( Travel Blog with some theological sprinkle)
It was such a rainy Morning, Me and my team just packed things and went to some Christian Historical places. At 9.00 O’Clock we Reached Donavoor, and it was my first experience of the fellowship, so i was expecting some biblical Boards, Bible, Worship songs, and so on. But what I found was unexpected, and I guess the idea behind the mission is quite different from other missionaries. First we saw the big entrances and some of the buildings are unique architects surrounded by nature.
From my Experience most of christian mission fields are filled with buildings and dominated by artificial themes and the spirituality is pretty contemporary even if it belongs to an orthox mission. But this mission field is totally different. In short I can say that the Lifestyle of the campus is deep rooted. The whole campus is dominated by Mother Nature.
I heard and studied Amy Carmichael’s mission and her story. But the portrait of Amy is different. Because we saw her as a irish woman and christian missionary. But the reality of her works are the opposite of what we thought about her.
When I reached the campus, I saw different architects, most probably european and quite japanese (I don’t know). They preserved those buildings as they were. The whole building is from world war two so it is pretty historic and enthusiastic .
I saw the name board. It says NATCHATHIRA KUTTAM which means Galaxy. I heard these names in our VBS, but now I realize why it has this name. When I got out of the car, I felt like I was somewhere in the forest. It feels like Kerala.
We went inside, I grabbed my camera and took photos. Most of the name boards are in wood. It is simple and pretty good. The whole area is in the forest. At last we met Mr.Jerry, and talked about the philosophy behind this mission area. I was shocked and it was mind blowing.
There is no cement and toor road, so it feels like we are on a forest trip. Here I would like to explain what I understood from his words. Amma (Amy) is the one who encourage christan spirituality with Nature. The human is one of the life within this pre-existing God Creature. It is an inclusive philosophy which explains All the creatures of the earth are part of God’s Salvation plan. Amma Loves all the creatures and she wrote many poems and writings about them which makes glory to our Lord God. Her lifestyle is very simple and sustainable. The people of God should engage with his creation and it is part of their spiritual life too.
It is opposite of our contemporary christian ideologies, which encourages an individual’s Eternal life and egoistic spirituality. Amma’s Spirituality is engaged with God and His creations. He said, “ There is a right to live a gross on the earth, We don’t have any authority to pluck the gross from the earth”. It is an amazing lifestyle which respects the voiceless creatures’ rights. Christ says that “Love Your Neighbours”. Nowadays our neighbours are not humans but Mother Nature. They maintain the silence which makes a louder noise from nature, it says testimonies to God.
Actually from the day I visited the Galaxy, my mind was thinking about Amma Amy’s Philosophy. We forget what she told us. But we promote what we want. There are many Eco-Theologians in the west but we forget her. She must deserve the name “Pioneer of Eco-Theology”.
I heard the term Indian Chiristian Theology but not Indian Chiristian Philosophy, but I hope her lifestyle gives an idea about how the Indian mind would be.
By
Sujith Rex
(@indiantheologian)