Reflections

Proclamation of Good News Genesis 18:1-15 Jason and Merlin Varghese St. Peter's MTC, NY 14  Is anything too wonderful for the  Lord ? God is good to those who serve him. Though we serve him well, we are in disbelief of his power and ability to reward us. Most of the time we are in disbelief because His rewards don’t come into fruition in our time or how we imagined it to be. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is omnipotent and omniscient and with Him, there is nothing in this world we cannot accomplish to serve His ministry. This passage shows two types of servants in God. Abraham, who in the heat of day, went out of his way to welcome travelers into his tent for rest. Many of us, as Christians, come from all different types of circumstances. However, we try our best to not allow circumstances to hold us back from serving others. How we treat each other and gain understanding of others situations to be a helping hand is an important characteristic to embody as a ...

Visitation of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth Luke 1:39-45 Rev. Binoy J. Thomas Diocesan/Bishop's Secretary, Sinai Center, NY 43  And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? God’s intervention in human life is a great reality. People cannot understand or comprehend by themselves. He has a definite plan and purpose. Divine plan is always executed through human participation and cooperation. God chooses people to implement His plan. God selected Mary, a teenage girl for His divine plan. Mary had been chosen, favored by God. This is a strange blessing and yet the same thing also happened in Elizabeth’s life. Here in this passage, Mary made her journey to visit Elizabeth who is also expecting a baby. This is an awesome occasion to meet the two women who will give birth to two special children, John the Baptist and Jesus. God chose them to bring two men who challenge...

Proclamation of Good News Zechariah 2:10-13 Sushil Mammen Long Island MTC, NY 10  Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the  Lord . Have you ever waited for something in such high anticipation that you couldn't contain yourself? It happened all the time when I was a kid. Christmas was my favorite holiday because I would receive gifts. I couldn't wait to open all the new things that people got me. Sometimes I would wait till Christmas day to open my gifts just because it was tradition. But most of the time I would sneak the gifts up to my room and open them up right away. Waiting was the worst part. But when finally the wait was over, the end thing, in this case gift, that I had been waiting for wasn't all that worth it. The Jews expected a king to come and save them from years of turmoil and grief. They waited thousands of years just for God to show His glory upon them. ...

Thanksgiving Day 1 John 3:1-16 Dr. Shaun Rajan St. Andrew's MTC, NY 1  See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.   Recently, my daughter and I went to a movie night held at her school. Though it was our second time watching "The Lego Movie," we were both ecstatic to see it all over again. Clearly, though, our sentiments were not shared by many others who came to "watch" the film. You can imagine a gymnasium full of elementary school children, full of wild, untamed energy, talking with each other and not staying in one position ... and that was exactly the atmosphere that evening (I thank God for the fruit of the Spirit that is patience, let me tell ya...). What caught my eye (not shockingly) were 9 and 10-year-olds with smartphones in hand, focused fully on the content on the phone screen or taking selfies with the...

Giving Thanks to God Psalm 136 Neethi Prasad Kochamma St. Stephen's MTC, NJ 1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Research proves that anything said over three times gets immediately registered in the human mind and can leave a lasting memory for over a life time. We could then imagine what impact one verse that is repeated over 26 times in the same psalm can have. Although the author of the Psalm is not exactly known, scholars say David perhaps wrote it at the time when he danced around the ark for joy. Over the course of the Bible we see this psalm being an integral part of the life of the Israelites. In II Chronicles  5:13  we see this psalm was chanted by the Israelites in praise and thanksgiving when the ark was brought into the temple. We see that in Ezra  3:11  this psalm was sung when the foundation for the new temple was laid. Jeremiah even used it while he was in prison (Jeremiah 33:11)....

