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Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:17-31

Cross has become the central symbol of Christianity.  Just imagine a visitor walking into one of our Churches for Sunday worship.  He is greeted by an usher with a pew slip which has a symbol of “Cross” as the theme. He sits on a pew and gazes at the altar closely; there he sees the symbol of cross on the stained glass.  A person with a cross on the lapel of his suit comes and sits next to him. The worship starts; the choir starts singing the opening hymn “When I survey the wondrous cross.”  During the service there is the dedication of a child, the priest takes the child and says, “We have received this child into the congregation of Christ’s flock and makes the sign of the cross over the child.” When the priest pronounces the benediction, he traces the sign of the cross in the air with his hand.  The stranger leaves the Church asking himself, do Christians exaggerate the Cross or do they boast in the Cross?

As we prepare ourselves to enter the season of Lent this month, I would like to focus on “Cross of Christ.” The Corinthian Christians boasted on their wisdom instead of boasting in the Cross of Christ.  The sophists always gloried in the gift of speech and had great influence on the community and even the Corinthian Christians were imitating them. Due to debating, quarrelling and arrogance, the new faith of the Corinthian Christians was disintegrating and it was also because of human cleverness.

I am thankful to God and the leadership of the Bible Society of India for giving me an opportunity to visit Greece on an official assignment. Visiting Greece, gave me immense joy because of its Theological, Biblical and Ecclesiastical significance. The City of Corinth is known to readers of the New Testament for the letters addressed to its Christian community by Apostle Paul.

Looking at the backdrop, Apostle Paul was thoroughly convinced that social problems have theological roots and I love him for that as he addresses the same with the Christological affirmations in the New Testament; the death and the resurrection of Christ.  Paul launches into a discourse on reconciliation using the Greek style on debate.  He starts with preposition, opposition and concludes with resolution. Paul clearly states his motto that he has been sent not to baptize but to ‘gospelize’, and that’s his preposition.  In other words, in all that we do the Cross of Christ should not be made void.  In contrary, the Christians in Corinth, the cross of Christ was emptied by the eloquent bewitching brilliance and humanistic philosophy. Sophist’s philosopher Protogorus elevated ‘man as the measure of all things’ and taught that individuals are not responsible to any transcendent moral authority for their actions. For them public speaking or rhetoric became an end in itself.  Paul says that the Corinthian Church was guilty of the same sin.  The preaching of the Word was to please men and to tickle their ears and the Church in Corinth was going the same way as Sophists. Today, our Christian theology, Church and the Scripture become relevant to the challenges of the modern world only when they reveal their identity with the crucified Christ.  At times sophisticated theology and politically correct rhetoric has negated the heart of the Gospel about crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.  In the words of Scottish Theologian Pete Forsai, “the Church rests in the Cross of Christ, if we move faith from that centre; we have driven the nail into the Church’s coffin.”

Paul, scoops out two pairs of contrasting concepts to make his point.

1. The word of wisdom and the word of the Cross. 

Paul uses wisdom in four senses – too bad and too good. The Greek word Sophia occurs 13 times in 15 verses and 20 times throughout the epistle. Paul here rejects the manipulative manner of speaking and the deceptive way of thinking. He focuses on the word of the Cross which is both God’s plan of salvation and Christ whom Paul describes as the Wisdom of God.  The Wisdom of the Cross is also Wisdom on the Cross. Those who consider themselves ‘wise’ reject this; reject God’s wisdom as foolishness and the word foolishness is where we get our word ‘Moran’.  Paul uses six times in these few verses. 

Paul contrasts human foolishness versus Divine foolishness.  Paul uses the word ‘Kerygma’ it is not just the content what we preach but the very act of preaching.  Today, it is not merely the doctrine of the Cross but even the institution of preaching that is derived and dismissed as irrelevant and absolute.  God makes wisdom foolish by making foolishness into wisdom.  It is with sadness I say that the Cross has never been nor will ever be popular in our context.  In our days, it is an offense to the secular liberal sentiment.  It was foolishness to the Greeks and scandalous to the Jews.  They anticipated a triumphant Messiah and a crucified Messiah was a contradiction to their expectations.     

