Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Religious Tensions in India
Yet another perspective on the ONGOING religious tensions in India:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/episode-no-1214/perspectives-religious-tensions-in-india/1554/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/episode-no-1214/perspectives-religious-tensions-in-india/1554/
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Hope, Peace, Love, Joy??!
Sometimes churches use hope, peace, love, and joy as major themes of Advent. I know Christ is the answer, or expectation of those different themes which are typically joined to a given Sunday prior to Christmas. Funny thing- I bet we struggle more with the order of the themes, and which Sunday they line up with, than actually experiencing hope, peace, love, and joy!
This year I find myself drawn to a somewhat different Advent practice. Rather than only focusing on MY experience of this (which is one critical element of Christmas preparation but not the only) I'm trying to imagine how someone in inner city Augusta might be looking for Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy. With more people losing jobs, more financial troubles, talk of ongoing recession, and a national and community sense of struggle this emotion feels right on the surface. This is no "warm fuzzy" Christmas preparation, but a personal and spiritual struggle that is bound up with the community struggle to find hope, peace, love, and joy.
Do you know the classic "The Christ of the Indian Road" by the Methodist missionary E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973). Jones was friends with Gandhi and active in India during their rise to national independence. His work and faith were transformed over the years. His goal was to NOT present an "encrusted Christ" (encumbered by tradition, denominational emphasis, Western emphasis, etc.) but instead share Christ that would bring Life and Good News in a local setting in India. Thus, the Christ of the Indian road.
Of course, Christianity and all its expressions, have tended to get this wrong more often than right! I love the challenge that Jones throws to all religions when he writes "Each system must be judged by its output, its fruit." This is an interesting way to consider various religions. Be careful as you apply to yourself or your church! It is also a helpful corrective as most belief systems stray far from the ideals.
E. Stanley Jones desired to share Christ in India in a way which would allow people to then interpret Christ through their own experience and life, so that their interaction with God would be "first hand and vital." This pushed him to consider the central aspects of the Living Christ in a context where many held a belief system that was fatalistic and paralyzing. Even for the most religious he found they had no way to live up to the system and were only left with the question "What can I do?" in regards to their faith and their life. "What can I do, my Kismet is bad?" "What can I do, my Karma is bad?"
Sounds like life today and so many ways of practical, everyday religious thinking and conversation as we assign much to fate. A new experience of God that brings hope, peace, love, and joy-- NO matter the present situation or circumstance-- would be an excellent Christmas experience.
Stanley writes:
"You cannot break Brokeness. It starts with defeat and accepts that as a way of life. But in that very attitude it finds its victory. It never knows when it is defeated, for it turns every impediment into an instrument, and every difficulty into a door, every cross into a means of redemption. So I concluded that any people that would put the cross at the center of its thought and life would never know when it was defeated. It would have a quenchless hope that Easter morning lies just behind every Calvary."
This might prove a helpful individual and community life skill and attitude in tough times.
Preparing for Christmas,
Scott
This year I find myself drawn to a somewhat different Advent practice. Rather than only focusing on MY experience of this (which is one critical element of Christmas preparation but not the only) I'm trying to imagine how someone in inner city Augusta might be looking for Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy. With more people losing jobs, more financial troubles, talk of ongoing recession, and a national and community sense of struggle this emotion feels right on the surface. This is no "warm fuzzy" Christmas preparation, but a personal and spiritual struggle that is bound up with the community struggle to find hope, peace, love, and joy.
Do you know the classic "The Christ of the Indian Road" by the Methodist missionary E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973). Jones was friends with Gandhi and active in India during their rise to national independence. His work and faith were transformed over the years. His goal was to NOT present an "encrusted Christ" (encumbered by tradition, denominational emphasis, Western emphasis, etc.) but instead share Christ that would bring Life and Good News in a local setting in India. Thus, the Christ of the Indian road.
