S1-Day: 31 God in Dirty Places: Whose Side Are You Today?

“How depressed can this world make me? How stronger would it push me to become? How often does this happen to me? How can anyone answer me?”[1]

Depression has been the talk off late. Depression is a state of the self which is overburdened by loads of pressure, pain, agony, anxiety and so much more, that is often imposed either by the self or by others around. Many reasons lead to depression. But they all, never look the same. Yes, they never look the same. Depression is often misunderstood to be visible only with sadness, teary-eyes, gloomy face, unwell bodies, unkept hair and so on. But we often ignore the fact that depression has other faces like, loud laughter, broad smiles, fast-talker, humorous entertainer etc.

“This world is a greedy place, where humans think they find solace. It isn’t just another space, but it disguises itself with ‘heavenly grace’. This world means a lot to me, but for the world, I am just another flee, tinier than the tiniest bee.”

Social media went berserk with the news of an actor in India who suffered death by suicide. It sprung up arguments on nepotism in the industry, celeb-bullying and so much more. Yes, his life mattered. But what struck me hard was these people who speak so much for him, who run protests on his behalf were absolutely numb at the deaths of the many farmers, Dalits, queer people, women and even school-going children who were systemically killed (death by suicide). Thus, proving “elite life matters”. Who cares about those who are strangled by ‘us’? Any life that is seen less in the system is regarded as a piece of shit or even less.

“The fear of being alone always showed death so near. A depressed soul would be an alien here, with long faces that only gets nastier. Death is indeed easier, than this imposed ‘fear’.”

There are many individuals in the world waging a constant war against depression. Updating statuses/Inviting them to open-up to you, on social-media will never help. Those depressed will never reach you anyway. Those who are depressed are stuck in their own dirty-teary spaces. They confine themselves within. The reason is you! Yes, you hear me right. Had you been open/ non-judgmental with people who came to you before, you would have been their first choice to approach. Everyone goes through depression at some point in their lives. At that time, they know, if they speak to you, they are safe. They will confide with you and express/pour-out their heart to you.

“Depression has struck humanity, stripping off the masks of disguised-sanctity, showing human beings’ insanity, that pulls down the other, to stupidity.”

The questions to ask yourself today are, have I asked or said statements, mentioned below, to those who have shared something they were pained with, “talk to God, everything will be taken care-of”, or “maybe what you did was wrong, you should not have done it” or “God will punish you for what you have done”, “ask God for forgiveness and repent, God will forgive you” and so on? If your answer was a ‘yes’, go to that person and confess that you have sinned by speaking this way when all they wanted was for you to listen and feel the warmth of your embrace.

“There is no end for the world’s cruelty. There is no end to each one’s sweet-poisoned mentality. How then can there be, in this world, serenity, when all of humanity strives to kill each other’s dignity?”

God is with everyone, especially those who are depressed. But because God does not appear in a physical form, God sends people like you, me, us, the church, to be ‘present’. Instead of reflecting God, the ‘comforter’, we reflect God the ‘judge’. But the former is the need of the hour. Depression is dirty. It is a murderer. But it is in our hands if we want to side God the comforter or depression the murderer. Whose side are you today?

Prayer

God of those who are depressed, we confess that we have sinned against you and our friend. You called us to be Christ-like, but we differed and let down those who shared/tried to share their stories with us, forgive us we pray. Give us the courage to listen and to embrace those who are depressed. And lead us into your love, to remain channels of comfort and consolation. Amen.

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Author: Vinod Shemron

About the Author

 Reference

[1] Lines from a poem I wrote in 2014, ‘Loneliness’, is woven into the reflection.

S1-Day 30: God in Dirty Places: God lives in Poverty

The present world with all the Neo-gospels coming out from every nook and corner Prophets and Prophetess blatantly name the poor and those who are strangled by poverty as sinners and claim it is because for their sin that they are poor. Materialistic blessing has become a sign of God's presence. Those who donate or fund, support the ministries are the ones whom God would bless abundantly. There is also a fund-raising gimmick that is used in the Indian Churches. The Blessing Tray (Aseervatha Thattu) that is mandatory in any of the church's mega fund-raising programs. God only knows who brought this into the church. Sigh! Some poor are pushed to participate in the auction and are made to believe that the blessing tray would raise their standard of living. In such a context, as a community of God we are called to revisit poverty and God with those in poverty. 

Poverty as a collective oppression 

Poverty is not because of people being lazy or not being literate. It is our systematic acts of using them for menial works with meager pay that pushes them to live in shacks and stenchy river banks and slums. The hidden agenda is to make them always starve and plead for help and mercy from those who are powerful and rich. History of the dominant repeats itself everyday even more life-threatening than the earlier centuries. 

Oscar Romero who was canonized into sainthood bears witness to such a history where most Salvadorans lived in extreme poverty, while a small number of rich families controlled most of the wealth and political power. It was against these powers that Bishop Romero battled even unto to his death in the midst of a Holy Mass. Remember it is always those who you term people living in dirt, who help you to maintain your cleanliness, those who keep your places clean, yet live in dirty places. 

It is in their poverty, you are made clean. It is your deliberate oppression and economic injustice that makes them to live in guttery-stench makeshift shelters. It's our collective oppression that has resulted in their poverty. 

Helping the Poor - The Bounden duty of the Church 

The Church's duty doesn't stop with the distributing food or clothing or special occasions but in sensitizing the rich and dominant to understand that it's the greed and negligence towards their fellow brothers and sisters that has resulted in poverty. 

There are a lot of churches whose offertory covers which are earmarked for charity or for the poor. But the fund never reaches them nor it is used for them. Those in power use it for feeding the poor once in a year or find it hard to help the poor. Helping the poor is not going to bring you loads of blessing, rather you become an instrument of creating hope and trust in God for those who live their lives with fear of breathing or surviving the next meal. 

