RT.REV.DR. OOMMEN GEORGE BISHOP CSI KOLLAM KOTTARAKKARA DIOCESE KERALA INDIA

 

KERALA UNITED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

KANNAMMOOLA THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

CONVOCATION ON 8 JANUARY 2021

EXCERPTS FROM THE ADDRESS

BY RT.REV.DR. OOMMEN GEORGE BISHOP CSI KOLLAM KOTTARAKKARA DIOCESE

 

The Bishop spoke from his heart. Quite unlike many others he was not reading out a prepared script. It was captivating.   A rambling exhortation – Chaucer style. It went on and on for one hour and fifteen minutes. The audience listened intently. It was an exhortation to the students who were passing out. An exhortation to grow into missionaries of Jesus Christ for life, discover themselves and realize their potential. It was indeed an explosive yet intensive lecture for the students in their final hour at KUTS.

 

He told them bluntly what they should be and what they should not be.  He told them where they should be. He told them how they should face the world. He called upon them to serve. He told them to expect nothing in return when they go out to serve. He told them not to crave for recognition, riches or position. He assured God would look after them. He reminded that life at the Parishes would be far too different from the life at the Seminary .  He envisaged a scenario where they would have an Ammachi – a grand mother  –  sitting in front who would nod vigorously as they hand out or read out  Greek words   and high sounding ideals  peppering  their sermons. He said the Ammachi would go away muttering to herself the Achen was not fit for the Parish. The response would be no different with the Achayan – the modern man -  in full suit.. The message he had conveyed was that the sermons had to reach the audience.  The sermons had to come from deep within their hearts. He exhorted them to stay relevant in their sermons.

 

He said God had chosen them like He had chosen Moses to lead the Israelites. When Moses had expressed misgivings as had a stammer, God gave him Aaron. God entrusted the Ten Commandments solely to Moses to be passed on to the Israelite.

 

 The Bishop had begun sedately. He revealed how he came out from an income tax payees’ role to priesthood. The journey had begun in 1989 when he took admission at the KUTS. Prior to that he had attended a meeting at Coimbatore where he along with his wife had chosen the arduous path.

 

The Bishop’s father had been an evangelist who had lived on to the age of 100. ( A pious man who had once visited my house in the 1980s  when he was in Trivandrum on a Jail Mission. He had no demands.)

 

The Bishop said when he had conveyed his intention to become a priest and serve in the Lord’s vineyard, his father had asked him to choose the life of an evangelist instead. His mother who had been a teacher had told him she had suffered a lot in looking after the family when his father had been on the evangelistic drive. She did not want him to walk into a life of suffering. The mother had passed away at the age of 75, a year after Oommen George entered KUTS.