Golla kalakshepam:{“Golla Suddulu” is a Shepherd’s folk mode of communication which is used to communicate the plight of the poor and the oppressed, and countering the dominant sarcastically. “Hari Katha Kalakshepum” is another mode of communication which is basically used by the dominant, wherein the stories of the ancient epics are communicated. “Golla Kalakshepum” is the fusion of both these modes, to communicate gospel as well as to bring both the oppressor and oppressed together, a present action with a futuristic hope of a single humanity}
VEERA’S GOLLA KALAKSHEPUM18TH JUNE 2007THEME: ROLE OF JUST VIOLENCE IN SHEPHERDING MINISTRY
Devudavu Devudavu Yessiah
Mammu Balaparichee Devudavu Neevayya Porade Devudavu Neevayya Mammu Poshinchee Devudavu Yessiah Swaardam Yele Lokam Lo Nis Swaardam Neevayya Raavaya …….Raavaya………. Raavaya Raavaya Yessiah Mamuu Darichercha Raavayya Messiah.
Meaning: Lord you are the one who strengthen us, you are the one who fights for us and feeds us. in this world where selfishness rules, come Lord, come, let us our goals.
Good morning everybody,
I am Veera (brave) a Shepherd taking care of my sheep all through the week and preaching gospel in my own style during my leisure time to people around me. I was passing this way so I thought I would share my experiences and thoughts to all of you, who are very much sound theologically and also spiritually. I feed my sheep in green pastures and take care of them when ever they are sick; I not only give my life to save them but also will not hesitate take someone’s life to protect them. One of my friends an evangelist in Kashmir is on the top of the militants most wanted hit. So, I asked him why you can’t get a gun with license for his self- protection. Though he wanted to go for it he was very much worried about the ecclesial structures and peoples responses. Then some fundamental questions came to my mind, does the passiveness in our life define the “quality” of our calling? Does a shepherding ministry end with a sacrifice? Do we need to be passive accepters of violence against us or active resisters of it?Then I thought about my big guru “The good Shepherd” and his words in Luke 22:35-38, he said to them “when I send you out with out a purse, bag or sandals, did u lack any thing?” they said, “no, not a thing.” He said to them, “but now, the one who has a purse must take it, and like wise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one. For, I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me,’ and he was counted among the lawless’; they said “Lord, look here are two swords, “he replied, “It is enough”.So I thought let me ask people what they think about this particular passage and their stand on the role of just violence of pastors in ministry today, I got some interesting statements and real life experiences.Interaction:But before going into that let us look into the text and its context.Basically Luke divided the time of Jesus into three “today tomorrow and day after” today tomorrow refers to the ministry of Jesus and the “day after refers to the continuation of the ministry of Jesus in the church. Brandon opines that in Luke 22:35-38, Jesus was aiming his disciples or checking their protection to make sure that they are sufficiently armed. He is doubtful that the disciples had only two swords with them. The fact that the party deputed to arrest Jesus in the garden came prepared with arms indicate that Judas had warned them that the disciples of Jesus were well armed and the followers of Jesus offered serious armed resistance.To understand the passage in a better manner we need to reflect on the social setting of the ancient Palestine and Roman Empire and Jesus’ relation ship with the on going political struggle in his times. While constructing this we need to over come the hundred years of censorship on the part of the church and the Roman Empire, which found it necessary to syncretize Christianity’s doctrines with the paganism surrounding it so that its survival could be assured. The militant nature of Jesus was carefully but not completely hidden by church censors who redacted the New Testament in the early and afterwards. The actual translation and interpretation of the disciples’ background proves that half of them belong to the Zealot faction group of that times and Jesus had very close relationship with the happenings of that time. There were many attempts made to distinguish Jesus from the Zealots and church leaders found it necessary to make Jesus appear to be pro-roman and to blame Jews for the crucifixion ignoring the fact that Judas and Simon Peter were both zealots and that Jesus told his followers that he had come not to bring peace but the sword.Porade Balam Eevuu Yessiah Maaku Pourusham Eyavayya Yessiah Perikithanam Paradoli Dayryamu Makuevva Raavaya …….Raavaya……….