| Dalit Liberation Sunday 2008
Posted byRaj Bharath Patta
"...Seek justice, rescue the oppressed..."
Greetings from NCCI – Commission on Dalits.
Dalit Liberation Sunday has become an annual feature in sensitizing the local congregations to be pro-active in addressing the cause of Dalit concerns. In light of this, 7th December 2008, the Sunday, preceding the International Human Rights Day has been chosen to observe Dalit Liberation Sunday in Churches and across the nations. The Theme for this year is “…Seek justice, rescue the oppressed…” (Isaiah 1: 17) Herewith I am enclosing a few posters and worship material to be used in local dioceses/parishes/congregations/constituencies to observe this day in a more creative and fitting manner.
We will be happy if you can send us the feedback and a brief report of the observance in your area.
Looking forward for your solidarity and cooperation.
With warm regards
For the liberation of all that are oppressed
Rev. Raj Bharath Patta
Executive Secretary – Commission on Dalits
Worship Material for
Dalit Liberation Sunday
7th December 2008
National Council of Churches in India
Commission on Dalits
P.O. Box # 205, Civil Lines, Nagpur - 440 001
Themes used for Dalit Liberation Sunday:
2007 Put away Violence and Oppression;
Execute Justice and Righteousness (Ezek. 45:12)
2008 ...Seek justice, rescue the oppressed... (Isaiah 1:17)
Introduction
“… Seek justice, rescue the oppressed…” (Isaiah 1: 17)
he National Co-ordination Committee for Dalit Christian Rights (NCCDC), the joint programme of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) in empowering the local congregations for Dalit Liberation has proposed to celebrate Dalit Liberation Sunday on the 7th December 2008 in Churches across India. Since 10th December happens to be the International Human Rights Day (IHRD), commemorating the importance of it, and to affirm that Dalit rights are Human rights, 7th December which is the Sunday preceding to the IHRD has been chosen to celebrate Dalit Liberation Sunday.
Context
In the context of the recent inhuman violence and attacks on Dalit Christians in Orissa and else where and in the context of the delay in ensuring justice for Dalit Christians by the Central Government, it has been reiterated that Dalit Liberation Sunday be celebrated all across India to sensitise the local congregations about the struggles of Dalits, and to call on the congregations to rise up to the occasion and strive for the justice, dignity and equality of Dalits.
The recent violence on Dalit Pano Christians in Orissa had been one of the most gruesome attacks on Dalits in recent past, which led to the death of nearly 50 people and making several thousands displaced besides leaving their property burnt and destroyed. Dalit Pano Christians in Orissa are ‘demonised’ by the communal forces and they had to bear the brunt of casteism and communalism from both ends, and had to be trampled under the cruel inhuman attitude of the religious fundamentalism. Dalit Christians are attacked because they happen to be Dalits, which is oppression in the name of caste. Dalit Christians are attacked because they happen to be Christians, which is discrimination in the name of religion. More over the violence on Dalit Christians is a sheer witness of the violation of their human rights, for freedom in all fronts has been curtailed.
On the other hand, there has been a conscious delay in ensuring justice to Dalit Christians by the Central Government in granting Scheduled Caste status. Despite the recommendations of the government sponsored Justice Ranganath Misra’s Commission, which pronounced to de-link religion from granting Scheduled Caste status, the government is delaying to act on it. Justice delayed is justice denied, and the Dalit Christians have been waiting for justice for the last sixty years. This reflects the denial of the Constitutional rights for Dalit Christians.
The price paid by the Dalit Christians to assert and reclaim their human rights at Eraiyur is huge. More than the economic losses the traumatic experience of caste oppression is still deep in their hearts, particularly among the youth and children. Christian community in India has to take serious note of all forms of discriminatory practices of Caste across India and initiate uncompromising actions to eradicate such practices within the Church. This will be the fitting response that the Church could offer in upholding the values enshrined in the Constitution of India and at the same time confront the communal agenda of Sangh Parivar groups who continue to woo the Dalits and Adivasis to re-establish ‘Manuvada’ in Indian soil, an ideology which is completely against both humanism and Christian principles and values.
In this context, the Churches in India are called to celebrate Dalit Liberation Sunday on the 7th December to sensitise the churches and to challenge them to be work towards justice for Dalits in India.
Objectives
-
To sensitise the local congregations stand solidly with Dalits in overcoming violence on them.
-
To call on the local congregations to pressurise the Central Government of India in ensuring justice to Dalit Christians with out any further delay.
-
To make the local congregations re-visit mission and proclamation in the light of the indigenous cultures.
-
To take serious note of all forms of discriminatory practices of Caste across India and initiate uncompromising actions to eradicate such practices within Christian community.
