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Contents
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Editorial
Worship, Mystery and Symbols
The reason for selecting worship as the theme for the
current issue of the FOCUS is the importance and
priority that we ascribe to corporate worship in
building a Diaspora faith community to express our
spirituality in everyday context. Worship for most
Christians is the corporate worship service on Sunday
mornings. The timeless command to worship the Lord,
our God and creator, is at the heart of our spiritual
journey. Worship is offering of thanks, praise, and
devotion given to the Triune God. It is a response to
the costly grace of God manifested through the
redemptive sacrificial work of Jesus the Christ; it is a
memorial to the intervention of God in history through
the work of Jesus the Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Worship takes many forms in different denominations
and in different cultural contexts at different times and
days of the week. On Sundays, it could be a Holy
Communion Service, matins, evensong, praise and
worship, morning or evening prayer, and compline.
The word worship means adore, respect, reverence,
homage, glorify and so forth. The central elements of
worship
are
adoration,
confession,
blessing,
intercession, creedal affirmations, thanksgiving and
dedication. But worship is all the above and much
more; it is a reverential, consecrated attitude; it is both
personal and corporate commitment to giving thanks
to God and glorifying His name; it is a commitment in
words for enriching the life of other participants and in
our beings. Christian worship includes sacraments; St.
Augustine defined sacrament as an outward and
visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given to
us. It is clouded in mystery and it is a vehicle of Gods
amazing grace, which is made evident to the
participants by the use of signs and symbols. Most
churches
have
seven
sacraments:
Baptism,
Confirmation,
Confession,
Holy
Communion,
Ordination, Marriage, and Extreme Unction. There is a
mystery associated with the divine presence in
worship services, which is difficult to describe, but
adds to its beauty and holiness. It is up to the
ministrants and participants to contribute to the
beauty and holiness of worship services in absolute
humility and obedience. Self-centeredness, selfprojection, gimmicks, excessive charismatic display or
too much outward piety of any kind should not disturb
the solemnity of the occasion.
Worship defines the identity of the Church because
Church is the people of God constituted as a
worshipping community. This is an inclusive
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speaking or chanting. It is certainly not for selfglorification, but for glorifying our savior and loving
God. Anything including body language and dress
code which alienates other worshippers threatens
meaningful fellowship and achieves opposite of what
is intended. However, we should never neglect gifts of
people who have great potentials to contribute and
energize our worship services. When a parish is open
to new possibilities, and is able to welcome
contributions from unexpected sources, all sorts of
gifts become apparent. It is possible to test these out
after traditional worship services during a specially
adopted time, such as Our Time and Space. It is a
time devoted for opening up to share experiences; this
then becomes a platform for developing young talents
in all walks of life. This is also a helpful offering, and
can become part of the worship services in our
parishes. We should be aware that all over the world
new forms of worship are being evolved. Events like
the general assembly of the World Council of
Churches (WCC) yield veritable liturgical resources. It
is our task to study them in our contexts and under
our traditional moorings. These resources give us a
real sense of sharing the experiences of a worldwide
worshipping family, which is indeed a reflection of
being members of a universal Church. Let us hope
and pray also for Eucharistic hospitality between
member churches of the WCC.
We are grateful to all the writers who contributed to
this issue. We also express our gratitude to all those
who visit our online magazine and also forward the
links to others. At present we have about 100,000
subscribers to this online magazine, which is first of its
kind for any Christian denomination from Kerala.