2. Those who are perishing and those who are being saved.          

For Paul salvation is past, present and future. We have been saved from the penalty of sin and saved every day from the power of sin and one day we will be saved from the presence of sin. Salvation is both – individuals becoming new creatures in Christ and the universal order becoming a new creation in Christ. Paul asks three rhetoric questions:

1. Where is the wise man?
2. Where is the Scribe?
3. Where is the debater of the age?

Paul quotes from three verses in the Old Testament, Isaiah, Psalms and again Isaiah, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever, I will set aside.” Where Greeks ask for wisdom, Jews ask for a sign and the modern world looks for gimmicks.  Paul is committed to preach Christ crucified because he thoroughly understood that Christ alone has become our righteousness, sanctification and redemption and no one can dare to boast in their merits.  The social structure of Corinth was reversed by the Cross of Christ.  It was the foolishness of the world that were called to shame the wise and the weak to shame the strong. Paul resonates from Jeremiah while he resolutely points out, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” The cross is the greatest leveler in all of human history.  We are all equal at the foot of the Cross. As Bishop Temple said, “My worth is what I am worth to God and that is the great marvelous deal for Christ died for me.” Only the preaching of the Cross of Christ can heal the fragmented world as it healed the Corinthian Church. 

So, what do we boast in?  Is it really the Cross of Christ? Is there something else in our lives, in our Churches, organizations that risk becoming the substitute for the Cross?  

If the above said visitor were to visit our homes, Churches and organizations, would the visitor be convinced that we boast in nothing, except the Cross of Christ?      

Quite often, we all stand at the cross-roads of momentous decision making, what will we do?  Many years ago, a good friend of mine told me, “When you come to the cross-roads of life take the CROSS-ROAD.  The road marked by the CROSS. Let’s take the road, less travelled and that will make all the difference.  May God bless us all. Amen.

Rev. Sudhakara Raju,

Manager – (Department of Church, Public Relations & Resource Mobilisation)

Bible Sunday was observed on December 4, 2022 in different churches all over the state of Mizoram Mizoram with two selected themes. Rev. Remlalfaka, Auxiliary Secretary attended the forenoon service at BCM Bethlehem Vengthlang Church, and the afternoon and night service at PCI Durtlang Church as a speaker. Bible Sunday programme was greatly appreciated by members of the Churches. Auxiliary Secretary was accompanied by Auxiliary Staff and BESY Choir who presented beautiful songs.

FUNDRAISING, SPECIAL STORY

Below is a pictorial presentation of a Mizo lady from the Aizawl Auxiliary, her name is Mrs. Hautiali, age 78 from Melbuk Presbyterian Church, which is located in the eastern side of Mizoram at a distance of 198.6 kms from Aizawl, capital of Mizoram and about 7 hrs 13 minutes journey by road. She collects iron and aluminum waste from individual houses, and sells them to a scrap dealer from her village every month. From whatever she collects, she will offer tithe to the Church and remaining without missing a penny she will donate for the ministry of the BSI. She does this every month no matter how much she collect; it may be between USD 5 to 20 a month. She is a great inspiration for many, the haves and haves – not to contribute for the Bible cause. (source: Elder Denghmingthanga, Secretary – CPRRMD sub-committee, Aizawl Auxiliary)

The 74^th Republic Day of our country was celebrated in our offices across the nation.  The staff of BSI actively participated in the flag hoisting event to show their respect for the constitution of our country and to intercede for the National and Regional leaders.

At the William Carey Centre, the General Secretary Rev. Dr. M. Mani Chacko unfurled the flag.  He spoke about the significance of the past, present and future of our country.  Dr. Hrangthan Chhungi, the Associate Director, Department of Church, Public Relations & Resource Mobilisation was the speaker for the day.  She spoke from the life of Paul, his life transformation from Saul to Paul.  With the power of being a transformed person by Christ comes the responsibility of Christians in building nations, as Paul was instrumental in building the community of Christians.  The message was very relevant and meaningful to each one of us.

At the Bible House in Cuttack Mr. Ranjan Ranjit Panda,Treasurer of  BSI, Odisha Auxiliary unfurled the National flag and shared Jabalpur Auxiliary came together to celebrate this occasion on the 26^th of January 2023. At the Bible House in Jabalpur Mr. Varun Washington led the program. The opening prayer was led by Mr. Ajay David, followed by the patriotic song  “Pyara  Hindustan Hamara ……..”. Mr. Varun  Washington highlighted about the importance of this day and the role played by our patriotic leaders. We salute all of them for their exemplary services towards the nation building.  Mr. Darshan Kumar, the former-staff of BSI, Jabalpur Auxiliary, unfurled the Flag. Thereafter, the national anthem was sung. The closing prayer was led by Mr. Varun Washington.

