The Journey 312
Read: Mark: 9:14-28
I think we may be familiar with people having different faith precepts like Jews, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, and so on. But with the recent presidential election between Romney and Obama, we were made aware may be for the first time about Mormon faith, since Romney was a Mormon. I am not sure how many Christians of Indian origin living in the United States would know about Mormon faith and it essential concepts. Questions were being asked whether is Mormon's Christians?. If they are yes, or if they are not what are essence of their faith. In fact many were confused, because they were wondering what if Romney won the race and became president; Will he use Bible or will he use the scripture of Mormon faith to take oath of office?. And since Mormons' are teetotalers, will alcohol be served during state dinners at white house?. But with Obama back in the white house all these questions are laid at rest. But as Romney battled for presidency, the people in this part of the world became more aware of Mormon faith. He exposed to the world some uniqueness about his faith like the emphasis on living life in a holistic way. Mormon faith prohibits its faithful from consuming alcohol, coffee tea or tobacco. For the faithful, family and family ties are considered very important and one needs to be hardworking and committed not only to one job, nation but also to ones faith. But then what are the essential of Mormon faith?. It is believed that Mormon also known as the Church of Latter Day Saints began in 1820 when a fourteen year old Joseph Smith had a vision of God and Jesus. It is believed that seven years later he was given golden plates by an angel Moroni and the translation of those plates is what is now the Book of Mormon, the holy scripture that they adhere to along with The Bible. It is the statue of angel Moroni that is on top of Mormon Church’s. Though Mormons' consider themselves as Christians, their belief are contradictory to certain Christian beliefs. With regards to Trinity, the Mormons' believe that God, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit are not one but three separate identities. Another difference is that they believe that human being had a pre-mortal life which implies that each soul has existed for ever. The Mormons' do not have any clergy but the church is run by fifteen men who are designated as apostles and are believed to receive revelation directly from Jesus Christ and the senior most of the fifteen is considered as prophet and president of the church. But the most important is the emphasis that every member of the church needs to work as missionaries and hence they have a strong missionary movement. According to news agencies, there are about 52,000 missionaries of the Mormon church working in about 350 missions all over the world. Here is a group of people who knows what their faith is all about and take pains to adhere to their faith principles and also consciously see to it that they don't dilute their faith living even in the midst of cultural and moral challenges of the day. One of the question that we need to ask ourselves is “do we know what we believe”?. This question should be raised as one worships in the church, when we follow our liturgical worship or whether we have free worship. It is only when we know the reason for our belief and our faith, the different dynamic faith traditions of the Church, which help us to live our Christian life meaningfully, can we witness that we are truly living transformed Christian life.
We are mediating on the theme “Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Mark 9: 14-28. This portion depicts certain truth in our life, truths that are bitter, but truths that we need to affirm and also pitfalls that we need to avoid so as to have a clear understanding of what and whom we believe. The context of this portion is the helplessness and frustration of a father in distress. His son is suffering and in his desperation asks the disciples for help. But the disciples are not able to help the father. As Jesus approaches the distraught father, the father conveys to Jesus about how his disciples were not equipped to help him. That is when Jesus states “ You faithless generation how long will I be must among you”. The disciples are with Jesus, yet far from him and his ministry. Far from knowing why they have been called and what should direct their life and ministry. But see the transformation that happens to the disciples once Jesus ascends to heaven, the transformation that results into the formation of early church. We are also sometime like the disciples; we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ and often witness and proclaim that we follow him closely, but the truth is that we are not sure of why we follow him, what is core essence of our belief in our Lord and how this belief should transform our living and the people in need. What is needed today is the prayer of the father in the story “ Lord help my unbelief”. Let us consciously strive to have clarity in our faith confession not only in words but also in our behavior. I know what I believe, and whom I believe, but what about you?
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla
I think we may be familiar with people having different faith precepts like Jews, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, and so on. But with the recent presidential election between Romney and Obama, we were made aware may be for the first time about Mormon faith, since Romney was a Mormon. I am not sure how many Christians of Indian origin living in the United States would know about Mormon faith and it essential concepts. Questions were being asked whether is Mormon's Christians?. If they are yes, or if they are not what are essence of their faith. In fact many were confused, because they were wondering what if Romney won the race and became president; Will he use Bible or will he use the scripture of Mormon faith to take oath of office?. And since Mormons' are teetotalers, will alcohol be served during state dinners at white house?. But with Obama back in the white house all these questions are laid at rest. But as Romney battled for presidency, the people in this part of the world became more aware of Mormon faith. He exposed to the world some uniqueness about his faith like the emphasis on living life in a holistic way. Mormon faith prohibits its faithful from consuming alcohol, coffee tea or tobacco. For the faithful, family and family ties are considered very important and one needs to be hardworking and committed not only to one job, nation but also to ones faith. But then what are the essential of Mormon faith?. It is believed that Mormon also known as the Church of Latter Day Saints began in 1820 when a fourteen year old Joseph Smith had a vision of God and Jesus. It is believed that seven years later he was given golden plates by an angel Moroni and the translation of those plates is what is now the Book of Mormon, the holy scripture that they adhere to along with The Bible. It is the statue of angel Moroni that is on top of Mormon Church’s. Though Mormons' consider themselves as Christians, their belief are contradictory to certain Christian beliefs. With regards to Trinity, the Mormons' believe that God, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit are not one but three separate identities. Another difference is that they believe that human being had a pre-mortal life which implies that each soul has existed for ever. The Mormons' do not have any clergy but the church is run by fifteen men who are designated as apostles and are believed to receive revelation directly from Jesus Christ and the senior most of the fifteen is considered as prophet and president of the church. But the most important is the emphasis that every member of the church needs to work as missionaries and hence they have a strong missionary movement. According to news agencies, there are about 52,000 missionaries of the Mormon church working in about 350 missions all over the world. Here is a group of people who knows what their faith is all about and take pains to adhere to their faith principles and also consciously see to it that they don't dilute their faith living even in the midst of cultural and moral challenges of the day. One of the question that we need to ask ourselves is “do we know what we believe”?. This question should be raised as one worships in the church, when we follow our liturgical worship or whether we have free worship. It is only when we know the reason for our belief and our faith, the different dynamic faith traditions of the Church, which help us to live our Christian life meaningfully, can we witness that we are truly living transformed Christian life.
We are mediating on the theme “Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Mark 9: 14-28. This portion depicts certain truth in our life, truths that are bitter, but truths that we need to affirm and also pitfalls that we need to avoid so as to have a clear understanding of what and whom we believe. The context of this portion is the helplessness and frustration of a father in distress. His son is suffering and in his desperation asks the disciples for help. But the disciples are not able to help the father. As Jesus approaches the distraught father, the father conveys to Jesus about how his disciples were not equipped to help him. That is when Jesus states “ You faithless generation how long will I be must among you”. The disciples are with Jesus, yet far from him and his ministry. Far from knowing why they have been called and what should direct their life and ministry. But see the transformation that happens to the disciples once Jesus ascends to heaven, the transformation that results into the formation of early church. We are also sometime like the disciples; we claim to be followers of Jesus Christ and often witness and proclaim that we follow him closely, but the truth is that we are not sure of why we follow him, what is core essence of our belief in our Lord and how this belief should transform our living and the people in need. What is needed today is the prayer of the father in the story “ Lord help my unbelief”. Let us consciously strive to have clarity in our faith confession not only in words but also in our behavior. I know what I believe, and whom I believe, but what about you?
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla