Transparency : Living in the light

Many of us might have been following the news pertaining to the members of the judicial community in India trying for a long time; not to make their financial assets public in spite of an increasing demand to do so. That they eventually agreed was not so much a voluntary act in the usually understood sense of the term; rather it was more of a capitulation to a growing chorus of public opinion. Though a large number of the establishment seemed to side with the judges – the government tied to introduce a bill that would make it unnecessary for the judges to disclose their worth.

The wide acclaim with which the Supreme Court’s final decision that the judges would up details about their assets on the Supreme Court website shows one thing very clearly; we love transparency. Whether it is in public life, or insurance forms, or anything else. We like things out in the open. No secrets hid. In broad daylight. We dislike darkness and those things that limit our vision.

As Christians, I often wonder as to how transparent are we? How transparent am I? I wonder how we can expect to reach the world - to give our light to the world - without being transparent. Jesus was transparent. He lived a transparent life. He did not gloss over things; He did not shy away from confrontation. He talked about the hard stuff, and He took the challenges presented Him without a second thought.

The Apostle Paul was able to say:

“Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:2

Essentially Paul is saying that he has chosen to live a transparent life—to practice a transparent ministry. Transparency is the watch word for anyone in leadership today. Whether he or she is a CEO, a politician or a judge there is a cry from the bottom to the top for transparency. We do our ministry in the world of blogs and Facebook. Long before the high tech transparency was foisted upon us, Paul taught us that the only truly legitimate way to conduct one’s ministry is with transparency in your life. Our lives and ministry should be an open statement of the truth. How else, as he writes in verse 2, could we “commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”? This is the ultimate transparency — that we practice our ministry in the presence of God.

A part of the whole struggle with transparency is the struggle that we have in admitting or hiding our own weaknesses and struggles. This is of course a very real battle. I am of course very aware of my brokenness, but I am also aware that there’s nothing in me that commands the admiration of the world. But that does not mean going around with a low self esteem. There’s a difference between a low self esteem which comes from an inferiority complex, some sort of neurosis and a true understanding of who we are, that then allows God to work through us and shows to the world the face of brokenness, of holiness lived in brokenness, transparency enables ,me to say that God has shown me, I cannot do it by myself, but his light in me manifests itself and I give him all the glory.

To live a transparent life is to be as completely real as possible. It is to truly be “in the world but not of it”. It is to meet people where they are at, instead of expecting them to somehow find their way to where we are. To connect with others on their terms, in a real way. To be yourself, instead of wearing the masks we put on as often as we seek our place in the world. To not be afraid of others seeing our flaws. For nobody is perfect.

To live a transparent life means that not everyone will like us. In fact, some people will hate us outright. We may lose our lives. But transparent lives are passionate lives, full of movement, and they are worth whatever time we are given on this earth.

Change, Apathy and Us

About ten years ago, the relief and development agency that I worked for sponsored a young man from leading evangelical congregation on a tour around the world along with a few others chosen from all over the globe. The intention was that as they went around and saw the relief and development activities being done in the name of Jesus Christ in many difficult places in the world and how lives of people and communities were being transformed as a result, they would develop a perspective. That when they returned back to their lands and to their church, they would speak for what we today call “integral mission” , that the gospel is all about transforming lives in all dimensions : body, mind and soul.

One Sunday morning, pinned on the church notice board was a picture postcard written by this young, man from some picturesque location in Europe. He narrated briefly all that he had seen and experience d in his travels, and ended by saying that for all that the trip was really a waste because they weren’t doing any evangelism on the trip and so the whole trip was a big waste . I remember cringing inwardly seeing that letter; but shouldn’t have – evangelicals were like that only.

Around the same time, we tried to influence a VBS class in the city to include at least one session on a Christian’s responsibility in society; in looking at events around us through heaven’s eyes as Jesus would and then respond to them according to the teaching and ethos of scripture. The stony look that the organizers and teachers gave was unforgettable. Similarly, when I tried to talk about my experiences with the Catholic Church (mostly positive), my doctrine conscious evangelical friends reached for their Bibles and sneered at me disdainfully, if not snobbishly. It is difficult to exactly pin point when things began to change and evangelicals began to be accommodating and how this happened. But today, if you walk into that church, you are unlikely to recognize the church from what it was back then and what it has become now.

The general thinking of a section of the evangelical community is that because Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world (John 18v 36), so too our concerns ought not to be of this world. In our terms, it means that we should be having a perspective of eternity and all our efforts and interests ought to be directed towards that one end – that we witness to and testify among as many university students as possible so that through all our stratagems and programs should be directed to that end so that “by all possible means we might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). The harvest is plentiful; the laborers are few and more so, life is short, and so let us not get distracted by the other demands that may be made on our time and energy. So far so good.