{Give us enough energy to fight back, give us zeal, remove our timidness fill us with your courage}Brandon explains a difficult text; according to him “it is enough” is interpreted as enough of this according to those who hold this view Jesus spoke these words in exasperation to reprimand his disciples for carrying arms. The problem with this interpretation is that it questions the intelligence of the disciples. Surely they must have understood what Jesus meant after all, it is not a riddle that he placed before them. It is also in their nature to ask Jesus if they do not understand something. Why then, were the disciples still carrying swords in the garden? Why did the sword thrust occur? Other explanations do not answer these questions.The most likely solution is that the words meant the opposite of what was said. In certain manner of speaking, the speaker speaks the opposite of what the spoken words carry on opposite sense. On the other hand, it could have been spoken sarcastically. An expression of the spoken words would then be “do you think that two swords are enough?”To proceed further, on the other hand, scholars like Horsley view Jesus as a ‘Social Prophet’. He uses models drawn from social sciences to reconstruct a portrait of political and social circumstances in Palestine at the time of Jesus. To put it simply, the situation was one of colonial struggle. His projection of Jesus as a social prophet is widely accepted. Most historical scholars today view Jesus as one whose ministry must be understood at least on some level as a response to the political situation of his days. He regards the kingdom of god in Jesus preaching as a socio-political phenomenon. Kingdom of God is a political metaphor symbol, which clearly include the social-economic-political substance of human relations as willed by God. Taking the above argument into consideration and keeping the social, political struggle (Zealot wars) and psychological, emotional stress and above all, taking the text in a more literal sense we can clearly view Jesus as a ‘Commander’. A commander, who not only instructs his soldiers to equip themselves with cloths and boots, also instructs them to carry their weapon for their self protection and also to guard their people from enemy attack.Sevakulam Memuayya Yessiah Mamu Sainikuluga Marchuu Yessiah Dustulanu Anicheveya Daryamunu Makuevva Raavaya …….Raavaya {We are preachers but transform us as your warriors, give us enough courage to destroy the wicked}That’s it; don’t ask me how I know all these things. Actually in summer there is a shortage of grass, and during that time my sheep menu also used to have theological books and periodicals.Now let us think about us, we call ourselves as Shepherds and the congregations as sheep, we interpret Christ as the good Shepherd. Does the good Shepherd’s responsibility end up with just the feeding of the sheep at the green pastures and laying life for the sheep? As a Shepherd, I have my own political tactics to save my sheep from the wild animal attacks. We usually have two sticks with us; when ever a bear attacks us we will throw one stick at the bear. The bears basically have weak forelegs, so as it will catch the stick with them by standing on their back legs, immediately we will hit on the forelegs and break them and make the bear unmovable. Apart from this political tactic we have a small sword to protect ourselves from the other wild animal.Though my guru is termed as Good Shepherd his revolutionary attitude was never hidden and he had his own definite stand in a more real sense. His expression of Good Shepherd also carries his defensive nature to act on behalf of the sheep in hard times to protect; this can be viewed from his links with the zealot movement through his disciples. The given passage is definitely a time of equipping his followers with the basic necessities and instructing them with about the coming times.In the present context there are many incidents where we notice that maximum of our ministries and ministers are silent with regard to the attacks done on the Christian word bearers and name bearers. It is because of the “Redacted Christ”, who was been made as a sober figure. However, Christ can never be bounded and framed to certain boundaries; he is a dynamic figure who shapes himself according to the context and the people struggles. Christ was never inactive his life death and resurrection