Lent Day 2: Being a fool, this lent

The beginning of lent is marked by the service of reconciliation in the Eastern churches. Reconciliation is a reaching out, a touching, a yearning and a seeking of forgiveness not just for doing something wrong but for genuinely wanting to come together with someone. It is a giving up, a searching and an accepting. In St. Matthew 18:12-14 we witness to the story of the shepherd who goes behind one sheep, leaving behind ninety-nine. Truly, it is not sensible, just and fair and yet the shepherd does it.

Lent is seen by many as a time to grow in strength, make the soul and mind pure and to be ready for anything. But have we thought about becoming a fool for lent? Love, compassion and caring cannot be done practically and wisely. There is nothing practical in love. We cannot love someone without losing anything. And in today’s world that is seen as foolish. The usage, “Are you mad?”, “Are you a fool?” suggests how society looks at us when we go behind the one who has broken away from the group. It makes no sense and is not practical.

Many a time in relationships we notice with sadness that we are being made a fool. A good friend may remind us that we are being cheated and misled and it is time to fight back. The shepherd charts into unknown territory, leaving the known land, the known sheep, leaving loyalty, love and acceptance and going somewhere where strangeness and uncertainty wait. Many people we love may be taking advantage of us and will be enjoying the feeling of making a fool of us. And yet, reconciliation is to be a fool, knowing that we are being fooled and made out into a fool.

Jesus knew he was being betrayed at several points in his ministry. It was not just Judas, but other disciples, so called benefactors and even family who were making use of his fame and skills for their own benefit. Yet, this parable of the lost sheep, is a hand of reconciliation to those who betrayed him, cheated him and took advantage of him. This step of reconciliation is also done by isolating the ninety-nine, by overlooking their loyalty and love and going behind the one who strays.

The service of reconciliation is a service as the word suggests and is done within the walls of the church but perhaps should be done outside as those to be reconciled with are outside the walls of the church. This though can only be done by making those inside uncomfortable, making them wait and making them feel challenged as to why they are faithful and still waiting for the one they are loyal to. The ones inside have come for reconciliation and yet the shepherd goes after the one outside.

Being a fool for Christ and being a fool so that we move out of known and comfortable territory is a Lenten challenge for us. May we be able to take up the challenge and try to reconcile not just for a day but for the entirety of lent. Amen.

 

Partnering with children to witness the birth of Christ this Christmas

St. Luke 2:12- This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.

The Santa Claus is coming to town lyrics is known in bits and pieces to many. It goes like this

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town

He sees you when you're sleepin'
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake

He's making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who's naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town

The lyrics of this popular song and the baby Jesus wrapped in bands of cloth in St. Luke 2:12 offer a different picture altogether during Christmas. Many a time we sing Christmas songs without thinking much about it and in this particular song poor St. Nicholas (Christmas Father) is made to look as some disciplinarian who checks whether children are good or bad before dropping off gifts for them. It is also a reminder of our own childhood when parents would force feed us with stories of some villain, thief or even crow coming and abducting us if we wouldn’t eat properly! 

It is interesting that adults use Christmas as an opportunity to discipline children when it should be a time when we look at what the young ones offer us for our spiritual revival. Jesus constantly reminds his disciples that they should become like children to enter the kingdom of God and today we are faced with the story of the baby Jesus to make that clear. Whereas in the Santa Claus song the children are told to be prepared and well behaved, in the bible story the shepherds are told about the birth of the Messiah as a child. After the announcement the shepherds are given a clue and a sign and told “You will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth…” After the big declaration of the birth of the Messiah the sign given to the shepherds is of the child wrapped in clothes. For a first time reader this is a big shift in the story. A shift from hope to hopelessness. But the shepherds were experts at their job and God tells the angel to inform them about the Messiah born as a child because God expects something more from them.

The shepherds also perhaps had something special about them. Apart from the fact that they did not mingle with the main stream it could also be that the shepherds knew the value of a baby wrapped in bands of cloth. The reason here could be that the sacrificial lamb meant for sacrifice was also what the shepherds tended and they were given much care and even wrapped in clothes at birth. Jesus as a sacrificial lamb is also steeped in symbolism. So the shepherds know the value of a babe wrapped in clothes. It is something that makes no sense for a new reader though.

When we look more deeply this has a lot of meaning. On the one hand it means that we should value children so much and give them a stake in what we do because the Messiah or savior comes to the world as a child. Honoring children is honoring the Messiah and his birth on earth. This is where we are found wanting. Violence, abuse, wars and deceit is practiced in the world because we have grown up to the level of adults who don’t listen to God anymore. The birth of the Messiah has brought in an era of peace but we are not willing to listen to the Messiah because the Messiah is a child now. This Christmas we should start listening to and respecting children because it will lead to a safer and peaceful world. Instead children are most affected in wars and violence around the world. They suffer most in all forms as they are not valued by adults.

