Valedictory worship order

Order of worship
Prelude
Processional hymn- O God our help in ages past
1. O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal home.

2. Under the shadow of thy throne,
still may we dwell secure;
sufficient is thine arm alone,
and our defense is sure.

3. Before the hills in order stood,
or earth received her frame,
from everlasting, thou art God,
to endless years the same.

4. A thousand ages, in thy sight,
are like an evening gone;
short as the watch that ends the night,
before the rising sun.

5. Time, like an ever rolling stream,
bears all who breathe away;
they fly forgotten, as a dream
dies at the opening day.

6. O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come;
be thou our guide while life shall last,
and our eternal home.

Opening prayer
Leader: God of knowledge and compassion, you have taught us that the acceptance of God is the beginning of knowledge. We seek gracious God your guidance to be merciful in our happiness, to be creative in our ministry, to be gracious while accepting our diplomas, to be loving even when leaving. You O God are the reason that we as graduates, students, staff, teachers, parents, family and friends are here. We are thrilled and humbled by the grace you have shown to our graduates. Be with us through the service. May we wish the best and accept goodness from all. Amen.

Bhajan
Deva Ninna Amitha Premavanu
Enithu Naanu Mareyali
Dhinavu Dhinavu Ninna Karuneyanu
Yaava Theradhi Haadali

Hagalu Irulu Ninna Preethi
Jagadhalemma Kaapudhu
Gathiyu Emage Ninna Paadha
Endhoo Aasare Eevudhu

Bendha Manake Neenu Koduve
Endhoo Aarada Preethiya
Nondha Baalige Neenu Tharuve
Thandhe Ninna Shaanthiya

Prayer of thanksgiving (Together)
It is a joy to be able. It is mercy to sacrifice and yet survive. It is grace to finish and delight in the Lord. Loving God, we were chosen by you to do the difficult, spare our time, use our resources and continue in our efforts however difficult it got. In now bowing our heads before you, merciful God, we are celebrating the completion of what you have made us do. We thank you together for the courage you gave us to study and to support, to live and to let live, to be passionate and allow others to do so. As graduates, teachers, parents, pastors, friends and well-wishers we thank you God, Son and Holy Spirit for this moment. Amen.

Confession (In unison)
Forgive us God for not experiencing even when knowing, for not helping even while being helped, for not committing even while we were set apart, for not initiating even when we were initiated, for not understanding even while expecting others to do so, for not following Christ even when that was our mandate, for not serving even when that was our motto and for not becoming of God even while being created in the image and likeness of God. May we accept our problems, sort out our issues and become what you intend us to be, merciful God. Amen.

Assurance of God’s mercy
Leader: May we feel happiness in gloom, peace in uncertainty, grace in failure, mercy in negative situations, hope in absolute dejection, light in darkness and God’s presence in every single instance. May God be with us, assure us of God’s unflinching love and continue to make God’s face shine upon us. Amen.

Congregational hymn (Offertory)- Christ is all to me
Refrain: Christ is all to me, Jesus Christ is all to me
In this world of strife and sorrow, Christ is all to me

1. Brother He, me brother calls; Bridegroom he, the Church His bride;
Parent, Kinsman, Master, Savior; And to each his Friend and Guide.

2. Watching me with shepherd-care; Lovingly my wants attends,
My companion all the way till Evening falls and journey ends.

3. Peace when storms around me blow, Joy in sorrow, calm in strife,
Health in sickness, wealth in want, the Noon day sun, the Light of life.

4. Teacher of the truth of God, Prophet of God’s heavenly reign,
Sent of God that we may find in Serving Him eternal gain.

5. He the prize and He the goal And by Him the race begun,
He the runner of the team who Will complete the race I run.

Scripture- St. Luke 19:28-48

Commitment song- O Jesus, I have promised
1. O Jesus, I have promised
to serve thee to the end;
be thou forever near me,
my Master and my friend.
I shall not fear the battle
if thou art by my side,
nor wander from the pathway
if thou wilt be my guide.

2. O let me feel thee near me!
The world is ever near;
I see the sights that dazzle,
the tempting sounds I hear;
my foes are ever near me,
around me and within;
but Jesus, draw thou nearer,
and shield my soul from sin.