had proved how active he was to break the natural, earthly and societal laws. He was violent in accepting violence in the cross he retaliated back through his resurrection.People have different stands to take as we have seen earlier according to the situations, but Jesus was very much possessed with the human vigor, spontaneity and vitality. He had his own role to play in the political scenario of his times. There is no space for passive submission in any of his life situations. He fought against the death the ultimate end of human life through his resurrection, don’t we have the same responsibility to fight till our last breath to breath again.So how do we fulfill our responsibility? We need to reflect on our humanity the inter reflection of persons attitude toward others and divinity the intra reflection of a person to his own self. While proposing his argument on Dalit theology K. Wilson writes, the process of humanization involves three vital operations. They are revelation of one’s self, revolution in one’s life situation and revaluation of values. In the present times we are becoming more divine than being human; every person needs to have a revelation of his/her own self as a human being and realize his/her own responsibility toward his/her own selfhood, a responsibility to live life not to leave life. This is only possible through revolution of one’s life situation by breaking the traditional boundaries of passivism. There should be a revaluation of the values; we are living on the values framed by the people who don’t even have experiences of the challenges that we have. In such a situation we need to frame our own values and have a particular ethos to revolt against the situations situationally. It is not how passively we submit our self to a situation but how best we fight back that situation. Neeve Maa Guruvu Ayya YessiahNee Shishuluuga Mamu Marchu YessiahKatinulanu Dandiopa Dinulanu VidipinchaRaavaya …….Raavaya……….Raavaya Raavaya Yessiah Mamuu Darichercha Raavayya Messiah{You are our teacher transform us as your disciples to punish the corrupt and release the victims}.What about the message of love that Jesus preached?You may be wondering what this painting isLet’s see this, the most powerful element for human survival is “love” but love does have a few characteristics for its existence. Here the cross implies sacrifice; the Shepherd’s staff indicates the guarding and guidance. The most important one is the small sword pointing downwards indicates just violence - a defensive factor, to fight back the situation before we sacrifice ourselves for the things we guard and guide. Jesus teaches the responsibilities to his disciples not to accept death for their love towards their master’s teachings but to fight till their last breath. In this situation he equips his disciples before he faces the worldly trail to break the natural laws.In my interactions I came across an old bible woman who used to carry a sachet of chilly powder in her bible bag because she was once teased by some people when she was on her way to a village. This gave me a boost to my thoughts and struggle on this theme. People have a thought to employ their own minimum resources to protect themselves and accordingly they equip themselves.Everybody has got a blade with you. Though it is a simple thing it has some important lesson to teach us. It has two sides with the same quality, that quality is its “sharpness”. We can use it or misuse it. It can be used to protect ourselves or to destroy ourselves or others. If we are passive acceptors of violence we are destroying ourselves if we are resisting it actively in a just manner we are protecting our self. Jesus equipping his disciples does carry this message by preparing them to actively resist in a just manner.Just Violence is not just an action but it is a change of attitudes to face the challenges. It is repulsion of our self from the passive thought patterns which will make us to negate our self responsibility. Do we have energy to fight back the situations defensively not only through actions but also through our attitude to resist?
VEERA’S GOLLA KALAKSHEPUM18TH JUNE 2007THEME: ROLE OF JUST VIOLENCE IN SHEPHERDING MINISTRY
Devudavu Devudavu Yessiah
Mammu Balaparichee Devudavu Neevayya Porade Devudavu Neevayya Mammu Poshinchee Devudavu Yessiah Swaardam Yele Lokam Lo Nis Swaardam Neevayya Raavaya …….Raavaya………. Raavaya Raavaya Yessiah Mamuu Darichercha Raavayya Messiah.
Meaning: Lord you are the one who strengthen us, you are the one who fights for us and feeds us. in this world where selfishness rules, come Lord, come, let us our goals.