This has to change for us to have a better world. Christmas is a sign of the time that we have to become like children and we have to take care of children. Christmas thus has to become a child oriented festival rather than an adult oriented one. A child oriented festival won’t have power, money and authority as the main foundations of the festival celebration but will have innocence, trust and belief as the main foundations. Christmas is a great time to become small like a child so that we gain entry into the presence of the Messiah and also into the kingdom of God.

Our Christmas services are far from child friendly and instead are complex rituals which have no space for children. They are expected to keep quiet and behave so that St. Nicholas will be good to them and so that they will get gifts from their family. More space can only be possible if we transform ourselves into children and witness the birth of Christ as a child. Maturity and experience will lead to us missing the event of the birth of Christ because it cannot be understood by us. This Christmas we can start first by treating our children at home properly. They need to be respected and valued so that we will see the birth of Christ through them. The partnership of the baby wrapped in clothes and the shepherds gave the world the news of the birth of Christ. This should now become the partnership between us and our children whereby we can again experience the birth of Christ in our midst. Amen.

Picture credit- www.yourhomechurch.org

Gatecrashing Christmas

The Christmas season offers a variety of traditions for different churches like carols, songs, dinners, sending cards, lent, house visits, church services and fellowships. All traditions have a yearly plan for us and we know exactly what to do. So much so that Christ born is a definite event with no surprise and nothing new. People from other religions also join in to celebrate and it is a welcome sign that everyone is looking forward to Christmas every year.

But what if we had the opportunity to gatecrash Christmas this year? But why, one would ask? Let us take a look at two events which are associated with the advent and Christmas. The first one is in St. Luke 1:39-56 when Mary visits Elizabeth when she knows that Elizabeth is expecting a child. It is true that the baby inside Elizabeth leaps with joy but it is not said that Elizabeth was expecting Mary’s visit. Yet the two are so happy with each other’s presence and they express themselves fully in the happiness of the moment.

The second instance is in St. Luke 2:8-20 where we see the shepherds who are told by the angel that the Messiah is born. They have no idea who they are meeting other than what is said to them by the angel. They go and are in the presence of Mary and the baby. They then realise what they have witnessed and glorify God. In this case Mary had no idea who the shepherds were. The shepherds also had no idea who Mary and the baby Jesus were. Yet, they see each other and it goes off well. The gatecrashing moment led to great joy for Elizabeth and Mary and the shepherds and Mary and Jesus. It was not planned by all of them but they went along with it and it led to great and happy things.

Both the stories mentioned lead us to the concept of gatecrashing. Gatecrashing is when we go to a place uninvited. We usually won’t do it as we don’t know what the repercussions will be. And yet anyone who does it will feel so thrilled to do it. It can even sometimes be called unlawful depending on the type of programme. But nevertheless it will give us an emotion of great happiness and thrill, sometimes even better than other programmes that we attend on invitation.

This brings us to some things which we can look at during Christmas. Christmas is not an ‘upon invitation’ event which is open to a select few but it is what is open to anyone and if churches keep it as an “on invitation” event it is likely to be gatecrashed by the needy. This also teaches us that Christmas doesn’t belong only to Christians but to everyone because the salvation of Christ belongs to everyone. So there is no ‘one’ way or ‘the’ way to celebrate Christmas but several ways to celebrate it.  Christmas is open because Christ willed it so. The angel informing Mary and then informing the shepherds show a non-traditional way of messaging through which the angel chooses two sets of people who are insignificant to the traditional forms of celebrations in the society of their time. Christmas can be truly celebrated when we gatecrash, inspired by the Holy Spirit and led by angels into visiting houses where the elderly live, where we go places where forget cakes but even a meal is rare, where we go to where children are staring into the sky wondering why Christmas Father does not visit them when other apartment complexes and houses have loud music and celebration. 

Such gatecrashing also gives us the courage to do things we would otherwise not do. We simply would not pull ourselves up to do it. But gatecrashing Christmas means opening up the invitation for Christmas for everyone we know and being a part of the lives of others without them knowing before hand. This will make this season one heck of a gatecrash Christmas. We can definitely make it turn out as a time for us to gatecrash a house, a family, a church, or an individual just like Mary did to Elizabeth and just like the shepherds did to Mary and baby Jesus. May the bliss and grace of Christmas be upon us all. Amen. 

Picture credit: www.irishtimes.com

The Shepherds ringing in the birth of Jesus: In true Kabali style

The birth narrative is formed by two groups of people who are informed of the birth of Jesus and who go and visit the baby. One of the groups as seen in St. Luke 2 are the shepherds. They are fearful of the angel but get back their moorings to move on guided by the star. From childhood, I have listened to many sermons with the theme of the poor, helpless shepherds who were informed of the birth of Jesus. There is a connection with the poverty of the shepherds and the birth of Jesus. But the connection made usually is that the poor shepherds heard something in their helplessness and also made the journey to see Jesus in that helplessness. The poor and the helpless thus become a popular theme for the church during the birth narrative.