Last but not least, the demand for more with scarce resources makes chaos and stampede, not their poverty. When you help the poor ensure that you help the deserving not the self-acclaimed or entitled poor. May the Good Lord help us realize this dirty sin of ours and change our intentions of creating binaries of clean and unclean. And if you think Poverty is dirty. Yes, God is living amidst these dirty ones to make you realize that you have collectively contributed towards this dirtiness. 

Prayer 

Our loving God who has created us in your own image. Help us to see you in every individual we see. May Holy Spirit urge us to see the realities of the world and respond to it. May we strive to drive the dirtiness that we have made with our wrong motifs. We ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who lives among the poor. Amen 

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Author: Rev. Raj Kumar Johnwesley 

About the Author: Rev Raj Kumar, is the son of Church Sexton. He completed his BD from United Theological College, Bangalore. He is currently serving CSI Madras Diocese as Presbyter of CSI Nallattur - Poonimnagadu, Ponpadi Thazhavedu Pastorates. His interests are reading, drama and sports

S1-Day 29: God in Dirty Places: Co-Suffering, Life-Giving God (Or) Retributive God: Polarized Views on God

The Pandemic, Covid-19, has not just affected humans physically, psychologically, economically and socially, but also spiritually. The fear of the disease has shut the doors of Churches and we witness a rapid increase in “Online Services and E-propagation of the 'Word of God'". Moreover, this has become a boon for Tele-Evangelists to establish a name for them by strongly propagating their own Biblical and (so called) Prophetical Interpretations over Covid-19. Many such claim, “Covid-19 is a Judgment of God on Humanity, to punish/correct people for their sins and bring them to Repentance so that they won’t be thrown into hell”. They use Scripture (esp. 2 Chronicles 7:14) and convince Christians to believe that the God we worship is a Retributive and a Judgmental God, who showers plagues and deadly pestilence over God’s own creation because of their sin. 

Such usages of scripture aroused important questions about God in me: Is God of the Bible really retributive and judgmental? Does the Bible reflect a killer God who murders own creation (including innocents who are void of sin) because of their sinful nature or a forgiving God who loves and forgives God’s own creation just like a father and mother? When did my sins become more important to God rather than my life and my sufferings? What is the point of having grace and mercy, when sin prevents God from helping me and being with me as Immanuel in my sufferings and miseries? Is God so cruel to use Pain and Suffering (such as Covid-19) to change me rather than using love and forgiveness alone? These polarized views on God itself during Covid-19 led me back to the Bible to search for the nature of God. 

Directing Verse: Jeremiah 31:31-37 & John 10:1-21 

Jeremiah 31:31-37 speaks about New Covenant which God makes with Humanity/Creation. In the Old Testament, we see God making Covenant with Noah (Genesis 9:8-17), Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), Moses/Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:3-6), David (2 Samuel 7:1-17) and Jeremiah/New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34). All these five covenants of God express the Heart and Nature of God. God is seen as the one who loves Life – the life of all God’s creation. God never paves way for destruction and doesn’t destroy God’s own creation. In Jeremiah 31, God passionately declares God’s Love for God’s Creation, when God says: I am their God, and they are my people and my offspring and nothing can change that, not even their Iniquities or Sins (v34: for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more). This is the true nature of God. R.B.Y. Scott opines that “Covenant required a real sharing of Life”. Even today, God remembers that covenant and shares Life to creation and never destroys or disrupts God’s own creation through any plagues or deadly pestilence. 

John 10 speaks about Jesus as “The Good Shepherd”, which is one of the very inherent Nature of God and Jesus. Jesus uses a subversive metaphor of his times, to portray his true nature over his creation. Jesus says two important phrases: I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly (v10) and I lay down my life for the Sheep (v11). Just like God, Jesus’ nature is to provide Life to all creation. But Jesus goes a step further and says: I lay down my life for the Sheep, which means that Jesus never intends to take anyone’s life, but rather give his own life so that others can get Life, which Jesus did on the Cross. 

It is through our critical engagement with Scriptures, we understand true nature of God. When the creation is groaning for life and is at the brink of survival, we encounter the presence of God through various means striving to provide life and partake in the sufferings of humanity. In this Covid-19 scenario, we encounter the same mind of God in God’s Children also. On the one hand, we encounter Doctors, Nurses, Health Care Professionals, Sanitary Workers, Manual Scavengers and Police who try to prevent more people from being infected by this virus, while on the other hand, we encounter Individuals, Government, Churches, Mosques, NGO’s, and other Organization workers, who come together to help people who are suffering in this pandemic because of hunger. This is a clear indication of the Nature of God that exists in humanity. This is the nature that doesn’t brand people as sinners and call for repentance, but the nature that gives life, saves life and especially co-suffers when our dear brothers and sisters are suffering around because of Covid-19. This Covid-19 has showed us the true nature of God is never retributive. This image of a retributive God is either the outcome of human beings incapability to understand the true nature of God or depicts the horrid nature of human beings who use such scenarios for their personal gain and mislead people. When creation is at the threshold of survival, those who co-suffer and work for the survival of others reflect the nature of God, while those who pass judgment and call for repentance are always diabolical. How are we today? 

Prayer

O God of Love, Grace and Mercy, hear our cries as we suffer from the voices that pull our spirits down. Open our eyes, that we may see you in and through the scriptures we read. Grant us the knowledge to discern your will. Lead us not into the pit of the evil ones, but deliver us into just-seeing and just-living. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. 

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Author: Rev. Samuel Anbarasu 

About the Author: Samuel earned his Bachelor of Divinity from the United Theological College, Bangalore. He is an ordained minister of the Church of South India – Diocese of Madras. He is passionate about reading, movies, football and preaching. He is presently serving in the Gundur Pastorate.

