Worship and Sermon by Mr. Binu Thomas

On 16th July 2008, it was the turn of Mr. Binu Thomas, B.D. IV to conduct Evaluatory Worship and Sermon. The text for the sermon was John 7:53 -8:11. The text refers to the story of Jesus dealing with the Pharisees who caught a woman in adultery. This is a story not found in many manuscripts. This pericope might have been an interpolation into the Johannine text by some editors. The style of writing is quite different from other parts of the Gospel. Binu has interpreted the message of the text as a norm, a mandate, for Christian ministry. He gave contemporary examples of such ministry, including that of a non-Christian. He titled his sermon: "Leading to Fullness of Life as a mandate for Christian Ministry." Binu has taken much effort to make the worship service meaningful. At the entrance of the chapel the Greek words for "Go and sin no more" was scribbled on sand. Did he mean that Jesus has written these words on the sand when the Pharisees were accusing the women of sin? We are not sure what Jesus wrote, must be some words that frightened the accusers. We always look at other's sins and easily excuse ourselves. Binu has argued for introspection in the place of condemnation. Christians are too quick to condemn others. The more pious one thinks of oneself the temptation to condemn other is higher. The Pharisees got the message of Jesus and left one by one. Disciples of Jesus today need to do some hard exercise to look at themselves before they start their crusades against others.

There was a beautiful invocation song in Hindi written and composed by Mr. Sandeep Paramarth, BD IV. There was also a Malayalam Bhajan written and composed by Mr. John G. Varghese, BD III. Call to Worship, Prayer of Confession as well as Benediction were beautiful compilations. Binu Thomas, who belongs to the Mar Thoma Church, is the Student Chaplain for this year. He very well responded to the comments at the evaluation session. He appeared self-confident and clear about what he was preaching.