Of course, Christianity and all its expressions, have tended to get this wrong more often than right! I love the challenge that Jones throws to all religions when he writes "Each system must be judged by its output, its fruit." This is an interesting way to consider various religions. Be careful as you apply to yourself or your church! It is also a helpful corrective as most belief systems stray far from the ideals.
E. Stanley Jones desired to share Christ in India in a way which would allow people to then interpret Christ through their own experience and life, so that their interaction with God would be "first hand and vital." This pushed him to consider the central aspects of the Living Christ in a context where many held a belief system that was fatalistic and paralyzing. Even for the most religious he found they had no way to live up to the system and were only left with the question "What can I do?" in regards to their faith and their life. "What can I do, my Kismet is bad?" "What can I do, my Karma is bad?"
Sounds like life today and so many ways of practical, everyday religious thinking and conversation as we assign much to fate. A new experience of God that brings hope, peace, love, and joy-- NO matter the present situation or circumstance-- would be an excellent Christmas experience.
Stanley writes:
"You cannot break Brokeness. It starts with defeat and accepts that as a way of life. But in that very attitude it finds its victory. It never knows when it is defeated, for it turns every impediment into an instrument, and every difficulty into a door, every cross into a means of redemption. So I concluded that any people that would put the cross at the center of its thought and life would never know when it was defeated. It would have a quenchless hope that Easter morning lies just behind every Calvary."
This might prove a helpful individual and community life skill and attitude in tough times.
Preparing for Christmas,
Scott
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Religion as Root of Violence??
I've recently blogged about the challenges of many people of faith in India, and was reluctant to say anything about the recent horror of the terrorist attack in Mumbai. This thought provoking religious editorial from the perspective of a pastor who served in Mumbai is worth your consideration:
http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=5241
http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/full_article.cfm?articleid=5241
Saturday, November 22, 2008
International Faiths Concerned About Religious Violence in India
Here's another story about the religious violence in India and a growing international call for the government to bring the situation under control.
http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=1723955&ct=6354741
http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=1723955&ct=6354741
Sunday, November 16, 2008
As We Worship Some Face Danger as Christians
Some of my Christian friends in India are in grave danger. This is not an internet hoax. It is not likely to get much attention in the national press until someone from the U.S. is killed. Yet too often religious violence in certain Indian states is flaring into damage of property and even loss of life. Unfortunately the pro-Hindu government is turning a blind eye to these atrocities.
Consider what it would be like for a mob to approach you as you leave church today, douse you with gasoline, and burn you to death merely for the fact you had been to worship. Or imagine returning to your home after church, but being jumped by a crowd and being hacked to death. This is too common place in the Indian state of Orissa. That is the area, perhaps most famous to westerners, where the Australian missionary Graham Staines and his ages 9 & 7 were burned to death in their car. Though time has moved on the approach to religious diversity is still extremely violent and dangerous in many locations throughout India.
For more ongoing information find an excellent resource at FIACONA. This group is "deeply concerned about the increasing threats to the secular and pluralistic nature of Indian society and about the state of religious freedom of Christians in India." Would you be shocked to learn that 500 Christians were killed in Orissa in Kandhamal District with two hundred Christian villages and 127 Church and prayer halls either destroyed or burnt August-September 2008? This took place with police knowledge and no response. Official government reports grossly misstated the level of violence and murder. http://www.fiacona.org/
For more information from a missions perspective see http://themissionsociety.org/magazines/unfinished/2008-42/128
Consider what it would be like for a mob to approach you as you leave church today, douse you with gasoline, and burn you to death merely for the fact you had been to worship. Or imagine returning to your home after church, but being jumped by a crowd and being hacked to death. This is too common place in the Indian state of Orissa. That is the area, perhaps most famous to westerners, where the Australian missionary Graham Staines and his ages 9 & 7 were burned to death in their car. Though time has moved on the approach to religious diversity is still extremely violent and dangerous in many locations throughout India.