S1-Day 28: God in Dirty Places: The Caved-in Rape

A newspaper article on May 13th 2020 read- “An 18-year-old girl from Morena district of Madhya Pradesh has accused her father of raping her twice during the coronavirus lockdown. The mother stood a mute spectator as the father raped the daughter saying, “it will only make things less painful after marriage.” This justification that the father gave for raping his daughter as reported in the article, ethically sounded outrageous, but according to both the accused and the victim’s mother who was the abettor of the crime it was justifiable, and hence they went ahead with the crime.

The instances of rape and sexual violence are either justified by blaming the victim or is kept hushed-up to uphold the "sanctity" of the home (family) or to avoid social stigma. Though, home is generally considered a safe space, for many it is a caved-in experience, a traumatic place which they cannot leave. Thus, destined to face trauma for major part of their lives.

There are many such instances in the bible, where rape/sexual violence occurring in families are ignored and a counter-narrative is applied to make the rape/sexual violence seem insignificant, as if it did not happen. Even to the extent of absolving the perpetrators of their heinous crime.

In Genesis 19, Lot offers to surrender his young daughters to be gang raped, to protect his guests from the crowd. In popular interpretation, though the intention of Lot is considered incorrect but is justified to uphold the "honor of the guests", the ancient law of hospitality, at the expense of his daughters. And then cleverly masked by giving a totally different connotation to the incident by emphasizing on the story of men wanting to “sleep/rape” other men.

Similarly, the eventual “rape of Lot” by his daughters when they were confined in a “cave”, was justified by the need to pro-create. Since blaming the victim is a norm, Lot being in an inebriated state is thus naturally seen as a justification for him to sleep with his daughters. The popular interpretation, thus, tries to absolve Lot and paint the daughters in a negative picture and then eventually saying that in the end it all served the larger good, i.e. to "continue" his line.

This without considering the trauma of the daughters who were betrayed by their father, whom they trusted to protect them, instead readily made them available to be raped by the Sodomites. They dint have a space to express themselves, express their feelings or trauma and eventually they took a decision from that dirty and traumatic space, the space where “obeying the law”, “the need to pro-create”, “need to bear sons for protection”, etc. was justified.

The justification of rape and sexual violence is so well imbibed in the social fabric of the patriarchal society, that at most times we fail to understand and empathize with the victims. The victims go through the trauma of blaming themselves for what is happening to them. Their identity is “protected” and in-turn their voices are silenced and thus their stories and struggles remain unheard. All this not to protect the victim but to protect the reputation of the families, to “safeguard” the victim from the society.

Is God really present when the body, mind and the sheer existence of the victims is “dirtied”? Is God truly there in this dirty place that victims are subjected to? Christ, who is the “Head of the Home”, is he present in such dirty homes too?

God creates safe places for the victims, just like the angel on hearing Lot offering his daughter’s to be gang-raped, asked Lot to take his daughters and wife and to flee to a safer place. Christ too in his ministry, provides a safe space for victims, where they are not judged (Women who was to be stoned by the Pharisees  John 8:3-11), they are given the freedom to express themselves (“Sinner” Women who anoints Jesus feet with perfume Luke 7: 36-50), and they are considered very important in Jesus’s ministry of spreading the good news (by appearing first to Mary Magdalene whom the popular narrative is as a “prostitute” Mathew 28:1-10)

Jesus enters their caved-in spaces, never to judge them, but empathize with them and let them express themselves. He provides them the safe space that they wanted, allowing them to talk about their traumatic experiences, their “dirty” bodies, and thus help them to heal and restore themselves.

Prayer:

O God, help us to be channels of your love and understanding. Help us, as a church and society to enter the caved-in spaces of the rape victims and facilitate a safe space where they can express and talk about their trauma. Let the love and care that we give to them help them and us to heal and restore and together bring healing to the world. Amen.

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Author:  Shruti Rajan

About the Author: Shruti was brought up in Pune. She originally hails from Kerala and belongs to the Marthoma Church. She did Bachelor of Engineering from the Savitri Bai Phule University, Pune in 2007, and also completed the Diploma in Proficiency in Counselling course from United Theological College, Bangalore in 2018. She is presently working as a software professional with Epsilon, Bangalore. 

S1-Day 27: God in Dirty Places: The Right to Dissent

God is often believed to be found in law and order and discipline for God is said to honor obedience and allegiance to authorities, civic and religious. Biblical texts such as Romans 13:1-5, 1 Peter 2:13-15, Colossians 3:22, and 1 Samuel 15:22 have been used to instill in people the need to abide by the divine command to obey and conform. The act of conforming to an earthly authority is equated to being patriotic or religious. There is a sense of comfort derived from practicing the ethics of conformity even at the risk of compromising life in all its fulness. 

The disapproval of dissent stems from the fear of the loss of privilege. Dissent leaves the one in power powerless, unable to control multiple voices, and unable to polarize peoples and communities. It challenges the dominant’s normative impulse to make conformists of people. It is no surprise that endangered leaders who pride on separationist and exclusionary politics do everything in their power to quell dissenting voices. But if history has taught us anything, it is that dissent, in just about any form or practice, has been the catalyst for rewriting and creating alternate histories, and the spark lighting up a fire that burns down the altars of fascism and dictatorship.

