Secular involvement in Ministry...

Secular involvement in Ministry - 

Poonamalli (Chennai) Deacons 14.08.2025 @ 3-4.30 pm

External Sources:

Biblical Foundations:

All things are sacred: 

"...for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities -- all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." - Colossians 1: 16-17

Called to serve:

"And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me... 

`Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.'

-- Matthew 25: 40, 45

Reflection:

உலகம் பிறந்தது எனக்காக…

ஓடும் நதிகளும் எனக்காக…

மலர்கள் மலர்வது எனக்காக…

அன்னை மடியை விரித்தாள் எனக்காக…

காற்றில் மிதக்கும் ஒலிகளிலே…

கடலில் தவழும் அலைகளிலே…

இறைவன் இருப்பதை நான் அறிவேன்…

என்னை அவனே தான் அறிவான்…

தவழும் நிலவாம் தங்கரதம்…

தாரகை பதித்த மணிமகுடம்…

குயில்கள் பாடும் கலைக்கூடம்…

கொண்டது எனது அரசாங்கம்…

எல்லாம் எனக்குள் இருந்தாலும்…

என்னை தனக்குள் வைத்திருக்கும்…

அன்னை மனமே என் கோயில்…

அவளே என்றும் என் தெய்வம்… 

- (Kannadasan/ TMS in Pasam 1962)

Secular and sacred:

 Dvaitam - Dualism - Binaries 

- Matter and form

- Body and spirit

- Spiritual and Worldly 

Vidya - Avidya (Maya/ vanity)

- Ecology...

Advaitam - Non-dualism

Ex. Snake in the rope

'Aham Brahmasmi' 

But, there is a holistic, integral approach - sacred and secular intertwined, interconnected, with spiritual principles guiding everyday life...

Holiness:

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." -Gen 1: 26-27

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. - Gen 1: 31

For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. Lev 11: 44

You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. -Mt 5: 48

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. - Mt 5: 14

"I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." - Jn 8: 12

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

- Jn 15: 15

"And the voice came to him again a second time, "What God has cleansed, you must *not call common*." - Acts 10: 15

'Original Blessing' Mathew Fox 

'Paradise Lost', John Milton 

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. - Gen 2: 15

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." -Gen 2:16-17

And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.

-- Genesis 2: 25

But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." -Gen 3: 4-5

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. - Gen 3: 7

Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.- Gen 3: 22-24

Sacerdotal = Priestly 

Consecration - making holy - setting apart

Mediation - keeping the divine at a distance 

Priesthood - not really Christian...

Discipleship is of Jesus...

Jesus of history and Christ of faith...

'Jesus before Christianity', Albert Nolan... 

Christ, not Jesus, is made a high priest, that too in the model of Melchizedek!

You have come all the way from Chennai to Trivandrum as deacons in preparation for your forthcoming ordination to priesthood...

Let's be honest to ourselves at least... Intellectual honesty...

'Honest to God', JAT Robinson...

Priesthood is not really Christian... 

We have conveniently ignored Jesus, his life and teaching, resulting in his passion and death and the controversial but foundational resurrection as Christ who was made into anything and everything, including a priest whose category was behind his death, that suits the church, especially after the conversion of Constantine...

His call was to discipleship...

Diaconate was a necessity in the early church... Elders of the early community of disciples were called presbyters... 

Episcopacy - priesthood - diaconate 

Secular is what incarnation is..