For more ongoing information find an excellent resource at FIACONA. This group is "deeply concerned about the increasing threats to the secular and pluralistic nature of Indian society and about the state of religious freedom of Christians in India." Would you be shocked to learn that 500 Christians were killed in Orissa in Kandhamal District with two hundred Christian villages and 127 Church and prayer halls either destroyed or burnt August-September 2008? This took place with police knowledge and no response. Official government reports grossly misstated the level of violence and murder. http://www.fiacona.org/
For more information from a missions perspective see http://themissionsociety.org/magazines/unfinished/2008-42/128
Sunday, October 5, 2008
World Communion Sunday & Thinking of India
It's World Communion Sunday! On this day, during almost every hour of the day, Christians throughout the world will celebrate the Lord's Supper or Eucharist. Let your mind wander from country to country as the daylight hits the land and the people awaken to worship and you get an idea of the day. Imagine the various people, the clothing, and customs, and music in each country. And then imagine the shared faith and the shared communion! I've always loved this day because it makes me aware of the wonderful variety of people who follow Christ in so many different places, yet the emphasis is on the work of God and all the things that unite us as we respond to God.
Yet we all know this doesn't mean the world is suddenly heaven or that peace reigns everywhere.
I'm especially mindful today of attacks against Christians and other people of religious faith in India. This has been an ongoing issue for a number of years now. Instead of using words to discuss opinions, or using their lives to change the world, too many are resorting to physical attacks which maim and kill. Sadly this sort of irreligious behavior seems to be escalating in a number of states with little intervention from the government. See the full story at http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/pr.cfm?articleid=5164
As I take communion today in a safe and secure sanctuary, with no fear of anyone attacking me, I'll be thinking of all those who will take communion with their eyes wide open and ears listening for would be attackers. While they know the Prince of Peace and may experience an inner calm, we'll pray for the day that they might worship in peace with no fear of attack or retribution.
Yet we all know this doesn't mean the world is suddenly heaven or that peace reigns everywhere.
I'm especially mindful today of attacks against Christians and other people of religious faith in India. This has been an ongoing issue for a number of years now. Instead of using words to discuss opinions, or using their lives to change the world, too many are resorting to physical attacks which maim and kill. Sadly this sort of irreligious behavior seems to be escalating in a number of states with little intervention from the government. See the full story at http://gbgm-umc.org/global_news/pr.cfm?articleid=5164
As I take communion today in a safe and secure sanctuary, with no fear of anyone attacking me, I'll be thinking of all those who will take communion with their eyes wide open and ears listening for would be attackers. While they know the Prince of Peace and may experience an inner calm, we'll pray for the day that they might worship in peace with no fear of attack or retribution.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Of Gustav Visiting NOLA & Flooding in India
It's Labor Day in the U.S. & many people are enjoying a holiday. Yet, it's amazing how many locations around the world are struggling with natural disasters.
In recent days flooding in India has at least 1.2 million people homeless & a 1/2 million stranded in the state of Bihar. Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7591006.stm Another good website to know what is going on is the Relief Web and can be found at http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?OpenForm
Having served on the Gulf coast in reconstruction efforts for the last 3 years in Gulfport and in New Orleans it's hard to imagine the area getting pummeled again. The path & intensity of the hurricane and time will tell if all the work since Katrina will hold up. Our prayers are with those neighbors in the eye of the storm.
UMCOR will reveal updates regarding any volunteer needs soon after the storm. http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/
In recent days flooding in India has at least 1.2 million people homeless & a 1/2 million stranded in the state of Bihar. Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7591006.stm Another good website to know what is going on is the Relief Web and can be found at http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?OpenForm
Having served on the Gulf coast in reconstruction efforts for the last 3 years in Gulfport and in New Orleans it's hard to imagine the area getting pummeled again. The path & intensity of the hurricane and time will tell if all the work since Katrina will hold up. Our prayers are with those neighbors in the eye of the storm.
UMCOR will reveal updates regarding any volunteer needs soon after the storm. http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor/
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