3. O let me hear thee speaking
in accents clear and still,
above the storms of passion,
the murmurs of self-will.
O speak to reassure me,
to hasten or control;
O speak, and make me listen,
thou guardian of my soul.

4. O Jesus, thou hast promised
to all who follow thee
that where thou art in glory
there shall thy servant be.
And Jesus, I have promised
to serve thee to the end;
O give me grace to follow,
my Master and my Friend.

Commitment prayer of the graduating students
What have we done to deserve your loving kindness dear God?
What have we done to deserve the comfort of our families?
What have we done to deserve the opportunity to study in this institution?
We have committed ourselves to the glory of God and for the accomplishment of God’s work in God’s land. God has respected our commitment and helped us in our training and learning to be better ministers for God. Today we stand here humbled as ever because God has worked a miracle in our life. We have received the gift of reasoning, understanding, writing and expressing. This we submit for God’s glory. We thank you for being part of our journey in UTC. We promise to be understanding, caring compassionate and truthful pastors, teachers and workers for God. Amen.

Prayer of commissioning
Leader: You have been privileged to go through the portals of this institution, gaining in knowledge and maturity, understanding issues and sharing experiences leading to mutual learning and growth. You had a family to support you, teachers to mentor you, pastors to pray for you and well-wishers to provide for you. We pray to God that today as you are being sent out to the world that you will have neither purse nor tunic but the presence of God which will go before you. Amen.

People: We are so happy that God has given this day so that you as graduating students will go out and provide care for the needy, spiritual nourishment for all, prayers for the people of the world and healing for the sick. We understand that we as family, church members and friends have to let you go to serve God and God’s people. We have been blessed by witnessing your growth and God’s mercy in your life. We now pray for your health, sustenance, providence and future. God be with you. Amen.

Graduating students: We are aware that many of our sisters and brothers don’t have the opportunity for basic education and yet we have received much more than that. We pray to God that this will inspire us to educate, learn, work and grow with everyone around us. The word of God should not be hidden under a basket and we promise to try our best to shine and be a light to others. Even as we are graduating from this institution, we pray that we will help others study, understand and benefit from the bible, traditions and culture. We will stand for equal rights, preferential option for the poor and oppressed, food for the hungry and justice for the weak and heavy laden. Amen.

Intercessory prayers
Leader- God of hope and infinite grace, we pray for all those who are graduating from the UTC. Give them strength, peace and calmness to face any situation with ease and poise. Fill all of us with the power and love of the Holy Spirit that we go wherever we are sent and do what needs to be done without complaining or stopping in our steps. May others be inspired and join in the wonderful sanity of ministry and God’s work.
All- Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers.

Leader- God of love and forgiveness, help us to accept each other as we are. You have given a special gift to each one who is graduating today. Some are writers, some speakers, others are listeners, some others keepers, many are understanding and some go the extra distance, some give time and others are patient. We thank you God for the gifts you have given each one and pray that these may be used in many ways so that ordinary people may benefit from each gift in a different way.
All- Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers.

Leader- God of stillness and greatness, we pray for all those who are assembled here. May the time spent here be of great use and provide a wonderful memory for each one. May friendships bloom and ties be restored. Help all of us to smile, greet, embrace and thank. We pray for the UTC community, the president, chief guest, members of the executive, council and friends and well-wishers of the UTC community. May this graduation be a letting go of graduates who carry the bible with them and preach ceaselessly, truthfully, fearlessly and gracefully. May the UTC community feel happy and thank God for the UTC graduates. We also pray for many who are suffering in the world due to natural calamities, incorrect policies, war, famine, drought and poverty. Help us and others to provide care and share our resources with others so that suffering ceases.
All- Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers.

Lord’s prayer (All together)
Our God in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, power and glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Closing hymn- Great is thy faithfulness
1. Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee,
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not,
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.
Refrain:
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!
2. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above;
Join with all nature in manifold witness,
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
(Refrain)
3. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own great presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.

Closing prayer and benediction
Leader- Go into the world knowing that we will work together, suffer to enrich God’s love and be happy by seeing God’s presence in daily miracles in our life. We are not alone. If God is with us, who can be against us? But if God is absent from our lives, our faith is in vain. Be assured and be strengthened by our prayers for you and God’s mercy and grace in your lives. You are called to go and proclaim like Moses to let God’s people go and worship in freedom, peace and happiness. God be with you. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and forever. Amen.

