Christmas Carol service worship order

"Christmas: Seeking refuge in a home away from home." Dec 6, 2015, Charles Ranson Hall.
Sunday, December 6, 2015, Charles Ranson Hall
(As the choir sings the prayer song a child, a woman faculty member, a male staff member and the principal light the lamp. This is an Indian way of entering the advent filled with peace, love, hope and joy.)

Opening prayer
God of hope, in this Advent of expectation draw us together in unity that our praise and worship might echo in these walls and also through our lives. In this Advent of expectation draw us together in mission, that the hope within might be the song we sing, and the melody of our lives. In this Advent of expectation draw us together in service, that the path we follow might lead us from a stable to a glimpse of eternity. We pray for those away from home, those who have had to leave home and those who have been forced out of their homes. Help us O Lord to come together as a community of believers with one house where we can all congregate and pray. Amen.

Congregational hymn lead by the college choir

Bible reading
Isaiah 2:2-5
Romans 13: 11-14
Luke 2:1-7

College choir song 1
Advent Reflection: Rev. Dr. John Samuel Raj, Principal, UTC
College choir song 2

Prayers for the Christmas season
L: O Emmanuel, we feel your presence whenever we are willing to risk our belongings, our definite lives and our familiar surroundings. Your birth Christ was unfavourable for the decision makers but favourable for the shepherds. In your birth the wise chose to follow the star than follow the King because it was revealed to them that kingship had moved from the palace to the street. This cold evening may realization come at this time of prayer and singing which will make us sweat and feel warm in the assuring presence of God.
C: This is the time for birth, a birth with Christ.

L: O Lord Jesus, we have all moved out from our homes seeking jobs, security, peace and a better future. Nothing is permanent and no one but you is the owner of what we use. We pray with a deep sense of sadness for Chennai and its people. Many of us have stayed there, lived in houses, walked through its streets, passed through and known and still know people from there. Can there be a celebration for us when our friends and family are struggling to live? We come to your presence God because we need the hope of Christmas, the hope of your birth through which we can rise up from any difficulty and hold hands together and praise you.
C: This is the time for birth, a birth with Christ.

L: O God of mercy, bind us together through this service that we may hug each other and embrace one another in a true gesture of what the shepherds and wise humans did on visiting the baby in the street. Has Christ been born in each one of us? Isn’t there a manger and a street in us and in our neighbor? Shouldn’t we bow down to one another and in doing so bow before Christ our Lord. Christ is born in every way we can imagine and in everyone we can imagine. Isn’t this the season of saying “Merry Christmas” because we greet and accept each other because of God’s mercy and care?
C: This is the time for birth, a birth with Christ.

JBF song
Sharing the gifts of Christmas
It’s Christmas and no one can go back without a gift. This is a time to exchange our biggest gift of forgiveness and understanding. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth won’t get houses, food and education for the poor and the needy. Shall we submit our gifts to God and wait for God’s unending gifts of mercy and grace to bless us this season? Shall we forgive each other and give peace to one another because Christ is born in our midst? May God take care of our pain and suffering and may we feel the excitement of the birth of our Lord Jesus. Amen.

