From the desk of Rev. Simon Behanan

Inside this Issue

1. Message from the Vicar

2. Wedding Anniversaries

3. Birthdays

4. Bible Readings

5. News and Announcements

6. Worship Services

Theme For The Year 2005: Fellowship with God, self and others.

“Judge not, that you be not judged.” Matthew 7:1, 2.

     Terry Copper, in his book I am Judgmental, You are Judgmental, tries to describe different shades of meaning of the word ‘Judgmental,’ as follows:

J - Justifies ourselves, in spite of our faults. 
U - Understands only one’s own view point.
D - Denounces persons, rather than behavior or ideas.
G - Grandiose thinking that disconnects from humility.
M - Makes us more and more alienated from our dark side.
E - Enhances self-righteousness through putting down others.
N - Needs other people’s sins in order to dodge oneself.
T - Turns away from grace and acceptance of self and others
A - Avoids the anxiety of seeing life’s complexities
L - Loves labels as a form of security.

     Characteristics of Judgmentalism: A judgmental attitude serves a very important function: it keeps our attention away from our own faults and focused on the short comings of others. We become prisoners of our own thinking, unable to get outside, underneath, or beyond it to see with comprehension. It is very tempting to equate a whole person in the light of a single (offensive) behavior. It involves a sense of superiority insofar as we believe that we are capable of evaluating the entire context of another’s life (in fact, we know only very little about another person). When we are shocked and preoccupied with the horrible actions of others, our attention is removed from our own destructive behavior. We feel proud that we are not like those “other people.” We fall in love with the job of measuring and ranking others. We become addicted to other people’s sin or destructive behavior, without which we are unable to survive, and anxiety quickly arises when there is nothing to judge. The basic Christian principles of freedom, love, compassion and forgiveness would disappear from our lives and relationships. It would become impossible for us to accept others who are different from us. 

     Let us try to find out how judgmental we are and let us seek God’s help to come out of that sinfulness by relying on the grace of God. God judges, but is not judgmental.

November Birthdays

The vicar and the members of Atlanta Mar Thoma Church wish the following members a very happy birthday. Please plan to attend the celebration communion service on the Sunday following the occasion.

November Wedding Anniversaries

The vicar and the members of Atlanta Mar Thoma Church wish the following members a very happy Wedding Anniversary. Please plan to attend the celebration communion service on the Sunday following the occasion.

Bible Readings for November 2005

Worship Services