But the counter argument that I would make is that such a view is an incomplete and even a distorted view of the gospel. After all it said of Jesus that He “went about doing good."- (-Acts, 10:38) and it can be nobody’s case that doing well is confined to preaching the good news alone.

Some graphic illustrations of the coming kingdom of God are to be found in passages like Zechariah 8 v (4-5)

Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.'

Isaiah 65 v 18-23 paints an even more detailed and more graphic picture of the Kingdom dealing with health, housing, agriculture, justice and equity. These and other passages describe the kind of world that will bring joy and delight to the Lord – a world He would rejoice over (Isaiah 65 v 19). If we know the heart beat God and know what exactly gives Him pleasure and delight , then can we in all honesty pray the Lord’s prayer about His will being done on earth “as it is in heaven” without lifting a finger to make this happen ? It sounds inconceivable.

It is not that today’s Christians are like the desert fathers who have actually retreated from society and civilization and created a parallel even if unsustainable universe. No, that has not happened. In fact today’s Christians are if anything, more worldly wise than their forbears of even a generation ago. But we have it upside down.

Conventionally, we are taught that believers are not to be “of the world”, even as by happenstance, they are “in the world”. Of course the Bible really teaches us that we shouldn’t “be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12 v2). But what has happened is that while we have often been transformed through dialogue and immersion in the world, usually our minds have not been renewed by the Word of God, they have been renewed by the world. Instead of us Christians exercising a leavening effect on the world and through our engagement helping to provide for the world of a glimpse of God’s Kingdom, we have allowed the world and “secular” society to transform us. I have deliberately put the word “secular” in italics because “secular” culture and world view is ultimately an amalgam of many different influences and its ultimate nuance is finally shaped by who has finally contributed the most to shape that secular world view.

I submit that the mean reason as to why Christians, particularly Christians from our kind of people , which is basically a middle class constituency shy away from any particular engagement is not theology , but apathy – for a classic description of apathy , see the quote attributed to Pastor . It is not that we have tried to change things and turn things around; we have not even attempted anything. Yes, we may use the scriptures or the teachings of our church and denomination to dress up our apathy and lack of activity the main reason for this is apathy, the typical middle class apathy. We are neither for nor against any thing; but just plain indifferent – and therefore by default instead of we shaping society, we are in turn shaped by it.

The one area where apathy and its impact is most perceptible is in the area of the renewal of our minds, especially since we have grown up in a culture where a “turning of the heart” is more prominently emphasized. And since our minds are not renewed or transformed, usually we make the same choices that any else makes; enter the same rat race that everybody else does and end up in the same careers and jobs that everyone else is in. Christians, because their minds are often not renewed are influenced more by the peer pressure of their kinsman than by the peer pressure of the kingdom.Most decisions in our life are made by discerning by God’s will, or so we say. But we seem to have atomized this. We have set procedures for knowing the will of god – we rely on scripture, circumstances, an inner “peace”, the counsel of fellow believers and by triangulating the results, we come to a conclusion about what we must do.

While these are all fine in their particular context; certain things are forgotten and we seem to try and discern God’s will in a vacuum. The primary identity of a follower of Jesus Christ is that of a subject of his kingdom and to then live according to the priorities of that kingdom. To give an example, when people choose to apply for and then accept the citizenship of the USA or Canada or some other when offered, they are first required to owe allegiance to the constitution of the country and then find their place in society within the parameters of the constitution. The criteria of offering citizenship are often the value addition that the new immigrant would bring to the country he is migrating to and points are awarded on various criteria.

But with Christians, usually the norm is opposite. We often make our decisions and life choices , even if made in consultation with others and in prayer , keeping out of radar screen , the larger kingdom picture and priorities and the value addition that we can bring when we “emigrate” to god’s kingdom. Often we make our choices just as anybody else would, and then try and rationalize them with reasons that might seem shallow to our own ears.

Will society benefit and the world become a better place to live in if it reflected the priorities of the Creator? if so, should it be a question to ask while seeking God’s will as to how best my gifting can best serve society so it more accurately serves as a shadow of the kingdom to come. Seeking to discern God’s only seeking my personal best while ignoring the Lord’s larger purposes for this world (the Lord after all did love the world enough to send His son for them….) where I may fit is self serving and shallow.

How then does one engage with society? Needless to say, one must begin by developing a Christian world view, the habit of as Moses would put it in Prince of Egypt of looking at life through heaven’s eyes. Of course how one does is that is a discipline by itself which ought to be part of all our discipleship programs. Even supposedly highly technical subjects like textile technology or architecture when studied with the proper perspective can help fulfill God’s will on earth is important and path breaking . You don’t study architecture merely you are bright, cleared the NATA exam and landed a seat; no you study architecture because it can be a tool In God’s hands.

