Lent Day 35: The worship of goodness and life

Why do we go to church? Why do we get together as a community? Why do we partake of communion and why do we listen to the word of God? Is it to adhere to certain time frames and rules? Is it to meet people and talk and share news? Or is it to pray for the well being of one another? If we do not get together for life and life in abundance, woe to us who get together at all!

It would do well for us if we tried to ask why certain people don’t come to church. It would benefit the church greatly, if we asked the youth why they are not so interested to come to the church. The answer to this would be that the church and the communities which constitute the church are not reflecting the community of Jesus. This means that we are not doing anything which has life in it, which supports life and which supports each other. Churches are turning out to be places of individual praise and groupism.

Jesus’ ministry was not like this. He would stretch his arms to the margins and touch the last and the least. He would reach out to the outcasts and those labelled as sinners. He would cast out demons, heal the sick and bring back the dead to life. That he sometimes did this on the Sabbath was natural, because crowds followed him wherever he went. He would go to the synagogue to teach and to discuss the scripture and many people said that they had never heard anyone speak like him.

Jesus stood for life and life in abundance. That was also why he healed and brought back people to life. Life, and not destruction was his agenda and calling. On the other hand, the others were there only to adhere to certain rules, only for the self and only for furthering their own groups and interests. Every healing that Jesus did on the Sabbath was a challenge to the people who were self-centered and group minded.

In St. Luke 6, verse 9, Jesus says, “I ask you, is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” He asked this question to all the scribes and Pharisees assembled there. They could not bear it that he was healing on the Sabbath and was bringing back people to life and to sanity. The conclusion of this is Jesus’ command to the man with the withered right hand. He tells him, “Stretch out your hand.” He does likewise and his hand was restored. This lent, we need to scrutinize our lives, communities, churches and worships. Are our get togethers life threatening or life giving? Can we become places which offer positive energy and positive thinking? Amen.  

Let the Tamils go!

Blood, gore and violence disturbing sense in this nonsense
I suspect whether human concern bounces off pride in armour
Thousands lie buried in silent tombs pierced by shrapnel
As the dead fall, the living flee wishing to continue life

Is Prabhakaran and the LTTE worth the lives of innocent women and children?
Will bombs lead disturbed minds into submission?
What is my religion when it kills others?
Where is my faith in the middle of blatant destruction?

Stop the elephant’s pursuit in the jungle
Too many fall unawares in the weight of the mammoth’s rumble
Don’t sow hatred in strict paddy patterns
Fleeing they are, don’t shoot them from behind

Life is still so feeble in the spic and span stable
Stop getting a kick from spilt blood among the weaklings
It’s time to stop, so let’s do just that
And retain whatever humanness remains intact

International women’s day. Women as the womb (bread) of life: From the floor to the table

March 8th is being celebrated as the International Women’s Day and women all over the world will get together to do things the way they want it done. To see and let see the way they perceive things. As it comes during the season of prayer and fasting as well, it warrants a Christian response to what this day should then be.

Traditionally women have always been seen as child bearers, as surrogate mothers who help to bring children into the world. Their place has been relegated to a spot which suggests inferiority in comparison with males. The church has never been able to break free of this culture of discrimination and in turn has maintained a male caucus in the form of a halo around the church and its institutions. The bubble (halo) can never be justified and yet it has never been broken because no one has tried to pierce the hollowness it contains.

As we experience (I won’t say celebrate as that would be derogatory to some women who are in constant suffering) the international women’s day it is imperative to suggest a lenten involvement towards the setting right of many wrong’s that have penetrated our society. Fasting and prayer are meant to set right what has gone wrong and therefore we should also set right what is inarguably wrong.

Mother Teresa and sister Alphonso recently have been pushed up to the pinnacle of sainthood and yet these women were never near the table of the Lord, the altar (the holy of holies for Christians). They stood down faithfully on the cold floor waiting for the bread of life to be brought to them. Yet today they have been brought up to glory by a body of men in vestments.

The concept of communion or fellowship among Christians is to come together and partake of the body of the Lord Jesus. It is symbolic and real at the same time. The bread of life is prepared through a process which starts in the field and ends up at the table. So life is inherent and implicit in it. But what about the womb of life present in each woman? The life which begins in communion and ends with the creation of life. Indeed the womb (bread) of life! And yet women are kept at a safe distance. Life is kept away from life!

So this women’s day my prayer is simple. Let us as men move away from the two life giving realities of this world; the bread of life and the womb of life. Let there be a connection and a unification of the floor and the table. Let life meet life.




(Logo from http://www.bloggersunite.org/event/international-womens-day)

Wishes for Christmas

Life is a mix n’ match of the good and the bad
It’s about just misses and unexpected kisses
The scales are tilted from one side to the next
Swinging in one feverish mishmash

One day you’d call me God and dog the next
You’d thank me for the rains one moment and curse me the next
Like a silent spectator I would get hit
In the violent cross fire and fighting

Then again I would be hailed during Christmas
Brought out from the manger into the glossy churches and homes
The cries of the children would be camouflaged by the hymns n’ crackers
The world would celebrate the celebration

What then is Christmas? Is it just me and you?
Is it doing good in a time of evil and closing wounds?
Feeding the hungry and sharing the loot?
Thinking how we can play our parts during Christmas?

Let there be peace, love and justice
Let human respect human and celebrate life
Let far become near and many, one
Let us congregate in the manger

Christmas wishes

World AIDS Day

Luke 6:20-22
Blessed are you who (have)1 are (AIDS) poor , for yours is the (fellowship) kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who (have) are (AIDS) hungry now for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, exclude you, revile you and defame you
For surely your reward is great in heaven (and earth)

Yesterday I was a fortunate person with friends and relatives
Yesterday I glowed with pride, my accomplishments did with me lie
Yesterday I dreamt of a life, of happiness, love and care
Yesterday I had everything…today I have memories of yesterday


1 Brackets mine.

You can hurt me but you cannot destroy my spirit: Mumbai will survive

Every violence, mental or physical is attributed to the skewed understanding of supremacy of a particular group. By resorting to violence the group thinks that others will toe it’s line and it will emerge victorious. Maybe this is true with regard to a building, a hotel or a monument. But is it true when it comes to the mind, the spirit and the resilience of a people?

Mumbai has seen it all in the past twenty hours. Shooting, killing (of civilians and police personnel), hijacking and military action. Should we call the culprits gunmen or terrorists I do not know? What I do know is that this is a time to reach out to our sisters and brothers in Mumbai.

You can bomb me and terrorise me all you want
You can take my life and my belongings
But what you can never claim or take away
Is indeed what makes me who I am

The spirit of resilience, determination and survival.



"Aye dil hai mushkil jeena yaha
Zara hatke zara bachke yeh hai Bombay meri jaan"

(From the Hindi movie CID. Sung by Mohammad Rafi and Geetha Dutt)
It is difficult to live here. Move a little, look out and take care…this is Bombay my dear.

Touch me not

All my life I wished to be touched
Every time I saw someone I thought of their touch
Time and time again every movement and moment became a disappoinment

What was wrong with me?
Was it my looks, my colour, my clothes or lack of them?
Was I not capable of attracting anyone to me?

Hope turned into despair
Hard feelings turned to excruciating pain
Life turned into death

So desperate was I for touch
That I would go into the fields and run my fingers
Over the grains and flowers, spread them on the soil and dip them in the streams

And then someone came
But so distanced was I from anyone’s touch
That I ended up muttering ‘I don’t want your touch’, ‘I don’t want your touch’