Indecent proposals

In my final year at the seminary, which is next year, I will have to do a thesis.  What I do my thesis on is determined this year.  By the end of January, I have to submit two thesis proposals, and then the faculty decides which one I will do.

We were supposed to have chosen an area or two of interest since last year, read on it, and have our thesis derive out of those interests.  However, I simply cannot keep my interest on just one or two things.  Even within this semester itself, in the past month or so, I’ve had new areas of interest come up.   I need to narrow these down to two in a week or so, so I can write up the proposals, and think of titles.

• Developing a Global Context (or World View).  This is in regards to Contextual Theology.  I want to show that while all theologies emerge from a context, it does not mean that such “truths” are relative to context, but are universal.  In other words, God uses history and life settings to help us interpret the scriptures.  For example, Dalit theology is not only for Dalits, but could have truths that transcend the Dalit community into the global community.  Contextual theologies also have to be tested.  What is truth and what is subjective?  That would be a difficult task to develop such a criteria.
  
  
• Could Calvinism have emerged from India?  This would be a challenge to prove that it can.  But it is to show that context does not bias truth, only people do.  This would be difficult because I’d have to explore Hindu philosophical systems.  After a brief read on Gandhian ideas, I think it could possibly emerge from that system of thought.
  
  
• Understanding Calvinism in India and its missiological significance.  I find that Calvinism is prematurely struck down in Indian theological circles and badly misunderstood.  If Calvinism were understood with the Cross being central, and not the doctrine of predestination, I think it would be empowering to the Church and its missionary activity in this country.
  
  
• A critique of the missionary endeavors of the World Council of Churches.  When you study the history of the ecumenical movement, you see that it started with a desire to evangelize the world.  However, after the WCC was formed, this desire deteriorated.  Instead, it has been one of dialogue with other faiths with no desire of evangelism.  I would do a study on the Biblical commission to mission and evangelism, and compare it with the actions of the WCC.
  
  
• Redefining infant baptism as practiced by the Mar Thoma Church so to be understood rationally from the Scriptures.  This was a recent inspiration.  My friend’s mom got on the offensive, questioning the need for infant baptism.  Her rationalizing made no sense, and also she was in no way ready to listen to what I was saying.  However, that irritation inspired this. I felt it was necessary to develop a rational case for it.  I say “redefining” only to say that there are certain terms we do not use, such as covenant theology, in the Mar Thoma Church.  I think it is implied, but it is not explicitly there.  I may or may not go into the mode of baptism, but I don’t know yet.

That’s about it.  There were other ideas I had at the beginning of my seminary career here, but have long since scrapped.  These are the latest that have been on my mind this year.

Which two I will eventually choose, I haven’t the slightest idea.  But it is likely that the WCC one will not make the cut.  Maybe the “Contextual Calvinism” will not either.    I guess we’ll find out in a few weeks.

And the meaning of Christmas is.....

I was attending service at my mother’s home parish in Kuriannoor this past Sunday.  There was a guest preacher that day.  He was giving a Christmas message of some sort – although I couldn’t really understand it since it was all in Malayalam.

At one point in the sermon, he started getting louder and louder, as if he were building to a climax.  But before he reached that climax, the fuse for the sound system blew.  But he kept preaching, unaware that his voice wasn’t being projected to everyone in the sanctuary.  Finally the sound system was turned on again, and I heard him say in Malayalam, “now that’s the meaning of Christmas.” 

He spent all this time building up a point to explain the meaning of Christmas, but not everyone could hear it.

Pity.

There's a sermon illustration in there.

Merry Christmas.

Pillow Talk

This morning my “body pain” increased significantly in the vicinity of my neck.  I could barely move my neck without pain.  Sometimes I’d feel a shooting pain all around that area.  My discomfort during class was obvious to one professor, and he stopped his lecture to ask me if my neck was hurting.  I said yes.  He then asked me if I use a pillow.

A former roommate also told me he had concern about my pillow, and now that I’m having this severe neck pain, he made his suspicions known.

I went to the doctor with my symptoms.  He first asked me if I felt feverish.  Then he asked me how many pillows do I use.

Well, my doctor concluded that it’s due to a fever (He’s great that way.  He doesn’t have me waste money on x-rays and such.  He’s seen so much that he knows what’s up).  He gave me some meds for the fever, and I’m already feeling less pain.  I should be better by morning, although I’ll be taking the meds for a week.

More pillow talk….

When I went on my mission practical in October, my partner never used a pillow.  During my mission practical the year before, my partner at that time never used a pillow.   Many of my classmates don’t use a pillow, and almost all the above prefer sleeping on wood or a concrete floor.

Why?

This is something I just don’t understand:  Prolonged use of pillows can cause neck and back problems.   My former roommate has a severe neck problem which he attributes to pillow use (but I think it's more genetic [spinal stenosis]).  But why is it that this is such a huge problem and/or concern in Kerala and possibly India?   How is it that in America, where the mattresses are softer, and pillows are thicker, that there isn’t a big concern over this? Whereas here it is a big concern, so pillows aren’t used, and people prefer to sleep on wood.  I do know some obvious things which are not good for your back and neck.  But the concern here is just normal pillow usage.  My doctor's question wasn't if I used pillows, but how many.  I said 1 pillow, so he didn't follow that up with more related questions.  Although, I didn't tell him it's an American pillow that's about as thick as three of your standard Kerala pillows.

