Lighthouse – January
Monthly Newsletter of Horeb Mar Thoma Church
Message from Rev. Larry Varghese, Vicar
Dearly Beloved in Christ,
And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Revelation 21:5
This new year is a fresh start for some, but for most it’s another week just like the last one. It’s easy to get caught up in the monotonous and mundane cycle of life. The Teacher, from Ecclesiastes, warns us about the repetitive cycle that our lives follow. Refer to Ecclesiastes 1:3-10 and see if this is a description of your life. We wake up, eat, go to school or work, eat, come home, study or work some more, eat, sleep, lather, rinse, repeat. The world is stuck in a rut and we succumb to it.
How are we as Christians any different? Our schedule may be similar to everyone else, but do we realize the uniqueness of life in Christ? God promised the Israelites who went through exile that he would be doing a new thing. “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” – Isaiah 43:19. He started a new thing in the 5th century BC and in Revelation 21:5 he’s still at it. Christian hope is founded, in part, on this idea that God has the power to break us out of the vain, repetitious cycle and infuse our lives with newness. What is this newness? It’s forgiveness of sins. Being set free from the hold of destructive and unfruitful living, and having our mistakes and faults wiped away is a renewing experience. But I think it’s more than forgiveness of sins. It’s an upgrade in the character and quality of our beings. We are being conformed into the image of Christ. This is a life-long process of constant newness. This year, let us be the proof of Revelation 21:5’s truthfulness. Let us strive to be Christ-like in our character. Allow God to do a new thing in your life. Attend church more regularly, pray more often, forgive sooner, give bigger, read the Bible more thoughtfully, spend more quality time with family, work more diligently, rest more Biblically (even God took a break), fellowship more deeply, love more patiently, rejoice constantly, think more empathetically, live more sacrificially, act more humbly…. You get the point. May bless you in this new year so you would experience newness that only he can bring.
Rev. Larry Varghese.
Worship Service
Sunday School
All Sundays – 1:30 pm
Praise & Worship
All Sundays – 2:30 pm
Service Times
All Sundays – 3:00 pm
First Sunday Holy Communion Service (English)
Second Sunday Holy Communion Service (Malayalam)
Third Sunday Holy Communion Service (English)
Fourth Sunday Holy Communion Service (English)
Fifth Sunday Divine & Witnessing Service (English)
(when applicable)
Lectionary
Bible Lesson Readers & Deacons
News, Events & Monthly Meetings
Monthly Meetings
Parish (Edavaka) Mission
Committee Meeting
January 21 – 8:30pm
Committee meeting will be held after the Tuesday evening Parish Mission meeting.
Meeting is held at the residence of Mr. & Mrs. Mathew Koshy, Cerritos
Monthly Fasting and Prayer Meeting and Annual Meeting for 2013
Friday, January 31 @ 7:30pm
Held at the residence of Juby and Riya Mathew, Signal Hill
The annual meeting of year 2013 will also be conducted during this time. Report and accounts for Parish mission will be presented.
Tuesday Evening Meeting @ 7:00pm
1/7: Mr. & Mrs. Isaac George
1/14: Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Mammen
1/21: Mr. & Mrs. Mathew Koshy
1/28: Mr. & Mrs. Saji Baby
Youth Fellowship
Bible Study
Friday, January 10, 6:45 pm
At the residence of Aidan Arasasingham
Sevika Sangham (Women’s Ministry)
Annual Meeting (for 2013)
Saturday, January 18 – 10am
Held at the residence of Mrs. Thankamma Mammen.
Western Regional One Day Conference
Saturday, March 15 – 8am to 4pm
Hosted by Horeb MTC.
Young Family Fellowship
Saturday, January 25, 4:00 pm
At the residence of Anna & Philip Jacob
Yorba Linda
Prayer for the New Year
O Lord, our Father!
We have gathered here at the turn of the year
because we do not want to be alone but want to be with each other,
and together be united with you.
Our hearts are filled with somber thoughts
as we reflect on our misdeeds of the past year.
