Happy Onam

Message by Rev Joby and Farewell to Biju Philip

In today's session we had Rev. Joby Thomas Achen and he talked to us about the realities of life and the need to really depend on HIS grace. He asked the youth members to be thankful for God's gift and reminded the youth that God blesses us wonderfully and graciously. However we should also remember that God can also take it back at any time and hence to rely on HIM even more. Remember our pasts and pray for HIS strength and use our talents and abilities for God's glory.

Today we also bid Biju farewell and best wishes for his relocation to Cochin. He is leaving Chennai on Sunday. All the best Biju and the Yuvajana Sakhyam wishes him all the best and thanked him for his efforts here. 

Here are some photos of the farewell.

For those who missed Biju's performance can get a recap in this photo and additionally in this  slideshow of our Onam celebrations.

Sixth Annual General Body meeting of St. Paul's Mar Thoma Yuvajana Sakhyam

The 6th Annual General Body meeting of St. Paul's Mar Thoma Yuvajana Sakhyam was held on 17th June, 2012 at St.Paul's Mar Thoma Church, Adyar. 

The meeting was presided over by Rev. Gigy Thomas.

The meeting started with  Prayer by Mr. Thomas John.

The president Rev. Gigy Thomas Achen gave the presidential address and called on the members to work for God's glory. 

A special song was sung by Ms. Nia Sam.

The devotional talk was shared by Mr. Mathew K. M. and he called on all members and office bearers to work as a team as TEAM - Together Everyone Achieves More. He meditated on Psalm 1:3.

The annual report was presented by the secretary Mr. Biju Phillip and passed by the General Body. 

The audited report for financial year 2011 - 2012 was presented by the treasurer Ms. Dayana Joseph and passed by the General Body.

The meeting also elected a new secretary Mr. Sumod Cherian and committee member Ms. Nia Sam as replacement for the secretary Mr. Biju Phillip and committee member Mr. Alex George who have been forced to relocate due to work reasons.

The meeting concluded with prayer by the Vice President, Mr. Sujith M. Phillip.

Annual General Body Meeting

Dear Friends,

The Annual General Body meeting of St.Paul's Mar Thoma Yuvajana Sakhyam for the year 2011-12 will be held this Sunday (17th June, 2012) immediately after the church service. 

Request you all to attend the meeting.

--
Thanks & Regards,

Biju Philip

Secretary,

SPMC YS, Adyar

St Paul's Marthoma Yuvajana Sakhyam Office bearers 2012-2013

The General Body of St Paul's Marthoma Yuvajana Sakhyam met on March 4, 2012 at the Church, to elect the office bearers for the year 2012-2013. The meeting was presided by Rev. Gigy Thomas Achen.

The meeting began with prayer. This was followed by the election of office bearers for all posts.

The below lists the elected members:
Vice President : Sujith M Philip
Secretary  : Biju Philip
Ladies Secretary: Cinchu Abraham
Joint Secretary : Dayana Joseph
Treasurer : Blessy Ann Joseph
Auditor  : Kuruvilla Mathew
Committeee Members : Alex George Thomas, Kiran Varghese, Kevin Joseph, Lydia Elizabeth Abraham, Feba Sosa Abraham

Center Representative  : Jerin Mary Abraham, Jenzo Samuel Thomas(Biju as Secretary is also a
member)
Diocese Representative: Jerin Mary Abraham, Christo Jacob George
Church Representative  : Cinchu Abraham, (Biju as Secretary is also a member)

Feb 19th - Sunday : Beginning of Great Lent

Friends,

The 117th Maramon Convention had commenced on Sunday. However there is another important event about to begin soon.

The Great Lent begins next Sunday - Feb 19th. It extends through passion week.

Lets plan to observe it prayerfully. It will help us be disciplined followers of Christ.

The Great Lent is a 40 days Lent and it is a forty day period when we remember Jesus' journey to the cross. As a practice the Yuvajana Sakhyam members observe the fasting period and contribute the amount saved for charity. Lets us observe the same prayerfully.

Have a nice week ahead.

The necessity of Daily Christ Experience : Message by Tony Varghese

Yesterday's Yuvajana Sakhyam Meeting was handled by Mr. Tony Varghese, student of Gurkul Theological College. You can find the details of the same below.

St. John 21:1-6

Greetings to you in the name of triune God.

After the resurrection Jesus appeared to disciples many times. This is one among those events. The central message of the read passage was the restoration or reinstallation of the disciples. But today I would like to focus on a message that is related to our personal spiritual life. We are very familiar with social perspective of the gospel, like justice, marginalized, violence and so on. But what about our spiritual life? Today I would like to share three points that related to our personal spiritual life from this passage. These points start with the English alphabet D. So I would like to call 3D's.  