Theme
Oppression has been so subtle & aggressive and has aggravated the lives of the Dalits in recent times. In such a context the prophecy of Isaiah 1: 17, comes as challengingly relevant for the congregations to act justly. So the theme for Dalit liberation Sunday is “… seek justice, rescue the oppressed…” (Isaiah 1: 17)
We request you to observe Dalit Liberation Sunday in your local constituents in a creative way and rededicate your commitment to the Gospel by accompanying the unaccompanied. Herewith we are sending you some ideas for worship to be used in your worship orders in observing the Dalit Liberation Sunday. May all our endeavours for the liberation of Dalits and Adivasis be accomplished. “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream”.
Bishop Dr. B.S. Devamani,
Chairperson,
NCCI-Commission on Dalits
bachudevamani@hotmail.com
bshpindk@yahoo.co.in
Rev. Raj Bharath Patta
Executive Secretary,
NCCI-Commission on Dalits
rajpatta@gmail.com
ncci@nccindia.in
|
Some Ideas for Worship
Community Procession:
All the worshipers could be invited to be assembled 100 meters (if possible and flexible) away from the Worshiping place / Church and be engaged with ‘parai’ music (or any local Dalit - drum music) for 10 - 15 minutes and invite them to enter the church in a procession. In front of the procession a boy and a girl child could carry a blood stained ‘garlanded-cross’, followed by a teen-aged girl carrying the ‘Bible’. This procession could be led by the drummers with folk dances (Even the adherent members could be encouraged to join the dance).
Invocation:
The youth girls or boys or both could give a folk dance (Kummi or Kollatam or Oiel) performance with a folk liberative song, which could invite all the adherents to get united in this worship.
Lighting the lamp:
While singing and dancing the representatives (different age group along with the pastor(s)) would be requested to light the multi-wicked lamp as a symbol to bring light in the midst of darkness.
Call to Worship:
Child: Dear parents, Brothers, Sisters and Relatives, our God, who is both our father and mother has created all of us in God’s image equally without any divisions. So as we come to worship our God who is Immanuel, let us be prepared to seek justice and rescue the oppressed.
Youth: Dear pals, Come let us worship God who was revealed through Jesus Christ, our friend who pronounced hope in the midst of turmoil to the Dalits and the poor, liberation to the oppressed and who preached and practiced justice to all. So as we come to worship our God who is Immanuel, let us be prepared to seek justice and rescue the oppressed.
Adult: Dear fellow pilgrim in faith journey, Jesus promised comforter Holy Sprit the advocate and strength who is present in our midst of the toiling people and who fights and lobbies for justice to be ensured to those waiting for it. So as we come to worship our God who is Immanuel, let us be prepared to seek justice and rescue the oppressed.
Together: God in whom all beings exist and sustain, we invoke your presence into our midst for a renewed strength and rededicated commitment to seek justice and rescue the oppressed from all pangs of death, violence and discriminations. Come Lord and sojourn with us and among us. Amen.
Congregational
Song: An Appropriate (In Unison)
Dalit Litany for the Day
Voice -1: In the recent past, nearly 50 people were killed including children and Women and several thousands made displaced in Orissa, specially in the district of Kandhamal, as the religious fundamentalists attacked the Dalits & Tribals. Dalit Pano Christians in Orissa had to bear the brunt of casteism and communalism from both ends, and had to be trampled under the cruel inhuman attitude of the religious fundamentalism.
People: O God, who promised us to be with us, to deliver us, to protect us, to answer us, to rescue us and to be with us in trouble, where are you? We have lift up our eyes to the hills, from here does our help come from? Come now O God of justice establish your reign, punish the oppressor and rescue the oppressed.
All Sing: Kumbhaya My Lord Kumbhaya (3)
Oh Lord Kumbhaya
Someone’s dying Lord, Kumbhaya (3)
Oh Lord Kumbhaya
Voice – 2: The Dalit Christians in Erayur village of Villipuram district of Tamil Nadu, (who were on an indefinite fast against the discrimination in their Parish by fellow-christians belonging to the Vanniyars, a caste group), were badly attacked and their homes were ransacked on the 9th March 2008. The violence was a fall out of a longstanding dispute over the rituals in the Church, for the Dalit Christians have been demanding equal rights in conducting the rituals to them. The Dalit Christians in Erayur are forbidden to take their death or marriage processions to the Church through the main road, and instead the caste people have compelled the Dalit Christians to take a narrow road.
People: The body of Christ is divided in the name of
caste. Is that which brings division in the body of Christ
not sin? Yet how boastful are we in our casteidentity Come
now O God of justice establish your reign, punish the oppressor and rescue the oppressed.
All Sing: Kumbhaya My Lord Kumbhaya (3)
Oh Lord Kumbhaya
Someone’s praying Lord, Kumbhaya (3)
Oh Lord Kumbhaya
Voice – 3:Dalits in India cannot enjoy the religious freedom, which is guaranteed by the Constitution of India, for if they chose to convert according to their freedom either to Christianity or Islam, they are discriminated in receiving privileges given by the State ensured to similar others, and therefore become victims of injustice. Their long struggle for justice has been unheard and un-addressed for the last several long years by the governments. There has been a conscious delay in ensuring justice to Dalit Christians. ‘Justice delayed is justice denied, and justice denied is justice destroyed’. Virulent injustices on Dalits continue in this democratic and secular state of India.
