Praise the Lord for the year 2007. Praise the Lord for the new year. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness. Praise the Lord for His promises. As we say good-bye to 2007 and enter the new year I would like to share some reflections from Psalm 31,
"In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness. Be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me. 5 Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth. 7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. 9 Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. 10 My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak. 11 Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends-- those who see me on the street flee from me. 12 I am forgotten by them as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery. 14 But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." 15 My times are in your hands; 16 Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love."
New Year's Eve is one of those few times in the year when just about everybody is thinking about the same thing. There's something dramatic about watching the old year slip away by counting the hours left in it, then the minutes, down to the seconds when the old year has passed into history, never to come again.
We seldom think much about time except when we're running late. Time is a lot like a river and it's carrying all of us downstream. Where is it taking us? What are we doing while we're on the trip? A lot of people have trouble with time management, with putting first things first. Someone put it this way:
"This is the age of the half-read page and the quick hash and the mad dash and the bright night with the nerves tight the plane hop and the brief stop, the lamp tan in a short span, the big shot and the good spot, and the brain strain and the heart pain, and the cat naps till the spring snaps and the fun's done and then comes taps."
If there is anything we truly need in this New Year, it is to get closer to God, to grow in the love of our Savior, and to carry out His will for our lives. That will carry us through no matter what the river of time may bring our way. Psalm 31 is almost entirely a prayer, but you can tell that it's not the kind of prayer that one prays out loud or one that is prayed with folded hands. No, it appears to be the kind of prayer Paul had in mind when he told us to PRAY CONSTANTLY. It's the kind of prayer that you pray while working or driving or when you're under a lot of stress, as David was here.
Prayer and good Christ-centered self-reflection go a long way to having that Happy New Year that we wish each other. Christ-centered self-reflection is the fine art of handling the stress that comes your way by reacting to it in a Christian manner. David joins prayer and good self-reflective talk when he tells God of his circumstances and lays it upon the Lord for help. Notice that he does not minimize his troubles; this is not a case of whistling in the dark. He describes the trouble in all of its sorrowful details.
He said: * 9 "Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. 10 My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak. 11 Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors; I am a dread to my friends-- those who see me on the street flee from me. But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, 'You are my God.' 15 My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me."
The psalm goes on to say, * 16 "Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love. 17 Let me not be put to shame, O LORD 19 How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.21 Praise be to the LORD, for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city. 22 In my alarm I said, "I am cut off from your sight!" Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. 24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD."
There may be times in this coming year when you too will feel cut off from God's sight. You may wonder if God has forgotten you. There is good news for us - The Lord make his face shine upon you. The Psalm says, "Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your unfailing love."
When God's face is shining upon His people, that means that he is SMILING upon them. What more could you ask from the New Year than that? Think of the grim-faced idols that you see on a totem pole and the frowns they present to those who worship these gods. We have a God who came here personally to smile upon us The Psalm says, "How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you."
This is the God who is able to do so much more than we can ask or imagine. Trust him for your future, both your future on earth and your forever future. Jesus said: In this world, you will have trouble, but don't be afraid, I have overcome the world.
That's the kind of God we have to guide us through the New Year; He is the One we can trust, the One in whom we can have confidence for the future, no matter what the New Year may bring.
And we all need to get to work for Jesus! There is no better way to use the time of this New Year. Here is a timely item:
Take time to work--it is the price of success.
Take time to think--it is the source of power
Take time to read--it is the fountain of wisdom
Take time to worship--it is the highway to reverence
Take time to be friendly--it is the road to happiness
Take time to laugh--it helps to lift life's load
Take time for God's Word--it brings Christ near and it washes the dust of earth from your eyes.
Take time for God--it is life's only truly lasting investment. In Jesus' name.
Brown.
I am forwarding some of the communications that I have received from the Christian leaders of Orissa, India. I have also included a map of Orissa. You can locate the Phulbani district on the map.