I’m wondering if there’s a connection between these beds and the use of a pillow, where the pillow isn’t the sole culprit.

Or could it be that it has absolutely nothing to do with pillows and beds, but someone has overreacted to a doctor telling someone he shouldn't sleep with two pillows because it's hurting his neck.  So now everyone thinks every single neck problem is due to pillow usage.

It's kind of like when someone found out tomato seeds cause kidney stones, some students stopped eating tomatos.  Yet, it would take hundreds of tomatos for that to even be an issue.   But people would rather be overly cautious I guess.  And maybe that's the same with pillows.



So when you come to India, a word of a advice: don't use a pillow, sleep on wood, and avoid tomatos.

Body Pain

At the seminary, class attendance is required. If you want to take leave, you have to fill out a “leave form” and the warden has to sign off on it. On the leave form, you have to indicate the reason why you’re taking leave. If you’re sick, you can’t just say “sick.” You have to say what’s wrong. A common ailment people write is “body pain.”

When I hear “body pain,” I think of the pain you feel when you’re running a fever, or about to get a fever. But “body pain” means something else here apparently, because these guys are not running a fever, nor do they eventually get a fever.

I always get annoyed when I hear that someone took leave because he had “body pain.” What does that mean!?! Have you ever gone to the doctor and said “I have body pain”? Or when in high school, you felt sick and wanted to go home, so you called home and said, “Mom, I have body pain”? No one has ever said that, I bet. Is this a symptom people only get in Kerala? I asked one of my classmates this question. He laughed and said, “No, it only exists in this seminary.” So you can guess why they say they have body pain.

But now I am suffering from body pain. However, I think it’s because a fever is coming on, not because I don’t want to go to class tomorrow.

She's not my type, and that's my problem.

She had to have been in her early twenties.  The older lady was probably in her eighties.  The younger one was sitting close to the older on a bench at the നാവജീവന്‍ ഭവന്‍  (Navajeevan Bhavan - New Life House).  It’s an institution that takes care of people with psychiatric disorders and unable to function in society.  Some are violent and are locked up in two sections, one for men and one for women.  Some are just helpless by themselves, however pose no threat.  They walk around campus freely.  This elderly lady was one of the latter.  I’ll refer to her as Amma.

My friend, who had met Amma before, asked her if she remembered him.  She just stared at him.  He asked again.  She began to cry.  The younger lady said Amma’s hard of hearing.  She then wrapped her arm around Amma’s shoulders, held her face right up against the ear of Amma, and asked her, “Do you remember him?”  She then looked at my friend and shook her head.  Then my friend took off his glasses.  Amma looked, and all of a sudden a huge smile appeared.  She stood up and hugged him.  

She sat back down and the younger one held her close.  Amma began to tell us a story of how she spent Rs. 5 for a bus, and was sent to this institution.  She seemed upset about the Rs. 5.  The younger one smiled and went to her ear again and said, “When you leave, they will give you your money back.”  Amma smiled and laughed.  The younger one then held her face tightly against Amma’s as a sign of affection.

Certainly, she’s Amma’s granddaughter, I thought.

Amma would then tell me her stories.  My friend was with me too, but Amma’s eyes were staring right into my own eyes.  Her eyes were almost blue, probably due to cataracts.  But she seemed to see fine, and her stare was quite penetrating.  She was telling me how she had eight children, and five have died.  Her toothless smile turned into a frown.  It looked as if she was about to cry again, but she didn’t.  She kept telling her story.  I couldn’t understand the rest of it, but I couldn’t stop looking at her eyes as she spoke.  Although once in a while I’d look at the fading white streak across her forehead.

My friend finally asked the younger one who she was.  She said her name.  Then, as is customary in this culture, he asked her where she is from.  She answered.  He then asked where Amma is from.  She couldn’t remember.  She then went to Amma’s ear again and asked, “Where is your home?”  Amma turned to look at her, surprised that she had forgotten.  Amma said where she’s from.  It was the same place the younger one was from.  She then hugged Amma, sorry for forgetting.  Amma just laughed again.

It turned out that the younger lady has no relation to Amma, aside from being from the same place.  She volunteers at Navajeevan and cares for the women there. 

When that realization came to me, I thought to myself: that’s love.  She showed the kind of affection to Amma as if she was her mother or grandmother.  But really, Amma was just a stranger and the younger one befriended her.

It's a love for neighbor that I lack.

Not the "musement park" I had wished for, lad.

Many years ago I began a website, www.musementpark.com.  My intention was to make it a place to write and share articles or short notes on things to think about.  It would have had other select authors contributing as well.   However, due to life changes that took a lot of my spare time away, I never could get that off the ground.

Now, many years later, I'm going to give it another shot.  But, I don't have the time to work on my site still.  Instead, I'm going to try blogspot.  That being the case, much to my dismay, it will only have stuff written by me.

But this being a blog, and myself having once been a faithful blogger, I would also share experiences as well, and in addition, my futile attempts at humor. 

So this will be a temporary home for my "dream" until I get time to get the real musement park off the ground.  If that ever happens....