The Musings 7

The Musings 7

Tuesday, January 15

Read: Mark 6: 14-29

                         What is the price of the head of a dead soldier? This is the focal point of talk between two nations India and Pakistan, as they discuss insensitively a grave justice and human rights issue of callous act of Pakistan of beheading an Indian soldier. This incident also is viewed by ordinary citizens as they try to grapple with a stark reality as to how  a government is fumbling when tackling issues of ordinary soldiers who protect the country and its borders, as they serve in some of the most tough terrains in the world. All these happens ironically on a day when India celebrated its 65th Army day. What a day to be proud of and what  a day it will be when the politicians and other senior officers are going to lay wreaths and other floral arrangements in the memory of those soldiers who sacrificed their life for the country. These tension arose when it seems that Pakistan planned a pre meditated attack on the Line of Control on the Indo-Pak border resulting not only in the killing of two Indian soldiers but also beheading of one soldier. The beheading of Lance Naik Hemraj has brought about total disgust and anger not only at the action of the Pakistan army but the common man is also fuming at the inaction of a government who seems clueless as to what to do, even as the grieving family members of the dead soldier is observing protest and fast to get back the head of the martyred soldier. Though the incident of beheading happened on January 8th, the only noteworthy action that Indian authorities and the political system did was only to lodge a strong protest against it counterparts in Pakistan. But yesterday for  the first time since the incident happened, the Prime Minister has been talking tough.  The Army chief has also issued clear warning to Pakistan stating that the beheading of the Indian soldier is unacceptable and unpardonable as it is barbaric and defies all logic and also violate rules of engagement in war. He added that India reserves the right to retaliate at a time a place of its choosing. Thus the war of words have begun and may be one could see heightened tension being created in the coming days in the relationship between both the countries. This could also be fuelled by some of the partisan politics that could be played by some of the political parties who may want to derive political  mileage out of this horrific event. But what about the family members of Lance Naik Hemraj as they run from pillar to post not just to get the head back of their family member but also to redeem their dignity and the right not only of a dead soldier but also of the whole family. It is disgusting to see how people who protect us are left in a lurch when  a need comes and one needs to beg and plead to leaders in authority for implementation of justice and human rights. We live in a world where we sometimes have to be mute witnesses to such gross injustice leaving us hurt, angry and totally disgusted at our political system.

                            When we look at the Word of God, we can find similarity of the beheading of Lance Naik Hemraj, similarity in the way injustice prevails and how rulers who are supposed to rule with justice become pawns of dictatorship, and thus bringing reign of injustice and oppression in the lives of people.  It is in Mark 6: 14- 29 that we find the incident of injustice and parallel to the beheading of the Indian soldier. The portion shows the unjust rule of King Herod. A corrupt ruler who was only interested not only in furthering his autocratic rule and but also furthering his own selfish interest and lustful passions. He had married Herodias, his brother wife which was against the law. It was John the Baptist who had the guts to tell Herod that what he was doing wrong and that as a rule and king he was supposed to be model and supposed to rule with justice that is applicable not only to the common man but to the king also. But being a coward and weak in judgment, though Herod wanted to kill John, he never had the guts to do it. He finally gets the opportune time when on a banquet hosted on his birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced and won his heart. Herod promised her that he would give whatever she demanded even if it meant half of the kingdom. So strange of a King who is willing to give half of his kingdom to a young girl just because of the way she danced. In this very gesture one can understand the prudency and integrity of a King and the values that he subscribes to his rule of the kingdom. The girl does not seek any reward but goes to her mother to seek advice as to what to seek and the mother cunningly knowing the mind of the king ask her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And thus the life and ministry of John the Baptist is cut short by a king whose interest lay only in furthering his own selfish and lustful passion not only of the flesh but also of power and authority. One of the dangers that can beset all of us as Christians is our lust for power, authority and passion of the flesh.  It is this unbridled craving that lead us to break all rules and our focus is only furthering of our own selfish interest. When this happens we may not be concerned as to what happens to our colleagues in ministry, nor our welfare of our neighbours nor the ones who are suffering. The beheading of soldier and John the Baptist points not only the callousness of the people in authority but also of those leaders in authority or people who are concerned only about furthering one's own selfish interest, least concerned about the pain and suffering of those people to whom we should be actually be indebted to. Let us pray that our Lord gives us the grace and the strength to rise above selfish feelings and interest and live a life where we are genuinely involved in the welfare of others.