Naga fellowship song
Kannada fellowship song
Telugu fellowship song

Remember these voices from the manger
Voice 1- While the entire nation is trying to make sense of what tolerance is, there is humanity at its best in Chennai. I can tell this for sure because, I stay in Qatar and my family (wife and 2 kids aged 11 and 7) are in Chennai. With all the floods and problems, I am getting the message from them, "We are safe". In the wake of calamity, Chennai is "One". It has only one religion, "Humanity"; It has only one enemy, "Water"; there is only one aim "Help". And they did it in style. When they were offering help, they didn't ask whether you are "Hindu" or a "Christian" Or a "Muslim". They didn't ask whether you are "Rich" or "Poor". They didn't ask whether you are a "Tamlian", "Malayalee", "Telugu", "Kannadiga" or "North Indian". Only one question they asked; "Do you need any help?"The rich people; my neighbors who never interacted with anybody in the neighborhood in last 4 years; opened the gates of their huge house. The man stood outside and welcomed people to his house. "We will eat whatever we have. We will share whatever we have. You can stay here until the water recedes"; that all he had said.. He accommodated around 35 people in his house. He is a Hindu Brahmin. He provided mat for the Muslims to do Namaz. He allowed Christians to pray in his Pooja room. There were volunteers outside helping people to reach safe places. They used anything and everything as tool; until the army people reached. Once the experts came, they gave the leadership to the more experienced and helped them to help others. My wife told me that, there were group of people going through the streets with neck deep water and asking "Sir / Madam, do you need any help?" in front of every house. They provided whatever help they can and they distributed food and essentials. There were groups providing cellphone batteries for 5 minutes to anybody who want to talk.
I have seen people fight for food when there is a calamity. Even the most modern countries, when there is a calamity, people fight for food. They think only about themselves at that time. But, when the food was distributed in Chennai, it was calm. People stood in queues and they have given food for the people who are not able to stand in queues (elderly, mothers and kids). They brought boats. They made temporary rafts and just went on helping people. On top of all these things, this is what my kids are seeing. This is what they are learning. How to help each other at the time of need. It goes straight into their brain. The images gets implanted there. And then, when there is another calamity, they know what to do.. How to survive.. How to get help and how to help others... This is what I want my kids to learn.. Humanity, without boundaries....
All- Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.

Voice 2- Ever since she was in kindergarten in the Syrian city of Homs, Ibtihaj has dreamed of becoming an artist. She hoped of one day being able to open her own gallery and showcasing her work to the world.Now 12 years old, Ibtihaj lives in Jordan, one of the more than 3.8 million Syrians who have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the ongoing conflict.
Through her latest creations, proudly displayed on her bedroom walls, it’s clear her experiences have had a big impact on her. “This is a son and his mother praying to God asking him to help Syria,” she says. “And this is an eye crying for its country.”Following a visit from a UK artist to Jordan last year, Ibtihaj is set to see her dream of reaching a global audience come true. She along with other refugees, were involved in an innovative project of recycling old UNHCR tents. They were encouraged to express their feelings through their painting, or to write poetry, or whatever artistic medium came to them, whilst being given broad themes of ‘Hope’, ‘Memories’ and ‘The Impact of War On Families’. The results have been so powerful; the tents are now set to be exhibited in a number of locations across the world. “The goal was to turn these symbols of loss and displacement into beautiful pieces of artwork, in order to raise awareness for the plight of refugees,” said Hannah, a student who was living in Jordan last year. “We played with the idea of ‘fragments’, ‘pieces’ and ‘shattered lives’. Lives fall apart when forcefully expelled from their homes and need to be rebuilt again. The most common image expressed by the refugees however, one that kept reoccurring, was ‘home’, highlighting the longing of many refugees for the conflict to end and to return to their lives.
All- Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.

Voice 3- I am a dalit woman who is forced to do manual scavenging because I am told that is the only thing I can do. I have lost my sense of smell. I don’t know what is beautiful anymore, my own stench because of scavenging, or the smell of jasmine flowers. I am send to spaces which people conveniently want to forget. I have to clean and carry the smell of others on my head so that others may be clean and beautiful. My Christ cannot exist in richness and privilege simply because I don’t know what that is. It is not about right and wrong and black and white. Rather it is about who we are and what we hope for. I would like to live a dignified life which I believe was what Christ Jesus did. He was also born into the stench of life because the other spaces were taken up. He was also branded a carpenter and was shown his place by the chief priests. But I am told that he did not let that prevent him from becoming who he did. He made his stench his strength and the sweat of his body his attraction, so much that we eat his body and drink his blood. We are one with him and in him, aren’t we? Why wouldn’t you then so much as touch me when my smell is the smell of the manger you now approach in prayer.
All- Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.