The Editorial Board
Note: Please remember that we need your constant prayer
and support to make our online ministry fruitful for the glory
of God. Please send the following URLs of this online
magazine to your friends and relatives:
http://www.issuu.com/diasporafocus
http://www.scribd.com/diasporafocus
Disclaimer:
Diaspora FOCUS is a non-profit organization registered in
United States, originally formed in late Nineties in London for
the Diaspora Marthomites. It is an independent laymovement of the Diaspora laity of the Mar Thoma Church;
and as such Focus is not an official publication of the Mar
Thoma Church. Opinions expressed in any article or
statements are of the individuals and are not to be deemed
as an endorsement of the view expressed therein by
Diaspora FOCUS. Thanks. Contact:
www.facebook.com/groups/mtfocus
E-Mail:mtfocusgroup@gmail.com
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The meditations for the month of July are based on the saints
days of St. Peter and St. Paul and then we will be
remembering St. Thomas. St. Thomas, apostle of India,
accepted the resurrection of Jesus Christ only after having
personal encounter with the risen Christ. When Jesus revealed
himself to Thomas, he said My God and my Lord. and thus
became the first disciple of Jesus Christ to accept His divinity
and Lordship. We have completed more than two thousand
years after his arrival in India. He came to a place, which had it
is own historical religiosity, but St. Thomas helped us to
establish our faith in a risen Christ.
The church, which is rooted deep in the Indian civilization,
depended on the national identity and democratic principles
to establish itself as a witnessing church. We as a church
should be able to move forward without causing any
hindrance to witnessing Jesus the Christ. On the 6 Sunday
after Pentecost we are remembering about the qualities we
need to have after receiving Holy Spirit. Any person who holds
office in the church must keep and maintain transparency and
utmost faith in all his or her dealings.
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During the end of June and the first three weeks of July I was
able to visit several parishes in the Diocese of North America
and Europe. I had also the privilege to visit the Mexico Mission
field. The people in that mission field are far below in the
standards of education, social and economic sphere. As a
result, of that Dioceses initiative for the overall development
of the people in that mission field five students were able to
obtain bachelor degree courses in medicine, nursing,
engineering, business administration. Those students really
deserve our appreciation. I was able to visit the VBS
conducted for the students in that mission field by the
Diocese. The Spanish women sung a Malayalam song and it
was a real experience to hear a Malayalam song from Spanish
speaking women. If we are able to obtain the services of an
ordained priest who can communicate in Spanish it may be
blessing to our services in that mission field. I wish that
Diocese might pay attention in getting the services of such a
priest. The Diocesan mission activities conducted among the
Native Americans also deserve appreciation.
It is a reality that the parishes in Canada and England are not
getting that much freedom, which they use to have in the past.
It is not an appreciable thing to note that the number of people
participating in the family conference conducted by the
Diocese is decreasing every year due to the various
conferences conducted by the organizations at the Diocesan
and regional levels. The construction of the second phase of
MTC Dallas, Farmers Branch, is progressing well. It may be
possible to dedicate the same by the beginning of next year.
The Diocese was able to purchase a piece of land in Houston
for building a Diocesan Center in that area. Diocese intends to
complete this project with the help of parishes in that region.
Canadian Mar Thoma Church was able to purchase a piece of
land also and plan for the building has approved by the
general body. I appreciate the Diocese for creating a corpus
fund for helping theological students who need help by the
decision of the Diocesan Assembly. This may also help those
theological students who are pursuing higher studies. During
this visit I was also able to participate in the Diocesan Clergy
Conference, Diocesan Council, Diocesan Assembly, and
Family Conference.
The country received the news with a shock the death of
former Indian President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Khalam, who served
our country from 2002 2007 as 11 President of India. In
each program he participated both in India and outside he
was able to give a new vision about the future of humanity. We
cannot forget the valuable services rendered by him in various
fields. I still remember the occasion I was able to visit him. Mar
Thoma Church pays its respect to the memories of that noble
soul.
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Sep. 2015
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were largely Jews who were gathered from all over the
world to celebrate the Jewish festival of Pentecost.
Pentecost is not a new denomination as some people
characterize them, but is a new experience for the renewal
of all humanityinclusive of Jews and Gentiles becoming
followers of Christ, and thus the birth of the Christian
Church, whose early members were Jewish converts. 4.
Until the NT writings were available to the common people
Apostles preached, taught and exhorted from the OT
(Rom. 15:4-6; 1 Cor. 10:1-13). The author of Hebrews
vehemently develops a theme of faith of Patriarchs and
Matriarchs in God, the substance of our worship (Heb. 11:
1-40). 5. NT is the fulfilment of the OT, and as Jesus
himself declared that He came to fulfil the Laws (Mt. 5:1720). Thus Christian worship is a continuous expression of
thankfulness to God for redemption of mankind of all
generationspast, present, and future.
