Illuminating the "Healing Ministry of Christ" through CMC
A PUBLICATION OF THE VELLORE CMC FOUNDATION
EDITION TWO | NOV 2021
IN THIS ISSUE:
Seeing Women Through the Lens of Many Women Written by Heather Mistretta, Editorial Manager United Methodists of Greater New Jersey When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being a writer like Margaret Mitchell. I would create book after book, sometimes written with a crayon and sometimes fastened with tape. Never was a piece destined for the literary canon. But to the people who loved me, they were masterpieces. I was encouraged to be the best I could be, and I was often asked the question, what do you want to be when you grow up? My world, no matter how small or imperfect it was, was full of opportunity, full of promise. My future was there for the taking. My life would later take some sharp turns I would have rather bypassed, some hills that proved to be harder to climb than others, but the opportunity was still an option. But halfway across the world or down the street, there were women for whom opportunity was not part of life, chasing dreams was never part of education, and the future looked scary or highly unlikely. Our lenses of the world were far different, colored with different experiences, beliefs, and influences. As the chokehold of the pandemic strangled the freedoms of many, reports of all forms of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic abuse, began to rise. The pandemic brought about a sense of fear and anxiety around the globe. This led to short-term as well as longterm psychosocial and mental health implications for children and adolescents. Whether it is in the barren fields of India, the trendy www.vellorecmc.org
SEEING WOMEN THROUGH THE LENS OF MANY WOMEN - 1 DEVOTIONAL - 1 SHILOH - A MOVEMENT FOR MEDICAL MISSIONS - 3 ENRICHING HUMANITY - 5 A CMC MEMOIR - 5
DEVOTIONAL
by Reverend Santhosh George, Pastor Ormiston Community Baptist Church, Auckland, New Zealand “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?!” Mark 4:38 That was the cry of the Disciples when their little wooden fishing boat was about to sink beneath the dark, roiling waters of the Sea of Galilee. Meanwhile, like Mr. Bean asleep on a rollercoaster, Jesus is sound asleep at the back of the heaving boat. “Let’s not wake the Rabbi,” the disciples must have said to one another. “We’re in control. We’re the fishermen, the expert mariners… let the carpenter sleep.” But they soon realize that they’re not in control, and in a lastditch effort they cry out to Jesus. And the Lord who once spoke the wind and the waves into being, now speaks to the wind and the waves – “Quiet! Be still.” And they were still. In a Covid-ravaged world, it can feel like Jesus is asleep at the back of the boat. Like the Disciples, we cry out, “Jesus, don’t you care if we drown?” Jesus’ response to His Disciples echoes down through the ages to us. “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Let’s hold fast to our faith in the Lord of the storm – He’s in control.
PASSAGES | Pg. 1