Recession hymn- Go down Moses

1. When Israel was in Egypt’s land, let my people go,
oppressed so hard they could not stand, let my people go.

Refrain: Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt’s land,
tell old Pharaoh: let my people go.

2. The Lord told Moses what to do, let my people go,
To lead the Hebrew children through, let my people go.

3. As Israel stood by the waterside, let my people go.
At God’s command it did divide, let my people go.

The Nation of Refugees: A look at the refugees crisis

The Nation of Refugees is a play produced by the Communication department of the United Theological College, Bengaluru. Full length plays have been a tradition in the life of the 106 year old UTC and the plays have been a part and parcel of the theatre scene in Bengaluru. This play features an off stage team of Firoz and Malavika, trained at the National School of Drama, Delhi and an on stage cast of a social worker Rebecca, a priest, Fr. Jerry and seminary students Irene, Prazwal, Raj Kumar, Gandhi, Samuel, Ivan, Ashley, Hanson, Ben and Vinod. The cast is international and draws from several states in India as well. The director Jain Syriac Babu has acted in a mainline movie Shikar and a recent movie Jalam (Water) on the displacement of people and homelessness.



The Nation of Refugees is an in house production of UTC born out an urge to let people in Bengaluru know about the refugee crisis brought about by internal war and displacement in Syria, Iraq, Eritrea, Afghanistan and a host of nations battling civil war, dictators and genocide. In 2015 alone 1 million refugees have migrated to different countries in the European Union seeking asylum with 184,665 asylum claims being approved in 2014. The migrants have taken the very difficult route of sea and land and in 2015 3,770 migrants are supposed to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean alone. The picture of young Aylan Kurdi, a child of Syrian migrants who tried to make the journey by boat, washed ashore cannot be forgotten quickly. The denial of humanity to people forced to migrate from their own land is appalling.



The play brings about an interesting and yet serious prospect of highlighting the refugee crisis by looking at two extremes of the crisis. On the one hand there is a blood hungry and cruelly funny dictator, who is scared of everyone and yet feigns that he is always in control and on the other hand you have the journey of a woman divided into several shades coming forth as a response by people to the crisis. The people are forced by the evil ruler to build a wall and the people rally around the women characters to give an effective response to tyranny and inhuman policies. The evil ruler meets his match in the women who come up through their own struggles and are yet unwilling to give up their right to humanity. Their own trysts with destiny in their resistance to a patriarchal culture, skewed traditions and unjust laws lead them into responding to their families, culture and a threatening regime. The ending is a surprise unlike usual plays and looks to give some hope to a world divided by race, gender and religion.



The 50 minute production is a chance for people to re look their lives during the Lenten and fasting season which is half way through and get a slice of reality and be aware of the suffering of people worldwide. It also sees how children and women suffer most during war and strife and how women can lead a fight back through a self-realization that they have the power and the strength within them for that. In the lead up to International Women’s Day this is a perfect opportunity to look at how a combined humanity with both women and men can lead to a peaceful and harmonious earth and living.



The play was staged in UTC, Bengaluru, behind the Cantonment railway station on Miller’s Road on December 3, 2015 and will be staged again on March 4 and 5, 2016 at 7 P.M. at the UTC, near the library . Tickets are available at the venue.

Lent to love: Valentine to Va(Wow)-lent-time!

We have already entered into another blessed lent looking at ourselves and trying to figure out where we stand. This initiative of the UTC worship committee is indeed a good one as it gives a time for a theological community like ours to pray for each other and pray for ourselves. There is sometimes a mis-notion that theologians and pastors need no prayers. We all need prayers and we all need to know that we are not perfect and that lent is a time to work on our faults and accept others with their faults because in accepting others we are accepting ourselves!

As an introduction we are looking at traditions which continue to live in our midst but will also look at how traditions have evolved and why this is an important aspect of tradition itself. Valentine’s day came with no preplanned bang before the start of lent in some of the Christian denominations. So much that it was an emotional drain on youngsters to start off lent because they were wasted even before the start of lent.