And our ears are deafened by the voices of the radio and in the newspapers,
with their numerous predictions for the coming year.
Instead we want to hear your word, your voice, your assurance, your guidance.
We know that you are in our midst,
and are eager to give us all that we need, whether we ask or not.
On this night we ask for one thing only:
that you collect our scattered thoughts,
getting rid of the confused and defiant thoughts that may distract us,
and thus enable us to concentrate on your limitless generosity to us.
You were abundantly generous to us last year,
and will be no less generous to us next year, and in every year to come.
Fill us with gratitude to you.
– Karl Barth
Christmas Carol Service 2013
The Horeb Mar Thoma church celebrated its first Christmas Carol service as a parish on Sat, December 21st at 5:30 pm at the GGUMC sanctuary. It was a time to join together as a fellowship of believers to sing as praise joyously as the angels sang “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Jesus vs. Santa
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Outreach Mission – Grandma House of Hope in Anaheim
A vignette of the the Edavaka Mission’s (Church Mission) outreach activity to Grandma’s House of Hope in Anaheim on Nov 13th, 2013. For more information, please visit http://grandmashouseofhope.org/
Power of the Gospel at work in India
Light in the Darkness
A documentary film featuring real people and stories from the country of India. Conflict over religion extends to every culture and country on the globe today, and India is no exception. This documentary presents an amazing mission field where God is doing a great work; lives are being changed, and churches are being planted.
Christmas in Dark Places
Christmas in Dark Places
It used to be summer when Christmas came round,
Neath tall southern skies, over sun-scorched ground,
With the backyard cricket, the barbies, the beach,
And munching on mangoes to watch the Queen’s Speech.
The slatherings of sunscreen, the glorious glare
And toasting the glow in the warm evening air.
It used to be summer… when I was young.
A golden age in a land far flung.
But there came a point, I crossed a divide,
Went up in the world and summer had died.
December is dark now, the nights close in,
So we huddle together as kith and as kin.
It’s winter now when Christmas rolls round,
We celebrate still though with different surrounds.
We mull the wine and strike the matches,
Light the fires, batten the hatches,
Gather around the warming beam
Of family love or a TV screen.
So safe inside, no place to go,
We toast marshmallows and let it snow.
Our summer’s gone, if you’ve been around,
you’ve felt the fall: life’s run aground.
We’ve gone up in the world, seen summer die.
So what’s our hope? The dark defy?
Stoke the hearth? Retreat indoors?
Rug up warm with you and yours?
The shadow reaches even here,
But THIS is the place for Christmas cheer.
It’s dark, in the bible, when Christmas is spoken.
Always a bolt from the blue for the broken.
It’s the valley of shadow, the land of the dead,
It’s, “No place in the inn,” so He stoops to the shed.
He’s born to the shameful, bends to the weak,
becomes the lowly: the God who can’t speak!
And yet, what a Word, this Saviour who comes,
Our dismal, abysmal depths He plumbs.
Through crib and then cross, to compass our life.
To carry and conquer. Our Brother in strife.
He became what we are: our failures He shouldered,
To bring us to His life: forever enfolded.
He took on our frailty, He took on all-comers,
To turn all our winters to glorious summers.
It’s Christmas now… whatever the weather,
Some soak in the sun, some huddle together.
But fair days or foul, our plight He embraces.
Real Christmas can shine in the darkest of places.
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
The tree of life my soul hath seen
Laden with fruit and always green
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree
His beauty doth all things excel
By faith I know, but ne’er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree
For happiness I long have sought
And pleasure dearly I have bought
I missed of all; but now I see
‘Tis found in Christ the apple tree
I’m weary with my former toil
Here I will sit and rest a while
Under the shadow I will be
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree
This fruit doth make my soul to thrive
It keeps my dying faith alive
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree
O Holy Night | “Believe Again”
Dianne Tubbs’s rendition of “O Holy Night” that’s part the Christmas special “Believe Again.” After hearing the way she sang the Christmas classic, the producer was moved to consider that this version actually captures what the song is really about: the night of Jesus’s birth.