Dearly beloved brothers and sisters of NJMTC,

“Every end is a new beginning”, so the saying goes. An eventful 2018 comes to a close, and we stand at the threshold of a New Year! We remember the year gone by and thank God for his grace and mercies. There were moments of joy and sorrow, a mixed bag of experiences which is the way it always is! 2018 was also a year when we lost some prominent people, who influenced us in many ways. Nevertheless, their lives will be a beacon of light for us in our journey of faith.

The passing away of Bishop GeeVarghese Mar Athanasius in April last year, was a great loss to the Marthoma Church. His powerful sermons and his exemplary life, will be dearly missed. We also lost the great evangelist Billy Graham, perhaps one of the greatest modern day evangelists. Also notable were, the war hero and former Senator, John McCain; Former President, George H.W Bush; former UN General Secretary, Kofi Annan and the famous comic book founder/writer of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee- someone who made our childhood alive with those great superhero characters!

We read in Isaiah 43: 18 -19: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

The past for us, is a very warm, comfortable, cozy thing we carry with us wherever we go. We draw strength from the past. Memories have a special place in our lives. Some of us even live in the past, glorifying the past- and denying the present. The past is important for us to move forward, no doubt. But it does also have, the immense power to take over the future, in a way that it affects our progress. I am reminded of the Del Amitri song, it is like ‘driving with the brakes on.

The context of the Isaiah verse is the Exile. The Israelites are punished and driven to exile in Babylon, and they were naturally thinking of their glorious past and feeling grieved about their present situation in a foreign land. God asks them to be more hopeful of the future, because he was going to ‘make a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland’.

For some, the past can be a painful experience; that of guilt, shame, abuse, hurt and pain. The Lord is asking us to be more positive and optimistic about the future, because He will give us a fresh new start. We will drink the cool waters from those hopeful streams that run through the wilderness.

Modern rockets are generally called multi stage rockets. Those of us, who have seen rocket launches on TV, will remember the different stages of a rocket launch. One of the features of a multi stage rocket is how different parts of the rocket break away from the main body as they accelerate in the sky. They are meant to break away or separate themselves from the main rocket for extra thrust and acceleration, to reach its final speed and height. Like a rocket, we need to break away from these so that we are free to blaze into our real potential.

I wish you a great year ahead. I shall be at your parish on February 3rd for the Holy Communion service. I look forward to visiting you for youth Bible Study meetings or teenage meetings in the days to come. We are also planning to have a combined youth fellowship with the St. Peters’ MTC youth fellowship in January. The confirmed date and details will be notified to you.

Wishing you a wonderful, blessed and rewarding 2019!
Onwards and upwards!

Faithfully,

Rev. Prince Varghese Madathileth