Reflections

  SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN CHRIST Ephesians 3:1-14 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 3:6) In this passage   Paul opens our eyes to the “mystery of Christ” and shows us that through Jesus Christ the love story of God and his people, the Jews, became a love story between God and all of mankind.   It is a revelation of God’s blessings to the Gentile people.   In this passage Paul is proclaiming the good news that Jesus Christ came in to this world, not just for Jews but for the whole world and that we are all united in Christ.   He reminds us about the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. In Christ we can approach God with freedom and confidence : Although the Jews were God’s chosen people, they were kept separate from Him and warned not to approach him unless they were consecrated (Exodus 19:21-22)....

“I AM THE LORD’S SERVANT” Luke 1: 26-38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled”.    Then the angel left her.       (Luke.   1:38) The infancy narrative in Luke’s Gospel begins with annunciations. After making the annunciation to Zachariah, about the birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, Gabriel, the angel of the Lord, now appears to Mary, a village girl, who is betrothed to Joseph who is a descendant of David. She represents the most powerless people of that society: she is young in a world that values age; female in a world ruled by men and poor in a stratified economy. They lived in an insignificant town in an unimportant province of the Roman Empire. But she is found favor with God. God chose the lowly rather than the high and mighty to fulfill the plan of redemption. Mary’s response to the angelic revelation makes her distinct and her words as unique example of faith. ...

Read: Mark 6: 14-29      Dead or Alive? What constitutes whether a human being is dead or alive. You might wonder why such a simple question is being posed. For countless number of people, they would say that they are alive while another person is dead purely on the fact that the main difference between being dead and being alive is a matter of ones breath. But for sometimes some individuals, are thrown into certain crisis situations in life where one does not know or define whether that person is alive or dead, and the choice of that person’s life is dependent on the choice that the significant others in his/her family takes. Such is the predicament of former boxing champion Hector Macho Camacho. Camacho is from Puerto Rico and he  won the super lightweight, lightweight, and junior welterweight world titles in 1980. Camacho is also famous for his high profile bouts that he fought against Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard. For one who has...

WHAT SHALL WE DO TO INHERIT SALVATION? Romans: 10:12-18 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.    (Rom.10: 13) In the given passage Apostle Paul clearly explains about the need for salvation, and the way to get salvation. In the Old Testament importance was given to everything on the basis of law, but in New Testament we see how righteousness is portrayed in relation to faith. Salvation has been made available to us through Christ. Therefore to receive this we need not have to go to anywhere. God took the form of human being and lived among us. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, salvation has been given to everyone. As a created being our responsibility is to receive the salvation through fully believing in Christ. Death and resurrection of Jesus makes all the difference: The faith affirmation of the early Christians was Jesus Christ as Lord and savior, and even today we as the followers of Christ need to affirm and procla...

Read: Mathew 21: 12-17        Black Friday: Today is termed as Black Friday. A day that started not today but late night of Thursday. A day that people in this country look forward to. A day when sales in each retail shop roar and zoom high as people think that they are going to get electronic items like laptop, HD TV and other household items cheap and hence goes in for a shopping spree. But this year Black Friday is indeed Black for some workers who are struggling to  make ends meet. As each retail shop is going to compete with each other this morning to woo its customers, one of the well known retail shop The Walmart is bracing for a workers strike. Strike!......In United States?.....Are you joking? Yes this is real strike…..not in Kerala….This strike today is considered to be a historic strike. The Walmart employees in Dallas, Miami, San Francisco have already started to strike late night on Thursday, while the rest of workers in other parts of th...

Read: 1 Kings 17: 8-16     The nation celebrates thanksgiving day. A day that is memorable because this is one of those days in the year when the concept of family becomes much more wider and everyone gathers round the table to have fellowship along with turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, apple pie and so on. Joy and happiness that is spread round the family. But have a look at the life of Scott Wells, the center of St. Louis Rams and his wife Julie, on the way they changed the concept of the celebration of thanksgiving. CNN has published a wonderful news today about this couple written by Jon Wertheim in SI.com. Way back in 2005, life for Scott was happy and contented because he was playing as center for Green Bay Packers, which gave him a steady work and that was the time when his wife Julie was pregnant with their twin boys Deacon and Maddox. But their happiness was short-lived because both the twin died at birth itself on thanksgiving day. It was day after thanksgiving t...

THANK GOD! Psalms 147 Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! (Psalms 147:1 As our nation set apart this day for thanksgiving, let us reflect on God’s unfailing mercy and steadfast love towards us. No community can survive with out its memories.   Psalms 147 is a postexilic psalm that expounds the religious experience of the people of God. This psalm begins and ends with praise. Each of its three main units (1-6, 7-11, 12-20) opens with an imperative Praise! Sing! Praise! The psalmist describes the reasons for praising God. Thank God for His creative power: The psalmist paints a vibrant portrait of our God as one whose power and graciousness embraces everyone and everything – from the downtrodden to the baby raven to the fiery stars high above. “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” (verse 5). Thus the psalmist declares the sovereignty of God as the ...