If a secular, temporal state finds utility and value in the study of architecture, will not an eternal kingdom find it invaluable too? In the first decade of the 21st century, there are far greater career and educational options than what existed even a decade or two ago, but a far lesser understanding of what can be achieved and accomplished through them. If we look at the history of the freedom struggle; we will find that most of the leaders then were accomplished lawyers and barristers. If you asked them why, they would tell you why – they saw the study of law as a tool through which they could dialogue and discuss political change at the highest levels of the establishment and eventually negotiate for independence for the country. They had a vision for their people and for their country and could freely and openly articulate it. But today it is quite possible for a student to study whatever he or she secured admission in after appearing for a rainbow of entrance exams and the assuming one had the choice to pick out of one or more streams, choose the one which is the most materially lucrative.

Often Christians are reluctant to get involved in issues of society because we are so few in number or we will get involved in a few particular fetishes. A lot of people get involved when the Delhi High Court declared Section 3 77 of the Indian Penal Code anachronistic and deemed it illegal. Similarly, people get agitated when persecution happens. While this is right and proper, God is the lord of all creation (….the Firstborn and Lord of all creation- Colossians 1 v 15) and our concerns ought to embrace everything according to our education, aptitude and gifting.
I suppose that everything begins with awareness.

Let me give an example from my own work. When we began talking to churches and Christian groups that human trafficking and particularly the trafficking of minor girls and boys, (yes, boys) is the largest illicit industry in the world overtaking the arms trade and the trade in drugs by far, people didn’t know. Similarly, though we laud the efforts of William Wilberforce in outlawing slavery in the British Empire and those of Abraham Lincoln in the United States , not many will know that there are more slaves alive today in this century than there were in Wilberforce ‘s time or Lincoln’s time. Slavery was legal and in your force then, it is cover and underground then; that is about all the difference.

Of course, I have cited examples from my own context and experience in the social sector; but the point that I am trying to make ought to resonate anywhere. We in India are blessed to be living in a democracy, however imperfect; but the direction in which a democracy moves is determined often by sustained and informed lobbying and advocacy and debate. Informed decision makers do not just happen ; their opinions are shaped by those who have assiduously worked to shape them by furnishing facts and data and information. Even fringe groups do this ;

I have just finished reading a book “Red Sun” by Sudeep Chakravarty on the Maoist insurgency in India and he documents how Maoists have successfully used music ,art,literature,media and other forms of popular expression and married them with existing social and political realities to sell the idea of a communist utopia. Using this approach , Maoists have managed to recruit many to their cause ; and even those who have not signed up have often turned sympathizers providing crucial logistical and moral support. In many of the same areas , missionaries are also active but preach the gospel in a style and idiom that is often other worldly and dry in its approach. Maoists have emerged as thought leaders ; whereas evangelists are seen as proselytizers.

Typically, following awareness would be engagement and involvement; but most of us never get there. Even if we are aware – we read the papers, watch the news on television ; and increasingly the media is highlighting issues in society that are flawed and need fixing; life for most of us just goes on as it always has. This is where apathy kicks in and the kingdom of God and its values start receding as I retreat into the confines of my comfort zone. I go to Bible Study every week and dissect up books like Amos and the sins and shortcomings of the Israel of two millennia ago with ease. I artfully dodge the wrinkles and hiccups in my time and country. Israel of the Bible doesn’t require a direct response from me ; but if I extrapolate scripture into my country, my society, then I may need to do more and my comfort driven lifestyle may have to be abandoned. And that is difficult for most of us.

But if finally a Christian student or graduate is convinced that need to be engaged in society be it through art or media or education or banking or micro finance – society after all has more hues than the rainbow, what should they do ? Should they go and join up with some Christian organization trying to address these issues ? Should they join some secular concern ? The government ? This complex and debatable question.

As I travel around the country, I have often heard Christian organizations being described as regressive, reactionary, backward looking and slow to absorb new thinking and ideas and even slower to adapt them. And my own experience is that this is often true. However , it is also true that there is a dearth of good leadership in many or most Christian organizations. Many years ago, I know of Mr. Lalchungliana, a serving IAS officer , who left the civil services to come and provide leadership to the then fledgling Emmanuel Hospital Association; I do not know of many others who went to the IITs and IIMs or any of the other prestigious higher education institutions finish their courses and serve Christian institutions ? to ask a more pertinent question – how many student s who study in St Stephen’s College and particularly those who get in under the minority quota , finish their course and come back to serve in Christian organizations and make them more forward looking, more progressive , less ghettoized ? Probably very few.

