Clothe yourself with Love Col. 3:14

I was always fascinated by stories of missionaries from far distant lands. One of those I never forgot. It was a story of two tribes who were long-term enemies, over the years they had lost in fighting a lot of people both sides. The missionaries kept learning new things about the local culture that would could provide an opportunity to share the Good News of Salvation in Jesus Christ. I grew up in Rwanda and Camels are no where to be found there. I learned them in books and got to see them only when I got here in the United States. There are cultures that have never seen a sheep. It's an incredible task for missionaries to explain the Gospel because if they don't know the sheep, there is no way they would understand the lamb of God. Missionaries have to find things that are in their culture that can have the same value so that they can understand the Gospel. It turns out in this particular story that, in order to make peace with other tribes, it was required that both tribe...

TUE EP Reflection 102522 Luke 11:27-36 Hear God’s word and Obey While he was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!’ When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ‘This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise at the judgement with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here! ‘No one after l...

Sermon 101622 Since the early days of God’s call on Abraham, it seems that God’s relationship with the nation of Israel was up and down, and the time of the prophet Jeremiah was no different. Israel had not learned its lesson because, time after time their hearts veered off the course, and they fell into complacency and forgot God’s ways and did things their own way. No worries, they were punished for it, so were the following generations as well. They faced hardships, some of which, are almost similar to ours. They might not have experienced the devastation of the atomic bomb, but they also knew terrible effects of war and living in exile. They also knew worse pandemics than we have known: a much higher rate of deaths. Just like us, they faced broken relationships, they had pride, greed and conflicts just like we do. No wonder God is seen comforting the next generations: He promised them that they will no longer be liable for the sins of their parents: “This time you will be liable fo...

John 6:16-27 The seamless journey: An encounter with the divine When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, got into a boat, and started across the lake to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The lake became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, * they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, ‘It is I; * do not be afraid.’ Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land towards which they were going. The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the lake saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. * So, when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciple...

John 6:1-15 We are rational beings; we are glued to the dynamics of our economic, social systems we found our world using. Therefore, it’s very difficult for us to adapt the workings of faith in the Kingdom of God here and now. For a person who was born in the first century, life was rough, people’s life expectancy was much lower than it is today. Many people died at such a young age. However, in Jesus’ time still, feeding five thousand people would have been such an enormous undertaking for them as it is for us today. It would have been a shock for me as well to hear Jesus say: “let’s buy some bread for all these people!” Growing up, we get to understand what is in the realm of impossibility and what’s possible. For example, one person cannot drink a whole ocean of water. That is in the realm of impossibility. When we are talking about the spiritual realm of the Kingdom of God, its dynamics are very different from what we are used to. Jesus decided to open the eyes of Philip who in ...

Evening Prayer Reflection 080522 Acts 4:13-31 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions of Jesus. When they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. So, they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another. They said, ‘What will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable sign has been done through them; we cannot deny it. But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.’ So, they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.’ After threatening them again, they let t...

“ But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard, what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they on their part acted with cunning… But the Israelites did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel .” Joshua 9. Today I want to consider the power of vows in our day and age. We live in a world where values are changing faster than we can speak, therefore affecting the way vows or commitment decisions are viewed. While reading this Old Testament passage, I was intrigued because a people finally realized how powerful Israelites had become and Gibeonites decided to deceive Israelites by making a treaty with them. Israelites were known to respect their God immensely so; the treaty was solid. Israelites were bound by their word sworn to Gibeonites by the Lord, the God of Israel, so they did not attack them. I learned that we are to be very careful at what we vow to. I have been in the process of officially becoming an Anglican Dominic...