Visitation of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 Ann Abraham Kochamma, Princeton, NJ 5  For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ.  We all walk through the valley of death at one time or another.  There are times when each one of us are faced with much fear and doubt.  Fear of losing our loved ones or fear of our own health deteriorating.  And no matter what age we are at, or what stage of life we are going through, we all have plenty of doubts.  Doubts about choosing the right college, the right major, doubts about choosing the right life partner, doubts about being a good parent etc.  Sometimes we have financial doubts.  All these doubts make us worry and we spend countless hours worrying about our future.  Next time, when we face trials, let’s look at what the Bible teaches us.  Instead of being in a state of fear and doubt and worryin...

Proclaiming the Good News in Thought, Word and Deed 1 John 3:1-16 Ashley George St. Peter's MTC, NY 6  No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. In 1 John 3: 1-16, the apostle reminds us of the great gift of love that we have been blessed with as children of God. This gift calls us to live a life of purity and holiness through His Son Jesus Christ and to live and love just as He did. In this passage (v6), we are called as children of God to live righteously and not continue to live in sin. Doing the right thing in our lives, is not always the easiest or most convenient thing to do. Whether in our relationships or our responsibilities, we are constantly challenged with situations that make us choose between doing what is right or wrong, hard or easy. In today’s passage, the apostle is making it clear to us that as children of God, we are called to make those difficult choices in order do to the right thing and live righteously jus...

Proclamation of the Good News Isaiah 52:3-8 Mathew Samuel St. Paul's MTC, TX 7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” A.W. Tozer once said, “Salvation is from our side a choice; from the divine side it is a seizing upon, an apprehending, a conquest by the Most High God. Our accepting and willing are reactions rather than actions.”   The immediate audience of Isaiah 52 is the people of Israel. They were exiled, and because they were taken from their land, God is promising the good news of the restoration of Israel. Verses one and two is God calling for Jerusalem to wake up! She has been set free! The first two verses portray her to be a sex slave. She has been trafficked from Egypt and Assyria, but now God is coming to rescue her and give her the status of being his daughter.   In verse three, the Lord s...

Annunciation of Mary Luke 1:26-38 Rev. George Cherian Youth Chaplain, Midwest Region 38  Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.   We live in a world where we feel happy making our little contributions to church and society by our participation in the various activities associated with them. We at times boast about what we offer as our financial contributions to maintain the church and sustain its mission works in the world. We are excited by the fact that we are involved. But is just being involved all that is expected from us even as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our savior? Annunciation is the good news that comes to Mary through the angel Gabriel. The Good news is that she has found favor in the eyes of God. Mary finds favor in the eyes of God to go through the most unfavorable situations of life, to conceive even when she’s a virgin and go through the pain...

Give Thanks Psalm 118:1-9 Toby Mathew Long Island MTC, NY 1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever! As Thanksgiving is approaching I think it’s a great time for us to sit back and think about some things we are grateful for.  Giving thanks is something that should occur every day of the year, not just on the official holiday. Throughout the Scriptures, we are reminded to give thanks to the Lord:  “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.” ( Psalm 118:1 NIV )  God is so good, and His people truly should have an appreciative heart, praising Him for who He is and what He has done. Unfortunately, His people haven’t always had that thankful heart.   In the book of Numbers, we read about the Israelites’ experience in the wilderness. The people were constantly grumbling against God instead of trusting Him. They had seen His awesome wonders and grace. He sent manna from heaven and prov...

Hallelujah Psalm 106:1-12 Dr. Ron Jacob Long Island MTC, NY 1  Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. We are just one week away from one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving has always been a big event for our family and it seems like it is just getting bigger each year. We have more appetizers, entrees, desserts and people because of the new additions to our family. Unfortunately, holidays like this are the few opportunities we can spend with our extended family. It also gives us an occasion to remember and appreciate the blessings provided to us by the Lord. Psalm 106:1 begins with the phrase, “Praise the Lord” which is equivalent to “Hallelujah”. It then compels us to give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His love which endures and is steadfast. So basically it says, “Hallelujah (Praise the Lord), thank you God for being good and for a love that continues (endu...