Reflections

Discipleship as Witness Mark 6: 1-6 Alice Thomas St. James MTC, NY Mark 6: 1-2 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. The word ‘disciple’ comes from the Latin word for ‘pupil’ or ‘learner’. Here  disciple is someone who has chosen to follow the teachings and practices of Jesus. In John 8:31-32 Jesus said to the Jews who believed Him, ‘if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ Jesus sent out His disciples to preach the good news to all the earth and continue the teaching He had begun. As Christians, we are meant to follow in this path, continuing to spread the good news to all. It could mean treating those around us with the same love Christ...

Discipleship As Witness Psalm 119:33-40  Mrs. Ann Philip St. James MTC, NY   Psalm 119:36-37, “Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to selfish gain. Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things and give me life in your ways.”      A disciple is someone who accepts and follows a teacher or a doctrine. A witness is someone who is able to testify to what he or she has seen and experienced personally. Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, our life will change. We become a new person. Our lifestyle will change, our friends may change. Everything becomes new. We have responsibilities to share the Gospel as Christ’s disciple.     Matthew 28:19 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” The word “nations” may refer to our home, or to our extended family, friends, schools, classmate, church, neighbors, senior citizen, etc. Do we need to have a degree from seminary in order to be a witness? No, absolutely not. Howe...

Discipleship as Witness Isaiah 8:11-18 Mariamma Ninan, St. James MTC, NY “ I will wait for the lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in him” (Isaiah 8:17)         Who is a disciple?   Merriam-Webster defines disciple as, one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another: such as Christianity. A disciple of Jesus is a worshipper, a servant, and a witness. To the disciple, each day is a fresh opportunity to walk with God!      Throughout His ministry, Jesus welcomed the stranger, healed the sick, offered forgiveness and expressed His eagerness to give rest to the burdened. Belief in the resurrection was not instantaneous for the disciples. After the traumatic experience of the crucifixion, it took time for disciples to come to full faith. Mathew 28: 19-20 states Christ’s Great mission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the ...

Discipleship as Witness Titus 2      Beena John St. James MTC, NY Verses 1-2- You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. Teach older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. In Chapter 2 Paul shows us a framework as to how and why we should be teaching people the sound doctrine of God’s Word. The Bible gives us one unified message of sound doctrine. It is centered and focused on the person and work of Christ and this sound doctrine is to be taught to all groups of people. In Verse 1, this is the command and advice given to Titus and to the church as a whole. There are different opportunities as well as different strengths and weakness at different stages in life. Each stage and role in life provides unique opportunities and temptations to us in our Christian lives. There is a big difference in physical stage of life, but there is no difference when it comes to the importan...

Discipleship as Witness Acts 2:37-47 Steven Tom St. James MTC, Hillburn, NY 38 “Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”     How often do we look to God for answers when we are lost and in trouble? The first step is declaring ourselves as sinners and repenting to God for forgiveness. As said by Billy Graham, “The wonderful news is that our Lord is a God of mercy, and responds to repentance.” It is the responsibility of each and every one of us to spread this good news to the world so that we can all come together and worship God for His mercy and forgiveness. We must become God’s disciples and devote ourselves to Him and focus on Him alone. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Acts 2: 42). As we begin to serve God and doing His work, it is important th...

                Discipleship as Witness                     2 Kings 2:1-15              Rev. Dr. Philip Yohannan             Episcopal Diocese of New York When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you? 'Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit". Elisha replied. ( 2 Ki 2: 9 ).  Elijah anointed Elisha as his heir and cast his mantle upon him. Elisha asks not for wealth nor honor, nor exemption from trouble but to be qualified for the service of God. Elisha had already received so much from Elijah and he had been under his training. He had seen God answer Elijah's prayer with fire from heaven to consume the altar and the offering. Now is the time that God would take him away and his journey to Gilgal was a long and arduous task. The road was long and hard filled ...

