Evaluation Sermon by Ms. Rosalind Elaiyarani

Rosalind Elaiyarani, BD IV, conducted her evaluation worship and sermon on Wednesday 13 August 2008. The text was Micah 4:1-5. The sermon was titled, "Towards a New Community in Obedience to God." She had three points in her sermon: 1) Towards a community of Unity. 2) Towards community of Peace. 3) Towards a community of Economic Sustainability. She started her sermon referring to the recent bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, by some terrorist groups, that killed several innocent people. Through such incidents the terrorists might have hoped to disturb the communal harmony and thereby destroy peace as well as the economic stability of the nation. Micah, she said, was also preaching in a similar context in Palestine and offering the post exilic people a message of hope as well as vision of an ideal community where all instruments of war are transformed into agricultural implements. The prophet also envisions a time when people will enjoy peace and stability sitting under their own fig trees and vines. Such a vision of future is very necessary in the context of economic exportation and terrorism today. The worship was simple but the prayers were carefully selected and rich in theological content. The invocation song was written and led by Jinu John, BD IV. It was a Malayalam composition. The Lord's Prayer was set to a fast moving Tamil folk tune by Dr. Theophilus Appavoo, a well known activist , musicologist and theologian.