And because we don’t want to perpetuate a mission compound or ghetto culture of which we already have plenty, we also of course need to be involved in secular entities of whatever kind that can make proper use of our gifts and skills. The thing to keep in mind of course is that the term “secular” by itself means nothing in terms of a worldview. We often talk of a “secular” world view , but actually that is nothing but the world view that is made prominent by the thought leaders of the time. In the Islamic world , secular world views will have an Islamic flavor; in India it has a Hindu flavor and in Europe , it has or till recently it had a Christian flavor.

So can we enter the secular work force and inject it with the aroma of Christ ? And in my understanding , the aroma of Christ is not just about not taking bribes, not being corrupt , not coming late to office and all that but presenting a biblical view of the world and its affairs which is born of a deep attachment and bonding. Many millennia ago, Jeremiah advised thus for exled Jews in Babylon “Work for the good of the city where I've taken you as captives, and pray to the LORD for that city. When it prospers, you will also prosper”(Jeremiah 29 v 7). If that is the level of engagement expected of captives towards a land to which they have been forcibly exiled, what might God expect of us who are citizens ?

Times have changed

About ten years ago, the relief and development agency that I worked for sponsored a young man from leading evangelical congregation on a tour around the world along with a few others chosen from all over the globe. The intention was that as they went around and saw the relief and development activities being done in the name of Jesus Christ in many difficult places in the world and how lives of people and communities were being transformed as a result, they would develop a perspective. That when they returned back to their lands and to their church, they would speak for what we today call “integral mission” , that the gospel is all about transforming lives in all dimensions : body, mind and soul.

One Sunday morning, pinned on the church notice board was a picture postcard written by this young, man from some picturesque location in Europe. He narrated briefly all that he had seen and experience d in his travels, and ended by saying that for all that the trip was really a waste because they weren’t doing any evangelism on the trip and no souls were being won. I remember cringing inwardly seeing that letter; but shouldn’t have – evangelicals were like that only.

Around the same time, we tried to influence a VBS class in the city to include at least one session on a Christian’s responsibility in society; in looking at events around us through heaven’s eyes as Jesus would and then respond to them according to the teaching and ethos of scripture. The stony look that the organizers and teachers gave was unforgettable. Similarly, when I tried to talk about my experiences with the Catholic Church (mostly positive), my doctrine conscious evangelical friends reached for their Bibles and sneered at me disdainfully, if not snobbishly.

It is difficult to exactly pin point when things began to change and evangelicals began to be accommodating and how this happened. Possibly when the first instances of persecution began happening in the late Nineties. This was still the United Front government but the BJP and its allies were on the ascendant. And of course the fundamentalist forces neither knew nor understood doctrinal niceties and they destroyed, killed and burnt churches of all denominations and persuasions. Perhaps it was the sudden dawning that if fundamentalist forces had to be appropriately countered , it was no longer possible to be confined to one’s denominational or theological positions that made evangelicals open up to embrace Catholics and “liberals” and other “social gospelers”. This embracing did not mean that each party abandoned their stated positions but certainly ushered in a wave of acceptance, tolerance and diversity that exists among God’s people.

It is similarly difficult to say when Evangelicals began to be accommodative of social concern ministries; not just tolerate them but actually embrace them and acknowledge that these are a valid expression of the Christian gospel. But when umbrella organizations of the evangelical constituency like EFI, began opening their doors to such an expression of ministry, a milestone had surely been crossed.

Of course, EFICOR had been birthed by EFI way back in 1967, but for a long time that remained the only entity that dabbled in developmental and justice issues and became an autonomous entity in little over a decade. But today, it would seem that we have traveled a long way. Today when we have programs like Viva which works with issues of children at risk operate under the umbrella of EFI, the leading evangelical magazine does a whole issue with homosexuality as the theme and the decadal Congress on Church in Mission has tracks like human trafficking, Christians in political engagement and Religious freedom, it seems that finally the evangelical community has finally made it to the new millennium.

Grace and Stigma

One of the hallmarks of a developing and progressive society is the degree to which it is inclusive – inclusive of minorities, marginalized and other vulnerable sections of society who may normally not expect to find a place under the sun. Such a place of equality is what the Indian constitution guarantees in Article 14(equality) and Article 15(no discrimination)

So what is one to make of the recent Supreme Court ruling that those leprosy patients cannot contest a civic election or hold municipal office in Orissa state? The case was brought to court by two men who were elected to a civic body in Orissa in 2003, but were later disqualified as they had leprosy. The Orissa Municipal Act of 1950 bars people suffering from tuberculosis or leprosy from holding such posts.

"The legislature in its wisdom has thought it fit to retain such provisions in the statute in order to eliminate the danger of the disease being transmitted to other people from the person affected," Supreme Court judges CK Thakker and DK Jain said in their ruling.