Dissent is not just a right; it is an ethical duty of all peoples. Yet, the only ones who dutifully exercise this right are those from the margins, right? This should tell us a lot about what dissent does to (the) privilege(d). The recent arrest of Dalit and Civil Rights activist Anand Teltumbde is an example of the state diffusing a dissenting voice. Prior to his arrest last month, Teltumbde is known to have said, “The jingoist nation and nationalism have got weaponized by the political class to destroy dissent and polarize people.”[i] Likewise, the jailing of Safoora Zargar, during her pregnancy, for dissenting against the controversial citizenship law aimed at Muslims is another example of the threatened silencing dissent.[ii]

The criminalizing of dissent by those in power is a great disservice to the democratic ideals of our Constitution, for the Constitution of India does recognize dissent as a right under Article 19(1) (a). The right to dissent allows common people to hold those in positions of privilege accountable for their use of power. The fear of having to be accountable to the public, more importantly to the dissenters who arise from the margins, is why elites criminalize dissent in the hope of eliminating it altogether. The criminalizing of dissent needs to stop and the act of criminalizing dissent must be criminalized.

Does the Bible advocate dissent? Absolutely! Jesus was a dissenter himself. One can even identify a dissenter in the prophets of the Hebrew scripture. These people were hardcore critics, never hesitating to hold different opinions on matters important to community living and to call out injustice in public spaces even at the risk of their own lives (and no, I’m not advocating for heroism or martyrdom of any kind). Dissenters refuse to sacralize power; they instead speak truth to power, and speak powerfully do they.

Jesus, to me, was a dissenter not just for making a habit of pointing out the hypocrisy of religious elite and confronting the rulers of his time, but also for vouching for the very principles that the powers that be distanced from. In other words, creating alternate “imaginations” of what a community must look like and what a leader ought to be as against the prevailing normative understandings of community and rulership largely bent on polarizing people and silencing voices. To dissent does not just involve questioning and critiquing the work of the dominant system, but importantly it involves, as noted above, the scripting of new possibilities and alternatives. Jesus did it. Today, communities from the underside of societies are doing it.

In her article identifying Korah as a religious dissenter (Numbers 16), Michal Raucher says that dissent is not a dirty word.[iii] When you understand dissent from a particular standpoint, dissent, and rightly so, is not dirty. Yet, I am also compelled to view dissent as dirty as it administers ‘purity tests’ on ideologies, morals, philosophies, beliefs and values of those in power. Perhaps, the religious and political elites are not wrong in assuming purity to themselves, their words and deeds, as they lack, evidently, any connection with those who dissent and rebel, the dirty and the filthy.[iv]

As citizens who love our country it is our bounded duty to be a voice of dissent calling out injustice, ensuring that wrongs are righted. As Christians who follow Jesus the dissenter, dissent becomes our responsibility, an ethical imperative.

Prayer: Giver of life and wisdom, we pray that you grant us the grace and the moral courage to stand up for what is right and question what is wrong. Give us the assurance that we are doing what we are doing for the sake of peace and justice. Empower us that we may empower others, humble us that we may in turn be empowered. May love be our guide and courage be our strength. Amen.

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Name: Arvind Theodore

Profile: Arvind Theodore is an alumnus of the United Theological College, Bangalore. Prior to moving to the U.S. for his S.T.M. studies at Union Theological Seminary, New York, he worked as an Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Theology and Ethics in his alma mater for little over a year. Currently, he works as the Communications Coordinator for the Trinity Union Fellowship Program, and will begin his Ph.D. in the field of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in the Fall of 2020. 

References:

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[i] “India: Activists Detained for Peaceful Dissent,” Humans Rights Watch

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/15/india-activists-detained-peaceful-dissent

[ii] Betwa Sharma, “’Jamia’s Daughter’: Inside Safoora Zargar’s World of Love, Friendship and Dissent,” Huffpost,

https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/safoora-zargar-caa-jamia-delhi-riots_in_5ede695ec5b660b690dddcc3 (accessed June 8, 2020).

[iii] Michal Rauchar, “Dissent Is Not a Dirty Word,” JTS

http://www.jtsa.edu/dissent-is-not-a-dirty-word (accessed June 10, 2020).

[iv] In calling those who dissent “dirty” and “filthy,” I do not refer to any inherently dirtiness as the dominant would claim existence for, but instead referring to how derogatory labels are imposed by the dominant on those at the margins.

S1-Day 26: God in Dirty Places: ‘Childline 1098’

Intriguing line: “The world I love so much became a place of suffering and I want to run from here but I don’t know which way to turn. Help me to find a safe place to be myself”[1]

‘My story lives for Justice though I’m murdered.’

One fine Wednesday evening, I went to my friend’s house to play. I was happily playing with her outside the house until a man came and touched me. He grabbed me and ordered me to keep quiet. I obeyed him because he was my father’s friend, uncle Kachakla. He pulled down my shirt, forcefully injected his penis into my vagina, and tightly covered my mouth as I tried to scream. I experienced excruciating pain as he was penetrating forcefully. I tried to shove him and run away but I was too weak to match his strength. My ideal evening that day became a nightmare to me and my family as uncle Kachakla raped me and dumped my body into a deep gorge. My name is Rini (pseudo name). I am 6 years old girl from a Gomati district, Tripura. I am no more here today but I am everywhere.

(Case report was taken from mirrorsnownews.com. The report has already re-arranged in the form of story narrated by lost victim in order to express the pain and agony that had undergone by that little girl)

When people across the world are doing all they can to save lives during this pandemic by staying at home, another life, innocent and pure, is at the risk of being dirtied, polluted, and stained. The lockdown has helped families reconnect and rebuilt their relationship. It has even helped reboot parent-children time in many ways. Yet, for a lot many families, the lockdown has resulted in children sharing homes with their abuser/s. Several alarming reports state that a shocking number of cases of abuse were reported through the ‘CHILDLINE 1098’ helpline. According to the hindu.com/news reported that the helpline received 3.07 lakh calls from March 20-31, 2020 for children in distress across the country, and 30% were about protection against abuse and violence on children. If outdoors isn’t safe for children, indoors are no better. 