Voice 4- They didn’t give me an apartment because I was from a minority community. People ask me whether I am a terrorist, a fundamentalist, a trouble maker and a meat eater. Is there is a difference in our blood? I am O+. What are you? Does religion change our DNA and blood? Do we enquire about Christ’s blood group? Do we know his family name, was his beard long or short? Will Christ be stopped at an airport because of how he looks, his designation and what he speaks? I also like Christ. He is very dear to me because I feel crucified just the way he was. I also walk in the street and get stared at and abused just as Christ was. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Don’t judge me by how I look.
All- Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.

Tamil fellowship song
Malayalam fellowship song
Mizo fellowship song
Hindi fellowship song

Affirmation of faith
We believe in God, the creator and giver of life, who brought all creation to birth, who mothers us and fathers us, protecting, nurturing, and cherishing us. We believe in Jesus Christ: God born among us as a fragile baby, embodying both love and the need for love, and calling us to rest in God as trustingly as a tiny child.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, breathed into us at our birth, always drawing us on to be born again, encouraging, exhorting, comforting, nourishing our growth and inspiring our living. We believe in the reconciliation of the world to God, through Christ. Hunted at birth and humiliated at death, Christ entered our fearful darkness so that we might enter his glorious light and share the life of his resurrection.
And we believe that each new child is a glimpse of the face of God, a sign of the life to come, and a call to live in peace and celebrate living together. Glory to God in the highest, and peace to God's people on earth. Amen.

College Choir song no 3
Offertory hymn lead by the college choir

Commitment prayer
Gracious God, you are the source of all goodness, generosity and love. We thank you for opening the hearts of many to those who are fleeing for their lives. Help us now to open our arms in welcome, and reach out our hands in support of those who have to flee their lands and homes and to those who can’t live in their homes at present because of the crisis of rain and flooding. That the desperate may find new hope, and lives torn apart be restored. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ Your Son, Our Lord, who fled persecution at His birth and at His last triumphed over death. Amen.

Closing hymn led by the college choir
Lord’s prayer

Benediction
Home is always sweet. But what is home? Isn’t it the place where we are offered hospitality, where we show hospitality, live together in harmony and seek the good of one another? Christ Jesus showed us how to live in a home away from home and yet attract people to him. Go forth feeling that the spirit of Christmas lives in us. Go to the homes of others and offer yourselves as guests who trust the love of others. Open your homes to others so that the advent may truly be here in the now. Let us forget the small manger and the crib in our houses and make our house and mind into a manger, offered in openness and kindness for those without homes to come, stay, pass by and experience the birth of Christ. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ evident from the stable, the love of God experienced by the shepherds and the wise humans and the grace of the Holy Spirit symbolized through the star be with you all now and through this Christmas season of love, peace and harmony. Amen.
Choir song no. 4

English service for a more inclusive church

Church has to be inclusive in every respect. Theological differences with regard to communion and beliefs always were a part of the church. But bringing people to church and making them feel the fellowship of acceptance, love and caring is what the church stood for and has to stand for. It is not in judging and keeping away but in accepting and including that the church stands apart from an organization or group. In Acts 8:26-38 Philip talks to the Ethiopian eunuch and they get into the water as a sign of their acceptance of Jesus.

The Jacobite church like many other churches has been stuck in the non-availability of a neutral space where any Jacobite Christian can come and pray. The net neutrality debate which was going on a month ago was about how the internet cannot be controlled and made into a place for a few but must be left free for people to come to and get what they want. Making churches language specific limit the coming in of our very own community members as they don’t understand what is going on but have no choice on offer before them. The liturgy as such used is very meaningful but unfortunately no one can understand very liturgical Malayalam. This questions whether the church can offer a platform of neutrality which the church should stand for and which will offer meaning to the church members. We are after all called to take care of everyone. Acts 20:28 says “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”

It is an uncontested yet usually undisclosed secret that many members, young and old are keeping away from church because they do not understand the prayers. It should also be noted that there are people who flock to church to keep in touch with a culture that is highly being diluted both inside and outside Kerala. In this context it should be noted that making the liturgy used understandable and comprehensible is of utmost importance as otherwise the prayers will not make any effect on the congregation in a particular place. 1 Corinthians 12:14 speaks “For the body does not consist of one member but of many.” Thus languages that are used and understood by people should replace one language whenever the need is felt. This is not to undermine a language but to say that the belief, faith and theology of the church are beyond any one language.

