Detroit Mar Thoma Church

Vicar's Message (July 2010)

Dearly beloved in Christ:

Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is indeed my pleasure and privilege to address you through the pages of our church news letter "Inner Voice". I thank God for this opportunity.We are very grateful to you all for your warm and loving reception during our arrival here in Detroit two months ago and for your cooperation and support in many ways during these days. I appreciate and congratulate you for the way in which you have arranged our stay in the parsonage. Few people took much pain and effort to clean and arrange it. I would like to
express my sincere thanks to them and to all the members of the parish and especially to the office bearers, executive committee members and prayer group leaders for your prayers, care and concern towards us. We pray that God almighty bless you and your family abundantly both
spiritually and materially. We hope that we will have a meaningful Christian fellowship and deeper personal relationship and understanding during our tenure of three years here, in Detroit. We know that God has send us here to pray and plead for you, to share your joys and sorrows and be with you all in your life experiences. we will do our level best to have a fruitful service
trusting in Jesus Christ. Please continue to uphold us in your prayers too. What God seeks from human beings ? "a contrite and grateful heart". "The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit " (Psalms : 34 :18). God is impressed upon those who
sincerely thank Him for everything. A person can sincerely thank God only when he thinks that he is undeserving for all that he enjoys today. Nothing is ours , all that is given to us is the grace and gift of God. How can we express our love and gratitude to God ? It is by a creative response through worship and witness. we have a mission to accomplish and that is by doing
our responsibilities to God and our fellow beings . As Eph:2:10, Paul says " we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Let us fulfill our duties and live as responsible Christians before God with a sincere heart". On July 3rd,our church celebrated St. Thomas day. Saint Thomas, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ who is the founder of St. Thomas traditions and Christian faith in
India ,is remembered on that day. July 4th Sunday is the Christian stewardship day. God has called us to be good stewards in wealth, time, and talents. God demands our faithfulness and willingness. God loves and blesses the cheerful giver. July 11th Sunday, we acknowledge our
ordained ministers. On that day we pray for our theological institutions and take the special offertory of our Diocese "The Suvisesha Nidhi". Every Family must offer at least $30 as offertory in the special cover provided. On July 18th Sunday,the emphasis is CHURCH-a kingdom community. Since we have our VBS final day programme on that day,our Holy communion service in Malayalam lead by Rev Alex Peter will be at 9.30am.Please notice the change.July 25th Sunday is observed as fellowship Sunday-fellowship to God and to men.We are a privileged community, called by Jesus Christ to be in fellowship with Him and to each other.We must extend our fellowship boundaries to our neighborhood. This years Family conference at Dallas from July 1-4 was a great success. Our vicar and three other families represented our parish.A total of 227 families attended. Our VBS programme will start on 12th monday.Please see that all our children
participate in the VBS.Parents must take special interest to send their children. The Edavakamission meeting this month will be on 20th Tuesday at 6.30pm in the church along with the intercessory prayer. The National conference of MTEA is at Philadelphia from July 23-25th.Our Edavakamission members are planning to attend the same. The National youth conference will be held in Chicago from July22-25th.We are planning to arrange conveyance, and all our Youth members are requested to attend the same. Our Sunday school anniversary will be on 24th Saturday at 3pm.The parents are also requested to attend the programme. This years Parish Picnic is arranged to be held on 31st July from 10am onwards at Boulan Park,Troy.The rate has been reduced to $10 per family,so that all the members can participate. The prayer group leaders are in charge of collecting the registration amount. Picnic is the time of fun and personal interactions. Please make use of the time for building our personal relations and fellowship.
Please pray and prepare for our parish convention in August(13-15).The main speaker is Mr.JoyPullad from Kerala. Also for our parish retreat in September (10-12) at ECHO-GROVE camp center. At least 250 members must attend. This is the fist time we are arranging our retreat in
a camp center. So please co-operate with the picnic committee to make it a success. I appreciate all the participants and winners in the Diocesan Sunday school examinations. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, please come forward and participate in all our summer programmes and make our parish life more lively. As the apostle Paul says in1cor.15:58,"Therefore,my beloved
brethren, be steadfast ,immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord." July God bless you abundantly.
With prayerful regards
Rev Abraham Thomas(Abeyachen)

Sunday School

Worship

Youth