“Where was God?” and “What was God doing?” are questions that trouble everyone, even more the ones who have experienced sexual abuse. Though the Bible expresses God’s profound solidarity with victims of abuse, these questions and more point to something deep: the non-presence of God. Elise Harris (“Theologian, survivor argues that Jesus himself suffered sexual abuse,” in CRUX) viewed of Rocio Figueroa, a theologian and sexual abuse survivor too, on Jesus himself as a victim of sexual abuse. Figueroa says, “If we see Jesus in his human reality, and that he himself suffered sexual humiliation and he felt what a victim could feel, now that is powerful. He also felt ashamed in his body. He felt mocked, he felt vulnerable, (like) a victim feels when their body is exposed without respect.” Figueroa is referring to Jesus being stripped naked, tortured, and crucified as a form of sexual abuse. 

Sexual abuse or rape is not a sexual act, even if it involves sexual organs. To insert the penis, a symbol of power and manliness, into the vagina, often perceived to be “dirty” and “smelly,” is an act of power-over, an act of humiliation. It is a way of sustaining and reminding the one being abused, of their inferiority and powerlessness. However, I must state that penetration alone does not constitute abuse. Touching, silencing, and manipulation a victim also constitutes abuse. In child abuse, there is a clear imbalance of power, and one must always take that into account, irrespective of who the abuser is, or in what manner the child has been abused. 

To come to the question of the non-presence of God, Figueroa, from her own experience of abuse, states that viewing Jesus as a victim of sexual abuse was healing for her. She states, “When you’re in that crisis, you think that God abandoned you… So when you see that Jesus suffered, Jesus knows what I have lived, it’s a source of big consolation.” What this tells me is that Jesus, just like the children who are violated by horny men, is dirtied and defiled. When men violate and defile innocent bodies, they desecrate God’s body all over again. When little children are being sexually abused, betrayed, and ravaged, God is not absent: she is present in that valley of death crying, suffering, and experiencing the pain of being invaded along with the little children, the innocent victims. The question then is not whether God is in dirty places as much as whether God is being ‘dirtied’ (and “dirtied,” of course, is too simple a word). There is no ‘blood’ unjustly spilt that does not cry out for justice.

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Author: Hungreiphy ZAS

About the Author: Hungreiphy, a Tangkhul Naga from Manipur. Having completed her B.D. studies from Leonard Theological College, Jabalpur and M.Th. in History of Christianity from United Theological College, Bangalore, she currently works as a lecturer in the Department of History of Christianity at Yavatmal College for Leadership Training, Yavatmal Maharashtra.

 

References: 

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[1]Song lyrics “Safe Place (SATB Choir)” by James Kevin Gray.

S1-Day 25: God in Dirty Places: Inter-Caste Marriage

Among dozens of video clips that I come across and watch on social media platforms, one still stuck in my mind and sends shivers down my spine is a CCTV footage just outside a hospital in Telangana’s Nalgonda District where Pranay, a Dalit Christian, is murdered in broad daylight in front of his pregnant wife Amrutha, an "upper caste" girl.

Caste-based murders are declarations. Declaration made by the "dominant", that the evil structure of caste is here to stay, to be preserved and sustained at all odds; declaration that any threat to the purity of a community will not be tolerated but dealt mercilessly; declaration that the honour of my family/community is more precious than your "dirty" life and desires. As my friend Arvind Theodore puts it rightly in his article  ‘The Shulamite Lives On’, “[…] the adversaries do not have any qualms in identifying themselves as antagonists simply because it is seen as a divine and moral right to defend the purity and honour of one’s community.”

Endogamy is the norm of Indian society. Communities, dominant and even for that matter subaltern, insist on marriages within themselves. In doing so the caste system is respected and undisturbed. The most difficult thing for an Indian family to comprehend and accept is an inter-caste marriage and I confess to it. It is never about what the concerned partners want but always about what will the community/family say of this union. Same caste marriages are nurtured and propagated not just in our families but also in our churches. Sometime ago I came across a magazine, published by my diocese, that had a section for matrimonial advertisement where a passport size picture of the individuals, their details, and expectations for alliances were listed. Under those details the last one was “Caste preference” and some had mentioned “Nadar only,” some “Thevar only,” some “Adi Dravidar only,” while a few thankfully mentioned “Any caste” (good luck finding one!).

Jesus in the gospels goes against the understanding of blood- relations (caste is nothing but blood relations) of his times. In Matthew 12:46-50, when Jesus receives the message that his mother and brothers are waiting to speak to him his immediate response is a question. “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” This question of his critiques his very own community and culture that determines and considers family only in terms of blood-relations. There is no place, entry, space of acknowledgement and belongingness for the outsider. One does not hold the power to acknowledge anyone as family outside of the community. But Jesus dissents against that set boundary of familial relationships and says, “For whoever does the will of my God in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”    

Inter-caste relationships entail pain, torture, family and community ostracization and gruesome violence on individuals who go against the status quo. And one could only wish that all relationships and marriages had the tag “they lived happily ever after.” Yet, inter-caste relationships/marriages are not meaningless bonds; they too make subversive declarations. They have the power to disrupt, disturb, and dismantle the caste structure, they resist the idea of morality dictated by the powerful, and they protest the idea of purity and pollution. Lovers choose to be in such transgressive relationships knowingly, willingly all the while affirming that love cannot be dictated by any evil structure. 

Prayer

O God we remember that you created each of us in your own image. But we have created for ourselves our own boundaries in terms of our relationships, family and community. Help us as individuals, as a Church to break from such boundaries, to embrace those in an inter-caste marriage/relationships, and to call out, dismantle on those structures that victimize such lovers. We ask this prayer in your name. Amen.