Is this the only way we can look at the narrative? The shepherds who were informed about the birth were also perhaps shepherds who were taking care of special sheep which were meant for the temple and therefore were also taken care of in a special way, wrapped in cloth and kept in the rock openings, just like Jesus was. The sheep were no ordinary sheep and Jesus was no ordinary baby. The shepherds were waiting for long, tending to what they had. The angel informs them that the time to express themselves has come and the one they were waiting for has also come. The ordinariness of the shepherds is busted!

The movie Kabali, a Tamil movie starring Rajinikanth, was made for a commercial market. But there is one thing that runs through the movie. The breaking of the ordinariness by the character in the movie makes him tell his oppressors that he is not bowing down one bit but he is as strong as he left. The shepherds are not ordinary people who just kept listening to whoever and whatever. They preferred to do what they were doing because they felt it was big. They did not bow down to anyone but preferred to look up at the star.

The song Kabali in the movie has lyrics worth looking into.

Karunaiyai maru, Kavalaigaiyai aru
Idayathul oru, Iruukam varu poru
Say no to sympathyies, forget your worries
In your heart, there will be uneasiness, but hold on
Yaavum inge, maayam maayam
Un veeram endrum, seeri paayum
Nam desam engum rosham yerum
Oru varthai kooda, pudu matram kaanum
Everything here is maya, maya
Your strength will tear out and pounce
Our nation’s pride will increase world over
Even one word can bring new change

The Rajini dialogue Na vandhuttenu sollu, thirumbi vanduttennu, 25 varshattuku munnala epidi ponaro, Kabali apidiye thirumbi vanduttannu sollu.. kabali da.. is a way of saying that people who are perceived as ordinary are not, but are rather strong and can be who they want to be and stand for people. “Tell them I have come, that I have come back… Kabali is back the same way he went away 25 years ago, tell them I am back!! This forceful dialogue brings us back to the shepherds and who they were. It is easy to brand people as outcasts and keep them there. The shepherds are all pumped up and racing to see their savior. It is not just their savior but them also saying that “Look, here we are.”

The birth narrative of Jesus is not surrender to anyone or anything. It goes beyond all dispensations and cannot be chained down. Those who are associated with the narrative, especially the shepherds, are also not to be looked down upon but form a part of the formidable force of salvation to the world. The birth of Jesus as seen by the shepherds in this way is a strong rebuttal of societal wrongs and a reminder to those who brand people poor and illiterate that the poor form the backbone of salvation and therefore it is they that celebrate the birth of Jesus because it is not just a celebration but an announcement, a comeback and a looking forward.

"Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace be upon whom he favours."

 

Who is a priest? Seek and you shall find!

In a church which tries to express itself in the 21st century it is important for all to know who a priest who leads a church can and should be. This is important for the priest to minister well to the priest’s flock and for the flock to understand what to expect and how to work with the priest in a particular church. It is also important that the clergy and laity work together in the church so that everyone in church and society benefits from the policies of the church.

Looking at the clergy from the perspective of the laity is also important. It is this Orthodox understanding of the "laity" that discloses the real meaning and function of clergy. In the Orthodox Church clergy is not above laity or opposed to it. First of all, strangely as it may seem, the basic meaning of the term clergy is very close to that of laity. Clergy comes from "clerus" which means the "part of God". "Clergy" means that part of humankind that belongs to God, has accepted God's call, and has dedicated itself to God. In this initial meaning the whole Church is described as "clergy"— part or inheritance of God. But gradually the term "clergy" was limited to those who fulfilled a special ministry within the People of God, who were especially set apart to serve on behalf of the whole community.


This association of the clergy and laity is important to keep the clergy grounded in the grace and mercy of God instead of always talking of priesthood in terms of privilege that certain people enjoy over others. Pope Francis in his sermon to priests made a very critical observation which is valid for priests all over the world. He requested the priests to strive for a “conversion of our institutional mindset,” because if priests don’t showcase God’s mercy, they become something “bizarre and counterproductive.” A priest cannot forget that the basis of priesthood is the very humble grounding on the mercy of God. Priests would do very well for the church if they can come out of this institutional mind set mentioned by the Pope. It is not what we cannot do, but what we can do which makes a priest a listener, helper, motivator and provider for someone seeking the time of a priest.