But the Valentine’s day tradition offers us a link to lent and a reason to lent as well. This we understand from the story behind Valentine’s day. The Emperor issues an edict that soliders should preferably not marry as this would make them weak soldiers and if at all they could have several women so that they would love none. Valentine took the risk of marrying couples in love and thereby also gave them the opportunity to be committed to one another. The Emperor jails Valentine and he heals Julia, the daughter of the jailor Asterius. Before his execution he writes a letter to her and signs off as Your Valentine. Interestingly the heart, and the love have been taken over by a commercial frenzy on February 14 and the sacrifice and real purpose of Valentine have been left behind. Perhaps it will serve us well to pick up the crumbs and understand lent through that.

Va-lent-time is an exclamation that this is something we do by our own will and that this is something we do diversely. Every Christian tradition has some form of lent and that cannot be discounted in any way. Every Christian tradition also understands that lent has several things to offer them and through diet, manner, character and life restrictions each one tries by himself or herself to lent and live. The Orthodox (Syrian, Oriental and other) churches fast, lent and give alms and pray that lent without practice of alms giving and helping the poor is no lent at all. The idea is not to be self righteous though it is misconstrued that lent makes one self righteous. On the other hand lent makes one humble, self critical and analytical. Food restrictions are to tone down desire on several levels as prayer for the soul over food for the body takes center stage.

This lent in UTC we are trying to figure out sins which we are committing and which we have to stop doing by fasting and praying. They are sins against humanity and community. This is a perfect time to tell ourselves that we are sinning and we need help to stop. It is not a lent to rectify and renew others but a lent to change and offer a leash of life to oneself. St. John Chrysostom says that “It is folly to abstain all day long from food, but fail to abstain from sin and selfishness.” Lent to love is to love ourselves to the point of saving ourselves to offer food and nourishment to others.

Churches should become the best place one wants to go to. Pastors should be the first person someone wants to meet at a difficult time. Lent can help for attaining this goal. But the biggest corruption of lent has been to think that lent makes us better than someone else and our lent is the best and most perfect lent. If we start thinking like that our lent has been wasted. Stop abusing lent and start loving it.

Get dirty this lent
Undergoing lent and the thoughts that we have while doing it are the reverse of what we have on mind. St. Luke 5:12-16 talks of the person with leprosy who asks Jesus to make him clean. We usually try to make ourselves clean during lent. Our practice of lent is to have diet restrictions, prayers and a life style to suggest that we are clean by ourselves and cleaner than others. There is an addiction towards being clean and more so to be cleaner than others. But what does Jesus do? What was he supposed to do? He was in all probability expected to ignore the person with leprosy because Jesus was clean while the leper was perceived as un clean.

But the clean Jesus does an interesting thing by stretching out his hand and touching the unclean person. This is a true model for Lenten practice. If we cannot offer cleanness to others our cleanness becomes suspect. The entire essence of purity, cleanness and holiness somehow prevents us from reaching out to those who are branded as impure and un clean. This important observation of reality has to be part of our Lenten experience. Jesus gets dirty and also reflects a certain ughhh from people to suggest that he did something which was not acceptable. We have it as part of our sermons but such dirty acts of faith which are actually good acts of faith are left in the script and don’t go to the field.

The eeeggh and uuuggghhh have to be part of our process of getting mud on our hands during lent so that we are prepared for real ministry. Identifying inward beauty is something we haven’t been able to grasp despite knowing fully well that our spiritual guidance suggests us that. Love cannot be limited to what we are taught is beautiful. Love has to be acts of love like Jesus showed. It did not matter to Jesus how the person looked anymore. Can lent bring about such love? Can we lent ourselves so that love indeed becomes blind as they say it?

Fasting against corrupt practices
Lent is a protest. When everything is accepted and goes a certain way it is to say that I don’t want to be part of a uniform way of thinking as I feel this could be disruptive of the gospel. Protest is not a bad word. Perhaps the images in our mind of protests which have become violent make us identify the word protest with something bad. Protest is to say that there is another way of doing things and we would like you to try it out. St. Mark 2:1-12 contains the story of a unique protest. Four people bringing a paralyzed man discover that they cannot bring the man to Jesus because of the crowd and so they find a unique way of letting him to Jesus. Jesus is impressed and helps the man. There has to be a discernment to do good whenever possible. Lent is a time when we enable ourselves to able others.