Our worship retains the Jewish character. The most
important change in worship has been that Christians
worship
on
Sunday
instead
of
the
Sabbath
commemorating the day of Christs Resurrection (Lk. 24:1).
As the church grew in size by the apostolic work became
decidedly Gentile in membership, corporate worship
started to accommodate large gathering. Worship can be
individually or in a congregational setting where we
collectively offer our praise, adoration, and thankfulness to
God (Ps. 22:22; 35:18). NT churches primarily gathered for
breaking the bread or Lords Table on Sundays (Acts 20:7;
1 Cor. 16:2) but later Apostles introduced singing of
Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Col. 3:16), prayer (1
Tim.2: 1-2), almsgiving (offering) 1 Cor. 16-4) and the
reading and teaching of the Old and New Testament as
well as apostolic creed (1 Tim. 4:11-13). In fact Apostle
Paul specifically instructed the church at Corinth to have
an orderly worship with hymn, lesson from the Scriptures,
a word of revelation (sermon) by knowledgeable individual,
and prayer as elements comprising the order of Christian
worship (1 Cor.14: 15-18; 16:1-3; 2 Cor. 9:7; 2 Tim. 4:2).
This essentially is the apostolic pattern of Christian worship
practiced by liturgical churches including, Roman Catholic,
Eastern Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, The
Anglican Church, Malankara Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox
and Mar Thoma Church. Of course, each of the above
church has her own method of worship and the Christian
liturgy has changed over time, but fundamentally retains
the original character of the apostolic nature and order of
worship. This is one thing I like about the Mar Thoma
Church and often emphasize that our worship is rooted
deep in Biblical Theology. Christian worship began to
deviate from the Jewish sect by the second century AD
because of increasing number of Gentile converts from
among the nations of the Fertile Crescent which gradually
spread from the Mediterranean coast to the nations of
east, west, south and north. We cannot and must not
forget the Jewish roots and character of our Christian
worship, if we are partakers of the Abrahamic Covenant,
and share in the faith of Abraham who looked for a city
with strong foundation, whose architect and founder is
none other than, God. (Heb.11: 10)
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So now more than 40 years after his death - I find that his books
and sermons (many written in the 1930s and 40s) are really not
out of date and with few exceptions are entirely relevant to
todays world. (Several of his books have just been reprinted by
Cokesbury Press, the United Methodist Publishing House in the
United States) (Just think what he could have done with the
internet!!!) He currently has more than 2200 Twitter followers
(October 2014)
Recently I read of my grandfather in a book of religious
biographies Probably no non-Indian contributed more than
he to the development of the strong moral and ethical sentiment
that characterized Indian nationalist leadership in the later
stages of the quest for independence, and in the formulation of
the Constitution of India. The leaders to be in independent
India were all old friends of his, and I believe that he did have
enormous influence on their thinking and moral concepts.
He foresaw where the great issues would be and spoke to them
long before they were recognizedoften at great unpopularity
and even antagonism and derision to himself. I think that he
was something of a prophet and his honors and he did receive
them were all laid at the feet of Jesus Christ.
I hope that others will look closely at the time he lived in and
through, and at his inspired grasp of how to present the living
Christ to the entire world.
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Astana,
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or
breakers
of
Peace
and
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Poolatheen (1919)
Metropolitan was residing in the upper room of the
church, the building collapsed in the year 1905. But
His grace escaped miraculously and eventually shifted
his residence to the thatched old building of the Syrian
Christian Seminary at Thiruvalla. In the year 1908 a
Poolatheen (1968)
New Poolatheen (2015)
The dedication of the New Poolatheen was held on
Sep. 1, 2015 by His Grace Dr. Joseph Mar Thoma
Metropolitan in the presence of Bishops of Mar Thoma
Church and form sister Churches.
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