The Journey 143
Read: Luke 10:25-37
“Worship Service Suspended”. This was the news item that caught my attention yesterday. Worship service in a local church was suspended last Sunday, May 20. This local church which is about 60 miles from Philadelphia, is known as Hope Presbyterian Church, located at 1189 Hope Road, Tinton Falls, New Jersey. Last Sunday was an entirely a different Sunday for the members of the church. The local Church decided to suspend worship service so that instead of worship, the members will participate in an event called “ Be the Church”. This is an outreach ministry designed to help the neighbours and the community. The total strength of this church is about 93 members, which resembles one of the prayer groups in a Marthoma Parish. What the members did last Sunday, instead of worship was something different. The members were divided into different groups. One group of members spent their time with home bound people in the community, while others went to the homes in the neighborhood to paint houses, repair the porches, while another group of members went to Liberty Royal Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, and sang hymns along with residents there. The objective behind this whole outreach programme was because the Church has set apart month of April as “ Faith in Action” month. The idea was to go out into the community and spread God’s love and be there for the neighbors. The members of the Hope Presbyterian Church also felt that they needed to show to the world that they are different from the rest of the people in the world. According to one of the members of the church who spoke she said that , “Sometimes you get very involved in your own little world and you don’t see the needs of your neighbors and friends,” Later the church members gathered Sunday afternoon to share their experiences and all the members realized that the outreach ministry was probably more fulfilling experience for them than for the people whom they served. I personally felt enriched by reading this news about the church and its outreach ministry. What was striking is two things—One– The inclination of not to be just a worshiping community without focusing on the needs of the neighborhood and second the witness and the commitment in Christian life to be different from the rest of the world. I think this is one important aspect that we need to learn and transmit into our local Marthoma church’s too.
This week we are meditating on the theme “ Transformation in our parish. The portion that we will use for our meditation is from the well known parable that Jesus told “The Good Samaritan” from Luke 10: 25-37. Here is a parable that Jesus quotes to teach an expert of the law, who wanted to inherit eternal life. Here is a parable where Samaritan breaks certain norms, conventions to help a person in need. When the wounded man was seen first by the Priest and then by the Levite, both of them by passed the wounded man, because for both the Priest and the Levite, they were not ready to break the existing norms, rules or conventions to help the wounded man because that would be too costly for them and they were not ready to take that risk. Priest felt that the celebration of the worship was more important while for the Levite, the outward cleansing was his witness. But for the Samaritan, he had no issue in breaking the norms [ though Jews and Samaritans were sworn enemies] for helping the people in need. Sometimes I feel, we as the members of the church tend to be very legalistic and would always want to go by the norms, standards and conventions, rather than focusing on our mission and witness. I think the witness of the members of the Hope Presbyterian church teaches us that sometimes we need to break certain norms and rules so that our faith is conveyed more through our action than fellowship in the sanctuary.
Ready to break the convention to be a witness for the Lord?
“Worship Service Suspended”. This was the news item that caught my attention yesterday. Worship service in a local church was suspended last Sunday, May 20. This local church which is about 60 miles from Philadelphia, is known as Hope Presbyterian Church, located at 1189 Hope Road, Tinton Falls, New Jersey. Last Sunday was an entirely a different Sunday for the members of the church. The local Church decided to suspend worship service so that instead of worship, the members will participate in an event called “ Be the Church”. This is an outreach ministry designed to help the neighbours and the community. The total strength of this church is about 93 members, which resembles one of the prayer groups in a Marthoma Parish. What the members did last Sunday, instead of worship was something different. The members were divided into different groups. One group of members spent their time with home bound people in the community, while others went to the homes in the neighborhood to paint houses, repair the porches, while another group of members went to Liberty Royal Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, and sang hymns along with residents there. The objective behind this whole outreach programme was because the Church has set apart month of April as “ Faith in Action” month. The idea was to go out into the community and spread God’s love and be there for the neighbors. The members of the Hope Presbyterian Church also felt that they needed to show to the world that they are different from the rest of the people in the world. According to one of the members of the church who spoke she said that , “Sometimes you get very involved in your own little world and you don’t see the needs of your neighbors and friends,” Later the church members gathered Sunday afternoon to share their experiences and all the members realized that the outreach ministry was probably more fulfilling experience for them than for the people whom they served. I personally felt enriched by reading this news about the church and its outreach ministry. What was striking is two things—One– The inclination of not to be just a worshiping community without focusing on the needs of the neighborhood and second the witness and the commitment in Christian life to be different from the rest of the world. I think this is one important aspect that we need to learn and transmit into our local Marthoma church’s too.
This week we are meditating on the theme “ Transformation in our parish. The portion that we will use for our meditation is from the well known parable that Jesus told “The Good Samaritan” from Luke 10: 25-37. Here is a parable that Jesus quotes to teach an expert of the law, who wanted to inherit eternal life. Here is a parable where Samaritan breaks certain norms, conventions to help a person in need. When the wounded man was seen first by the Priest and then by the Levite, both of them by passed the wounded man, because for both the Priest and the Levite, they were not ready to break the existing norms, rules or conventions to help the wounded man because that would be too costly for them and they were not ready to take that risk. Priest felt that the celebration of the worship was more important while for the Levite, the outward cleansing was his witness. But for the Samaritan, he had no issue in breaking the norms [ though Jews and Samaritans were sworn enemies] for helping the people in need. Sometimes I feel, we as the members of the church tend to be very legalistic and would always want to go by the norms, standards and conventions, rather than focusing on our mission and witness. I think the witness of the members of the Hope Presbyterian church teaches us that sometimes we need to break certain norms and rules so that our faith is conveyed more through our action than fellowship in the sanctuary.
Ready to break the convention to be a witness for the Lord?