Beloved in Christ,
This year the Lent starts on 1st March, a period of meditation of the passion, Crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lent is specifically set apart as a time of fasting, giving prayer and meditation where in remember the person and work of Jesus Christ and ultimately connect ourselves to His passion and death on the cross. Christ redeemed the whole humanity from sin and death. Lent is in fact a spiritual retreat of the church through which the members of the church meditate upon the cross of the Christ and submit to it a sense of complete repentance. May the 40 day of lent be days of revival and renewal to every member of our church in body , mind and spirit.
All living things as well as human beings are part of God`s creation. God Gave human beings the authority to have dominion over nature. Human beings are to be the trustees or keepers of the earth- protecting and developing natural world in accord with God`s purpose and plan. God put man in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it and to guard the sanctity of God`s dwelling. The subjugation of the earth began with cultivation of the garden. Before the flood God protected Noah and his family and all the wild animals and livestock that were with him in the Ark. Soon after the flood God remembered Noah and all the creatures came out of the ark one after the other and they were multiplied.
On the other hand the rational Christian nation of our stewardship of creation is not only the rational control over nature but also the human continuity with the nature and protection of what God sustains. We accept this perspective than our responsibility is to extend beyond the needs and wants of persons to encompass preservation. God put everything under human feet and has given them the authority to have domination over the works of God. And Christ has the supremacy over all the creation. We are called to be the protectors of the earth until the end and not to pollute nature. Nature has been bestowed with an abundance of resources for the support and maintenance of life systems on planet earth. The inter-relatedness of the whole creations should be upheld. It is in this context of inter relationship of human and space that we need to search for new meaning of life by maintaining justice in the eco system by preserving wild life,forest and rivers.
We need to equip our churches and society to engage in transformative action to realize the promise of freedom of nature for the creation is subjected to frustration. The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay. As stewards of God we are accountable of our behavior towards nature. We are called to be the keepers of the earth and not to be destroyers of nature and life.
I pray for all those who are observing lent and may God give you all strength and spiritual growth.
Yours in Christ,
Rev. C. C. Sabu