In the colonial era, the central government passed the Lepers Act of 1898, which provided legal provision for forcible confinement of leprosy sufferers in India. A hundred and more years have passed by; politically India is an independent state, has become a signatory to the UN resolution which says discrimination against leprosy patients must be ended. Medically, leprosy is detected early and thanks to a multi drug regime, cured early too. And yet a few years short of the second decade of the 21st century, piles of archaic legislation keep those who happened to have contracted leprosy at some point on the margins of society.

I always think of that fear and stigma when I read the stories about leprosy in the Gospels. Leprosy was of course greatly feared in the ancient near east. No one had contact with a leper(as they were referred to till recently). They were, instantly, removed from every social sphere. They couldn’t worship in the synagogue, they couldn’t live with other people, they couldn’t participate in the economic system of the time; who would take money from a leper?

We are familiar with the story of Naaman. Successful military man and leader, struck down by disfiguring disease –But Naaman’s disease is likely to get him ousted from his post, in a society even more fixated on appearance than ours. If Naaman can’t get his skin cleaned up, not only will he have to leave office, he’ll be banished from polite and religiously observant society. Naaman’s route to healing reads almost like a spy novel. A word dropped by the slave girl who works for his wife – and why would this little girl who was captured in an enemy raid want to help him? But her tiny shred of hope has him rushing off to his king to get a letter of passage to the enemy. When the letter comes to the king of Israel, he despairs, for he knows he can’t fulfil this request. But Elisha gets wind of the visitor and says, “Come see me and I’ll see what I can do.” Naaman goes, but he’s too proud to enter Elisha’s house. Elisha sends a message out – “go wash in the Jordan, and you’ll get what you’re after.” It must have sounded amazingly dismissive, because Naaman leaves in a huff. But his own servants offer him encouragement, and he finally goes off to the river, and gets his youthful appearance back. Maybe this is where the fountain of youth idea came from…Slave girl, servants, enemies, kings, and prophets – an impressive set of links that bring Naaman to his knees.

Jesus’ healing of the leper is more direct. The leper appears and asks to be healed. And Jesus reaches out his hand and touches the leper and says, “I do want to; be clean.” Jesus chooses to foul himself – touching a leper makes him unfit for polite society. Being gut-wrenched may also carry the sense that Jesus touched the man in spite of his own revulsion – or, more likely, the revulsion of the people around him. Those onlookers, just like the people around Naaman, are accustomed to keeping themselves “clean” by excluding anybody who threatens them. They don’t want to get too close, and they certainly don’t want their eminent visitor and rabbi to get too close.

Several secular laws and courts of course discriminate against those who have leprosy and those who are “different” in subtle and not so subtle terms. But maybe we can be brave enough to admit there are banished ones within the household of faith too. There was a decade or two at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic where more than one preacher declared those with the illness were socially unclean; some even claimed those with the disease were going to hell for the depravity of their sin as preachers declared that the illness itself was a sign of God’s curse. There have been days not too long ago when a divorce was enough for a couple to feel the wrath of the church. Some of us still remember days when watching television, going to movies and many other social activities were the sins that would stigmatize you in way that would eventually shun you from the good fellowship of the church.

If the church is to be a different kind of community transformed by grace and surviving by grace, then in my reckoning, we are called to be the compassionate community moulded by the Lord. We must forever look over the wall of the community to see who’s outside the gates, banished there by the people of God, unable to get in other than to get on their knees to beg. There’s a risk in loving the outsiders to be sure. But if we’re the people of faith we claim to be, that’s the kind of love we must share.

Healing takes a whole community of unlikely partners, and it takes getting past our own fear of contamination. it is time for us to seek to be liberated from our own hidden demons and stigmas.

The Classroom and the Kingdom

One of my friends whose whereabouts are usually not traceable, because he is involved in hectic travel has grounded himself for the next month or so. he has stationed himself at home ; well not exactly at home, but like a tame pet, he goes off to the office in the morning and is safely back to home base by evening. after hearing that piece of news, I haven been given similar instructions on the home front and my wife herself has taken leave a month’s leave and has parked herself at home. In both our families, a child is going through that iconic rite of passage – the board exam….. An event talked about in awe and hushed whispers.

I do not know the number of students who sit for the Board examinations in India every year, with practically each state having its own board of secondary education apart from the grand daddy of them all, the Central Board of Secondary Education. But whatever be the number, the ides of March bring with them the news of the examination season and the country it would seem defers to the phenomenon. elections if due, are scheduled and rescheduled to ensure that the examination schedule is not trifled with ; the election commission , typically a law unto itself , defers to the board examinations – elections will never be scheduled in a way that they interfere with the examination time table.

But stress for exam going students and increasingly their families is becoming a major issue in the last decade and it is a matter of concern that young people are being exposed to stress at such an early stage of their lives when their coping mechanism is so weak. Eexamination stress pushes students to various kinds of perversions, not only affecting concentration and memory but also forcing them to adopt abnormal behavior. Stressed out children are increasingly consuming tobacco, drinking tea, coffee and taking commonly-available amphetamine drugs such as cough syrups to keep up while preparing for exams.