EFI NEWS
Churches Continue to Burn in Orissa
Churches continue to burn in Orissa inspite of curfew being imposed in different places, we receive many phone calls about the violence which is given below: • Situation in Barkhama village of Baliguda block is alarming. The fundamentalist group ransacked the village, broke two churches and looted the properties of the poor villagers and torched the houses of the new believers. The force was so tremendous that all the villages including women and children had to flee from the village to save their lives and now hiding themselves in the forest. Latest information received from the Bishop of Phulbani reveals that three dead bodies of Christians are lying un-attended. This has not been carried in any of the newspapers so far. • Many Christian NGOs, Institutions including the homes and hostels have been attacked and looted. Mostly these institutions are Catholic run institutions. Due to blockage of road by the activists, neither the media person, nor the Church leaders are able to reach at the spot. There could be much more information from rural churches, which has not reached us so far, due to communication obstructions. • So far 23 churches have been damaged as per the report received till 12 Noon. The damage caused on 26 th December' 07 are to the following 9 churches: A) Barkhuma Area of Baliguda Block – 2 Churches B) Rutungia Area of Baliguda Block - 4 Churches C) Dolgaon Area of Baliguda Block – 1 Church D) Irpiguda Area of Baliguda Block – 1 Church E) Kalinga Area of Udayagiri Block – 1 Church The Arch Bishop of Catholic Dioceses of Orissa, Bishop of Diocese of Cuttack, and all other Church leaders have been trying frantically to take an appointment from the Chief Minister to discuss about the situation. However the CM's office have deliberately failed so far to fix up a date and time with the CM for a discussion of Orissa Church leaders. However the situation in Udaygiri is coming towards normalcy. All Church leaders of Orissa, had a meeting in the office of the Arch Bishop of Catholic Dioceses of Orissa at Bhubaneswar, today at 10:00 a.m. It has been decided that steps be taken to meet the C.M to ventilate the grievances. A fresh memorandum has been drafted with the following demands: A) Initiation of a C.B.I enquiry into the incident. B) Central Police Forces must be deployed immediately as the local police has failed to prevent the communal riot inspite of getting early information. C) Proper assessments be made for the loss of property and lives of the victims of the Christian community in the affected area and proper compensation be paid to them as early as possible. D) Exemplary action to be taken against the Government officials, for their lapses, negligence and in action to prevent and control such situation. E) A fact finding committee consisting of Church leaders will visit the violence sites in order to bring peace in the locality and also to take a stack of the situation. We request all of you to uphold the situation in your prayer and especially for the women and children, who are taking shelter in Jungles without food. In Delhi a Peace Dharna is organised from 4 to 6 p.m at Orissa Bhavan. Please pray for Orissa and intervene to bring normalcy.
Please write or fax to the below mentioned addresses to express your concern:
HON'BLE PRESIDENT OF INDIA SMT. PRATIBHA DEVISINGH PATIL President of IndiaRashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi - 110 004Fax : +91-011-23017290/ 011-23017824Dr. Manmohan SinghPrime Minister of IndiaRoom No 152, South Block,New Delhi - 110 001Ph: +91-011-23012312/ 011-23013149/ 011-23019545Fax: +91-011-23018939
Shri Navin PatnaikChief Minister of Orissa Naveen Nivas, Aerodrome Road, P.O. BhubaneswarDistt. Khurda, Pin - 751 001 (Orissa)E-mail cmo@ori.nic.inOffice Phone 0674-2531100/2535100/2531500Office Fax: 0674-2400100
Rev. Dr. Richard HowellGeneral SecretaryEvangelical Fellowship of IndiaNew Delhi, India
Evangelical Fellowship of India (established 1951) is a charter member of World Evangelical Alliance, an accredited NGO with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations
EFI Press Release
Memorandum Submitted to the Chief Minister of Orissa
Shri Naveen PatnaikHon’ble Chief Minister of OrissaBhubaneswar Dear Sir, We, the leaders and representatives of different Churches of Orissa would like to bring to your kind notice, the atrocities committed against the Christians in Kandhamal District and other places of the state of Orissa. The trouble began on 24th December at 8.00 a.m. at Bamunigam village, close to the police station under Daringibadi Block of Kandhamal District. Some Hindu Fundamentalists forcefully removed the Christmas decoration, which the Ambedkar Baniko Sangho comprising the local Christian entrepreneurs, had put up as a preparation for Christmas, with the due permission of the administration. This was followed by exchange of hot words between two groups, as the Fundamentalists insisted to stop Christmas celebrations. Within a few minutes a group of people who were stationed close by pounced on the members of Ambedkar Baniko Sangho with sticks, knives and other lethal weapons like guns. Seeing the crowd coming to attack the people dispersed out of fear. The Fundamentalists began to destroy the shops of Christians. About fifteen shops have been destroyed and looted. They also shot at by guns Christian community badly injuring two of them. They also destroyed about fifteen shops belonging to the Christians and looted the property available. Six seven members of Ambedkar Boniko Sango were beaten up by the mob. On the second day, 25th December, the crowd came back and destroyed the Churches in Bamunigam area. Then they entered the Christian villages and burnt their houses and property. They were also threatened to leave their places. The parish church and the Christians are under threat without any police security. Attack on Balliguda ParishOn the same day, 24th December evening much larger crowd (400to 500) marched into Balliguda town parish and damaged and ransacked the Church building, residence of priest, convents and institutions and looted the property. By 10.00 p.m. the following institutions were destroyed and burned (some fully, others partly). The large parish church, presbytery, convent, computer room, dispensary plus +2 student’s hostel, etc. The same crowd moved into the town and completely burned down the church belonged to the Baptist Christians. They also attacked another church belonging to the Pentecostal Christians. On 25th December they were moving around menacingly threatening the priests and Christians so that they were not even able to file an FIR. The situation is desperate and there is total fear and anxiety among Christians. Two constables asked the priests of Phulbani parish to have no celebration otherwise there will be more troubles. On 25th December, the convent in Phulbani was also attacked by a group of Fundamentalists. They destroyed everything possible from outside of the convent (door, window glasses, etc.) They also destroyed a new school bus. On 25th December the priests and sisters in Pobingia parish were advised to move out to a safer place which they did. And thereafter at 12.00 noon a group of Bajrandal people attacked the church of Pobingia parish and destroyed it. There after they destroyed the priest’s residence in the afternoon. All these happened in the presence of police with impunity. More than half of 24 parishes in Kandhamal District could not celebrate Christmas mass because of fear of attack In Bhubaneswar During midnight Mass on 24th December, someone threw a bomb on Archbishop’s House, Bhubaneswar. Though it exploded fortunately no damage took place. Our Fears 1. Even though the Government have been assuring us all protection the fundamentalists are moving about with lethal weapons threatening the Christians. 2. The fundamentalists go on their destructive activities even in the presence of the police force who often say that they are not enough to face such a crowd. The destruction goes on unabated. 3. The Christians who are already attacked and those who are in great fear of being attacked feel with sufficient reason that they are left to the mercy of the fundamentalists. 4. We don’t see any where sufficient number of police force, the senior police officers who deputed to the Kandhamal District for maintenance of law and order have expressed their inability to contain the situation in absence of adequate force. 5. The Fundamentalists are forcing the Christians to leave their homes and take refuge in the forest.