TRUE WORSHIP THAT LIBERATES Luke 13:10-17 Prof. Abraham Joseph Padinjattidom, Director, Lingua Franca International, Trivandrum And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?” 16  What is genuine worship? Is it an act of fear; or worshipping the powers of nature; is it an intellectual exercise; a transcendental meditation; a mystic experience; an emotional workout for a mental relief; an intuition; rehearsing rites and rituals; reciting the written litany; or an unwritten disordered hysteria; is it thanksgiving or supplication?!   We know Prayer constitutes four factors - Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication (ACTS).  Adoration is Worshipping the Lord praising his attributes.  (Ps.96:7,8; 29:1,2; 1 Chro.16:7-36, 29:10-13) Supplication is just the finale. The Sabbath is consecrated by the Lord for worship. Having created the Light...

Better is One Day in His Courts Psalm 84 Marybeth Babu Long Island MTC, NY “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”   Psalm 84 was written for the Sons of Korah. These men were in charge of the orchestrated music that played in the tabernacle during the time of King David.  They also played an important role in the specific services that took place whenever the Ark of the Covenant was in Jerusalem. Consequently, these worship leaders had a clear understanding of the importance of being in the dwelling place of God. In Psalm 84:2, the psalmist exhibits an intense longing to be in the presence of God. In fact, he states that both his heart and flesh cry out for the living God. This meant it was not just a spiritual or emotional feeling but also a physical craving. Furthermore, verse 10 states, "Better is one day in your courts than a tho...

Worship Celebration of the Faith of the people of God Psalm 148 Lijo Chacko Long Island MTC, NY 1.Praise the Lord . Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above....7.Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, As we grow up in this society, we are praised for many things such as accomplishments, deeds, status. In our culture, our parents always praised us when we came home with good grades or when we finally got the dream job (doctor,  lawyer,  pharmacist, etc) that they wanted us to have. These accomplishments indeed deserve a praise! But when we look at Psalms 148, we see the psalmist repeat the words “PRAISE THE LORD” in the poem.  They begin and end the poem with it.  However, when we dig in closer, we see that the praises are for different times in our lives, while we are in heaven and on earth. Verse 1 to 6 is us praising God for everything that He has created in Heaven. Verse...

Worship: Celebration of the Faith of the People of God. Ezekiel 47:1-12 Mathews Thomas St. Peter's MTC, Bhopal, India. 12 On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” How do we express our identity in this world? How do we respond when people ask, who are you? We express by what we do as I am a nurse or doctor, or an engineer or a teacher or a social worker etc. But our identity should not be based on by what we do.Our identity should be based on who we are. Our identity should be that I am a child of God. If we say yes, being a child of God is my identity, then just ponder are we known as people of God? Does the world recognise us as such? If not let's try to do some soul searching with the help of the scr...

Worship: Celebration of Faith of the People 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 Achamma Jacob Long Island MTC, NY 12 But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; 13 esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. St. Paul gives many instructions for Christians in these verses. He asks us to respect those who are over us in the Lord- spiritual and church leaders. He also admonishes us to live in peace with others, encourage the timid, help the weak and to be patient with everyone. These are instructions for true followers of Christ to abide by. FAITH :Faith and worship must begin at home. Our children must see it in our lives to properly learn it. They must see this reliance and trust we have in God. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” We must grow in faith so that it can allow u...

Worship Celebration of the Faith of the People of God  Revelation 4 Susan Thomas Long Island MTC,  NY  " Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty " who was and is and is to come".   In the first 7 verses of Revelation chapter 4, Apostle John talks about his vision as he is invited to look through the door that opens to heaven. John sees a throne in which God is seated. He compares the appearance of God to the precious stones Jasper and Ruby. He also sees a rainbow that shines like emerald encircling the throne . There is a sea of glass in front of the throne and around the throne were 24 other thrones on which 24 elders were seated. He goes on to say that he saw flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals...

Worship Celebration of the Faith of the People of God Isaiah 6:1-8 Dr. Jisha Thomas Long Island MTC, NY Isaiah 6:7-8 “With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”  Isaiah was called to be a prophet in a time when the people of Judah were no longer faithful to the covenant. Prior to Isaiah 6, we see the wickedness of the people of Judah and the judgment coming to Judah and Jerusalem. But from Isaiah 6:1 to Isaiah 12:6, we see that God redefines the future of His people through the response of one man, Isaiah.  Isaiah’s experience of the magnificence of God initially leads him to despair regarding his own depravity. He looks inward and sees his own inadequacy. We have these experiences as well where we let our own insecurities derail the call God has for us. Howeve...