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Author: Samuel Ragland Paul

About the Author: Samuel Ragland Paul graduated with Bachelor of Divinity from the United Theological College, Bangalore. He currently serves as a church worker of the Church of South India, Tirunelveli Diocese. 

S1-Day 24: God in Dirty Places: Filthy Love and a Wrestling God

The train is in motion. A man has to pee. He goes near the washroom but then turns back as he sees two people kissing. He turns back only to realize that one of them is his son. He goes back to confirm it and he vomits. It was for sure his son but only with another boy. This scene is from the movie Shubha Mangalam Jyada Sawadhan. Feeling nauseated is the general feeling or notion of people towards relationship of queer people. It is gross. It is dirty.

But today, I would like to share a testimony of my friend from the other side.

After days of getting comfortable with each other, we had some questions for our friend. Of course, the first thing to always ask is, “How do you do it?” (We didn’t even say “sex” out loud because we were “chaste Christian girls,” sex was something only “characterless girls” speak about we were followers of "Virgin" Mary, Pure and Spotless). “And you know it is a sin, right?” (To our heteronormative minds, the only “fulfilling sex” can/should be between a man and a woman). 

She smiled and said, “as it happens with all during teenage, I too, had a crush but the difference was, it was on a girl. Well I thought to myself it is just a passing phase. When I go to college, I will start liking a boy, I assured myself. I entered college and was trying my best to find a boy to fall in love with, to find him attractive, any boy. But I only discovered that a boy can only be my friend. I was not attracted to them in any other way. And then she entered my life. We were friends initially, but as time went by, my feelings for her changed. Her smile, her voice, the constant urge to be with her, to know her only grew intensely. It was beautiful. I would stay up and weep at nights. Ask God to take these feelings away from me. Was I not taught from my childhood that a man and a woman were to be together? The Bible says it. The very word of God! This was sin! I cannot feel this for another girl I have to feel this only for a boy. But what do I do with these strong feelings? I did not ask for them, no one forced me to have them! They are surely the work of Satan. The tussle of what I was taught and how strongly I felt, kept going on within me for several months. But then one day I surrendered. My struggle was like that of Jacob where God wrestled him on Peniel. It was in this wrestling that Jacob became Israel. The whole time that I thought I was fighting with Satan; it was actually God wrestling with me to unlearn this “filthy love.” In that place where I was made to feel dirty and filthy about myself (by the church and the society), I encountered God who breathed into me and reminded me that I was created in the very image of God. In that moment when I accepted myself, I became ALIVE! 

Sin, is when you belittle people and are deaf to their stories because of your all-knowing ego. Sin is you, using God’s word to create hate and fear for people who are different, as they do not serve your patriarchal structures. Sin is your hearts of stone, which is stubborn not to understand that, love has to be the center in our quest for God.  Sin is you being arrogant and dismissive, not to accept the life in abundance, which Christ promised, I am living it!”

Prayer

O God of Life, we want to thank you for this beautiful world that you have created in all its uniqueness and variety. The Creation gives us the glimpses of your diverse nature. Lord, we have been ignorant and persistent in not accepting our friends who are different from us. We have conveniently been blind to their existence. Lord, strip us off of our ignorance and arrogance and fill our hearts with your love so that we are able to see, listen and love one another. Amen.

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Author: Rev. Priscilla Rawade

About the Author: Priscilla is an ordained minister of the Church of North India. She completed her Bachelor of Divinity from Bishop’s College, Kolkata and her Master of Theology in Biblical Studies (Old Testament) from the United Theological College, Bangalore. She is currently teaching in the department of Biblical Studies (Old Testament) in Bishop’s College, Kolkata.

S1-Day 23: God in Dirty Places: God, Land and Dirtiness

There seems to be an inherent connection between access and control of land, wealth and being dirty. The lowest rungs of the caste pyramid have minimum or no access and control of land, so also a majority of women. In a neo-liberal economy, we tend to think of wealth as de-linked from land and its resources, but in reality, the connection is made invisible. Every corporate house and the associated billionaires control land and its resources directly or indirectly, irrespective of whether they own them. Rural communities are lured to give away their land for educating the next generation for better life in urban spaces but in reality, have in fact lost their security and ended up doing the hard and dirty jobs with less dignity in cities. Losing ownership, access and control of land leads to a life in congested spaces, lacking hygiene and vulnerability, all related to dirtiness. A necessity systematically created to ensure cheap labor. This can be vividly witnessed in migrations to cities as house helps, load men, sanitary workers, construction laborers, etc. and their habitations-slums. In rural areas, the same continue to be maintained by caste system as agricultural coolies, butchers, shepherds, shoemakers, etc. and their habitations- “Cheri”.

Even if someone claims to live a decent life without owning any land such as myself, a pastor, I am still part of an institution and an active agent of that which controls enormous property and resources. The moment I step out of being part of this or any such institution I end up with nothing. Therefore, one can systematically be pushed into spaces of dirtiness through from land or one can chose to let go of holding on to land itself or the institutions that control them and move into dirty spaces. Thus, there is always a race to get out of dirty spaces.

There is a perception that ownership, access and control of land and resources are a blessing of God, and that those that occupy dirty spaces are sinners. The God of the Bible seems to be different. God gives the earth to humanity to tend not to own and exploit for selfish reasons. Cain and Abel’s conflict seems to portray a dispute between a community that seeks to own and control land (Cain) and one that is nomadic (Abel). Cain community cannot tolerate God being happy in the presence of the nomadic shepherds, that they are ready to eliminate them even with a warning from God. Cain community was cursed that the land will not yield to its strength and he would be a wanderer. But such was their determination to control land, that even after the curse they proceed to build a city, which signifies the enjoyment and control of surplus produce of all land surrounding the city. Eventually God had to intervene and confuse this city building spree at Babel and the Bible teaches us that the murdered nomadic shepherd, Abel, is the faithful and righteous one.  

