GLORIFICATION
GLORIFICATION is a beautiful word. The
Dictionary says GLORIFICATION is the action of describing or representing some
thing as admirable, especially unjustifiably.
Glory,
we are familiar with from our childhood. Glorification, we don’t come up with
normally or if we do, we think it’s something good. But the connotation,
‘Especially unjustifiably’, reveals in real terms what the connoisseur tries to
convey.
CSI
– Church of South India – had been befuddled by suits in the Courts of law in
India, from the lower level to the top most Court for the past couple of years.
Very recently, the Supreme Court of India had delivered its judgment after
evaluation of all the arguments. It had declared that the Moderator who headed
the CSI was ineligible to remain in Office. The Honorable Court had emphasized
in the judgment that the proceedings in a contentious meeting of the Synod – where
the amendments to the constitution had been hastily pushed through by the
Moderator - were to further his own interests. The Supreme Court of India had
finally concluded that the amendments
were null and void.
The
Synod is the key policy making body of CSI. It meets periodically.
One
of the amendments that had been rubbished was that when a Pastor seeks to be
elected as a Bishop, he should have 15 years of Pastoral Service – the
candidate should have served in the Parishes for that many years. The Parish is the area of operation of a Church. The Moderator
had introduced the amendment to block the eligibility of a brilliant Pastor who
had been in the academic turf during the major part of his career. The
academician had the unique distinction that several Bishops in service in diverse
Christian denominations in India had been his students. He had published quite
a number of books. Some of them were text books in Theological Universities
across the world. He had been efficiently managing a Theological College as its
Principal at that juncture.
Well,
there was a young pastor. He was in charge of a Church in a remote village.
Like all village Churches, the membership at his Church abounded with the poor,
not the rich. He had been posted there soon after his ordination. Being City
bred, the struggle over the past three years had been quite hard. He disliked
the academician very much. However the origin of the enmity was quite amusing.
In
a retreat for the Pastors – a refresher course for the Pastors held from time
to time for their spiritual rejuvenation - of his diocese, the keynote address
was transmitted by the learned Pastor. Diocese is a Cluster of Churches
presided by a Bishop. The Bishop of the Diocese who had invited him to speak
had himself stepped down from the dais and was seated on the front row with a
letter pad and pen in hand. He had no
qualm in jotting down the superlatives that were transponded. There, the
assemblage was advised that when they conducted a Worship they should stick to
the Book of Worship they held in their hands. They should not digress or invent
additional litanies of their own to prolong the Worship to their hearts’
content. The speaker dwelt on the aspect because such a flurry of expressions
was defeating the very purpose of the Worship and the participants disfavored
such deviations. As they couldn’t do anything, the congregations – members of the
Churches - had been enduring the suffering in silence. It was the voice of the voiceless. It was a
clarion call.
The
young Pastor revealed to one of his acquaintances that the host of Pastors at
the retreat had vehemently rejected the idea propagated by the speaker and they
had showered him with their displeasure before
packing him off to where he came from.
It
was after a couple of months, someone else had mentioned in a discussion with
the young Pastor that the Principal of the Theological College in the neighboring
district was doing a good job. Well, it infuriated the young man. He exploded.
“I hate the glorification of the Principal.” ”I know what he is. Let him go to
three or four Parishes, serve the people there first and prove his mettle. Pastors
should never be elevated to hold the position of Bishops if they had solely
been in the academic pasture.”
“I
am with the Moderator and his officials who had introduced the amendment that
made it a pre-requisition that the candidates to the post of Bishops in the CSI
should have fifteen years of Pastoral service and I would happily vote for
them,” he thundered.
Stunned,
the acquaintance, did not respond. He was wondering at the gap in age between
the fuming young Pastor and the Principal who was double his age with a gigantic
wealth of experience.
Fortunately,
the apex Court blew the whistle and threw the controversial amendment by the
Moderator to the dust bin. The Honorable court had commented ‘enough was enough’
and had dislodged the Moderator from the powerful post he held.
The
take away on the outburst of the young Pastor was that his acquaintance had
been administered a worthwhile lesson on GLORIFICATION. It was a revelation to
him that his awareness of the universal language, English, was purely cosmetic.
Truth
at times bursts hard on the vainglorious.
Then
only they learn.
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