And then there are those who simply can’t cope and end their lives. According to government reports, over 5000 students committed suicide in 2006. The unofficial figures are even higher. It seems stress is pushing our students to the brink; many of them just in class six. Boys are more vulnerable to committing suicide than girls, because adolescent girls seek support from family and friends to deal with emotional stress during examination. But as boys are less expressive, they tend to suppress their feelings of inadequacy and fear of poor performance. This often drives them to suicide to end their frustration

What's pushing today's Indian students - a bright generation with a global reputation for their high intelligence quotient - to the brink? Parental and peer pressure, rising ambitions and fierce competition are brewing a deadly cocktail for these young minds. Moreover, a nation racing towards affluence, an economy on a remarkable upward growth trajectory and skyrocketing salaries are putting unprecedented pressure on youth to succeed.

Often Christian families are not too different when it comes to choosing careers and vocations for their children although it should be obvious that the biblical perspective is that the purpose of education is to advance God’s purposes and plans for this world. Christians ought to pursue education so that through that means they may best serve the interests of the Kingdom of God and work for justice and equity in a society that reflects the character of God in his justice, compassion, grace and mercy. If we think of education only as a means for the young to develop their skills, or to achieve their potential, or to be equipped to succeed in life, then we have seen only one side of the coin. Rather, education must do all of that and also serve the entire society. It must serve not just its students but all of society, it must be as concerned about responsibility to the world.

Ephesians 2:10 says that each one of us were shaped for a specific task. All of us were custom-designed by God to fulfil a specific calling. The purpose of any education is to equip us to best do the work that God has designed us to do-the tasks He has called us to. As Christians our ultimate aim in the race of life is not necessarily to be the top of the class. That way life becomes not just a race to join but a rat race to win -and what matters is doing our competitors down. Our primary mission in pursuing an education is not to win a rat race, but to be better skilled in caring for what God has entrusted to us - our world, our sisters and brothers.

Kaala Bandaar - The Evil Within Us

A news bulletin on the television channel IBN 7 describing the havoc created by the “ kala bandaar” greets Abhishek Bachchan, a Generation Y, NRI, accompanying his ailing grand mother, who wants to come back to India in her old age. This is of course Delhi 6, the recently released movie, which has become better known for the catchy Masakali song.

Although the theme of the kala bandaar is a thread running through the film, it is brought to some kind of a closure only near the end. Abhisekh Bachchan dons the garb of a monkey in the climax, is caught and is lynched. He is practically killed but recovers. As the narrator in the film within, he makes a philosopher like speech, saying that there is a kala bandaar, a black monkey, lurking inside each one of us; ready to engulf us and our lives, at the slightest opportunity. Although in the movie, it felt that the Director had chosen through this statement, to conveniently kill off a concept that had outlived its utility as the movie closed, the speech is not entirely hyperbole.

There is indeed an element of evil that prowl in our hearts. I have just been reading a book titled Stones by the River. Set in Germany, the book traces the transformation of German society in the inter war years from the perspective of Trudi Montag, a dwarf girl who watches with pain and horror as ordinary citizens whom she has known all her life, change colors before her eyes, and become sympathizers, and later informers for the Nazi party. Not that they all subscribed to the Nazi ideology; but what drove them was the greed of laying hands on Jewish property and wealth, every time they betrayed one to the authorities.

A mob is a good example of an occasion when ordinary people suspend their values and sense of discernment and succumb to the increasingly strong nudges of the evil within themselves. Inherently good people become momentarily totally evil. In the movie itself, there is such an instance that is captured. Shortly after Abhishek brings his grand mother home to Delhi, she suddenly falls sick. The whole community in the muhulla comes together to make arrangements for her to be taken to hospital and Abhisekh is overwhelmed; yet the same group would split on communal lines and turn murderous a while later.

Of course, in our darkest times, we all think of dominating others, subduing others to our will and a ‘sadistic streak’, though latent, is there within all of us. As we are reminded through the turmoils of our own lives every day, there is a battle going on inside of us, We may want to think of these primeval forces of good and evil as two sides in a fight: the one that has been fed will defeat the one that has been starved.

The question that we may want to ask ourselves every day is this - by our thoughts, by our actions and by our habits, one or the other dogs – of good or of evil - are being fed and fattened. Are our actions fattening the kala bandaar within us? Or are we starving it to death and enabling the image of God within us to become more clearly visible?