The Musings 6

The Musings 6

Monday, January 14

Read: Acts 2: 42-47

                              One of the popular adage both in social network like Facebook, Twitter and also popular refrain from many people is that " I am spiritual but not religious". There are some others who also proclaim "I love Jesus and not the Church". This refrain is catching up on people and many people seems to blindly subscribe without thinking of the implications of the statement, or whether this statement has any biblical support or perspective. But what actually made me to take serious look into this popular adage is a recent article written by Dan Merica and published in CNN last week, which had a very surprising finding. The article was about a research done by Michel King, a professor at University College, London and published in this month's edition of British Journal of Psychiatry. According to this research,  people who claim to be spiritual but not religious are likely to face more mental health issues. According to King, people who have spiritual beliefs outside the context of organized religion are more likely to suffer mental health issues like neurotic disorders, mixed anxiety or depressive disorders or depression. King has been criticized severely for the finding of this research by people across the globe. But then it is difficult to define what it means to be spiritual and not religious  as both these terms are intermingles and many concepts overlap in both spiritual and religious realm. What King wanted to reiterate through his research was that people who have a spiritual understanding of life in the absence of  a religious framework may be more vulnerable to mental disorders than people who  are connected to an organized religious framework. This study is something similar to many other studies conducted whether religion or religious framework was good for individuals. Tanya Luhmrmann, a psychological anthropologist at Stanford University states that organized religion provides three benefits and they are 1. Social support, 2. Attachment to a loving God and 3. Organized practice of prayer. But more than benefits of being attached to organized religion, or whether the spiritual people or the religious people are more prone to mental health issues, my question is whether an  individual who claims to be spiritual live without any religious framework or can we equate our spirituality to pure individualistic outlook and living without any  connection to any organized religious framework?. At his juncture I think it is important that we define what it means to be spiritual and religious and also look to the Word of God as to what the Biblical understanding of both spiritual and religious means. Personally in a Christian perspective, the understanding of a person who is spiritual denotes a person who has intimate, daily, dynamic and living relationship with Jesus Christ and a person who is religious strictly seems to be that he/she belongs to a church or a member of a church. Thus can we say that those who belong to the church are not spiritual or people who are spiritual need not be members of the church or is it ok that the so called spiritual people need not associate with any church or community of faith thus living and claiming that spiritual living is only connected to ones relationship with Jesus Christ?

                         In the book of Acts, we find the first group of spiritual people. Who were these group of spiritual people. These were individuals, families and also children who believed in the message of the gospel, in the promise that was given to them by the Lord [ Acts 2: 38, 39].  The number of individuals who became "spiritual" or believers who responded to the preaching of Peter, according to Acts 2 :41, were three thousand. Thus it was three thousand people who had a transformation in their life when they believed on the message of the gospel. Now when we read Acts 2: 42- 47, we find a new insight as to what the spiritual people did after they believed on Lord Jesus Christ. These spiritual people or believers [ let us remember that they were not called Christians at that time], devoted themselves to apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and spent time in prayer. They also did something unique. They always came together, had everything in common and shared with people who were in need. It is these verses that show how the spiritual people in the early church lived their new found faith or their spirituality. The emphasis was on 1. Fellowship of believers, 2. Fellowship through communion and 3. Fellowship through the sharing of the burden and pain of others. Thus we see in Acts that spirituality is not something that we express not only in our personal life our personal realm but a conscious faith action done through fellowship, building up of relationship and in celebration of fellowship through the partaking of communion. So also being spiritual means that I cannot be blind and deaf to the cry of my neighbours and my people in the community. Being spiritual means that I am connected to the people in pain and suffering and that I need to be part and channel of healing and alleviation of pain and suffering of others. Thus if I need to express my spiritual beliefs I can do that only in a community, in an organized set up so that actions are more organized and beneficial to others. I understand that when we stress  on  more organized set up we may tend to focus could more on structures rather than practical ways of witness and serving, but yet with all these negativity associated with an organized  religious framework, I would still want to affirm that if I need to be truly spiritual I need to be connected with a community of believers, I need to be connected with the community outside my personal world, I needed to be connected with some sort of organized religious framework so that we are accountable not only to the Lord but also to each other.   