Good morning everybody,
I am Veera (brave) a Shepherd taking care of my sheep all through the week and preaching gospel in my own style during my leisure time to people around me. I was passing this way so I thought I would share my experiences and thoughts to all of you, who are very much sound theologically and also spiritually. I feed my sheep in green pastures and take care of them when ever they are sick; I not only give my life to save them but also will not hesitate take someone’s life to protect them. One of my friends an evangelist in Kashmir is on the top of the militants most wanted hit. So, I asked him why you can’t get a gun with license for his self- protection. Though he wanted to go for it he was very much worried about the ecclesial structures and peoples responses. Then some fundamental questions came to my mind, does the passiveness in our life define the “quality” of our calling? Does a shepherding ministry end with a sacrifice? Do we need to be passive accepters of violence against us or active resisters of it?Then I thought about my big guru “The good Shepherd” and his words in Luke 22:35-38, he said to them “when I send you out with out a purse, bag or sandals, did u lack any thing?” they said, “no, not a thing.” He said to them, “but now, the one who has a purse must take it, and like wise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one. For, I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me,’ and he was counted among the lawless’; they said “Lord, look here are two swords, “he replied, “It is enough”.So I thought let me ask people what they think about this particular passage and their stand on the role of just violence of pastors in ministry today, I got some interesting statements and real life experiences.Interaction:But before going into that let us look into the text and its context.Basically Luke divided the time of Jesus into three “today tomorrow and day after” today tomorrow refers to the ministry of Jesus and the “day after refers to the continuation of the ministry of Jesus in the church. Brandon opines that in Luke 22:35-38, Jesus was aiming his disciples or checking their protection to make sure that they are sufficiently armed. He is doubtful that the disciples had only two swords with them. The fact that the party deputed to arrest Jesus in the garden came prepared with arms indicate that Judas had warned them that the disciples of Jesus were well armed and the followers of Jesus offered serious armed resistance.To understand the passage in a better manner we need to reflect on the social setting of the ancient Palestine and Roman Empire and Jesus’ relation ship with the on going political struggle in his times. While constructing this we need to over come the hundred years of censorship on the part of the church and the Roman Empire, which found it necessary to syncretize Christianity’s doctrines with the paganism surrounding it so that its survival could be assured. The militant nature of Jesus was carefully but not completely hidden by church censors who redacted the New Testament in the early and afterwards. The actual translation and interpretation of the disciples’ background proves that half of them belong to the Zealot faction group of that times and Jesus had very close relationship with the happenings of that time. There were many attempts made to distinguish Jesus from the Zealots and church leaders found it necessary to make Jesus appear to be pro-roman and to blame Jews for the crucifixion ignoring the fact that Judas and Simon Peter were both zealots and that Jesus told his followers that he had come not to bring peace but the sword.Porade Balam Eevuu Yessiah Maaku Pourusham Eyavayya Yessiah Perikithanam Paradoli Dayryamu Makuevva Raavaya …….Raavaya……….{Give us enough energy to fight back, give us zeal, remove our timidness fill us with your courage}Brandon explains a difficult text; according to him “it is enough” is interpreted as enough of this according to those who hold this view Jesus spoke these words in exasperation to reprimand his disciples for carrying arms. The problem with this interpretation is that it questions the intelligence of the disciples. Surely they must have understood what Jesus meant after all, it is not a riddle that he placed before them. It is also in their nature to ask Jesus if they do not understand something. Why then, were the disciples still carrying swords in the garden? Why did the sword thrust occur? Other explanations do not answer these questions.The most likely solution is that the words meant the opposite of what was said. In certain manner of speaking, the speaker speaks the opposite of what the spoken words carry on opposite sense. On the other hand, it could have been spoken sarcastically. An expression of the spoken words would then be “do you think that two swords are enough?”To proceed further, on the other hand, scholars like Horsley view Jesus as a ‘Social Prophet’. He uses models drawn from social sciences to reconstruct a portrait of political and social circumstances in Palestine at the time of Jesus. To put it simply, the situation was one of colonial struggle. His projection of Jesus as a social prophet is widely accepted. Most historical scholars today view Jesus as one whose ministry must be understood at least on some level as a response to the political situation of his days. He regards the kingdom of god in Jesus preaching as a socio-political phenomenon. Kingdom of God is a political metaphor symbol, which clearly include the social-economic-political substance of human relations as willed by God. Taking the above argument into consideration and keeping the social, political struggle (Zealot wars) and psychological, emotional stress and above all, taking the text in a more literal sense we can clearly view Jesus as a ‘Commander’. A commander, who not only instructs his soldiers to equip themselves with cloths and boots, also instructs them to carry their weapon for their self protection and also to guard their people from enemy attack.Sevakulam Memuayya Yessiah Mamu Sainikuluga Marchuu Yessiah Dustulanu Anicheveya Daryamunu Makuevva Raavaya …….Raavaya {We are preachers