The Bible Society of India celebrated the BSI Church Relations’ Day and Unity Octave virtually on January 30, 2023 across all our offices in India.  It was a time to come together irrespective of denominations and languages.  The theme for the day was “Do Good; Seek Justice” (Isaiah 1:17)

Rev. Dr. Sr. Virginia Rajkumari, Secretary, Diocesan Bible Commission, Archdiocese of Bangalore was the guest speaker.  Her message challenges everyone as she started with a rhetorical question, “Does everyone feel the purpose of coming on this platform? Church, the word translated “Church” in the English Bible is ekklesia. This word is the Greek word kaleo (to call), with the prefix ek (out). Thus, the word means “the called out ones.” However, the English word “Church” does not come from ekklesia but from the word kuriakon, which means “dedicated to the Lord.”

1. The Person (Isaiah)

The True speaker is the Lord Himself. He counsels the divided kingdom of Judah to seek justice (v. 17), which is an acknowledgment of the existence of injustice and oppression in their society. He has described Judah as a sinful nation and covered in iniquity (Isaiah 1:4). He has called their sacrifices and offerings and religious gatherings meaningless (Isaiah 1:13) because of their sinful lifestyles. They were walking in disobedience to him and using their worship as a cover-up for a shameful lifestyle. All this points to the existence of ego, desire for power, position etc.  Therefore, the Lord says, “Wash, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.”

2. Background to the Person

Isaiah is called the prophet of holiness; there is a background to his call; in God’s holiness he realizes his own sinfulness.  The Greek word, Hagios means to be different; chosen from among the rest; they are to be different. Be different in doing good and practicing Justice. What is the identity of a Christian?  It is to be holy which means to be different not as denominations but as Christians. Why? Our building is on the foundation of Resurrection. We are not here as corporate business people or to sell Jesus through his miracles. Christians are people of Hope. Examples from Christ for good: But I say… to be different: Forgiveness on Cross; Feed my sheep; Example of Justice: Centurion: Truly he is innocent. All division has its root in sin, that is, in attitudes and actions that run counter to the unity that God desires for the whole of his creation. If we want to be “holy”, and if we want to be one of “the holy ones”, then we have to deny ourselves!   And what do we deny ourselves of?   Well, we have to deny ourselves of anything and everything that contradicts Jesus Christ.  Let us be Different!

Dr. Hrangthan Chhungi led the meaningful worship. Rev. Soma Bhatkar, Senior Auxiliary Secretary, BSI Ranchi Auxiliary led the congregation to confession and forgiveness through the reading of Isaiah 1:12-18 followed by the prayer of intercession led by Rev. Gershombhai Kristi – Auxiliary Secretary, BSI Northwest India Auxiliary and Pro-tem BSI Bombay Auxiliary. Rev. Dr. M. Mani Chacko, General Secretary offered the closing prayer and pronounced the benediction.

With 177 Candles lit in the Bible House lawns, which was beautifully illuminated, marked the 177 years the journey of Allahabad Auxiliary on 4th December, 2022. The much awaited United Candlelight and Annual Thanksgiving Service was organized at Bible House lawns. Allahabad churches look forward to this event as it starts the Christmas celebrations. Since last year we have clubbed it with the Annual Thanksgiving Service. Rev. Edmond,Auxiliary Committee Member from Barielly, offered the opening prayer followed by the congregational Christmas carol and a word of welcome by the Auxiliary Secretary. Prof. Sumita Parmar, President, Allahabad Auxiliary, brought the Presidential greetings, she said that during the past year many of us have grappled with some serious problems specially posed by the Covid-19 and may have even lost their loved ones, and it was challenging year for many of us. She further encouraged the gathering to continue to be part of the BSI movement.

Annual Report for the year 2021-2022 was released by the Auxiliary Officers, Bishop Jagdhari Masih offered the prayer. 15 choirs of various Church denominations and institutions presented spirit filled Christmas carols for the glory of God. In between the presentations Rev. Chittranjan Polson briefed the congregation about the work and ministry of BSI. He also presented his report and the gathering appreciated it with applause.