The story of Israel revolves around this too. God chooses Abram a person who chooses to let go of his land. The patriarchs are portrayed as shepherds and are nomadic. When they settle in Egypt, it is clear that the city building people of Egypt abhor these nomads and allocate Goshen, a marginal space. After 400 years, when these migrant labour slaves start walking back to freedom, God specifically instructs them not to own and control land like Egypt or any Canaanite city state. God is supposed to be the owner (which negates personal ownership of land) and used for farming by the tribal families. They ought to rest the land and labourers every seventh day, and the whole of the seventh year. Even a slave is to be released free of all debts on the seventh year. Further if a land is pawned or sold, it should be returned to the respective families in the Jubilee year (50th year). Thus, the land value is also calculated for the harvests possible for remaining years until Jubilee, not subject to free market speculation. As Israel under the kings move towards centralization and give protection to personal ownership of land and further exploitation, they were warned by the prophets in vain (Isa. 5:8).

Jesus, the revelation of God’s self to humanity comes to us as a nomad and joins with the people who are pushed to the margins. Instead of being an educator teaching how to race from dirty spaces by accumulating wealth, he teaches to share, forgive each other’s debts. Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God, where each day is a Jubilee Year. Repentance and entry into such a kingdom means to let go of all control of all that we have taken systematically from those who are made to occupy dirty spaces. That’s why he asks the rich to sell their belongings and share with the poor. This is a call to choose to move towards dirty spaces where God is! The rich young ruler walks away sadly refusing to side with God, while Zacchaeus gives away and comes to God’s side and thus salvation.

God of the Bible certainly is present in the so called dirty spaces where people are forced to live in congestion and work as slaves. This God refuses to identify with those who control land and its resources for themselves. If we still think God helps us in acquiring control to land and resources and thus alienating someone from it, we have to ponder which god that is!

Prayer

O God of the Land, you made the dirty mud into flesh, to make us humans; open our eyes to see the people pushed to into dirty spaces and grant us the wisdom to undo our wrongs we have been part. Make us renewed humans to share everything, as we too are a part of creation. Amen.

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Author: Rev. Paul Lawrence G.

About the Author: Paul earned his Bachelor of Divinity from Bishop's College, Kolkata. He is serving as a Presbyter with the Church of South India, Diocese of Madras in Nagalapuram Pastorate. His area of interest lies in Bible studies and teaching.

S1-Day 22: God in dirty places: God and the "Whores"

I, recently, had an opportunity to conduct a bible study with a small group of women on “Levite's concubine” from Judges 19. I emphasized on the brutal rape and murder of Levite’s concubine whose body was dismembered into twelve pieces because she was a powerless woman and her status was a mere ‘concubine.’  To my surprise one woman in the gathering asked, "Sister, what is wrong here? She received what she deserved, she was unfaithful and she was a concubine, it is better to handover the worst woman to the mob to be raped than giving a good man (her husband) to them." If this text was understood in its context, then it challenges us all to walk toward an un-trodden road which takes a lot of unlearning moving us into envisaging a just and inclusive community.

‘SEX’, a three-letter word is regarded a ‘sin’ in our Indian Society. It remains sacred only under the institution of marriage (heterosexual marriage), anything outside marriage is sinful/forbidden. Sex plays a vital role in the lives of people, yet, is obscene to talk or discuss about even among family members. It remains a hidden act. In such a context commercial sex work is seen as a deadly sin, immoral and ungodly.

In the prevailing realm of chastity, morality and purity are applauded as holy and words such as 'immorality', 'sexuality' and 'impurity' find no space, because it is seen as 'unholy.' These two contrasting worlds remain opposites with no way to unite. However, these binaries are the realities intertwined in our Indian society. Calling women as 'slut', 'whore', 'prostitute', 'fucker', 'hooker' and so on are so-called ‘supreme’ ways of men showing their power and control over bodies of women. I would say such men carry the thoughts to view women as ‘the objects of pleasure’ not seen even as human beings.  For instance, if a woman who chooses to wear bright makeup, red dress and red lipstick immediately she receives comments like ‘u look like a slut’. If a woman comes across such stigmas and hardships, think of the plight of women who are commercial sex workers.

Our community has failed to express compassion to those who are forced into sex work for survival-sake or being left with no/few choices. Many scriptural passages emphasize that, those playing the whore need to be punished without mercy. Scripture passages such as Genesis 34.25-31 that tells the story of the rape of Dinah; Genesis 38.23-25 which narrates the story of Tamar; passages from Jeremiah 1-3 in which Israel is seen as the whore to God; the entire book of Hosea or Revelation 17 that depicts Babylon as the Great Whore, are just some of the references that mention either an individual or a nation labelled as a whore and the consequences that followed.

Jesus as a liberator of humanity showed compassion, love and acceptance to those who were marginalized. He embraced everyone just as they were. There is no question that Jesus accepted all the people including sex workers (Luke 7:36-40). It is a shame on our church and society to reject those people who are left with few options to engage in sex work for survival-sake. These sex workers are excluded by the society precisely because of their profession. We label them as ‘sinners’ and ‘objects of pleasure’ denying them their existence. We make sure they are damned to remain in their private dirty spaces for eternity. We do not want them in our churches, and in public spaces.

It takes a serious commitment for us to live as a welcoming community. God calls us to be inclusive of those who were made dirty and invisible by us. To respond to this calling, we must begin with interpreting the scripture to include and be just, not to oppress or condemn. We are the church, not because of what we do, but because of what God did. We are often seen taking sides with the crowd in John 8:1-11. We have never been Christ-like. However, on that day, for that so-called ‘sinful woman,’ God was on her side. Yes, that is God in a dirty place. Therefore, let us not use the scripture to hate, but to love, for that is when we affirm life in its fullness.

