthodox Church. They use drums,use clapping and even dance while they worship. So obviously these are not forbidden. See here:

But I feel there is a valid reason why our tradition has developed this way. Andit is good. We can always look for change, but we must be careful that our zeal for change does not make us lose something very precious.

Psalms 150 written in the Old testament times gives expression to the ecstatic

and joyous celebration of God. Its an uninhibited release of praise towards the

Almighty Yahweh.

For us Christians though, everything gets colored through the Gospels. King

David did not have the image of the Cross in mind when he wrote Psalms 150. We

read the Old testament seen in the background of Calvary.

We do not see such an unrestrained emotion in the way of worship formed in the

New Testament Church (how could they, considering they were so close to, and

were so well aware of the suffering of the Lord in Calvary), nor in the works of

Fathers of the Church. Mar Ephrem is considered the harp of the Holy Spirit, his

many poems we use in our worship and prayers. In the prayers and Liturgy, we see

an emotion of pain as we identify with the Cross, calmness and silence as we try

to understand the unimaginable love at Calvary. In the New Testament, we see

"psalms, hymns and spiritual songs" but not shouting, clapping and chaos.

This sentiment shines through even in our expressions of joy of Resurrection as

we are continuously reminded to be humble and meek, always alert and ready,not

drunk in celebrations, because the Devil is always round the corner, because our

race is not yet complete.

Since our wise and Holy Fathers sought refuge in this sentiment primarily, our

music and our songs reflect the calmness, the low key and passionate tone as

opposed to the unrestrained expressions of Psalms 150.

We read Psalms 150 in every of our Morning prayers on Sundays, yet we see the

celebrations in the Psalm looking on from the foot of the Cross. Our ecstatic

celebration is given expression in the Holy Eucharist, which the Devil fears,

all other incidents pale in comparison.

This is not because we are moving away from the Bible, this is because we are

truly embracing the music, the song, the message of the Bible, I feel. I don't

think its wrong to clap hands in worship, but I feel it will be a loss if we

don't teach our children why we don't usually do that in worship.

See a section of the Holy Eucharist in Malankara Orthodox/Jacobite Church:

Src: ICON

The Orthodox - Who are we?

A Gathering of Orthodox Christians in Albany - A Report

On May 6th 2012 evening, the Malankara Orthodox Christians from St. Paul's Orthodox Church in Albany, NY and friends from the local Jacobite Syrian Church got together at St. George Antiochian Church in Albany. The occasion was a meeting of Orthodox Christians in the area in a program called "The Orthodox - Who are we?"

There were representatives from the Armenian Orthodox Church, the Eritrean
Church, the Antiochian Church besides the Malankara Church.

The St. George Antiochian Church is a small but beautiful Church with paintings and icons on the walls and windows. (I noticed that the Byzantine tradition does not use a veil for separation of the Holy of the Holies, like we do, but has doors at the center and sides)

The Orthodox - who are we?

Armenian Church

The priest from the Armenian Church spoke briefly about the history of the

Armenian Church and Lake Van Kurdistan Turkey

Armenian Church, the Armenian genocide of 1915 and how despite always being a persecuted Church, the Armenian Church was growing stronger by the day, and also about the local presence of the Armenian community. Christianity was brought to the kingdom of Armenia by two of Jesus' Apostles, Thaddeus and Bartholomew in
first century A.D. The Armenian Church had long back translated the Liturgy to Armenian and they were the first state to declare itself as a Christian nation, way back in 301 AD.

Liturgical Music Presentation from Armenian Church

The priest along with a deacon later presented some part of their Liturgical Music. It was nice to listen to the ritualistic chants they use in their Liturgy. I was particularly struck by how deep voiced their chants are and how loud they sing. The acoustics of the Church was such that there was no mike system needed.

 

  

 

Eritrean Church

Next a deacon from the Eritrean Church spoke about how we were all one in faith.

Church in Assab, Eritrea in Africa

He spoke in his own language and there was an interpreter. Their liturgical music had drums and dancing and it was a joy to behold them.

 

 

 

Liturgical Music Presentation from Eritrean Church

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malankara Church

The spokesperson from the Malankara Church gave a nice introduction about the

The HQ of the Indian Orthodox Church, Kerala, India

coming of St. Thomas to India and the different forms of Christianity that exist today in India. During the Liturgical presentation, there was a section of the Liturgy of the Word presented in Malayalam with Trisagion chants and songs
before the Epistle and Gospel readings.

Liturgical Music Presentation by Indian Church

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Antiochian Church

For the Antiochian Church, which was the host Church and which was the only

St.George Antiochian Orthodox Church, Albany, NY

representative of the Byzantine tradition, the priest gave a brief history and then the hosts presented a part of their worship including the way they use the Trisagion.

