December 2015 | Christmas Season Volume XIIl | Issue 12 | Rs.150 Per Annum SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ LICENTIATE COURSE IN KARIMNAGAR DIOCESE SYNOD WORKING COMMITTEE MEETING ORIENTATION PROGRAMME ON CHILD RIGHTS AND PROTECTION INSTITUTE OF PASTORAL MANAGEMENT - BATCH -V 2 CHRISTMAS IS LEARNING... hat is Christmas? If you ask through learning will become beacons Jews, then it must be in Bethlehem a me, my answer would be of hope for their community. The very poor village. When the wise men Wvery simple - Christmas is shepherds saw this vision in the child. came out of the palace and rechecked learning! All of us are 'learners' who They were witnesses to a vision of a with their sign, the star, it slowly but have embarked on a sacred mission of 'new innocent humanity' and the surely took them to Bethlehem. These 'learning'. Indeed through our learning, shepherds, one of the most neglected wise men were intellectuals who we celebrate Christmas every day. and marginalised people of the society, thought that change and transformation after they imbibed this vision became began from the metropolis. But in the The first Christmas began as a great agents of transformation they went on process, they learnt that change and process of learning and unlearning. The telling, sharing and spreading their transformation could only emanate first ones to know about the birth of the experience of transformation to others. from a neglected village. child were shepherds. In their opinion, If our learning leads us to become they were damned to watch sheep on the agents of transformation, spreading the On the other hand, the wise men made outskirts of a remote village on a cold, vision of a 'child' and the vision of an the king in Jerusalem very angry. He did winter night. But here, some messengers innocent humanity, then we celebrate not tolerate challengers growing up in from God came and spoke to them. Christmas every day. his own country. The king ordered to kill These messengers, being very effective any boy child below two years. and able communicators, made these There is another story that compliments Committing a minor mistake of letting poor shepherds to move; got them up the story of the shepherds visiting the their own ego dictate them, the wise from their sleep and slumber, and led child. The story of the three wise men men and intellectuals unwittingly led to them to start a remarkable journey of from the east. Probably these three wise bloodshed and chaos in Bethlehem. research and discovery. men were intellectuals, astrophysicists Mary and Joseph must have been of their day, who could 'read' the signs surprised by the visitation of the At first, the shepherds were afraid, but of the time. In the sky, they identified a shepherds and the wise men; they must they overcame their fear. They sign a star and followed it. They were have thought and understood the summoned all their confidence and sure that a child has been born which is meaning of all hardship and tension moved on to search for the 'sign' of hope destined to be a king - the King of the they had to undergo. Facing life even given to them. Overcoming fear, Jews. And they also knew that the star when everything seems to go against, becoming confident, moving forward is would lead them to the king. But on their yet coming out victoriously is a sign of learning isn't it? The shepherds were journey to see the baby king, they became joy and hope, not only for the ones who told that their sign of hope was a 'child' overconfident. They had a pre-conceived undergo hardship, but also for others. in swaddling clothes in a manger. In the notion where the king would be born, so villages of Palestine in those days, every they went to Jerusalem, the capital city, The Christmas story also tells us of the house had a manger. To search a child in and went to the palace, only to find that learning process that Mary and Joseph a manger was a difficult task. It was a no baby was born in the royal family. went through. The society indeed may search for 'innocence', 'joy' and of the have looked suspiciously at Mary, as 'cradle of hope'. Learning means being faithful to the she, a virgin had became pregnant. source, to the signs of the time. If we Joseph himself, wanted to annul the In our capitalistic world today, where follow our own pre-suppositions, marriage, but they found their way 'learning' is considered commercially random conclusions, our conclusions together. They undertook the difficult profitable, getting a vision of 'innocent lead to great loss. In Jerusalem the wise journey to Bethlehem when Mary was humanity' and being filled with joy is men learn that if at all a child was born, in the advanced stages of pregnancy. rare. Those who do get this vision that was destined to be the king of the And for the birth of their child they had December 2015 03 no place but a