We usually talk a lot about lent and sometimes it even sounds like we are doing it because someone is forcing us to. But there are others who are not forced by anyone and yet commit to lenting their own lives. Irom Sharmila is one such courageous woman who has fasted for 15 years of her life starting from November 4, 2000. When many of us complain and undergo the lent experience because it is a part of our traditions, Sharmila has made a tradition out of her fast against unjust structures. Her fast is not for her self glory and purification. It is for the repealing of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Manipur. Her usual practice of fasting once a week in her usual life turned into a lifetime fast because she protested against the killing of innocent people from her state. What do we call her fast? Is our fasting and are our lents close to the deep spirituality of Irom Sharmila’s fast where she has made herself into a vegetable for the sake of others?

The people carrying the paralytic get a deep sense of spirituality to break the line and do something so that justice may be gained. This then becomes a traditional endeavor for us to follow. Romans 12:2 says “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed for the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern, what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect. Irom Sharmila has proved that love goes beyond love of the self into uncertain and unknown territory. The people carrying the paralytic where going through unknown territory and yet love makes them do something so crazy that even they had no logical explanation for it. Can we lent that we become crazy enough to follow Christ through unknown ways?

Depriving ourselves of unjustifiable cravings
St. Luke 6:31 says “Do to others as you would have others to do to you.” Deprivation is a part and parcel of traditional lent. But deprivation is not an act of weakness but an act of strength where we give up something so that those who are deprived may have it. We crave for a lot of things but many a time these cravings are not justified. They are what we take from others and have. Can we take from others and justify that? We obviously can’t and lent becomes a time when we can say that I would like to deprive myself of these unjustifiable cravings which deprive someone else of what is their share.

Lent becomes something to undertake, the stronger you are. This could be a reason why children, elderly folk and even nursing mothers are allowed to skip lent in some traditions. Lent is something you do in your strength and not in your weakness. It is what we give away and not what we take away. If we have received out of lent it is not completely justified. If on the other hand we have given away out of lent, it is justified. It goes along with the song “The weak say I am strong and the strong say I am weak.”

Lent in this sense is not a sadistic effort at saying we have done something great but a spiritual effort in saying that we have tried to become what God wants us to be and this is not sacrifice but the way God wants it to be. 1 John 4:8 says “Whoever does not love, does not know God, because God is love.” How clear a verse this is, how truthful an advise this is?

Lent becomes our natural action towards loving others, caring for others and ensuring God’s justice to be done. It is our deep spiritual engagement with God by loving others and letting them know that we are depriving ourselves of unjustifiable cravings so that they may have and have abundantly. We are invited to love and love beyond anything we know. Amen.


(Preached yesterday in the UTC Ziegenbalg chapel, Bangalore for the first Lenten Lantern service.)

Something about Mary: The sermon

Luke 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”[a] 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”[b] 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[c] will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.


Ecumenism has not died dear friends. Today’s worship is an effort to say that ecumenism still lives and we need it more than ever before. Misunderstanding of cultures, beliefs and systems are not inter-religious problems but inter-denominational, ecumenical problems. We need to sort out issues between ourselves inside the church before commenting on other aspects of religion and society.

So what is a Syrian Orthodox priest doing in UTC? Can the CSI and CNI come to a common understanding with the Pentecostal, Orthodox, Catholic, Baptist and Presbyterian churches? Is there something more than Jesus that we can look up to for a common ground? This Sunday, these are some questions we can try to answer.


Luke 1:26-38 explains the announcement of angel Gabriel to Mary that she is going to give birth to Jesus. Mary is quite astounded and taken aback by the announcement but Gabriel reassures her. The skit that we saw took a different look at the passage and shows how Mary fears domestication as that which cannot fulfill what Gabriel announces to her. Mary’s status of a virgin is also her curse and she tries to make sense of what is happening.

“Something about Mary” is an effort to make sense of Gabriel’s announcement to Mary and how she responds to it. It is also an effort to see how Mother Mary offers a chance for unity between churches which can in turn keep the ecumenical flame burning.

Some of the traditional ways of looking at the passage is to point out the obedience of Mary, her virginity and thereby holiness and her special place in the church. While the churches belonging to the Orthodox and Catholic families have given St. Mary the status of ‘Theotokos’, the mother of God, others have questioned her virginity and her status as mother of God and also her status as someone who has to be venerated.

