Newsletter - May 2008

A Message from our Vicar

   

Dearly Beloved in Christ,

            Greetings to you all in the name of our lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

     This Month we have two important events coming up. On May 11th Sunday we are celebrating our Harvest Festival. This is a very important occasion. Though we may think it is fund raising event for the church, it has a meaning beyond that. Of course the church survives with the donations of its members. But what is the message and meaning of the Harvest Festival? This year we have taken the slogan for Harvest festival from the book of Proverbs chapter 3 verse 9. It says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with first fruits of all your crops”. This is a significant invitation. Honoring God is our responsibility. For God is the one who gave us everything we have in life. Our health, wealth, education, home, family, children so on and so forth. We received all these from God. The list is endless. Even the breath that we breath each moment is God’s gift. Therefore we have to honor God.

     How do we have to honor God? There are several ways we can honor God. We can honor God by our words. Some people honor God with their good deeds. Some people honor God through worship. Here the specific invitation is to honor God with our wealth. One of the areas people get very touchy about is the area of finance. We are very sensitive when it comes to money matters. Wealth is a powerful means—both for good and for bad. Everything in life is in some or other way related to money. Honoring God with wealth means showing honesty in giving to God. Therefore we must be careful and prayerful while doing this.

     Harvest Festival is a yearly celebration where we try to honor God with fruits of our labor. The fruit does not mean vegetables and fruits. It figuratively means the result of our effort. The labor needs not to be agricultural labor. Whatever labor or work we do, produce ‘fruits’ or result. The fruit could be in the form of money – cash or kind. Don’t forget to offer the first fruit to God.

     There is a reward God promises to us. “Then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine”( Prov. 3: 10). This is the way God is going to honor us. Just imagine the opposite of this promise. If you give, you will have blessings in plenty. Then, if you don’t give…! The answer is clear. You wont have what is called sufficiency. The choice is yours. Either you can look for a life of plenty (not in terms of quantity but in terms of quality) or you can look for a life of limitation and scarcity. Remember God’s blessings are conditional, though His love is unconditional. Therefore try your level best to honor God by your wealth and offerings!

     We are also celebrating the Pentecost Sunday on the 11th of June. That is the time we remind ourselves of the Holy Spirit poured on us. This does not mean that we remember Holy Spirit once a year. Spirit of God is our faithful guide each moment of our life. But on Pentecost Sunday we plan our Sunday worship to remember the act of God pouring out Spirit on every flesh.  God is faithful in keeping His promises. It is we who fail Him always. In the month of May try to focus our study of the Bible on Holy Spirit. Also prepare our hearts for the new pouring of God’s Spirit.

May God bring His special blessings on each one of us and on our congregation as a whole, through our Harvest Festival and Pentecost Festival.

 With prayers and love,

Rev. Joseph Mathew

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