Maula, Maula.... and Worshipping the True God

Delhi 6 ( the movie that is, not the PIN CODE!), my wife remarked about the Sufi song “Maula, Maula”( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McYnZj-EvL4). Although she didn’t get the full meaning of the Urdu lyrics, she remarked at the intensity of what was essentially a Sufi worship song, and remarked at the intensity of the lyrics, melody and the rendering of the singer expressing a very deep yearning to get closer to God, which is in its essence what Sufism is all about. On the way back home, we passed the neighborhood temple, where a gaggle of toothless women were clanging cymbals in what could only be described as a listless enactment of a ritual.

Since then I have been about the object called “Christian worship”. I have been meeting people lately who introduce themselves as “worship leaders” or who “lead worship”. Subsequently observing them in their work place, I find what they actually do is strum a guitar and lead in the singing of a few songs.

Worship of course is a private act as well as a public one, I suppose for public events, some kind of coordination is needed, but the self adulating title of “worship leader”, perhaps deflects more glory on to the person than to the function, which is to lead the people of god in adoration. John Piper says this in his book, Desiring God, "Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God, the radiance of his worth." Let me say that again. "Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of his worth." As our heart is captured by who God is, what he has created, how he works, that his purposes are always good. What he sacrificed for me and you and how he pursues us in love even at this moment, it moves me. It makes me grateful, happy, joyful, and glad and I want to reflect that back to him in worship. My heart spontaneously overflows in joy.

Joy is what was oozing through every clap and beat of the Sufi Quawali, thought the tenor was nasal and rustic. Perhaps the voice was not trained enough bit the heart was well in tune and was able to draw the attention of even a casual movie goers to thought of God for a time. Of course on special occasions like Christmas and Easter, even our churches parade out our best choirs and chorales and the rendering of them is often truly angelic, but can we worship “in spirit and in truth” and in day to day life and our routine Sunday services ?

The purpose of worship after all is to provide an atmosphere in which people bring their everyday, busy, confusing, frustrating lives and leave the cares and concerns at the altar trusting God through faith to speak to them in the midst of their lives. Music is a means to do that but not the only means to do this. May be the Psalms provide a good context as well as a framework for worship. In the Psalms we often read about the psalmists' enemies, but they are almost always spoken of in very unspecific terms. We're not told who they are, or what they are trying to achieve, but only that they have set themselves up against the man of God, and therefore against God himself.

The world we live in often provides our equivalent of the psalmist's enemies. Our world has set itself up against God, and therefore against us. The world is not neutral, it is opposed to us, so it is no wonder we experience its hostility from time to time as God allows. Things happen to us over which we have no control. What is it that is overwhelming you at the moment? Are you riding the wave, or is it all crashing around you that true worship is startlingly honest. It's easy to overlook, but the Psalms, with all their questions and accusations, are worship! To pour out your soul in all honesty before God, is worship, and the psalmist shows us how to worship God, in this Psalm just as much in the "praise him on the trumpet" types of Psalm. In fact the psalmist has discovered what we've all experienced: that it is impossible for us to whip up worship in ourselves. If our souls are downcast and disturbed within us then no matter how great the music, no matter how much we close our eyes and raise our hands, no matter how fervent the leader, we will ultimately never find the presence of God that we long for.

There can be no doubt that what is going on in contemporary worship services has some very positive social dynamics. There is an opportunity for interaction, sharing, emotional release, and all the rest. We must not think that drums, keyboards, or any technique--be it mystical, ecstatic or esthetic--is what worship is all about. Worship is about the heart of a man, woman or child. It is not contrived, induced, or concocted. It is the result of the working of the Holy Spirit in the heart. The Lord is not in the wind, nor in the fire, but He is in the still, small voice. Worship in the Bible is after all a lifestyle of sacrifice not an event !

Sin and Shame

The latest issue of the Jesuit run Indian magazine, “The New Leader” carries a lead article on hat it calls the growing phenomena of “Drinking as a subculture of Priests”. The article begins with the candid admission that alcoholism thrives in shadows, secrets and silence. And then goes on to say that alcoholism thrives because alcoholics take refuge in shadow land because they are confused scared and above all ashamed.I like the candidness of the article and the willingness to admit that there is a problem and that there is a need to address it and that those affected by alcoholism need to be helped to cope with it and not pushed into the shadows.


The word that most deserves to be coupled with sin is salvation; but the words that typically accompany them are shame, stigma and the world of shadows. at this point, I am not commenting on whether alcoholism is a disease or a sin, but simply commenting on the attitudes of shame and stigma in people who display behaviors that is considered unconventional in a given culture or society.

The church is the community of redeemed sinners, but is often unfortunately the first to put its own fallen comrades into the shadows, and often very publicly. The secular world, which has never seen nor often experienced grace, is often found to be more tolerant; though this tolerance may be more passive tolerance than active assurance and acceptance. How important is grace Vis a Vis the judgment that we often use to push people into the shadows because they have a “problem”? Just how important is grace and acceptance in the church community? Well, the the apostle Paul, in practically all of his greetings, starts off by wishing them grace and peace. God gives us grace, but God also want us to have grace in our lives.