 

 

 

 

 

Fr. Gregory of the host Church

   Vespers and beyond

Later everyone participated in the Vespers (Evening Prayers) which was inEnglish. It was striking to see how many times they used "Lord have mercy" in their prayers.

After the Vespers, everyone got together for a fellowship of sharing of the different ethnic food items. There were Indian medu vadas and cutlets alongside Armenian, Mediteranean and African dishes and it was a great time to get to know each other. Recipes were exchanged and photos were taken.

There was a collection taken for the "Food for Hungry" program towards which contributions were made. Everyone agreed to make this into an annual event and the Armenian Church agreed to host the event for the coming year. It was a blessed time to be able to see and experience how Orthodox Christianity had found its expressions in different traditions and how the Holy Spirit had kept the flame of the ancient faith alive through the Centuries.

Src: ICON

Some thoughts for the Indian Church

Recommendations for Malankara Orthodox Church Social and Humanitarian Action(MOCSHA)

1) Identity in Rural India:

Rural India

What Gandhiji said long ago is so true even today - India lives in its villages. As the Indian Orthodox Church, we must make our identity known in rural India and MOCSHA can be a great vehicle to make this happen. We must move on from being a Malayalee Church (club) to being the true Bride of Christ in India. We may be humble in our numbers, that is ok, but just like the poor widow's offering, our service must be sincere and must contribute to the welfare of India and the society.

Christ's love beyond boundaries

2) True Vision of Christ to Indians:

Many Western missionaries think India is a land of evil spirits and dark powers. They cannot understand the undercurrent of love and spiritual richness that flows in India through all her religions and cultures. Hence, even when they preach Christ, they knowingly or unknowingly spread communalism and hate
and hence end up mutilating the witness of Christ. As the Church of India, we need to be able to give the right vision of Christ to India - the vision of Christ as the true friend of the poor, the lonely and outcasts. We are not looking for additions to a club, we are looking for sharing the love of Christ - that message must be prominent. That was Osthathios Thirumeni's message and that is what made many follow His ways and through him, follow the ways of Christ.

3) Sharing parish level activities information

- a Model for collaboration between Sunday Schools and Institutions

Since this(sharing info) is one of the aims of MOSCHA, I wanted to share one thing we have tried to do, here in Albany, but have been very unsuccessful so far. We are a very small group - only about 15 members. We have a Sunday School of about 8 students. We tried to connect our children here in Albany to a couple
of unique children named Sachu and Sneha from St. Thomas Ashram in Attapadi in Kerala. (Please read about Sachu and Sneha, their predicaments, their treatment, progress etc in the archives of ICON,maybe this link can be a good starting point for someone new:Sachu and Sneha.)

A project connecting Albany Sunday School with Attapadi

We wanted to make the 8 students in Albany friends of Sachu and Sneha. The plan was to create a platform for the kids here to communicate with Sachu and Sneha in India in different ways and the hope was that as time passed, the friendship would take a life of its own. Accordingly we showed the kids here videos of Sachu and Sneha's life there, we sent Christmas greetings and paintings of kids here to Attapadi etc. This went on for a couple years I think and interest has tapered off lately, but I am sure the spark can be re-ignited again in future for example by a visit to Attapadi on vacation by one of the kids etc. In short this can be a long term thing.

But I think this is a good model for larger Churches to adopt. Kids do not have money to give, but they have the yearning to love and share. If parish Sunday schools can be connected with some such institutions through MOCSHA for the longer term and the kids are made to grow with the institutions, they will
hopefully develop a relationship with the institutions for life. Thus if MOSCHA can facilitate some of the Sunday Schools to "adopt" some of our institutions, I think it will be a win win situation.

Src:ICON

Love Is Stronger Than Faction!

I was reading somewhere that "Love is stronger than faction". That set me thinking - isn't that so true?
In our faction fight today, both sides seem to have valid grievances. Thus it is complicated. No easy solutions are seen. So let the fight go on as led by the leaders on both sides.(for now)

Lets work for unity

But at the same time, is it possible to explore areas where we can stand together?

Can some of the moderates on both sides explore possibilities to work together on other areas where our paths merge?

Like - maybe a youth project by the youth league on both sides to work together in a village in North India?

Like - maybe a trip by youngsters from both sides to visit some pilgrimage centers and stay together for some days?
Like - maybe a joint conference on a Biblical theme?

Like - some things which can help nurture a new generation where there is love? Today that love is scarce. When the love reaches the brim and overflows, it will spill over and factions will disappear.
Is that possible? Maybe even in the midst of the grievances, a bishop can be assigned from each side to explore this? Who knows - it may work wonders - after all we have a Lord who rose from the dead.

Src: ICON