The Journey 289: Parish-Church, What is it anyway?
Read: Esther 4
The famous Columbus Marathon will be held this Sunday on October 21st. This is a marathon organized by the Nationwide Children’s Hospital , Columbus where both walkers and runners participate. According to the organizers of this marathon the half marathon is already sold out. In a country like United Sates, what is most interesting and also amazing is the fact that lot of people organize marathon with a cause. Hence you have marathons or runs for cancer awareness, running for autism awareness and so on. There are also individuals who participate in these marathons with a cause in their mind. As Columbus marathon gets underway this Sunday, one young pastor named Eva Saunders from Lancaster, is going to run the 26. 2 miles of Columbus marathon so that he can get public attention to a worthy cause of his church. What is his cause and why is he running. Eva Saunders is the pastor of Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church and being a small church, the congregation is finding it hard to run the church. The church needs urgent restoration and maintenance work to be done. The congregation and the pastor did not know how to raise the money since it was tough on the part of the congregation to raise the amount though they have supported it with their own little finances as and when time and need arises. That is when Eva Saunder’s wife Susan proposed the idea of competing in Columbus Marathon so that through publicity and competing in the race, money could be raised for the restoration of the church. Saunders had earlier run a 5K race for Circle of Friends, but running a 5K race and 26.2 miles marathon is entirely different. He is getting lot of encouragement from his parishioners and his family and he has started practicing running everyday so that he can compete in the marathon and in the process collect $15,000 dollars required for the maintenance of his church. What is remarkable about Eva Saunders is the tenacity of taking upon himself need of the parish and painstakingly going about achieving it not in the easy way but in a unique, different and arduous way. The context of this African American church may be different from the context of a Marthoma Church, as pastors unlikely in a Marthoma parish are sometimes appointed for a life time in parishes here in the United States. All said and done, the model of Eva Saunders has to be lauded but along with the cause of a pastor running for finding finances for his parish and underlying question comes to the fore “ The needs of the Church– Whose is it?. Does it belong to the pastor or to the congregation? When a parish has a need whether financial, in terms of mission, in terms of its functioning or otherwise, how is this responsibility looked by the pastor and the parishioners? Hence the need to ask “ Parish– Whose is it anyway?”
We are meditating on the theme “Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from the book of Esther 4. The context of the Esther 4 is the plot hatched by Haman against not only Mordecai but also against the entire Jews. Haman in a crooked way wanted to eliminate all the Jews and with this evil plot in his mind he approaches King Ahasuerus with an indictment and proposal that a certain race in his empire were rebels, hence the need to exterminate them. The king did not inquire about who the people or the race were, but the king foolishly gives the signet ring to Haman as his approval to his sinister plan. When Mordecai hears about the sinister plan hatched by Haman not only to kill him but also his entire race, he starts mourning [ Esther 4: 1-3]. Along with Mordecai the Jews also gets to know the tragedy that is going to befall them and they also start mourning. With no hope around, Mordecai realizes that it is only Esther who can turn the tables on Haman and put an end to the evil plot of Haman.. Esther knows that Mordecai is mourning and she tries to get the truth and the reason behind his mourning. But Esther still takes her own time and that is when Mordecai exhorts Esther by telling her that if she remains silent at this time, her father’s house will perish. A people of a particular race faces the challenge of extermination, a group of people, a race in dire need of help in their darkest hour of their crisis, but no one to turn to. It is here in this context that Esther becomes their deliverer. What is a stark reality that is happening today in parishes, is the attitude of I don't care– which sometime unfortunately on the part of both clergy and parishioners. Whatever happens to my parish or my church, I am not concerned or no use getting concerned about that matter. But as Mordecai said if we chose to remain silent and have these don't care attitude, the effects will be borne not by others, but the people themselves who have the “ don't care attitude. Let our parishes, be parishes where vision and mission is decided collectively both the members and the clergy thus taking collective responsibility– That is what Parish is all about.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla
The famous Columbus Marathon will be held this Sunday on October 21st. This is a marathon organized by the Nationwide Children’s Hospital , Columbus where both walkers and runners participate. According to the organizers of this marathon the half marathon is already sold out. In a country like United Sates, what is most interesting and also amazing is the fact that lot of people organize marathon with a cause. Hence you have marathons or runs for cancer awareness, running for autism awareness and so on. There are also individuals who participate in these marathons with a cause in their mind. As Columbus marathon gets underway this Sunday, one young pastor named Eva Saunders from Lancaster, is going to run the 26. 2 miles of Columbus marathon so that he can get public attention to a worthy cause of his church. What is his cause and why is he running. Eva Saunders is the pastor of Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church and being a small church, the congregation is finding it hard to run the church. The church needs urgent restoration and maintenance work to be done. The congregation and the pastor did not know how to raise the money since it was tough on the part of the congregation to raise the amount though they have supported it with their own little finances as and when time and need arises. That is when Eva Saunder’s wife Susan proposed the idea of competing in Columbus Marathon so that through publicity and competing in the race, money could be raised for the restoration of the church. Saunders had earlier run a 5K race for Circle of Friends, but running a 5K race and 26.2 miles marathon is entirely different. He is getting lot of encouragement from his parishioners and his family and he has started practicing running everyday so that he can compete in the marathon and in the process collect $15,000 dollars required for the maintenance of his church. What is remarkable about Eva Saunders is the tenacity of taking upon himself need of the parish and painstakingly going about achieving it not in the easy way but in a unique, different and arduous way. The context of this African American church may be different from the context of a Marthoma Church, as pastors unlikely in a Marthoma parish are sometimes appointed for a life time in parishes here in the United States. All said and done, the model of Eva Saunders has to be lauded but along with the cause of a pastor running for finding finances for his parish and underlying question comes to the fore “ The needs of the Church– Whose is it?. Does it belong to the pastor or to the congregation? When a parish has a need whether financial, in terms of mission, in terms of its functioning or otherwise, how is this responsibility looked by the pastor and the parishioners? Hence the need to ask “ Parish– Whose is it anyway?”
We are meditating on the theme “Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from the book of Esther 4. The context of the Esther 4 is the plot hatched by Haman against not only Mordecai but also against the entire Jews. Haman in a crooked way wanted to eliminate all the Jews and with this evil plot in his mind he approaches King Ahasuerus with an indictment and proposal that a certain race in his empire were rebels, hence the need to exterminate them. The king did not inquire about who the people or the race were, but the king foolishly gives the signet ring to Haman as his approval to his sinister plan. When Mordecai hears about the sinister plan hatched by Haman not only to kill him but also his entire race, he starts mourning [ Esther 4: 1-3]. Along with Mordecai the Jews also gets to know the tragedy that is going to befall them and they also start mourning. With no hope around, Mordecai realizes that it is only Esther who can turn the tables on Haman and put an end to the evil plot of Haman.. Esther knows that Mordecai is mourning and she tries to get the truth and the reason behind his mourning. But Esther still takes her own time and that is when Mordecai exhorts Esther by telling her that if she remains silent at this time, her father’s house will perish. A people of a particular race faces the challenge of extermination, a group of people, a race in dire need of help in their darkest hour of their crisis, but no one to turn to. It is here in this context that Esther becomes their deliverer. What is a stark reality that is happening today in parishes, is the attitude of I don't care– which sometime unfortunately on the part of both clergy and parishioners. Whatever happens to my parish or my church, I am not concerned or no use getting concerned about that matter. But as Mordecai said if we chose to remain silent and have these don't care attitude, the effects will be borne not by others, but the people themselves who have the “ don't care attitude. Let our parishes, be parishes where vision and mission is decided collectively both the members and the clergy thus taking collective responsibility– That is what Parish is all about.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla