From the Vicar
Dear All,
Spanish
philosopher George Santayana famously stated the great truth that: "Those
who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". One
of the greatest mistakes God's people the Jews made was to forget who they
were, lose their sense of identity as the covenant people of God and gradually
drift from living their lives the way God intended to. God had said to them:"Be careful that
you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of
slavery." Leviticus 6: 12. This happened not once, but time and time
again. The writer to the Hebrews included a warning in the letter for New
Testament believers not to make the same mistake. But here we are today in need
of being reminded. 'What does the Lord require of you?' (Micah 6:8) The prophet
Micah came from the city of Moresheth which is near Gath, about 30 miles from
Jerusalem. He was a contemporary of Isaiah and his book is of a somewhat
similar style. The prophet's name means "Who is like God?" and this
forms the theme of his prophecy well. Micah
describes not only what God is like, but how people can be God-like. The
prophet Micah had in view both the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions. Micah sees a vivid picture of the
destruction that will come about of the people, beginning with their rulers and
reaching unto the women and the children. Judgment
was coming because the people of God were no longer living as the people of
God. Instead there was corruption, oppression, bribery, and injustice. And the
people were not able to see that something had gone radically wrong. What had
gone wrong was they had neglected their relationship with the Lord -- so much
so that their heart's affections had been overtaken by other things. A change
in behavior would be the inevitable outcome of returning to a meaningful
relationship with the Lord. We all know the vitality of being restored to
relationship God and the essential changes to happen in our life. However, we
all feel powerless to change. Then God redraw the map of our lives. “He has
showed you, O man, what is good. And what
does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”.(Micah 6:8).
Micah had
a special concern for justice, primarily because he saw so little of it.
What God requires of us is that we do what is right and fair in our relationships with other people. Justice involves the sense of a standard of equality among people. It is being honest in our relationships. There is an old saying, “honesty is the best policy.” But for the Christian, that slogan should be, “honesty is the ONLY policy.” Because this is a consistent theme in all of Scripture, that we are called to be people of fairness and integrity in all our dealings. We must settle it deep in our hearts to be a people of integrity, and be on guard in the battle to “act justly.” The second thing that God requires of us is that we “love mercy.” We are also to fill our hearts with compassion and kindness toward one another. The Hebrew word that Micah uses here is translated as “mercy,” is a rich one, used variously as mercy, tender mercies, loving kindness, steadfast love. Notice also that the requirement here is not that we HAVE mercy, but that we are to LOVE mercy. There is a big difference between the two. One way of describing the difference is to say that we don’t just do acts of kindness from a sense of obedience or compulsion, but we do them out of love. The third expectation Micah shares is that God expects us to have a right relationship with Him – with God Himself. That right relationship with God always begins with humility, not arrogance. God expects us to walk humbly with Him. Easy task. But it is hard to make a reality. We are arrogant. We are proud. We tend to think that God’s role is to make us happy, to serve us, to answer our prayers. But it is we who are to serve and glorify God.
It is as we are renewed in our relationship with God that we not only remember who we are but we also take on the divine nature. The people in Micah's day were not the first to ask 'What does the Lord require?' Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (John 6:28-29). Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "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. (Acts 2:37-38).
What God requires of us is that we do what is right and fair in our relationships with other people. Justice involves the sense of a standard of equality among people. It is being honest in our relationships. There is an old saying, “honesty is the best policy.” But for the Christian, that slogan should be, “honesty is the ONLY policy.” Because this is a consistent theme in all of Scripture, that we are called to be people of fairness and integrity in all our dealings. We must settle it deep in our hearts to be a people of integrity, and be on guard in the battle to “act justly.” The second thing that God requires of us is that we “love mercy.” We are also to fill our hearts with compassion and kindness toward one another. The Hebrew word that Micah uses here is translated as “mercy,” is a rich one, used variously as mercy, tender mercies, loving kindness, steadfast love. Notice also that the requirement here is not that we HAVE mercy, but that we are to LOVE mercy. There is a big difference between the two. One way of describing the difference is to say that we don’t just do acts of kindness from a sense of obedience or compulsion, but we do them out of love. The third expectation Micah shares is that God expects us to have a right relationship with Him – with God Himself. That right relationship with God always begins with humility, not arrogance. God expects us to walk humbly with Him. Easy task. But it is hard to make a reality. We are arrogant. We are proud. We tend to think that God’s role is to make us happy, to serve us, to answer our prayers. But it is we who are to serve and glorify God.
It is as we are renewed in our relationship with God that we not only remember who we are but we also take on the divine nature. The people in Micah's day were not the first to ask 'What does the Lord require?' Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." (John 6:28-29). Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "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. (Acts 2:37-38).
As
prepare yet another season of Advent, let us all remember our Lord and start
renewing our relationship with God.
Many
important events are coming up in November and we request all your prayerful
participation in the life of the church.
With
Prayers,
Rev.Joseph
Samuel.
World Sunday
School Day (Sunday, Nov.4th)
The Sunday School teachers and
students will lead the worship. There will be special presentations by the
children.
CSI-Mar Thoma
Unity Sunday (Sunday, Nov.11th )
We are celebrating the CSI-CNI-Mar
Thoma Unity Sunday on Sunday the 11th November 10.30am at the
Chicago Mar Thoma Church, Desplaines. This time, we will follow the Mar Thoma
Liturgy and our Vicar will lead the service. Please pray for the service.
Thanksgiving Sunday
Sunday the 25th November
10.30am.
Christmas Carol
Rounds
We are planning to have the carol
rounds during the Thanksgiving weekend. The detailed scheduled will be informed
latter.
Family Retreat
We have scheduled the annual get
together and retreat of our families and youth for November31-December 2, 2012
at the AWANA CENTRE at Streamwood. This intimation is sent out for everyone to
be available for this event by scheduling your personal/family Calendar. Rev.
Binu T John, CSI Congregation of Hudsonvalley, will be leader of the retreat.
Fasting Prayer
Wednesdays 10am at Church
Cottage Prayer
11/03 Saturday
6.30pm R/o Moncy Thomas, 8994, Kennedy Dr, #1G, Desplaines
11/10 Saturday
6.30pm R/o Lovy George
11/17 Saturday
6.30pm R/o Joe Lukose
Ecumenical Carol
Service
Saturday 8th December 5pm
at Main East High School, Desplaines
Change of Address
Moncy Thomas, 8994 Kennedy Dr, #1G,
Desplaines, IL.
Almanac
11/04 World
Sunday School Day (English)
Christian
Education: Grow in Wisdom
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Psalm 40:1-8
Romans 12:1-4
Luke 2:42-52
11/11 CSI-Mar
Thoma Unity Sunday (Malayalam)
Unity
Sunday
Micah 6:1-8
Psalm 106:1-12
2Corinthians 4:7-15
Luke 10:1-9
11/18 25th
Sunday After Pentecost
Numbers 27:1-11
Psalm 48: 8-14
Acts 12: 12-17
Mark 10:13-16
11/25 Thanks
Giving Sunday
Preparing
for the Advent of Lord
1Chronicles 24:1-19
Psalm 115
Hebrews 5:1-10
Luke 1:8-23
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