manger. Joseph and helped them to re-create, re-configure through the imagery of the manger, Mary, despite belonging to Bethlehem, and re-imagine an 'alternative common fields, shepherds and flock, teaches us as it was their home-town, were space' in the margins, where the rich- to strive for an oikumene with a healing strangers at home; they found no place poor, oppressor-oppressed, centre- space for all of God's creation. The in the inn, and were relegated to a margin meet in the child lying in the 'child of Bethlehem' announces God's manger. It was learning to be strangers manger. The manger welcomes, purpose and God's hope for the whole at home The Bible says: Mary appreciates, accepts and challenges all creation. The learning experience meditated the meaning of all these in dignity and honour. It also radiates should therefore inspire people in their things. It is a process of internalising all alternative images of peace, justice, quest for truth, peace and justice, and that has been learnt and experienced freedom, hope and joy, where each lead them to proclaim - Glory to God in and making it one's own - learning the transcends their human-made barriers the highest, and Peace on Earth. relevance and significance of fighting, in response to the exhortation of the opposition, hardship and a hostile child of Bethlehem to re-envisage the Christmas has two words: Christ and world. far-reaching horizons of God's promise. mass. Christ means liberator, Mass Christmas thus becomes a process of means worship. Christmas is then Despite the progress that India has learning, which teaches respect for each worshipping the liberator. If our learning made, degrading and in-human poverty, other's human dignity and enables moves people to at least attempt greater widening disparity through unequal sharing of resources for a fuller life for things in life, we overcome our 'ego' and distribution of resources and opportunities all. learn to be faithful interpreters of signs of continues to exist, as a result of which, the the time. If we learn to understand the majority are still 'strangers at home'. At Christmas, God's gracious significance and relevance of all our Oppressive social systems, life-threatening hospitality came to all humankind with struggles for liberation, we learn to live and destructive tendencies, human rights the manger as a sign of reciprocation the hope of a child and a new innocent abuse, exploitation of women, Dalits that provided space and an opportunity humanity. and Adivasis, and the menace of to encounter and discover God anew. terrorism spread seeds of revenge and Hospitality thus creates space for Therefore, celebrate Christmas not only hatred. Politically-motivated inter- mutual understanding, transformation today, but every day, as you learn. Our religious conflicts that lead to religious and even reconciliation. As God's faithful learning itself is a worship of fundamentalism and communalism, hospitality in the child of Bethlehem the Liberator. May God the Wise One give displacement of farmers from their involved kenosis and reception of all in us wisdom and knowledge and make us fertile agricultural fields, the hazards of unconditional love, the alternate space wise ambassadors of change and uninhibited insults on mother earth, be created in the manger of Bethlehem transformation. it pollution, ecological crises, all deny allows us to participate in the pattern of the majority a 'place' and relegate them God's redeeming love, calling us to a to the margins. radical openness and boldness in Rev. Dr. D. Rathnakara Sadananda General Secretary-CSI affirming dignity and justice for all. The manger was a sign of the hospitality extended by the margins to the child of For the planet earth which is threatened Bethlehem. For Joseph and Mary, the by ecological crises, global warming learning experience of the manger and increasing water levels, Christmas, CSI Life Advertisement Tariff CSI Life Subscription Rates India - 1 Year Rs. 150/- Back Cover outside - Colour Rs. 8,500/- India - Life Time Rs. 3,000/- Back Cover inside - Colour Rs. 7,000/- U.S.A. $. 30.00 Front Cover inside - Colour Rs. 7,000/- U.K. £. 25.00 Black & White Rs. 5,000/- Australia $. 35.00 Black & White - Half Page Rs. 3,000/- Australia $. 35.00 04 December 2015 Christmas: the Celebration of God’s Hospitality †The Most Rev. Dr. G. Dyvasirvadam, Moderator, CSI. he 'Word' used by John the evangelist explains the understands the agony of the several hundreds and thousands 'pre-existent' nature of the Divine Power. The Jewish of Syrian migrants, who are forced to leave their own nation Tmonotheistic understanding of Dabar, the 'Word' into an unknown world! It is here Jesus as a migrant stands goes back to the beginning of the creation of Genesis 1:1-4; with open arms, embraces by hospitality and Divine The opening words “in the beginning (en arche) are identical encounter.