Anjali Lama's Worship and Sermon

Anjali Lama conducted her B.D. evaluation worship and sermon in Gurukul chapel on Wednesday, November 5, 2008. The Nepali Invocation was sung by Dn. Aby paul. A Hindi song, written by Sonia John, composed by Sandeep Paramarth and sung by Alice Jose added flavour to the worship. The theme of the sermon was "Christ's Vision of Women as Apostles." There was a choreography on the theme by Sweety Helen. The text used was John 20: 11-18, the resurrected Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene. The text was enacted by Sonia John, Daiju Joseph, Jeremiah and Belinda. Anjali included some additional material on the story from the Gospel of Thomas. The disciples rejection of witness by Mary was thus strongly communicated. The song, prayers, choreography, enactment made clear the theme. The sermon had two main points: 1) Restoring the vision of Christ by enabling women's agency 2) Restoring the vision of Christ to enable women to become apostles. She strengthened the sermon by narrating her personal experience as a woman in the Church and society. There was a rangoli (alpana) at the entrance of the chapel depicting the Chinese symbol of mutality, Yin-Yang, which conveyed the thrust of the sermon, as commented by the staff evaluator, Dr. Suneel Bhanu. The sermon was delivered with clarity and conviction. Anjali's reply to the comments from evaluators has been gracious. Anjali is a memebr of Independent Pentecostal Church, Kathmandu, Nepal. She has joined Gurukul as a B. Th. upgrader. She proved herself to be a good student and an able worship leader. We wish her ministry all success.