Thepfulhouvi Solo
[dropcap]L[/dropcap]ast year, the Butler of then-Pope leaked some Papal documents to the Press revealing embarrassing internal stories of the Vatican; this year on Saturday the 21st December 2013, in his Christmas message to the central Government of the Catholics –Curia, as it is known, of his own Bureaucrats of Cardinals and Bishops, Pope Francis went deep into the working of the administration to a level of reality not normally touched before.The Pope thanked the Bishops and the Cardinals and said, “there are Saints in the Curia” but warned that SERVICE to the CHURCH is a CALLING, a COMMITMENT that requires more than high quality of Professionalism and competence: it requires “Holiness in their lives” otherwise the system will slide down to unattractive mediocrity.
The Pope still lives in the Vatican Hostel.
Pope Francis was elected in March 2013 on a given mandate of the people’s expectation to overhaul the oftentimes not relevant and dysfunctional Vatican administration. He removed some Cardinals, reshuffled other Bishops to ventilate the Offices with fresh Air of Reality and Relevance to often antiquated, bureaucratic dysfunction the Curia has grown.
My youngest son often show me interesting and sometimes not very interesting comments people make on me in the Naga Blog or in the Face Book I do not engage. Sometime back, amidst an otherwise majority support, someone has described me as “HABITUAL CRITIC”. This is not exactly sweet sound to me but it is necessary for me. It makes me to be more precise and more temperate in my criticism of what I perceive to be assumed behavior, lack of reality, falsehood, and show humility, personal Interest under cover of claimed public or national interests in the life of many Nagas.
Often I see an uncomfortable distance between the lips and the daily life of the Church and so and so forth of the ‘Criticissable’things in us. (Please bear my creation of English Words for the English language I like very much!). Fearlessly neutral, Let us ceaselessly speak the Truth however much some may not want us to; and not a spec of Falsehood some clever persons may entreat us to.
When I read the Pope’s Address to his Curia, I thought it must have been addressed to my Village Church and a good number of Christian Churches in Nagaland. There is this Church in the State where the Subject of the Christian ‘CHURCH’ was expounded by a creditable Reverend for 3 long Weeks consecutively on end based on the 13th Chapter of Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthian Church. Everything of Love -Agape, Filial and Eros complete-, Grace endless, Compassion, Companionship, warm Friendship, Camaraderie, Support for each other member, Forgiveness, equality of all –black, white and yellow or not-; Rich or Poor, Justice, Non-violence, Peace, Tolerance, Humility and “‘Revenge is mine’, said the Lord” together with almost all the splintered Tenets of Christianity, were explained to the brim by the informed Reverend.
After expositions of all these limitless Christian Love and Forgiveness in the Church; in a trumped up allegation by the manageable Church, the Pastor while he was away from the Place on a Gospel Mission, his Church threw him away to the uttermost distance and shut the Church on him. He could not open the door from the outside. The door of the Church was closed from the inside!
Christians endlessly praise God and the Bible but those things do not produce any Holiness in the Heart of the Person or on the Church. This is Christianity in Nagaland, well did the Pope said there is the need of proficiency and competence in the Church but without “holiness in the lives” of the Church, the growth of God’s people will face stumbling blocks. This Writer would honestly say:
The educated Church in Nagaland today do not much value spiritual quality; it prizes sentimental Christian camaraderie or clannish loyalty to one another more than loyalty to Christ in the Church. This culture of discipline and formality prevents the Church from growth in spiritual vocation and facilitate the downward slide to routine than opening up to lofty spiritual perspectives. The Word of God is the Spirit of God; it is Authoritative, Weighty, Forceful and Fearful, not sentimental but timelessly alive. Nagaland today needs to believe in the WORD OF GOD more than in the place name of the Church!
Most Churches in the State today have solemn formality, style; training, decorum but appear lacking in warmth, depth, discernment, boldness of conviction and reality of good Christian life. A stark result of this is reflected in the decades of fruitlessly unsuccessful story of Prohibition in our so called Christian State.
OUR Prayers repetitive, beggarly, triter than contrite; often our religious views are a mixture of false prophecy or shamanistic premonition. We praise God and the Holy Bible endlessly; this is like our Leaders in every public Speeches praise Japan, Singapore or South Korea but praises of foreign countries alone do not change Nagaland, we remain Nagas always as before in the Church.
The Love of God in our daily work places and our sincerity and honesty to our work is in great shortage. The ferocity and violence with which some of our so-called Naga National Workers under the banner of “NAGALAND FOR CHRIST” inhumanly mistreating innocent Travelers, even brutally deal helpless and powerless mothers with children on the road and the vitriolic words used for those who do not satisfy their wants, shows the quality of Christianity in all of us in our Society. The real Christian life in Nagaland may have to have a long way to go before TRUTH ‘set us free’. Nothing less than ashes to smear our hearts and sack clothes to cover our Heads, would change the city of Nineveh!
Church Buildings in Nagaland are beautiful, impressive, with sweet music and courteous engagements, lots of merriments and laughter in the Church’s social gatherings but with the exception of a few, the Church suffers from formality, routine and devoid of any imaginative assessment of the future. The Churches are organized and compact being driven by Cowherd than led by the scriptural Shepherd. The Cowherd does not lead but drives the Herd from behind; he goads the herd from the backside: the Shepherd on the other hand leads the Flock from the front and leads ahead in search of green pastures for his flock.
Unlike the current Pope, there is not much exercise on Spiritual Innovation or Entrepreneurs in Faith: the Church is often run on a mixture of classic North Korea style of inviolable Village Council Decision and Middle Age Crusader Fervor of Faith particularly during State Assembly Election when the Church is enveloped in a medium of good intentioned ‘Fair Election’ activities of the NBCC but without discernable fruits. The Churchmen and the Bishops who matter in the Church precedes small Spiritual whispers with popular worldly voices and thus hold back the growth of God’s people in the Church.
True, there are saints in the Church, silently docile and following the leader unknowingly like the 5 foolish Virgins, because they only know what they know and like Saint Paul initially, do not know what they do not know. Well do the Scripture say that no one can come to God by his own Will? It is not possible for the Church in the State to jump up above the Ceiling because the Architect had set the height for the Building. Indeed, if one can not differentiate loose filled-up soil from firm soil or hard rocks, one cannot build strong pillars for a House that would withstand the raging storms.
Let us seek Inspiration from God.