And He also wants us to give grace. As we have received grace in whatever facet, He wants us to give it. How have you experienced it? If you've been through a death-like situation, you're likely to be very encouraging to people who are in a death-like situation. If you've been sick in a particular way, you're probably able to comfort people who are sick in that same way.

It is important to use the grace of God in our lives. And having the grace of God does not mean we still don't fight ourselves, because the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27, that he had to fight himself and keep himself in check lest after he had preached to others he himself be found a cast-away. The grace of God leads us to exert ourselves in a godly way. It leads us to ask for forgiveness. It leads us to receive forgiveness. It leads you to comfort, console, and give hope, to others.

The New Leader article zeroes in on the particular burden of the priests: they are representatives of the church and the church hierarchy; he often faces extra ostracism if he reveals his situation and suffers in isolation if he doesn’t. It is a bit of a Herculean task I admit; the church is a body of people is called upon to reflect the image of God all right and so what happens when you notice an aberration? What do you do? The New Testament on the odd occasion does recommend the ex communication and disfellowshipping of the odd person; but the end goal is still the same – that the person would be eventually restored into communion and community. Restoration is thus the eventual goal; and there are various methods to pursue this. But the gift of grace has a far larger role in the scheme of God’s things than we are ready to offer it – stigmatization and isolation is a lot simpler to do.

A Theology of Silence

Buddhism, once the domain of Ambedkar and his acolytes is now attracting more glamorous followers including in its ranks people like Priyanka Gandhi. The latest issue of Outlook talks about the Buddhist revival that is happening. middle class and page 3 crowd, typically associated more with partying are joining up for one of the many forms of Buddhism available today.

One of them is Vipassana which has its centre at Igatpuri near Mumbai and which I recently visited. the introduction to Vipasssana in the Igatpuri begins with a ten day introductory course which is quite austere. austerity of course was to be expected but what fascinates me most is the importance accorded to silence in the whole course: ten days of near total silence cut off from television, news papers and conversation of any kind. Such an atmosphere, it is said leads to a state of mental purification and “detox” when one is cut off from all polluting influences.

Surely silence has a lot of therapeutic effects, but in the Christian tradition, more specifically in the Protestant, Evangelical tradition, we don’t have much time and space for silence. Silence is for the monks and the nuns and of course we don’t have them either. And that is a pity.

It is difficult to fathom a reason but perhaps a reason could be the protestant, evangelical emphasis on the Word of God and the underlying assumption that the Word of god is meant to be heard; rather than meditated up on or even read. Hence the plethora of preachers and speakers and the importance given to them. The medium does not matter; it could be television or in crusades or revival meetings or churches. In this tradition, the very moment we think of planning an event or a program, in the very next breath, we ask, “but who will be the speaker?” a program without a speaker is sort of thinkable in our circles.

Of course the concept of silence is thoroughly biblical. Jesus spent long moment in silent contemplation. All four Gospels tell us that Jesus prayed. He prayed alone on mountains and in the wilderness. In the first centuries after Jesus’ life, most Desert monk/writers were familiar with silence--their own silence, and the silence of God. After the Reformation in the 16th century, Protestant denominations drew parishioners’ attention almost entirely to the Bible, to sermons and vocal prayer, and to the singing of hymns.

From then on we lost the tradition. Almost all post-Reformation denominations (except, e.g., the Quakers) focused (and still do focus) on the Word--reading the Bible, listening to sermons and trying to convert others by convincing them that our particular verbal formulations of scripture, of doctrine and of God’s identity are true in themselves. For most Protestant denominations, the words of Scripture, doctrine and creeds are themselves identified as holy. These Christian brothers and sisters do not seem to be interested in contemplative silence or in the possibility that the Triune God can show up between, beneath and beyond our words and stories--even beyond our sacred words and stories.

Those of us who value contemplative silence should remember that Jesus did not teach wordless, contemplative prayer explicitly. Yes, Jesus did pray alone, often going into the desert for solitude, and we can infer from his life and teaching that he learned about himself, his mission and God in silence. But contemplatives should not ignore the fact that Jesus ‘s spirituality was thoroughly relational. Jesus discerned God’s personal presence as he studied Hebrew scripture, and he preached. The Gospel writers tell us that God’s presence was conveyed powerfully through Jesus’s words. Jesus’s ministry tells us that very often the Good News is spoken, one to another, and the effect on the listener may be more powerful, meaningful and redemptive than if that listener had sat in meditation or contemplative prayer. we may need of course as in every thing, the right checks and balances but a theology of silence would add great value to evangelical spirituality.