MOM: May 29 Learning new songs

Today we had the choir master, Jerry teaching us some new songs that we can sing during our upcoming Cottage Fellowship.

The songs we learnt are :

• Into my heart, into my heart
• When the spirit of the Lord is within my heart. .
• No never alone, no never alone
• two other convention songs

We will have our Cottage Fellowship at Achen's parsonage, on Jun 4th Saturday - 4PM. If you missed last week's session, check out the last post for updates.

BTW : those interested to play badminton can come to church around 6:30 AM on week days and Saturdays. The recreation club of the church is ensuring a good atmosphere for this purpose and has been doing it well for the last two months.

MOM: May 22, 3Ms lead by Bishop's secretary Achen

In today's session we had Rev Jose C Joseph achen who is the diocesan Bishop's secretary speaking to the Youth members.

The main message was the necessity to be control of 3Ms. The three Ms are

• Motor bike
• Mobile
• Mouse

Each the above can impact our lives negatively if we are not careful. He called up the youth to deal with care each of these.

We need to make sure we are not addicted to say the mobile. Ending up talking when it not necessary and wasting time that can otherwise be spent productively.

Also make sure you are not addicted to the computer. Know the limits that you have to observe on your own. Listen to your conscience, and stay clearly away from bad sites.

All these point to one theme. Know your limits and make sure you do not abuse the freedom and trust entrusted on you by your family and society.

Christo Jacob George : Marthoma Students Conference Representative to the Marthoma Prathinidhi Mandalam

The St. Paul's Marthoma Yuvajana Sakhyam proudly congratulates Mr. Christo Jacob George for being elected as the Marthoma Students Conference  Representative to the Marthoma Prathinidhi Mandalam, for the year 2011 - 2014.

Prathinidhi Mandalam This is the house of representatives, the apex body of the Church, consisting of the Metropolitan, all other Bishops, Vicars General, representatives of clergy and parishes, representatives of the recognised Institutions of the Church, representatives of those who have become members of the Church as a result of the missionary work of the Church and persons nominated by the Metropolitan.

The Mandalam elects the Sabha Secretary, Lay Trustee & Treasurer and Clergy Trustee. The Mandalam decides all spiritual and temporal affairs of the Church. The annual report, accounts and budget are scrutinised and passed by the Mandalam. The decision of the Mandalam are circulated in all parishes by the Metropolitan, with the approval of the Synod.
Read more about the administration of the Marthoma Church in the sabha website.

Christo is the son of Rev. George Thomas and is a dedicated and dynamic personality pursuing his Masters in Philiosophy in the Madras Christian College, Chennai.

We believe he is a dedicated and  valuable asset to our church and will be an apt representative for the students of the Marthoma Church.

We wish him all the best and pray that, the Lord almighty will give him wisdom and understanding in all his endeavours.

 Rev. George Thomas (father) and Christo Jacob George

Gladwin, Ashish and Christo

Congratulate Christo by sending an SMS to 801-575-6246 or email to christo_grg @ yahoo .co.in

MOM: May 8th Rev. V. M Mathew, Rev. Jobi and Rev. Gigy Thomas Achen

Today we had three priests in our midst.  Rev. V. M Mathew, Rev. Jobi and Rev. Gigy Thomas Achen.

The meeting started with prayer by Gigy Thomas achen. Then Regichayan welcomed V. M Mathew Achen, Joby achen and also all new
comers to the sakhyam meeting. The main speech was conducted by V. M Mathew achen who was our V. B. S director.

Achen focused mainly on the problems of youth based on bible portion Genesis chapter 3. Though so many problems faced and the main focus was given on "temptations". The very first temptation comes to our mind from The Bible is the temptation which Adam & Eve
undergoes. Serpent tempted Eve by raising doubt whether God has really said not to eat the fruit. Similarly Satan lead us into temptation
by raising doubt in us. Here in this scenario Serpent tempted Eve by emphasizing that if you eat the fruit you will be like God. We always
think that we should be in control of everything. It helps Satan to put us in temptation. Because like Eve at times we want to be like God and
control everything.

About the fruit which made Eve to be tempted by Serpent there are 3 kinds of temptation:

• Temptation of eye
• Temptation to consume
• Temptation to possess

Temptation of eye:
Eve got tempted primarily by the sight. Even in our life we are primarily tempted by sight or eyes. In 2 Samuel 11:2
we can see that David sinned due to temptation of eye. In this era of technology chances are more for youngsters to get tempted by eye.

Temptation to consume: Nowadays we human beings are consuming or eating food not because of hunger but for taste. This is another
form of temptation which will lead us to be tempted.

Temptation to possess: We always have temptation to possess everything we desire. We human-beings are never satisfied with what we
have, that's why we always got an urge to possess. And thereby we will be easily tempted.

Being tempted is not a sin but falling into temptation is sin. We are always surrounded by the temptation of becoming God, by temptation
of eye, temptation to consume, temptation to possess. As Jesus Christ overcame the temptation which Satan raised, we will also be able to
overcome the temptations. We live in a world of temptations and the only solution to overcome this temptation is with Jesus Christ. This leads
a life with him and word of God. We will acquire the strength to resist all kinds of temptation which Satan tries like he did in Adam & Eve.

Some doubts were asked to achen:

How to overcome the peer pressure?

The only solution is that we should have strong faith and should have courage to say no to the temptation which Satan will be raising
through peer groups. Achen explained it with an example from his own experience in life.

Then Joby achen who is the new chaplain for youth ministry in Chennai gave a self-introduction and requested all youths for their co-operation in his
ministry. And he presented a urge for meeting all the students and youths, thereby extending works of youth ministry in Chennai.

Our Vicar, Gigy achen offered all support for Joby achen in name of our sakhyam and inspired the youths to overcome peer pressure. He
also asked sakhyam members to render support to others who are suffering from peer group pressure.

The meeting ended with prayer by V. M Mathew Achen.


- Jerin