...................................................................Magazine of the Church of South India December 2020 | Christmas Volume XVIII | Issue 12 | Rs. 150/Annum Immanuel - God With Us - in Our Pain and Struggles www.csi1947.com 2 December 2020 Greetings from the General Secretary Christmas Leads us to a New Dawn of Hope that Leaves Behind Gloomy Dusks ear Brothers and Sisters in bereaved will find this Christmas a Jesus Christ, difficult time. We pray to the Lord D God almighty that He be present We may be becoming older, to all who are suffering or alone but we still love the magic of during this Christmas season. Christmas. One of the wonderful They are and shall continue to be features of this time of year is the very much in our prayers at this opportunity to exchange greetings time. with so many friends all around Editor’s Desk the world. It is precious time The COVID-19 crisis reminds spent with family and friends. us of our shared fragility, it also Adv. C. Fernandas The coming of Christ, over two demonstrates how everything Rathina Raja thousand years ago, changed the and everyone is truly connected. (M.A., B.L.) course of human history. Eradicating the pandemic in one community will never be General Secretary CSI & While we celebrate this Christmas, achieved unless it is done in all Hon. Secretary CSITA the church invites us to look to communities. It is at this moment; and celebrate the life of the newly we are finally brought together formed family of Nazareth and see as one human family standing it as a model for our own. In the together to build a better future. gospels, we are reminded that our Lord’s Family had to face struggles Even during these weary times, we and dangers that are part of the believe that ‘even the very hairs of human condition. In particular, your head are all numbered. So Matthew tells us that when Jesus don’t be afraid…’(Matthew 10: 29- was still a toddler, He and his 31). May the Lord help us to know parents, Mary and Joseph, had that He knows us, loves us and to flee from Nazareth to Egypt has our wellbeing at heart. fearing for His safety. We cannot imagine what it must have been While we need to accept the reality like when they had to leave their that the world is never going to home and flee to another country go back to exactly how it was for not knowing, when, it would us pre-pandemic, it is going to be possible for them to return continue to get better and we are hometown in safety. Similar going to continue to adapt and be mindset would have been of the resilient together. thousands and thousands of migrants who walked hundreds During this Christmas season, and thousands of kilometres to we pray that may this light be the home town or village during switched on in every human heart this COVID 19 lockdown. Many and in every corner of the earth. of our friends have gone through May it transform the hearts of weary times due to COVID 19. brutality and hate into the hearts Many have lost their loved ones. of love. May God grant us grace to For such those who are recently be the hands and feet of Christ, www.csi1947.com December 2020 3 making the light visible and transformational for others. Let the Light and let it shine and come into our hearts by faith in the darkness of this world. I extend my sincere best wishes to you and your loved ones for a joyful and blessed Season of Christmas. May the Divine Child, shower all His graces upon all of you. Wishing you and your family peace, health, happiness, and prosperity in the New Year 2021. With kind regards, C. Fernandas Rathina Raja General Secretary, CSI www.csi1947.com 4 December 2020 Greetings from the Moderator The Manger was an Intentional Incarnational Choice nd she gave birth to of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to her firstborn son and the city of David called Bethlehem, “Awrapped him in bands because he was descended of cloth, and laid him in a manger from the house and family of because there was no place for David.” (Luke 2: 4) them in the inn.” (Luke 2: 7) This was for a registration of We celebrate Christmas this time people that Emperor Augustus in a context much more complex decreed. The census was part of The Most Rev. A. than in the previous years. A tryst a larger imperial design and what Dharmaraj Rasalam with the pandemic has affected was at stake was the question (B.A., B.D., M.Th.,) life in its entirety including that of belongingness. Where did the of the church. Like in every crisis family actually belong? Where was Moderator of CSI & we tried to see the tremendous their home? Bishop in South Kerala opportunity to live the gospel Diocese beside the pain and agony of the Vulnerability comes from the Latin suffering masses and Christmas word ‘vulnus’ which means wound should open our eyes afresh in our and denotes all life that is exposed seeking and serving the Saviour of to the pain of wounds- physical, the world. economic, psychological and social. The manger was an ‘Incarnational Choice of the Divine’. Options One of the worst impacts of the of the most copious of settings pandemic was the movement of available for the birth- the Saviour people, especially families that it chose the sparsest setting of a necessitated. Several families were manger- a space accessible to both told in contexts where they were the shepherd and the wise men leading a settled life that you do of the orient alike. This, I believe, not belong here and had to go. is the primary lesson the Church People even hailed the exodus needs to learn while we look at stating- after all they were going making Christmas meaningful. It home. But few realised that there is in the most unexpected spaces was nothing left in their so-called we need to seek the newborn homes to be called their own. They baby. The culpability of the child were thrown into the whims and in the manger is evident around fancies of the uncertainty. us practically manifesting itself in various ways- directly impacted We saw images of large groups by the pandemic or at least of people making a cumbersome compounded by it. journey to their so-called homes during the pandemic. Some tried Families in positions of to find a settlement on waysides Vulnerability while others got into buses and Here is a family on the move. trains and flights leaving behind “Joseph also went from the town the small lives, they had built with www.csi1947.com December 2020 5 so much toil not sure whether they birthing of his beloved and finding and support programmes that would ever be able to return. none. Imagine Joseph attending to we envisage. The empowerment the childbirth with perhaps some and ensuring of spaces congenial At Christmas, we must see them. stranger locally assisting. Imagine to their blossoming should be They are among us. They are Us! Joseph decking up a manger with our priority. Special focus on the straws and grass to be the crib of differently-abled and variedly Mothers in positions of his little baby. He is a symbol of challenged should capture our susceptibility several fathers around us today. engagement. “He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged Journeying in helplessness not At Christmas, we must see them. and who was expecting a by choice but by compulsion. They are among us. They are Us! child. While they were there, Wanting to be of help to mitigate the time came for her to deliver the pain of the women but May I wish you a Christmas of her child.” (Luke 2: 6-7) Imagine finding no way to do. Desiring diaconal engagement to be with the familiar picture again. Mary, to be helpful to children but not the people who suffer and a new expecting the child anytime, able to. The economic depravity year of healing and wholeness. journeys into uncertainty with just and the denial of social security Even this shall pass, and we shall Joseph by her side. mechanisms have made several enter into a new normal and let people lurching in the dark. us pray that the newness that we Imagine the cumbersome and will inherit will be devoid of the bumpy journey of the pregnant At Christmas, we must see them. insensibility that we carry with us lady on the donkey. Imagine the They are among us. They are Us! to the existential angst around us. doors of the Inns being closed one by one. Imagine the labour pain. Children in positions of God Bless You. Imagine the birthing of the child Spaceless-ness in an unsafe shadow. Imagine A child having to face the issue the mother wrapping the child in of having no space even to be cloth and putting him in a manger. born is a complex yet painful Imagine the sigh of relief when all reality. When we seek the Christ was done and all the agonising child today, we realise that there experiences of being exposed to are several children living under public gaze be it the shepherds or great stress around us. They are the wise men. exposed to brutal violence and blatant exploitation. Their safety The pandemic had a very strong is a major issue compromised gender bias.