Christianity cannot be sugar coated

Many Christians including myself struggle to make the Church more acceptable for our children - we feel a lot of discomfort in the Church - we are inconvenienced

a lot on our Sundays - so we need chairs to sit, soft carpets to walk on, a pantry with coffee close by, food after the service - all so that we make our Church time more bearable.

And we talk about shorter services, more lively songs, more use of the language the children can understand, books in English, louder sermons, feet tapping music? ..etc..etc...so that our children may see all these and find the Church attractive and stay in the Church.

We build huge mansions for Churches, magnificent cathedrals, awe inspiring sculptures, beautiful paintings - to create the traditions of our Christianity.

But if we really think about it - do we really want our children to be even part of this? The Church has, at its center, a man who was ruthlessly and mercilessly tortured and killed, whose initial followers were hunted down and massacred like animals, a king who was disowned by his own people, who asked us to follow Him even to His death. Do we really want our children to follow his path? Today I looked at a painting of St. Stephen the first martyr, showing the scene just before He was to be martyred - it was a horrifying scene - a chill ran down my spine as I realized - what the martyrs went through was terrifying, it was no fun - Christianity is no joke -

and that is what we are driving our children into - Christianity is about blood being shed - it cannot really be sugar coated.

So if we really think about it - instead of trying to make the Church more at home for our children, we may want to run away from it as fast as possible and as far away as possible with our children.
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But fortunately, we are mostly peripheral Christians, and so we stay on with our fixation for Church. Ignorance is bliss.

(Has anyone ever felt like this?)

(April 2013)

The sign on doorposts at Passover

Was reading the story of Passover from the Bible to my daughter when I thought:
Why did the angel of death need a sign on the doorposts of Israeli homes to pass them over? Couldn't the deadly and mighty angel coming to kill the first born of Egypt have figured that out himself??

Wasn't that an indication that the Lord in His wisdom requires our participation, our responses, our acts - in the fulfillment of His Divine plans?
Wasn't that act a shadow of the sacraments to come in the New Israel, the Church?

(April 2013)

Religion and Charity

I can understand why its necessary to keep Religion separate from State, and also I can see a logic in why Religion is kept away from Schools(even though it saddens me that even the idea of God is systematically being driven out of the children's minds in their formative years), what can be the logic for keeping religion away from charity? I heard recently that certain employers hesitate to match funds if the charitable organization is connected to a religious institution (even though the charity is recognized - like in the US 501(c)(3) charities are those which have Federal Tax Exemption status)

What is religion without charity? As a Christian, my faith is nothing, if it does not bear good fruits in charity (The Bible is pretty clear that faith without 'works' is dead) - I am sure that is the case with most other religions. I know how certain religious extremists have used charity as a front for their extremists agenda. I also know of how funds from US and elsewhere have messed up the socio-ecumenical-secular fabric of countries like India. Those are gross abuses of money intended for charity and religion - yet, I feel the charity in religion is something really valuable and should not be stifled.

As long as one can trust that the money donated will be used solely for the charitable purpose, and will benefit those in need completely (and not be funded for any religious propagation) there should be a flourishing environment for charity driven by religion - where religion is encouraged to get involved and lead efforts in charity. Our world needs lot of charity.

Earth Day - a Christian's viewpoint

Everything that God created was "good". It was attested by none less than God Himself, and attested so many times during the Creation story - that He saw that whatever was being created was "good". "Good" - as in beautiful, perfect, complete, in harmony, and it served a divine purpose - everything was this way - even what we consider not of much worth - like - fruitless trees, wild animals, snakes..everything was "good" originally.

And He then made man the care-taker. So if today the Earth is messed up, we cannot walk away from the responsibility. Be kind and caring to the environment, use the world around us responsibly - its the only Christian way.

"The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister." ~GK Chesterton

(Ref: St.John Chrysostom - homilies on Genesis.)
(April 2013)

Which caste are you?

Once a fellow traveller asked Sree Narayana Guru(famed social reformer and revolutionary against caste-ism in the Indian society, seen by many as a saint and revered for his knowledge of the Hindu Vedas) - "Which caste are you?"
Pat came the reply: "Don't you recognize, by what you see?"
"No!" replied the surprised enquirer.
"In that case"the Guru told him,"if you do not know by what you see, how will you know by what you hear?!"

~as narrated by Dr. Samadani,a Muslim scholar, at a speech in 2010 in Abu Dhabi at a Christian Youth Conference.

(April 2013)

The words of the priest

Early last week - in one of the Evangelion readings in one of the days before Pesaha, Indian Orthodox Christians heard from the pulpit the words of the High Priest Caiaphas "It is better for one man to die than to let the whole nation perish". Those words were prophetic. That was the exact reason the Son of God became Man - to die Himself so that the entire world did not perish. Even when he was plotting against the Creator, even though he was one of the main villains in the story of the crucifixion of the Lord, Caiaphas's mouth spoke the deep truth, even unknown by him. Caiaphas, despite all his actions, was after all the High Priest who entered the Holy of the Holies.

If Ciaphas's words, even when He was making the case against the Lord, turned out to be prophecy - then the words of the priests and High Priests ordained by God in the Church need to be listened to with great attention and reverence - because God will be using their mouths and their thoughts from time to time to prophecy about His plans in the parish, in the diocese, in the Church and in the world; despite the human frailities of these individuals, and often without their own knowledge.

(April 2013)

Rituals - they come alive in the Church

The last week, Indian Orthodox Christians world wide would have been exposed to different symbols,different colors, different highs, different emotions: from the triumphant Entry of a King, to the hideous plotting of His death, to the depressing sight of a gruesome murder, the fleeing of His close friends, to a royal burial, to His amazing proclamation in Hades, and finally to the ecstacy of experiencing the greatest miracle - that He is risen! indeed!

All through the week there were prostrations, processions, proclamations, responses, all wound together finely into very visible and conspicuous rituals. What do these rituals do?

Something happened 2000 years ago which changed the course of human destiny. That changed our whole understanding about death. That changed death from being a finale to become a mere milestone in an onward journey of spiritual renewal; death no more held its terror, it was no more an end in itself. That change gives hope for a better tomorrow, for a life beyond. What happened 2000 years ago brought about salvation for all humanity, salvation from death, and into life eternal.

What happened exactly, how it saves Creation, we don't know. What Christ did, why it was necessary, we will probably never fully understand. Through the various rituals in the Church, we try to identify with what happened, to relate to how it transforms us, and to put it all in a human understandable pattern. Thus the rituals are attempts to explain the inexplicable,to describe the undescribable, to try and make a little bit sense of the unfathomable mysteries.

So when we look at these rituals from the outside, they may seem very ordinary, very empty - for example - the procession of the priest and acolytes on Good Friday at the time of the burial service - and they would have remained so, had there been nothing else to it. But because these are glimpses into the majestic work of the Holy Spirit in the Church, that is mostly unseen, unheard,unrevealed and un understood by human thinking; because these are attempts to make sense of the continuous work of the Creator who fashioned the world, saved it and continues fulfilling its redemption, because these are but miniscule and imperfect shadows of a greater and excellent glory that is useen, the rituals in the Church come alive and become meaningful tools to experience the salvation that God has granted to His Creation. Here we are becoming co participants with Nicodemos and Joseph in the burial service, in an event that transcends time and space. When seen in this light, they no longer remain empty rituals but become the channels for the transfer of grace from the Divine Presence into the world through the Church.

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is risen!
(April 2013)