The Musings 5

The Musings 5

Friday, January 11

Read: John 8: 1-11, Galatians 3: 26-29

                                  Rizana Nafeek. This is the name that is making headlines today in most of the national and international news. The news that is being beamed worldwide states "Rizana beheaded".  Who  is Rizana and why was she beheaded and why is this poor woman from Sri Lanka catching worldwide attention?. Rizana was a Sri Lankan domestic worker working in Saudi Arabia. She was arrested in 2005 for allegedly killing a baby of a Saudi National,  who was under her care. When she was arrested she was only 17 years old, as she was one of the countless woman who got  cheated by the recruitment agency. The recruitment agency had illegally documented her papers to show that she was 23 years old.  Although Rizana said that the baby had died due to choking while being fed, the Saudi government convicted her of murder and sentenced her to death. A number of international organization has been fighting for her Rizanna for the last so many years. One of the tragedies of Rizanna's case is that she had no lawyer to defend her until she was sentenced to death and she did not have any competent interpreter during her trail.  In fact her sentence violated international law, which prohibits death penalty for crimes committed before age of 18. In the last days, the President of Sri Lanka Rajapakse and even the parents of Rizanna appealed to King Abdullah to pardon Rizana but all the pleas fell on deaf ears. The Saudi Arabian government on the contrary affirms that Rizana is guilty of killing the infant after she had an argument with the child's mother. Finally Rizana was executed this Wednesday causing an international outrage, because Rizana was only 17 when the killing took place and her execution is considered as a  breach of international children rights. We don't know the truth about the killing of the child nor whether Rizanna was guilty or not but the beheading of Rizana has opened up lot of issues that needs to be addressed. According to the International Labour Organisation,the beheading of Rizann brings to the fore the inhuman existence of domestic workers working in different parts of the world especially in gulf countries. In Saudi Arabia itself, there are more than 1. 5 million workers mainly woman and girls who are employed as domestic workers. In land where the laws are barbaric and archaic, with no emphasis on human rights, the poor and the desparate who leave their native land out of sheer poverty, to find some financial hope, end up as slaves condemned for ever, bearing not only physical abuse but also sexual abuse and being forced to live in isolation without any contact with the outside world. In Gulf countries it is a common sight to watch these domestic workers enjoying a day off on Friday. strolling and sitting on the park benches. That is the only recreation that they may have sometimes after a long period of time. Thus the beheading of Rizanna has highlighted not only the plight of the domestic workers but also has brought about a debate on the rights issue of these domestic workers. When we live in this world and when we hear about such horrific issue, how do we as Christians respond to these issues? What are the issues that we need to consider to make a faith response to such issues where people are denied rights and to  laws that are sometimes very barbaric.

                                One of the basic truth that we can find in the Word of God is the affirmation of human dignity and worth. In Genesis 1:26 we find that God created every human being in His image and in His likeness. It is this biblical truth that helps us to affirm that every human being is precious. unique and has a dignity and worth. In a world where human race is often divided on the basis of the color of skin, race and ethnicity or even on economic lines, the lines of discrimination are drawn from these. Thus the understanding today in the minds of the people is that if I am rich, my financial status and my economic standing entitles me  to suppress, discriminate and oppress  those who are poorer than me. If the colour of skin is of a particular color, then I consider the people with other skin colour inferior and my hence  my right to discriminate or abuse them. If I am of a particular caste, race or ethnicity, then people of all other race or ethnicity is lower than me and hence the right to abuse or oppress them. It is important for us to affirm that one of the basic faith affirmation in the Word of God is that we all are one, and we in terms of human dignity and worth we all stand in the same ground, neither higher nor lower. It is in this context that Paul in his letter to Galatians affirms that "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female for you all are one in Christ Jesus" [ Gal 3:28]. This verse affirms that irrespective of our gender, our race or ethnicity or our financial status we affirm our oneness of human race, the equality of human dignity and worth through Christ. It is not that the rich, the powerful and the rulers have one kind of human dignity while the lesser known, the poor and the common people have a different element or sense of human dignity. In the same way when we look at John 8, we find a very unique way as to how Jesus treated the woman caught in adultery. In this passage we find Jesus affirming the woman who was a sinner, and this teaches us that  though fallen and guilty, the sinner has a human dignity and even the guilty has certain human rights and dignity. It is these rights and dignity that cannot be violated and needs to be respected at all times. I think the incident of Rizana highlights that in the world we live,  irrespective of whether a person is guilty in the eyes of the law, the individual deserves the right to dignity, the right to tell their story so that justice could be fair and true. When our society  is deaf to the cry of people who are denied basic rights and dignity and are not able to affirm their worth,  then whatever be the discoveries that human kind has made, we are still living in an outdated and archaic society. Rizana may be guilty, but she represents countless number of woman and children who are crying out for their basis human rights and dignity. Let us remember them in our faith journey .