English could be one such language which can be used. At the same time other South Indian and North Indian languages should also be tried whenever it is needed and meaningful for the congregation. This will in essence be location specific and cannot be dictated by anyone. In South India, English becomes one language which can be used for a congregation which is multi lingual. English by default is a unifying language in India because as of yet we do not have a language accepted by people as national. Hence English services should be encouraged and started in cities and towns and this should be made a space where people can come to be part of a Syrian Orthodox service. Such spaces are simply not available at the moment. It is very interesting to note what Dalit ideologue Kancha Ilaiah says while discussing Dalit empowerment in India “My way of equality is English education. Even if 10% of our children got English education, the intellectual field would have changed. This country would have changed.” Upward mobility of people coming to church should be taken into consideration while doing worship services.

In those lines the Bangalore diocese of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox church under the leadership of its bishop H.G. Osthatheos Mor Pathros is starting an English congregation named the St. John’s English Chapel. Unlike how it was seen many decades ago, this is not anymore an experiment but a need of the hour. It is to bring people who are not going to church due to various reasons, back to church. It is also to offer other people who are already going to a church, the option of going to a church where they can understand completely what is going on. The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church definitely affirms mystery as an integral part of its worship. But that does not mean that the worship in its entirety should not be understood by those attending it! It means that there are parts of the communion which go beyond human understanding.

The call for all to assemble and come to church is beautifully put in the song after the Nicene creed in the worship service.
Mercy here is full and free,
Come, beloved, come and see,
Give the kiss of peace divine,
Hearts sincere in love combine.
The success of such a worship service depends on several factors; the actual interest of the people being the last of the lot. It depends rather on how the service is done. Knowing every language is a skill and it should be studied to an extend where it can be used so that people who listen to it understand what it is. “It sounds like Greek to me” is a usage that one has not understood a word which was used because it was either not communicated properly or it did not make any meaning to the person who heard it. Similarly using a language is a skill which has to be developed in all seriousness and with great effort. Secondly, the success of such a service also depends on whether people know about it and whether those conducting it have made an honest effort to inform people of its existence. Clubbed along with this are the timings of such a service, continuity, team work and location.

Considering all such things one also faces the question “Are we ready?” When will we be ready? Another decade or two, five years? Maybe then it will be of no consequence anymore. A 40 odd year old man I talked to told me that he goes to one of the new churches offering a host of services. I asked him whether he was happy? He said that he actually was not. He did not agree with what was being preached but the only reason he continued to go there was that he understood to a great extend what the preacher was saying even though he did not agree with it. Will such people flock back to a congregation like this? Only time will tell. The only thing we can gauge now is the feelings of children, teenagers, youth and even those hovering around their half century of life. This then is not an effort to count numbers and then say this is a success but an effort in the right direction understanding the needs of people.

The church has always stood for the outcasts and the discriminated. The church is by itself struggling still with the issue of casteism but one should also realize that there has been a more internal problem of seeing as outcasts people from within as well. There are several inter caste marriages happening in the church. The couple starts living as one but then realize that there is nothing on offer for them from the church because one of them and sometimes both of them cannot understand the language used for service. A service such as this is meant also for such couples who have found themselves at the cross roads, having to figure out for themselves how they have to continue as Christians and as a Christian family.

Only time will tell whether a decision is right or wrong. But some decisions can never go wrong. They will only be perceived as wrong. I have a strong feeling that this decision by the Bangalore diocese of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox church, which has received consent from the Holy Episcopal Synod in India, will fall in the latter category.




Poster design courtesy: Dn. Vineeth John Abraham