1.      The necessity of Daily Christ Experience.

The disciples followed Him with great enthusiasm and they were great leaders when Jesus was alive. They expected a new king and kingdom, but their hopes were shattered. The second verse says that Simon Peter and 6 other disciples have gathered. This verse shows the situation of the disciples after the death of Jesus Christ. They were in a condition of nowhere. Now they were in confusion, didn't know what to do. So Peter finds a solution, verse 3 says "Simon Peter told them I am going out to fish". They replied "we are also coming". This same Peter, as we know once declared his faith by saying about Jesus that "You are the Christ, Son of the living God". And even Jesus affirmed it. But here we can say that he became the reason for the resignation of faith of other disciples. As we know they have had the resurrected Christ in their life. In the last chapter it is mentioned and Thomas had a direct and different experience.  But lack of His presence led them to resign their faith. They forgot the rich experience they got when they were with Jesus; they have forgotten the words and commands of Jesus, now they were in their old way. So what is the reason for that? It was the lacking of Christ experience or lack of experiencing Christ's presence with them. They could not realize the presence of Christ with them. Therefore living in the way of Christ, needs a daily experience. That they missed in this incident. The early missionaries had the personal Christ experience that led them to India and elsewhere.

            Today's context, we may have lot of excuses to avoid it, busy schedule, busy classes and assignments and so on but that may lead us to wrong directions. St. Luke 5 says Jesus called Peter from his boat, here it says Peter went back to the boat and they left (V.3). He was returning to the old place from where Jesus has called him to be catchers of human. Resigning the rich faith once they had. The daily Christ experience will enrich us to be in his path and ways, which will lead us to depend on his ways and directions. I feel that the so called Christian community is lacking it to some extent.

 

2.      The necessity of Depending Christ directions/ways.           

In this incident the disciples were on their way to catch fish. As we know they were good in fishing and they know the pattern and secrets of the sea. They were in a high expectation. They have worked hard for a heavy result. But the end result was failure. Here comes the question of Jesus. What you have? A group of strong disciples went with their own directions and presuppositions had the answer no. We don't have anything. Jesus showed them the right direction and said to throw net on the right side. The result was amazing. They have worked the whole night as the passage says, didn't get anything, why? Because something was missing in their attempt. For them the direction to throw the net was missing. Many a times we may think that we can do great things. But without the real directions and ways that to be revealed by Jesus you may be a failure. Understanding the direction/ways of Jesus Christ and depending on his directions will give you new experiences in life. So it is said that 'a little push in the right direction can make a big difference'.

            Dear beloveds in Christ who is fixing our directions? Most of the time we used to ascribe our direction as Christ's directions.  Christ's directions and ways may be different to ours. Only through the daily Christ experience we could understand the directions that may demand us to risk our life. Best example is Jesus, he said in his prayer at Gethsemane, "Not my will, but your will". For David Brainerd it was something different. His mission was among the red Indians and most of them were suffering TB. Once some journalists tried to find him in the forest. They enquired where we can see him. One person replied you go this way. You will see the spitting of blood on the way. Then you follow that blood mark you can find him. So he got the nick name blood spitting Red Indian Missionary. So walking and working according to the directions of Christ is risky but that is what Jesus demands. When you depend on Jesus' direction you will be able to work diligently in Christ's way.

3.      The necessity of Diligence in Christ's call.

            The word diligence means persistent in effort or work. V.3 says "that night they caught nothing". They were on the sea for whole night. Here Jesus was asking them to work more or to try again. He knew that they were tired; he knew that they were disappointed; he knew that they were failed completely, but he wants them to try again. He needs our participation to fulfill his purpose and mission. At times when we are failed it may give us pain and disappointment, but Jesus says why don't you try again? If you walk according to my direction I am with you. Diligence or persistence is necessary in Christ's call. It is said that 'there is an island of opportunity in the middle of every difficulty'.

            E.g. we all know about African Great Missionary David Livingston. He died on 1873 at the age of 60. His dead body was found in his bed room but not in the bed. It was found beside his bed in the praying posture on his knees. But from the bed they got a slip of paper. It was written on it as this "My Jesus, my king, my life and all, to thee again I dedicate myself". For Livingston everyday was another day to serve and grow. He was not tired or lazy in the last minute also, thinking, what to do for his Lord. Jesus is asking today do you have that type of diligence in your commitment. We have to analyze in our life.

Conclusion

Dear beloved in Christ, I hope you will remember these 3 D's always. The necessities of Daily Christ Experience, Depending Christ Directions and Diligence in Christ's call in our life.  When we have daily Christ experience which will lead us to the directions of Christ and make us diligent to his call. Let us submit our life to our Jesus so that we may walk in his way and directions to fulfill his just mission. Somebody said it is like this "A journey of a thousand miles starts with the first one step". Let us start our journey by rearranging our personal spiritual life. May the Almighty bless us with these words. Amen.