Message from the Diocesan Episcopa – Mar Thoma Messenger January 2014
Dearly Beloved in Christ,
In this New Year let us praise and thank the Almighty for all the blessings He has showered upon us in the past years, for binding us with His protection as families and as a diocese, and for strengthening us to see the dawn of another year. The year 2013 was an eventful year in which we could celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the diocese. We started the celebrations with the Holy Communion service on January 1st at the Diocesan Center and concluded with the Grand Finale program on November 23rd with the Communion and public meeting in New York.
We are grateful that our Metropolitan Thirumeni who was in the US from 1964 to 1966, could come for the finale to address the gathering and bless us. The Bishops of the sister churches who are efficiently leading God’s people in the USA blessed us with their presence and messages. I am glad that our people – the clergy, friends, and members of the church – from near and far came to attend the function.
While we remember the last 25 years, we cannot forget the former years which started with the journey of the early immigrants to the West from India, more than 45 years ago. The formation of the diocese is the product of the hard work, fervent prayers and vision of the many early immigrants and our church leaders. Hebrew 13: 7 says, “Remember your leaders who taught you the Word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives and follow the examples of their faith”. We are grateful to all those who spent their lives, their talents, time and wealth for the formation and growth of our Diocese, parishes and congregations. We have to celebrate the past and together with the new generation, catch a vision for the renewed future.
Now we have second, third and fourth generations of our members. If the challenge of the first generation immigrants was to remain loyal to the Church, form religious communities, establish places of worship and to have proper leaders, the challenges of the new generation has come from the contemporary culture, which presents a different scenario. While we nurtured our children, who are born and brought up in the West, in the language of the land and its culture, our immigrant faith community has lost a reasonable number of our younger members. We are called to be fishers of men, but somehow we were not fishing productively. We must admit that our church was not able to cope with the changes in our new land and become relevant. The lessons we have learned should help us focus on our children who ask the question: “Is our church a potted plant in the West or a church becoming relevant and growing in the West?” Without any debate, all will agree that our roots have to grow and go deep into the where one day our bodies will also be laid to rest. Therefore, the question is not whether we have places of worship here, but whether we are being a church in the land and a church for all people. In other words, what is the difference that our presence is making in the life of the people here? If our church has to manifest its being and minister to this world, it needs the awareness of the diverse local population, the contemporary culture, and the challenges that evolve in our time. So what are the challenges the faith communities face today? Let me identify five of them.
1. The Challenge of Globalization
Though we are tempted to confine ourselves to North America and Europe, we know intuitively that we live in a globally interconnected world. For example, the daily news comes to us from not only North America and Europe, but also from Mexico City, Mumbai, Beijing, and other faraway places. Our “Starbucks Coffee” may be a blend of coffee beans grown at least on three continents. Christianity today is a global Christianity. Instead of being introverts and thinking of only having an American or a European Church, we need the openness to have a global church with its mission extending all over the world.
2. The Challenge of Cultural Diversity
The cities of New York, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles, Toronto, and London are known as ethnically diverse gateway communities. The availability of direct flights in these cities to and from other nations tells us not only stories of new immigrants coming in but also of citizens keeping in touch with developing countries. The religious and cultural diversity that results from immigration poses challenges that go beyond mere ethnic differences and processes of assimilation. Our general tendency is to compartmentalize and insulate ourselves from others that are different from us, but instead we need to develop an understanding of the real differences and find ways to integrate. Rather than tolerating intercultural and interreligious marriages when forced to, we must learn to understand, accept, and accommodate such realities. Being a Christian has to be defined not based on merely our doctrinal terms but as followers of Christ.
3. The Challenge of Secularity
The pressures of the ‘work-a-day world’ are driving out any sense of what is ‘sacred and eternally divine.’ The average American has become secular as they struggle with consumer debt, low wages, housing foreclosures, and inadequate health coverage. Accommodating people of other faiths in this land appears to be at the expense of giving up one’s privilege of carrying the Bible or praying in public. We have to be clear: “The aim of any church is to introduce people to God revealed to us in Jesus Christ.”
4. The Challenge of Social Ethics
The issues that define the culture wars since the 1970s – abortion and homosexuality – continue to be discussed frequently in different forums. Today these issues are politicized and often taken to the polls where the voters are forced to say only ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Christians should be doing what Jesus would do with such issues and what the Bible commands us to do.
5. The Challenge of Congregational Ministry
The present community is changing in form rather than declining. Today, the members spend most of their time in places other than the Church. They spend time at places where they live, work, and interact with family and friends, e.g.: shopping malls, markets, and other public places. Only very few have any idea about the work others do, where they live, or who their families are, and what they enjoy doing in their leisure time. Take for example, single parents, children born out of wedlock, widows, children with special needs, divorcees, people with guilt and shame, etc. What is the ministry we can offer to them when they congregate in our church? The aim of any church is to help her members to love Jesus and to live with God.
All these challenges demand us to understand or explain the meaning and relevance of the Church. In the changed scenario, youth and women are our newer resources. We have strength in them. The Church is not a monument fortified by walls and campuses; rather it is an empowering and transforming experience that happens in the lives of the people who face complex life experiences. Here the church becomes an event in the life of the people. The Church happens as fellowships of solidarity, love, care, compassion, justice and restoration that impact the lives of the people who go through tragic experiences of alienation in the Church and society.
Dear friends, we are in a new land to stay, to grow, to thrive, to reach out, and to move with Jesus. Hence to be a church requires a deeper and costly commitment. The present generation has the potential. I have confidence in them. There cannot be a true church with simply the continuity of existence in the world. Instead, the Church has to journey with the risen Christ. When Christ says, “Follow me!” as he said to Peter after the resurrection (John 21:19, 22), it means to die and get resurrected. So the challenge before any church, particularly the Mar Thoma Church, the Diocese of North America and Europe, is to be on the road (street) with Christ (Luke 24:13-55). Let us continue this journey.
May the Church’s journey today with Christ become relevant and meaningful! God bless all of us.
Wish You All a Happy and Prosperous New Year
God bless us all
Mar Theodosius+
www.martheodosius.com
