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Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's praise God for His grace to enter a new month. In the month of November, we are going to observe the Advent season. Let us prayer fully prepare to meditate on the birth of our Redeemer and Saviour, Jesus Christ. During this time, whether we know it or not, Christmas is becoming only about being celebrated. This is not just a time of celebration but rather a time of meditation, prayer, rededication, trans formation, renewal and peace. The experiences that Joseph and Mary went through were divine plans. They dedicated themselves to those divine plans and travelled through the channels of suffering without any mishaps. The Advent season is the time to grow into the divine awareness that we all have certain missions to fulfil for the kingdom of God. The gift that Christmas gives us should be treasured in our hearts. That gift is our Lord Jesus. Let us become a church whose presence continues as the one who became truly human, who came to fully reveal God's truth and love, who died and rose again for our salvation. Moreover, we must not let Christmas just be a passing day. Let us live in the spirit of Christmas each day. We pray and wish that Christmas will be a time to re-submit ourselves to God's plans. We have set aside November 19 for the day of parish picnic and the first fruits festival. A parish picnic is a celebration of joy through our fellowship. The First Fruit Festival is a festival of memories. This is a festival where we give thanks to God for the past that God made. Newsletter NOVEMBER 2022 2 Immanuel Mar Thoma Church Cont’d From the Asst. Vicar's Desk “When you come in to the land the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and taking possession of it and live in it, you shall take some of the first of all fruits of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in to a basket and you shall go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, 'I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore our fathers to give us’. Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of Lord your God." (Due 26:1-4). Therefore, first fruits submission is a response to divine provi dence. Let us understand the Feast of First fruits as a sign to present ourselves to God in remembrance of what God has done wonderfully for us in the past year. No matter how much you submit, it won't be too much. May we live without forgetting God, who is a pillar of cloud in the intensity of pain, a pillar of fire in the darkness of despair, who opens the way to travel forward in life's crisis similar to the Red Sea in the life of Israelites, and who turns bitter life situations into sweetness. Let us always remember the sense that God has gifted us this beautiful life and he provided us a blessed life. Therefore, let all pa rishioners be lovingly reminded to prayerfully attend the picnic and first fruits feast scheduled for November 19. We hope to have partic ipation from every house in the parish. Let us make this venture be a great success. Let these be the medium for the spiritual and material growth of the parish. May God bless us abundantly
Rev. Santhosh Thomas Asst.Vicar.