MOM July 18, Welcome to new members and Session update

This week's Youth League Meeting was an interesting session, thou a bit longer. OK, I would say, today's session actually started of almost as soon as the church concluded :-) We had an active participation by everyone to pull in new members. We had lots of students from Hindustan College and other potential new members to the Youth League. We had atleast 4-5 of the members engaging them.

BTW since this post also goes out to all new visitors, let me take the opportunity to welcome all the visitors to the St Paul's Marthoma Church Adyar (www.spmcadyar.org). To be precise, we have 24 persons newly added to this mailing list today. I know many may be already regular visitors to the church. Do come for the Youth League as it could help mold your lives according to the will of God. That's one part of the goal. It also helps you socialize with people of your own thought process.

We also had 3 coupon books to be sold and it was done quite easily by our most active members :-).

The singing session started a bit late. We had a follow up discussion with Rev Jacob Achen.

We decided we will have a quick re-cap of what we heard in the sermon before we start the discussion. Members please remember we have to make the session interactive, hence try to collect some points to share and think of questions for the speaker during the sermon itself. Lets make every minute we spend count.

The main theme of the sermon in church was love as a common denominator. It ended of with a true story about the Rickshaw Puller and a small girl, that reminded what charity really is.

Some of the below points were asked during the youth meeting.

The first was the significance of turning the other cheek when one of it was slapped. A point was highlighted that it does not mean submission to wrong doing.

The story of the Rickshaw Puller was touching as it showed what we consider charity. It highlighted the fact that we need to give our time and effort for others. Money alone is not sufficient. Giving money out of abundance is not charity. Quality over quantity matters. I would leave it to one of the members to add a comment with the details of the story in this blog.

I am sure there were other points discussed, I hope other members would chime in.

Onam Celebrations:
We will have our Onam Celebrations along with the Church Harvest Festival on Sept 4 & 5. Our Thirumeni, Rt. Rev. Chrysostom Marthoma Vellia Metropolitan will attend and grace the occassion. We plan to have some games and activities organised during that weekend.
Football Tournament - MTC Futsal :
We will also participate in the football tournament conducted by the Chennai Center Youth League to be help on 7 & 8th August at the YMCA Grounds, Nandanam. We will get back with the exact times for the matches by end of the week.

We also decided to opt out of the Shuttle Tournament organised by the Christian Sports League.

BTW if you missed the Jul 11th session, don't miss to read the blog post titled Confessional Prayer of the Marthoma Church.

Hope to see those who did not attend today, next week.

Have a great week ahead.

MOM : Jun 27th Attitude matters

We had a very good session with guidance from Rev Sam Koshy Achen.

Primary topic of discussion in the Youth League Meeting will be a follow up of the sermon heard in Church on that day. This is good because it helps us to get in to the actual discussion as soon as possible. Well that means we all have to be more attentive in Church too. So far we have not been doing a "re-cap" of what we heard in church. I guess that should be practiced next meeting onwards so that those who missed out can come up to speed.

Topic of Discussion : 2 Timothy 1:11

The main talking point was the Story about the architect of the St Paul's Cathedral (not the one in Adyar) in London, Christopher Wren who talked to 3 workers at the construction site. Christopher asked these 3 men what they were doing. Each of them gave a different type of answer.

The story goes that the first person he talked to said he was "cutting rocks"

The second person said he was trying to construct the church so that he could earn a living to feed his family. He was looking at monetary benefits.

The third person said he was building a church.

The attitude of each of these persons were different. The third person showed the "right attitude" and Achen called on the members to have the right attitude to our work/prayer etc.

Some other jottings from the meeting :

Say a short prayer before you start reading The Bible (personal). This will make a big difference in how you are able to interpret The Bible.

Other Items discussed :

• Notice of the Center Youth League will be held at 10 AM next Saturday, Jul 3rd, 2010.
• Announced the availability of this website.
• Mr. Robin Varghese reminded us to socialize and welcome the guests to the church, especially youngsters. He also highlighted the need to conduct the Onam celebrations well.

Quiz Next Week : Dayana will be conducting a quiz next week based on the first and second lessons of this week. Chapters to be familiar with : Ezekiel 37 and Romans 8.

Quick Update : Thanks to Cinchu for keeping the accounts up to date in less than a few hours of the meeting.

Well members please feel free to post your comments on corrections / additions to any posts or content on this site.

Call to members to write & post articles / photos etc on this site.

Committee Meeting Saturday 5 PM June 19th

We had 5 of the members attending the committee meeting of the youth league.

Members who attended : Rev K C George, Cinchu, Ruby, Jerry, Ashish, Sweety,Gibu

Points discussed :

1) Achen suggested we have to visit the nearby slum and inquire about their whereabouts. To empathize with their day to day life.

2) Need to update the youth league members list and have a new membership drive to sign up more persons.

3) We need to organise a 1-2 day camp among our youth league members. Best time to have a good councelor guide the sessions.

4) Youth Sunday - we should visit the members of our church. Pick one or two areas and visit some of the member houses.

5) Discussion topics : could discuss on Sacrements of the Marthoma Church.

6) Assist Achen / help in activities of the church atleast once in 2 months

7) Visit Karna mission field.

Cinju presented the accounts.

MOM June 13th

Leadership : Advocate P. A Cirus Sir.

Cirus sir was a living testimony of how a person can really live at harmony with nature and God even in this current society which is so fast moving.

He reiterated that we should live to satisfy our needs only, not our greed.

Matthew 6: 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.

The Bible does not say that "all things" shall be yours. But tells "all these" things shall be yours. Read the above verse again.

He challenged the Youth League members to join the social work activities in Orissa. He gave inspiring words on how his team is able to help the poor and exploited people in Orissa. They are in need for doctors and other volunteers. You can contact the vicar of St Pauls Marthoma church to get in touch with Cirus sir.

He gave more than a few points that .... highlighted why women are superior to men. He had humorous and serious points to substantiate that.

The session today was an extended one with lot of discussion generated by the members.