Former Auxiliary President and educationist Dr. Grace Zaman relased the “Biblos” a bi-monthly news letter in Hindi. Dn. Dr. Ajai Dass offered the prayer. The Auxiliary Secretary briefed about the need and content of this initiative. The “Biblos” 1st edition, on the theme “Creation/ Christmas/ Beginning, is a concise history of Bible Society and the Auxiliary, pictorial report of the events, message of Christmas, i.e. “Christmas is Creator becoming Christ”, Bible quiz, and appeal for participation. Adv. Arun Saunders, Treasurer, Allahabd Auxiliary, in his closing remarks expressed his appreciation for all the participants and staff . The program came to a close with the congregation singing the carol, “Silent night..” with the lit candles in their hands as reminder to be the light in the darkness.

The Odisha Auxiliary had a wonderful Christmas Carol service on December 22, 2023 after 2 consecutive years due pandemic restrictions. The pastors, leaders, prayer partners, some donors and the family members of the staff could join the service. Rev. Sam Somalingam, Pastor, Church of God, Cuttack was the speaker for that day. There were different performances by the women from Women Prayer Fellowship, our staff & some of their children. Special time of prayer was held for those who are sick and who are facing different kinds of problems in their life along with a prayer for our nation. The programme ended with a cup of coffee & cake. 

The BSI Dimapur Auxiliary staff and volunteers along with their family members celebrated pre-Christmas on 20^th December 2022 at Bible House, Dimapur. Rev. Atshen Yimkhiun, Secretary, BSI Kuda Branch was the Guest Speaker. He spoke on the theme “Immanuel (God with us).” He shared that God was with us, is with us and will be with us. He is here with us in our every situation helping us to overcome difficulties in our daily life. He is with us in our ministries. Not only that but He is in us and we will be reigning with Him forever. He challenged members to receive Christ into our hearts as we celebrate Christmas and work more for God’s Kingdom cause.

The programme was chaired by Mrs. Christina Kachari and Mr. Joyson Thangal led the opening prayer. Welcome Speech was delivered by Mr. Marwati. Special songs were presented by staff and Mr. Lhokishe Shohe. Mr. Nathan Angami read the Word of God. Mr. Ganhang Aran pronounced benediction. The celebration concluded with Christmas dinner.

The Minister for Minority Welfare of the Government of Andhra Pradesh celebrated Christmas in the premises of District Collector’s Office in Guntur on 21st Dec. The AP Auxiliary Secretary Rev. K. John Vikram shared the Christmas message and presented BSI calendars to the guests of honour. The BSI AP Auxiliary staff actively participation in the event. 

The year 2022 ended with a joyful note for the staff of the Central Office with Christmas celebration in physical after two consecutive years of virtual celebration through zoom due to Covid19 pandemic restrictions. This celebration was held under the theme “Unique Christmas” while thanking God and God’s unique ways of leading us through the year 2022. We had Rev. A.C. Benjamin, National Director, FEBA India as the Guest Speaker, and Rev. Rammawipuia and his wife Mrs. Lalruotmoi as Special Guest for the programme. Rev. Rammawipuia, Pastor of Bangalore Mizo Presbyterian Church brought greetings to the gathering, also prayed the concluding prayer and announced the benediction and Mrs. Lalruotmoi rendered a beautiful Christmas Carol “O Holy Night”. Staff from different offices such as WCC, Hall Road, Warehouse, Karnataka Auxiliary and Book Room, and the Logos, each rendered special Christmas song in different Indian languages. The programme ended with a joyful song “Feliz Navidad” followed by distribution of snacks and photo session.  

On her retirement, we bid farewell to Mrs. Joyce Pallat and we thank God for her faithful service rendered to the ministry of BSI for 19 years with commitment and joy. The BSI Logos Office team rendered special farewell song for Mrs. Joyce. Mr. Paul Stephen, Director, Publishing and Marketing Department in his farewell and felicitation speech spoke about Mrs Joyce Pallat’s great commitment in her works with much appreciation and admiration. Mrs. Joyce is a woman of strong faith, who can be relied on for the multiple tasks in her hands. She is the stronghold of her family even amidst crises situations, she stood firm with boldness and faith in God. Her husband,  daughter and son-in-law were with us on her farewell day. Rev Dr. M. Mani Chacko, the General Secretary, BSI handed Mrs. Joyce with the BSI farewell gift, citation and memento along with a shawl.