- Contact
details
- Achen
- Rev. Varghese
Mathew
-
- Vice
President
- Mr. P K Oommen
(Joy)
- Tel: 01515242720
- E-mail: mjoyoommen@aol.com
-
- Secretary
- Mr. V S Varghese
(Manoj)
- Tel: 01512833505
- E-mail manojvadak@yahoo.co.uk
-
- Trustee
Finance
- Mr. Geevarghese
John
- Tel: 01512915852
- Email: annjes2003@yahoo.com
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From
Achen's Desk January 2010
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- EBEN-EZER, THUS FAR THE LORD
HAS HELPED US. 1Sam. 7:12
-
Dearly Beloved in
Christ,
- We are saying goodbye to the year
2009, eagerly welcoming the New Year (2010) with lots of
expectations. We are at a transition point, a junction
where we have to look backward and
- forward.
-
The great Prophet Samuel brought
the people of Israel to a junction point, He took a stone
and
- placed it and said “thus far
the lord has helped us “- EBEN-EZER. This is the
point where he
- took a stop to look back. He could
see both the good and bad times of the life from the past
to
- the present. (read 1 Sam.
7:3-12)
-
In v.3 he points out to the
Israelites of their deviation from the true living God.
It is not that they
- had completely forsaken their God
but they in cooperated the idols of Baal in their
worship.
-
Why it happened so?
- 1. Priority for the
existence.
- The Israelites found it difficult
to worship the one and only one God in a polytheistic
society. To
- be comfortable they had to make
some compromises and yield to the social pressures of
their
- environment. The rich heritage of
faith was interpreted according to their conveniences.
The
- compromises may have made them
much more acceptable in that society. Compromises
are
- not adaptability. In adaptability
one need not compromise with the basic faith, value
systems
- and ethics. We too are victims of
compromises in our present situation for the sake of
our
- existence. Like the Israelites,
our existence is more important for us than our
Creator.
- We too incorporate the Baal idols
in our daily life. The idols are the priorities that we
set in our
- life in relation to God. We are
more conscious of keeping our social idols higher in our
life, our
- job, education, family, children,
investments, and social status ...the list will be never
ending.
- When all these take a place above
God, then we find less time for worship, devotion
and
- fellowship with God and his
creation. In other words we become more and more selfish.
This is
- a new form of Baal worship in our
life. In this circumstance what should we do?
-
2. Resetting the priority for
existence
- v. 5. At the prophecy of Samuel,
the Israelites realised how far they had gone away from
God
- in their life. They repented and
fasted. They opened themselves before God personally and
as
- a group. This helped them to
identify the idols in their worship. It helped them to
change their
- life style, their worship style
and their whole being. Thus their whole priorities where
reset.
- They held fast to their true
Redeemer, the living God, the Creator and the Sustainer.
They
- experienced the Grace of the Lord
more powerfully... It is high time for us too, to realise
our
- distance from God. Let us open our
hearts before him. Know what our true self is. Seek
his
- pardon. Reset our priorities in
life. Give first place to God in everything.
-
3. Reaffirming the hand of the
lord.
- After the victory when Samuel said
“Thus far God helped us”, EBEN-EZER, his words
had
- great meaning.
It was the statement of
acknowledgement of the failure (worshiping
idols)
- A statement of better
understanding of self (repentance)
- A statement of remembrance of the
good and bad days (thanks giving)
- The Israelites had both happy
days, and the days of pain. They had a deep pain of
humiliation,
- defeat, loss etc.
-
As we are welcoming the New Year we
too have hurt feelings, sorrows, sufferings along
with
- joy and happiness. Let us look
back and identify the idols in our life and repent. Like
Samuel,
- let us look into the pains and
struggles with the eye of faith and see how He has guided
us
- thus far in our life. All our
struggles and pains have strengthened us to be strong
and
- courageous. It was the pain and
struggle that helped us to see the Glory of God
and
- experience his care and love more
meaningfully. It is a source of hope and strength
to
- welcome the New Year
optimistically. It will surely help us to shine in the
darkness and face
- our life with added strength and
confidence. It is the struggle, which helps us to see the
hand
- of the lord in our
life.
-
LET US TOGETHER SAY “THUS FAR
THE LORD HAS HELPED US” EBEN-EZER.
- Let us grow in fellowship with God
and with each other through our worships in the New
Year
- Wish you all a happy and
meaningful New Year.
- In the love of Christ,
-
Rev. Varghese
Mathew
- 0161 2208376 ® 07852557598
(M)
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