Our present struggles involve looking at other religions and our acceptance of them. My concern is to look within Christianity and identify common grounding through inspired reading of the Bible. Our readings are inspired and led by the Holy Spirit and one should not doubt that.

The read passage offers us hope that there is something about Mary that could bring us together. It’s not just the procession or the chanting but the inspiration of Mary’s self that offers us life in its fullness.

1. Jo dhar ghaya samjo mar gaya- This is a dialogue in the iconic Hindi movie “Sholay” in which Amjad Khan playing Gabbar Singh delivers the eternally famous dialogue to his accomplices after shooting three of them. It just means that those who get scared or have fear in them will die then and there. Mary is scared of all that could happen by this visit of Gabriel. She is perplexed. One cannot blame her. She must have thought of the stories of spirits visiting people and what came about from these visits. She must have also thought of what was this character Gabriel hanging around for and trying to do by calling her the ‘favoured one’?

What was indeed going to happen? Was her freedom going to end? Would she be cornered into submission? The relationship between churches also borders around fear. Will I become less holy or pure if I mingle with other churches, will my people flock to other churches if I appear cozy with them, are others and their practises non-Christian and non-spiritual? Fear plays an important spoiler in ecumenical relations. Mary was also bordering around fear. The fear of losing familiar ground must have weighed heavily on her mind. Gabriel was telling things strange and unheard of. Would Mary be a victim to non-religious things? Mary being a Jew was doing something sacrilegious. She did what no other person would have the courage to do. She was becoming anti-religious from within the religion she stood in and anti-societal inside the society she was part of. She was scared but she overcame fear.

Mary’s reaction which overcomes the understanding “Jo dhar gaya, samjo mar gaya” not only defeats death for her but ensures life and salvation for all people as well. Mother Mary then becomes the symbolism of life by overcoming fear and death. She becomes the bearer of the son of God not by submission but by overcoming fear. This is a good model to follow for ecumenism as well. We don’t just submit to each other but we overcome the fear of one another and favour life through the birth of Christ in each of us.

2. Aathi kya Khandala? Virginity is not conformity.
Luke 1: 26-38 is misunderstood in several respects and Mother Mary is made out into a subservient, submissive, conformist by many. Elizabeth Johnson in her book “Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints” makes the observation that several women writers have said that Mary has let down women by being a conformist and allowing Christian writers to make her the correct woman figure over and against Eve, because Mary reflects obedience over Eve’s disobedience. But this is far from the truth. Mary, as pointed out in the skit is not submissive but instead tries to prevent Gabriel from having his say. The biblical writer must have written it in a way to suggest that Mary is showcasing and questioning domestication and using virginity as an anti thesis to submission. It is not submission but questioning. It is not the oppression of women but the expression of women.

The 1998 Hindi movie “Ghulam” starring Aamir Khan and Rani Mukherjee was a runaway hit and had a very popular song “Aathi kya Khandala”. Khandala is a hill station and a place which is popular among the youth. The song has a young man telling the girl that they will go to Khandala and have fun.
Aey, Kya Bolti Tu
Aey, Kya Mein Bolun
Sun, Suna,
Aati Kya Khandala
Kya,Karoon, Aake Mein Khandala,
Arey Ghoomenge Phirenge Nachenge Gaaenge
Aish Karenge Aur Kya
Aey, Kya Bolti Tu
Aey, Kya Mein Bolun
But just because a girl goes there does not mean that she is morally worse than the boy who accompanied her. This pick up line “Aathi kya Khandala” was used and is still used by eve teasers and molestors on the road. An sms which went around much after the release of the movie was about a girl who had covered her face while entering the bus. An elderly man asks her “Aathi kya Khandala?” She replies “Papa, ye mein hoo” meaning father this is me your daughter.
Angel Gabriel is of course not asking Mary to go to Khandala with him. But Mary must have been petrified of having someone like him next to her, suggesting she is going to give birth to a child. Her reply that she is a virgin or that she is domesticated should be seen in two ways. One is to suggest that the angel should leave her alone and that she has nothing to do with men but is rather independent. Two is to suggest that how can a domesticated woman like her give birth to the son of the most high when she is domesticated by a patriarchal, male centric society? How can such good come out of her when she is part of the corrupt structure?