The Musings 4

The Musings 4

Thursday, January 10

Read: Daniel 1

                              Brain Drain. This is a term that we all are familiar with. This refers to the those professionals qualified personnel's who were trained in reputed institution in India, like IIT, AIMS, who did not want to work in India, but on the contrary left the country to come to United States or other European nation  may be seeking better future in life and in their career. I don't know  how many of them when they look back will be able to say that their dreams were truly fulfilled in migrating to a European country.  It  is still a dream of many professionals like doctors or engineers or other professional people to come over to the US, but have a look at the recent news item published by CNN this week about the number of health professionals like doctors leaving their job and moving out to areas that they feel more are more passionate and are less stressful. The reason for leaving the jobs range from finding new passion, while some others are burned out while for some, their reimbursements are shrinking and hence this shift in their profession. The news agencies has focused on six doctors who have left their medical practice. The first one is lady doctor who is an obstetrics and gynecology specialist. She cites reason like shrinking of reimbursements, the rising insurance cost which are mostly due to malpractices forcing her to rethink on her medical practice. After dabbling in activities like painting, she finally finds her goal through writing and now this medical doctor is a writer, having quit medical practice. Another doctor that has been showcased is a neurologist who is now becoming a stock broker because he finds his practice dwindling and his reimbursements also shrinking thus forcing him to think about alternative professional practices. But this neurologist affirms that there no greater satisfaction than treating patients and healing them. What is astounding about another medical professional that has been featured is a chiropractor who is now a gun shop owner and another dentist professional who is closing his flourishing dentistry clinic because of some legal issues that he had with his patients and huge fees that he had to pay to fight those legal fees. Though the number of medical professionals who have left their medical field and are now seeking passion and meaning in new avenues are few, they represent a lot of other professional people who are stuck in their professional career, not knowing where to go, and are going through severe stress along with shrinking salaries, rising expenses and other living expenses thus creating a huge impact on their personal life too. I personally know number of professionals who are finding it very difficult to manage the demands of job, home and family because of the severe stress in the job front, the hostile work environment among other factors and who are contemplating how to move forward and feeling very depressed and has this desperate feeling of being stuck in life. We live in a world where every job has stress  and challenges of its own how can we face those challenges and stress in our jobs more creatively and also perceiving our jobs or career as an extension of God's calling in our life.

When we look at the Word of God we find an example of a different kind of  brain drain in the Bible. This could be seen in the book of Daniel 1. Here in this portion we find King Nebuchadnezzar conquering Jerusalem and taking young men who were handsome, having good aptitude, quick to understand to serve the king's palace. It is in this way that Daniel and his friend land in Babylon. Thus you see the occurrence of a  different kind of brain drain. The smart people do not go to another country, they are taken by force. But the  mettle of these youngsters are seen when they are engaged in training. The chief official in charge of training is assigned to feed them with the best food so that they are nourished, look healthier for the service of the King. But the Daniel and his friends refuse to partake in the food offered by the chief official stating that they did not want to defile themselves by partaking of the food. On the contrary Daniel and his friends tell the chief official to serve them only vegetable and water to drink and compare their appearances after ten days. But after ten days the chief official find that Daniel and his friends looked healthier and more nourished than the others.  By refusing food offered by the chief official, Daniel is affirming that though he is in a foreign country and that the king would give everything that he desired, yet he felt that he cannot compromise on his calling and his values. His commitment to God and his  calling was something that he will not compromise with anything materialistic. His understanding of career and job was more of a calling and an extension of his commitment to God. In the present career and job field, one of the things that can often bring greater stress in our job or career is when we are more and more worried about what we can get. Will the job give me more and more financial benefits, better living and other benefits? These are the questions that we normally ask rather than asking will I enjoy doing this job for the rest of my life. Will I find happiness and meaning in life  while doing this job?. These questions are never asked while thinking of choosing a carrier or while looking out for a job. In our desperate search for some opening we end up in a job or a career that makes us feel stuck and depressed for life. I think we need to take heart and consciously reorder our lives where we are able to find satisfaction, meaning and passion in what we do. This can happen only when we perceive our job more as a calling of God, not in what we can get, but what we can give.