INSTITUTIONS ATTACKED SO FAR
PARISH CHURCH
VILLAGE CHURCHES
Balliguda
Bodagan-Balliguda
Balliguda town
Kamapada – Balliuda
Pobingia
Mandipanka- Godapur
Baminigam
Jhinjirguda- Bamunigam
Ulipadaro – Bamunigam
Goborkutty-Kattingia
Kulpakia- Nuagam
Dohapanga-Balliguda
4 village Churches - Nuagam
3 more village church
Bakingia ( Raikia )
Boriguda ( Padangi )
CONVENTS
PRESBYTERY
Balliguda
Balliguda
Pobingia
Pobingia
Phulbani
Bamunigam
Sankharkhole
Padangi
Bamunigam
HOSTELS
Pobingia 2
Balliguda 2
Bamunigam 2
Minor Seminary (Balliguda)
Vocational Training Centre (Balliguda)Sarshnanda (Pobingia)
Barakhama, 400 houses are gutted, five people murdered, property looted, one tractor burnt. Sirtiguda ( Balliguda) 7 Churches, 4 Churches in Phiringia, Phulbani Block 7 Churches, Ruthungia 4 Churches, Kallingia 3 chruches, Dalagam one church, Irpiguda one, Tikabali two IA Churches.
Kui Janakalyan Samiti This organization had declared bandh on 25th and 26th December 2007 in order to press for their alleged demands. But it was only a ploy to prevent the celebration and attack the Christians and their churches and institutions. But their real purpose was to: a) Disturb their Christmas celebration, the important feast of Christians; it is even a National holiday. b) Instead of conducting bandh they have unleashed a reign of terror, destroying institutions, intimidating Christians and forcing them to go out of their homes. c) Their entire attention is on driving away Christians from the region. It is evident from the slogan they are shouting at Christians.Most of the priests, pastors and religious sisters in Kandhamal District have taken shelter in the forest. In fact the fundamentalists are in search of finding their hide-outs.All these happened during last three days. We are in receipt of information from various churches and institutions that the miscreants are still active and the destruction of property is still going on and Christians are under attack. On the other hand the innocent Christians are apprehended and Christian officials are victimized in order to appease the Fundamentalists.In view of the facts stated above we demand the followings: 1. That a CBI inquiry may be ordered for proper and impartial investigation for justice. 2. That Central Para Military forces be deployed in adequate strength at all the affected and sensitive places to prevent any further recurrences as the local police has not been able to control the situation. 3. That impartial and proper assessment of the property damaged, caused to various Churches, Christian institutions and other establishments may be made and adequate compensation be provided as early as possible to restore confidence of the people in the administration. 4. That proper compensation be given to the deceased family and injured persons. 5. That the culprits responsible for creating communal disharmony and caused damage to people and properties should be severely dealt with and the Govt. officials be given exemplary punishments for their gross negligence, inaction, apathy amounting to connivance with the perpetrators 6. A Fact Finding Committee consisting of various Church leaders and representatives proposed to visit various affected sites and personnel of the Kandhamal District and other affected places of the state to take stock of the situation and to console the victims and families. Therefore, we request to provide police protection to the team during their visit. Yours sincerely, Archbishop Raphael Cheenath,SVD Bishop Sarat Chandra NayakBishop Samsan Das Rev. Dr. Richard HowellGeneral SecretaryEvangelical Fellowship of IndiaNew Delhi, India
Evangelical Fellowship of India (established 1951) is a charter member of World Evangelical Alliance, an accredited NGO with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations
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