The church sees both in bits and pieces- Mary’s independence more than her virginity was at one point of time looked at as independence from the system. So the church identified with such independence. Many women in academic discourse call Mary as a domesticated saint. This means that she has been accepted, elevated and used by a patriarchal church leadership and this essentially means that she is of no use to women. But on the other hand Mary is also questioning domestication and the skewed connotation of virginity. Mary refuses to get into the patriarchal “Aathi kya Khandala” enquiry and instead deals with the angel, writer and the church on her own terms. Joseph’s role even though small is very significant. He acts as the perfect decoy in the story, making people look at him and in the process Mary gets her space and freedom.

Non-Catholic and non-Orthodox churches need not write off Mother Mary as a domesticated saint. The church may have domesticated Mary to an extent but Mary has not allowed herself to be domesticated. Taking Mariology seriously can bring churches closer to tackle the problems posed by patriarchy and kierarchy, which is power centred. Having various church festivals in an ecumenical setting helps us to realize that we are not domesticated virgins but rather children of God, inspired by the life of saints like Mother Mary.

In my church the eight day lent from Sep 1-8 is commemorated to celebrate the nativity of St. Mary. But this is not an official church lent. Yet hundreds of thousands of people, especially women observe this lent and identify with Mother Mary and intercede to her. They talk, cry, spent time with and completely immerse themselves with Mother Mary. This is not church induced but people induced. Understanding such traditions and observances gives a much needed fillip and energy for sagging ecumenical relations between churches.

3. Mere Paas Maa hai- The MOM mission
The assurance of angel Gabriel to Mary is that she will be filled with the Holy Spirit and bear a child who will be holy. It also suggests that the child bearer will be holy. In the 1975 Hindi movie Deewar, the character Vijay played by Amitabh Bachan tells his brother Ravi played by Shashi Kapoor, “Aaj mere paas paisa hai, bangla hai, gaadi hai, naukar hai, bank balance hai. Aur tumhare paas kya hai?” His brother replies “Mere paas Maa hai.” To the statement that one brother has money, a house, a car, a domestic help and a bank balance the other says that he has his mother with him!

The importance of a mother is well said and it reflects popular culture as well. The church believes that Mother Mary has the freedom and the proximity to intercede to her son Jesus. This is the special freedom of a mother. Ecumenical relations between churches are partly suffering because of an Americanised, homogenized, media style spirituality which leaves no space for the expression of local culture in our prayer and relationship with God. The neglect of the East and its spirituality is a cause of concern and a thorn in the flesh of ecumenical understanding between churches.
A New York Times cartoon reflects this refusal to accept India’s growth.


The Mangalyan Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has been hailed as a success for a country like India. It has been cost effective and speedy and has used local elements in its research and design. Yet the cartoon shows a person with a cow knocking at the door of the Elite Space Club. It also reflects this coat and tie spirituality from the U.S., exported and marketed by a section of people there. This uni-directional, anti-culture spirituality which is against local cultures and traditions poses a grave danger to Christian traditions in India and their relationship with each other.

The Mary Orbiter Mission can give us the opportunity to taste success in relationships between churches. This is a mutually respecting, learning and growing experience which has to be encouraged more in our context. To sum up, we must overcome fear, be non-conformists to wrong approaches and try to widen our belief system so that our prayers and spirituality become more effective. UTC becomes an apt space for us. It is a place to love, embrace and learn from each other. It is a vibrant ground of acceptance and respect. May God through the intercession of Mother Mary give us the opportunity to be good and better followers of Christ. Amen.



(Excerpts from a sermon preached in UTC for the Sunday evening worship on October 5, 2014.)
Picture credits: Calvin Sushit Ambler, Sr. Shruti,indiatimes.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodox_Church

Sunday worship order on Food

Opening prayer
Creator God, you have constructed us out of the mud of the earth. You have also asked us to share the produce of mother earth. We have a deep, passionate and intrinsic relationship with the ground. We have gathered here today as a community which lives on faith, respect, care and compassion. We also get our nourishment to carry on from the food we eat. Each region and each food bears a separate story. Help us to open our hearts to the different food, hospitality and stories which surround us. Amen.

Bhajan

Praise and thanksgiving
God who offers peace to all human kind, we thank you for your presence in this worship service and for guiding us all through the week. We call out your name and maintain that you have looked after us and strengthened us whenever we needed you. We praise you just as we breathe, as praising you and thanking you is the most significant part of our lives. Praise be to your name O God. Amen.