The Pope continues “If we start by feeling compassion for the poor and the outcast, surely we will come to realize that we ourselves stand in need of mercy.” A priest will definitely go through several forms of crisis in pastoral ministry and family life. This should not be the reason to jump on the laity but a reason to love them more because our journey in search of God’s mercy should make us be merciful and reflect God’s mercy to others. That is why the Pope reminds us to “show mercy” in order to receive it. He makes this clearer by saying “The priest who has scarce pity for sinners is only half a priest. These vestments I wear are not what make me a priest; if I don’t have charity in my heart, I am not even a Christian.” The Pope uses the gospel passage of the woman caught in adultery. When Jesus encounters her, he’s asked “should she be stoned or not?” “He did not rule, he did not apply the law. He played dumb, and then turned to something else,” Pope Francis said, adding that in doing this Jesus started a process in the heart of a woman who needed to hear, “Neither do I condemn you.” It will do well in this era for a priest to understand the needs of a congregation and make it the best place available in an area to come to and be in. It should be a place where a congregation member can be herself or himself. A church will become a dark, judgmental place if the priest is judgmental.

Sometimes long years in ministry can slacken a priest and lead to disinterest in being a spiritual counselor and guide for the congregation. The Pope has a clear piece of advice here. He says “A shepherd after the heart of God has a heart sufficiently free to set aside his own concerns. He does not live by calculating his gains or how long he has worked: he is not an accountant of the Spirit, but a Good Samaritan who seeks out those in need,” the Pope said in a June 3 homily. “For the flock he is a shepherd, not an inspector, and he devotes himself to the mission not fifty or sixty percent, but with all he has.” “In seeking, he finds, and he finds because he takes risks. He does not stop when disappointed and he does not yield to weariness. Indeed, he is stubborn in doing good, anointed with the divine obstinacy that loses sight of no one,” the Pope continued. “Not only does he keep his doors open, but he also goes to seek out those who no longer wish to enter them.”

Even young priests could back track from their ministerial objectives because of the pressure they may have from seasoned and established seniors and lay leaders who may not agree with the free flow of grace and mercy. The Pope gives hope here by saying “Woe to the shepherds who privatise their ministry.” A shepherd after the heart of God does not protect his own comfort zone; he is not worried about protecting his good name; he will be slandered like Jesus. But rather, without fearing criticism, he is disposed to take risks in seeking to imitate his Lord. Blessed are you when they insult you, when they persecute you,” he said. A good shepherd excludes none of his flock and does “not await greetings and compliments” but is the first one who reaches out to others, listening patiently to their problems and accompanying them with compassion. “He does not scold those who wander off or lose their way, but is always ready to bring them back and to resolve difficulties and disagreements. He is a man (sic) who knows how to include,” the Pope said.The final exhortation of the Pope is passionate and he reminds priests “Dear priests, in the Eucharistic celebration we rediscover each day our identity as shepherds. In every Mass, may we truly make our own Christ’s words: "This is my body, which is given up for you”.


This is also true in the Orthodox church. Although Orthodox clergy are given considerable honor by the Orthodox Church, each ordination is also viewed as a kind of martyrdom. The Orthodox cleric agrees to be a servant of both Jesus Christ and of the people of the church; many of the vestments are intended to remind him of this. Much is expected of the clergy, both practically and spiritually; consequently, they also have a special place in the litanies that are prayed, asking God to have mercy on them.

The Priestly Commandment in most Orthodox churches include to teach people by good example and inspiring sermons, caring for the congregation as a father not a hireling, to work for achieving the food of eternal life which does not perish, rather than that which perishes, continuous growth in grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The priest must escape from the love of money which is the source of all evil deeds, must be aware of drunkenness and bodily lusts as it darkens the enlightened mind and converts a man to a lustful animal, must avoid envy and strife, unkindness, mockery and pride, so that he does not lose and destroy his service, must avoid gossip, boasting, hypocrisy and pretence, for they are terrible vices which cause problems and make people stumble. The priest must also avoid being double faced, double tongued, and false witnessing, must not frighten or dominate people, but rather, be compassionate and patient, must love God and all creation with all his heart and soul, must possess the virtues of righteousness, mercy, chastity, humbleness, content, contrition, endurance and patience, resembling his master and teacher Christ Jesus in His virtues and good behavior. The priest must not deviate from the true faith in our Lord Jesus Christ who is the foundation of religion and by whom all Christians are saved, must treat the congregation of God with compassion and skill, leading them by the tenderness of Christ, endurance and compassion, must care to acquire the first Christian virtue, which is love, by the sincerity of conscience and true witnessing, must care for the Holy Mysteries, especially the sacrament of Communion which are the Holy Body and Precious Blood of Christ Lord, and watch these treasures and gems as the cherubim guarded the tree of life (Genesis 3:24).

It is quite clear. Who is a priest? A priest is a person who serves, is merciful to others, looks at life as sacrifice, looks beyond an institutional mind set, does not judge but is rather a shepherd, and looks forward to martyrdom. It is our prayer that the church gets more such priests for ministry.