Prayer:

God in dirty places, we pray that you heal the brokenness in our hearts and in our world, that has caused injustice, indifference, because of our selfishness, fear and greed. Open our hearts to hear the cries of your suffering people. Guide us into solidarity with hospitality to those in dirty places. Amen.

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Author: Femila Livingston

About the Author: Femila earned her Bachelor of Divinity from Bishop’s college, Kolkata and Master of Theology (Christian Theology) from Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Madurai. She previously interned with National Council of Churches in India -ESHA Project. Currently, she serves as a Program Executive for CSI-GEET in CSI Synod.

S1-Day 21: God in Dirty Places: Stained by the Bloodshed of Famine

Reflecting Verse: In the days when the Judges were governing, a famine occurred in the country and a certain man from Bethlehem of Judah went-he, his wife and his two sons -- to live in the Plains of Moab. Ruth 1:1 (New Jerusalem Bible)

The book of Ruth begins with a family migrating from their native village to a foreign land. Due to famine, they must have had lesser or no resources for food and life sustenance. Elimelech and Naomi might have thought that their children should not die of hunger, so decided to go to an alien land and find an opportunity to prolong their existence. They decided to migrate temporarily to Moab for survival. When it was time to return to their homeland, only one person from the original family returned, Naomi – a widow, orphaned by the loss of her husband and sons, accompanied by another woman, Ruth – a widow, who too was, orphaned by the loss of her husband. One can understand that they did not migrate as some of us migrate today wanting to settle in a developed-foreign country. They migrated to sustain life. The book of Ruth can be read as a story of a migrant family in the midst of lack of life resources and struggle for existence.

Just as Elimelech, to sustain life, many had migrated from their villages to a foreign land in today’s Indian context. This lockdown due to the corona virus pandemic, has made them face a famine like context of extreme crisis, shattering their hope for survival and existence. Migrant workers and poverty-stricken people cannot find basic resources such as food, water and shelter. When the affluent are able to manage to get access to resources, the poor and the migrant are unable to do anything, but only think of returning back to their homelands to join their families. Even transportation became a crisis, as they walked for hundreds and even thousands of miles. Some of these migrants died not because of virus infection, but lack of resources to sustain life.

One incident that broke me was the death of 16 migrant laborers, who had not known they would not wake up alive when they ignorantly and unwillingly slept on railway track because they were tired of walking. Would one imagine of that place which was bloodshed, and of those bodies that became formless, worse than an animal being butchered? Definitely No. Because, it was not just dirty, but horrific and terrorizing. Where and how can I find God in a bloody area where the bodies and hope of those migrant workers were crushed under the rail? How, as a Christian, can I comfort the families who lost their beloved ones like this? How can I share the peace of Christ to those the word ‘peace’ has nothing to offer at all? Just as I cannot say a word but keep silence, so we see in the book of Ruth, where God nowhere appeared to speak to neither Naomi nor Ruth, but kept silence. Where was God during the famine? Where was God in the life of Naomi and Ruth, when they lost their families?

The book of Ruth is also a story of another migration from Moab to Bethlehem in a post-famine context. Ruth had deliberately risked to go along with Naomi, a woman whose life was no promising. Though Bethlehem seemed to have recovered from famine, Ruth and Naomi still did lack of resources for living. To Naomi, an old woman, widowed and orphaned, Ruth became the only hope and family. Ruth did not just become a migrant, but became a co-traveler with Naomi for the rest of her life. It was a voluntary response from Ruth to risk herself leaving her home and everything, choosing to be responsible to care and protect someone who had lost her livelihood and no hopes for future. Another character called Boaz, as seen in the book of Ruth, who had resources of living, decided to provide Ruth, the resources such as water and grains. Sharing of resources here enabled Ruth and Naomi to sustain their life.

Later in the genealogy of Matthew, one can find the name of Ruth as an ancestor of Christ Jesus who was butchered, became formless, walking on foot carrying the burdensome cross on his shoulders towards Golgotha not for life but only to die. The formless physique, unpleasant bodily fluids oozing out of the body, and torn out foot of Jesus are the marks to be identified with the pathos of today’s poor migrants. God in Christ Jesus willingly continues to be crushed and butchered along with those poor and migrant workers who cannot find resources of life, but become prey to the inhumane and cruel capitalists whose accumulation of life resources have resulted in human made famine like situation today.

Now, what will happen in a post-lockdown and post-corona crisis context? It is sure that the world will return to its previous habitual routines. The pandemic created famine situation will be battled by the capitalist world, again rushing to recover and own the lost resources. Whereas, the situation of many migrant workers and poverty stricken will continue to fight for life resources and struggle for life sustenance. It is here, the role of Ruth and of Boaz need to be seen as a Christian vocation. God who seemed to be invisible, silent, and passive became visible, voice-ful, and active through Ruth and Boaz. We are called to risk ourselves in order to care, protect and share our resources with those who lack resources of life.

Prayer:

Dear God, the source of life, help us to become your agents like your dear son who volunteered to risk his life for those who cannot sustain life; open our eyes to see you in life and death of those who lack resources of life; enable us to be truthful to the vocation, you have called us; encourage us to share life resources with all who struggle to enjoy it; in Christ Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.

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Author: Rev. Sam Sunny Anand S.

About the Author: Sam is an ordained minister from the Church of South India, Diocese of Madras. Currently he is pursuing his Masters in Ecumenical Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany. As a pastor, he actively engages in counseling and coaches the youth in ‘crisis management’.