Hymn- Breathe on Me, Breath of God
1. Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew, that I may love what thou dost love, and do what thou wouldst do.
2. Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure, until with thee I will one will, to do and to endure.
3. Breathe on me, Breath of God, till I am wholly thine, till all this earthly part of me glows with thy fire divine.
4. Breathe on me, Breath of God, so shall I never die, but live with thee the perfect life of thine eternity.

Bible reading: Luke 9:10-17

Skit

Sermon- Food for thought: From Charity to Parity

Confession
In every morsel of food, there is a taste to understand
In every act of food, there is a reason to come together
In every completion of food, there is a bridge we cross further
Yet we refuse to eat together and refuse to share our basic resource with others. What good will it do if our food rots away while hunger persists? We confess that we have not taken the effort to eat at the table of others and offer our table as a recourse and hospitality to others. We have definitely come short of our call to break the spices of discrimination inside us. Forgive us merciful God.

Absolution
Till we try, we will not understand the power and beauty of different food. Till we accept we will continue to savour ourselves. Till we take the effort, several will hunger. May God see our clear efforts at change and extend to us the mercy which God so freely gives like the food God distributed. May God forgive us all for failing to accept and failing to reach out. Amen.

Special song- Mizo fellowship

Intercession
Half the population in India goes hungry daily. They remain hungry even as others have control over resources and food. The government and its machinery find it difficult to share from the national wealth. Death due to hunger and malnutrition becomes a common phenomenon. We pray that better sense prevails and that people in positions share equally what belongs to all. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.

We pray that the right to food becomes the rule and norm in India and that the poor will never go hungry again. The right to information has been a landmark bill whereby every citizen of the country can find the truth about what is happening in the country and expose corruption and make sure that the government policies benefit the people they are meant for. May the right to food become a law that benefits all people in our country and may no one go hungry again. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.

Help us Lord as various churches to work towards the eradication of poverty. May we stop mere charity and intervene strongly to change the fundamental wrongs that keep people poor and needy. Help us to overcome the urge to be fence sitters and maintainers of the status quo. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.

We thank you for the UTC community. We thank you God for this opportunity to learn from and be a part of different cultures. Help us to accept each other’s hospitality and partake of the food from one another. Even though acceptance is difficult, help us to try hard to distribute the food you have earnestly and whole heartedly asked us to do so. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.

We thank you for those who have gone by from UTC. We remember with thanks the teachers, mentors, partners, associates, leaders, students and community members who have taught and lived the life of sharing each others lives and food. They have been our inspiration and we continue to thank you for their lives and pray that their lives inspire us to action as well. We also pray for the community here. Some of us are recuperating from sickness, some from personal losses, some from fatigue and some from stress. Help us to be there for each other in this community and to eat, pray, and live together here. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.

Prayer to our Lord God
Our provider, blessed be your name. Your table come, your wish be done in all corners of the earth. Give us the food for today and forgive our refusal to share, just as we have forgiven those who have not shared with us. Lead us to the right path and bring us to your table. For yours is the creation, the people and the food, forever and ever. Amen.

Hymn- Jesus, Lord, We Look to Thee
1. Jesus, Lord, we look to thee; let us in thy name agree; show thyself the Prince of Peace, bid our strife forever cease.
2. By thy reconciling love every stumbling block remove; each to each unite, endear; come and spread they banner here.
3. Make us of one heart and mind, gentle, courteous, and kind, lowly, meek, in thought and word, altogether like our Lord.
4. Let us for each other care, each the other’s burdens bear; to thy church the pattern give, show how true believers live.
5. Free from anger and from pride, let us thus in God abide; all the depths of love express, all the heights of holiness.
6. Let us then with joy remove to the family above; on the wings of angels fly, show how true believers die.

Closing prayer and benediction
We all have our differences. Our food is different and the way we choose to make and eat it is different. But the ingredients are the same and the ground it comes out from is similar. We hope and pray that in our diversity we will have the courage, presence of mind and faith to come together, share equally and gain fulfilment out of dividing equally. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest and abide with us now and ever more. Amen.




(Worship order prepared for Sunday evening worship conducted on October 28, 2012 in the United Theological College, Bangalore.)