but transform us as your warriors, give us enough courage to destroy the wicked}That’s it; don’t ask me how I know all these things. Actually in summer there is a shortage of grass, and during that time my sheep menu also used to have theological books and periodicals.Now let us think about us, we call ourselves as Shepherds and the congregations as sheep, we interpret Christ as the good Shepherd. Does the good Shepherd’s responsibility end up with just the feeding of the sheep at the green pastures and laying life for the sheep? As a Shepherd, I have my own political tactics to save my sheep from the wild animal attacks. We usually have two sticks with us; when ever a bear attacks us we will throw one stick at the bear. The bears basically have weak forelegs, so as it will catch the stick with them by standing on their back legs, immediately we will hit on the forelegs and break them and make the bear unmovable. Apart from this political tactic we have a small sword to protect ourselves from the other wild animal.Though my guru is termed as Good Shepherd his revolutionary attitude was never hidden and he had his own definite stand in a more real sense. His expression of Good Shepherd also carries his defensive nature to act on behalf of the sheep in hard times to protect; this can be viewed from his links with the zealot movement through his disciples. The given passage is definitely a time of equipping his followers with the basic necessities and instructing them with about the coming times.In the present context there are many incidents where we notice that maximum of our ministries and ministers are silent with regard to the attacks done on the Christian word bearers and name bearers. It is because of the “Redacted Christ”, who was been made as a sober figure. However, Christ can never be bounded and framed to certain boundaries; he is a dynamic figure who shapes himself according to the context and the people struggles. Christ was never inactive his life death and resurrection had proved how active he was to break the natural, earthly and societal laws. He was violent in accepting violence in the cross he retaliated back through his resurrection.People have different stands to take as we have seen earlier according to the situations, but Jesus was very much possessed with the human vigor, spontaneity and vitality. He had his own role to play in the political scenario of his times. There is no space for passive submission in any of his life situations. He fought against the death the ultimate end of human life through his resurrection, don’t we have the same responsibility to fight till our last breath to breath again.So how do we fulfill our responsibility? We need to reflect on our humanity the inter reflection of persons attitude toward others and divinity the intra reflection of a person to his own self. While proposing his argument on Dalit theology K. Wilson writes, the process of humanization involves three vital operations. They are revelation of one’s self, revolution in one’s life situation and revaluation of values. In the present times we are becoming more divine than being human; every person needs to have a revelation of his/her own self as a human being and realize his/her own responsibility toward his/her own selfhood, a responsibility to live life not to leave life. This is only possible through revolution of one’s life situation by breaking the traditional boundaries of passivism. There should be a revaluation of the values; we are living on the values framed by the people who don’t even have experiences of the challenges that we have. In such a situation we need to frame our own values and have a particular ethos to revolt against the situations situationally. It is not how passively we submit our self to a situation but how best we fight back that situation. Neeve Maa Guruvu Ayya YessiahNee Shishuluuga Mamu Marchu YessiahKatinulanu Dandiopa Dinulanu VidipinchaRaavaya …….Raavaya……….Raavaya Raavaya Yessiah Mamuu Darichercha Raavayya Messiah{You are our teacher transform us as your disciples to punish the corrupt and release the victims}.What about the message of love that Jesus preached?You may be wondering what this painting isLet’s see this, the most powerful element for human survival is “love” but love does have a few characteristics for its existence. Here the cross implies sacrifice; the Shepherd’s staff indicates the guarding and guidance. The most important one is the small sword pointing downwards indicates just violence - a defensive factor, to fight back the situation before we sacrifice ourselves for the things we guard and guide. Jesus teaches the responsibilities to his disciples not to accept death for their love towards their master’s teachings but to fight till their last breath. In this situation he equips his disciples before he faces the worldly trail to break the natural laws.In my interactions I came across an old bible woman who used to carry a sachet of chilly powder in her bible bag because she was once teased by some people when she was on her way to a village. This gave me a boost to my thoughts and struggle on this theme. People have a thought to employ their own minimum resources to protect themselves and accordingly they equip themselves.Everybody has got a blade with you. Though it is a simple thing it has some important lesson to teach us. It has two sides with the same quality, that quality is its “sharpness”. We can use it or misuse it. It can be used to protect ourselves or to destroy ourselves or others. If we are passive acceptors of violence we are destroying ourselves if we are resisting it actively in a just manner we are protecting our self. Jesus equipping his disciples does carry this message by preparing them to actively resist in a just manner.Just Violence is not just an action but it is a change of attitudes to face the challenges. It is repulsion of our self from the passive thought patterns which will make us to negate our self responsibility. Do we have energy to fight back the situations defensively not only through actions but also through our attitude to resist?
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