People: Who shall loosen the bonds of injustice on
us? Who shall undo the thongs of the yoke? Who shall let
the oppressed go free? Who shall break every yoke of discrimination? Come now O God of justice establish your
reign, punish the oppressor and rescue the oppressed.
All Sing: Kumbhaya My Lord Kumbhaya (3)
Oh Lord Kumbhaya
Someone’s crying Lord, Kumbhaya (3)
Oh Lord Kumbhaya
Solidarity Prayer: (Together)
God, our liberator, we pray for our fellow Dalit ‘Panos’ in Orissa with our community of relatives and friends. You understand the pain and agony of our people in Orissa through your son Jesus Christ’s suffering and death. Come in rescue of them, establish your justice, may all forces of fundamentalism, casteism and communalism be countered and may peace and harmony among all religions persist.
God, our refuge and strength, we pray for the caste system prevailing in the Church. May caste be defeated at its roots and may we all as Christians be subject to the values and virtues of Christ’s discipline. May we practise equality in our Church & society and may we give up all our caste identities in our ongoing faith journeys.
God of Justice, we pray for the conscious delay in ensuring justice to Dalit Christians by the Central Government in granting Scheduled Caste status. Despite the recommendations of the government sponsored Justice Ranganath Misra’s Commission, which pronounced to de-link religion from granting Scheduled Caste status, the government is delaying to act on it. Come in rescue of our people and of our struggle, may justice be ensured to our Dalit Christians and may our constitutional rights and human rights be safeguarded.
Come now O God, establish justice and rescue the oppressed. Amen.
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 1:16-20
Solidarity Song: Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together
With chords that cannot be broken
Bind us together, Lord,
Bind us together,
Bind us together with love.
1. There is only one God,
There is only one King,
There is only one Body
That is why we sing.
2. Made for the glory of God
Purchased by His precious Son
Born with the right to be clean,
For Jesus the victory has won.
3. You are the family of God,
You are the promise divine,
You are God’s chosen desire,
You are the glorious new wine.
Reflection:
Confession:
Leader: Unless we are forgiven by those exploited and oppressed by the dominant and evil forces of caste, fundamentalism, fanaticism, patriarchy, politics, etc. God of life will not pardon us. So let us obtain the pardon and forgiveness from those that are oppressed and exploited. Let us also transcend the boundaries of male and female, wealthy, poor and seek forgiveness from one another and may we reinforce our unity in the unity of the triune God.
Elders and Pastors:Dear fellow pilgrims in the faith journey, we seek pardon from you all, as we have been insensitive and yet times silent to the inhuman discriminatory actions done to our Dalit brothers and sisters and such others who are oppressed in our society.
People: Dear Elders, your realisation and repentance if genuine, then God shall forgive. We pray that God, who called you to be partners with God and us in the Liberative Mission of God shall forgive you and we join God in accepting you in taking lead in establishing God’s reign here on earth.
Church: Our dear Dalit sisters and brothers, our ancestors have used those who are dalits among us as slaves in our farms and houses. Consciously or un-consciously we have partied with the unjust societal oppressive structures. We genuinely confess our misdoing in the past and at the present. Please forgive us.
Dalits: Sisters and Brothers, your realisation and repentance make God to forgive you. We thank God that there is a realisation in our locality that God has made us all in equal image of God, and there will no longer be master or slave, for we are all one in Christ. Come let us all join together to fight against the atrocities against the Dalits.
Men: Dear sisters, God has created us both in God’s image. Now we seek pardon for treating you inferior to us, for treating you as having been made second to us and for oppressing you with our patriarchal mindsets. From now we are equal partners in the mission of God and shall respect you, your sentiments, your dignity and your womanhood. Please pardon us.
Women: Dear brothers, we have been pardoning you for all these years as mothers, sisters and wife. We also thank God for the realisation that both women and men are equal partners. As you seek pardon in the presence of God and God’s people we grant the forgiveness. Come let us pledge together to fight for women’s rights and dignity.
Together: Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken”(Isaiah 1: 18-20)
(As a sign of forgiveness the congregation may be encouraged to greet one another either through the shaking of hands, sharing a flower or another symbol, or anyother appropriate and locally relevant form)
Affirmation of Faith:(All standing) Together
We do not believe that God has created the caste system
But we believe in God who created the universe and made all humans equal
We do not believe in a God who acts in favour of the oppressor
But we believe in Jesus, who gave up his Godliness to come and live among us
We do not believe in a God who supports the wealthy
But we believe in a God who came to preach the good news to the poor, which is bad news to the rich, and who worked with the outcast and downtrodden
We do not believe in an ultimate absolute, a God who is impassable
But we believe In Jesus Christ who suffered and was murdered by the elite forces that he opposed
We do not believe that death is the end
But we believe in the resurrection of Jesus, the first fruit among all of us to do so,
We do not believe that we are alone in our struggle for a just and inclusive world
But we believe in the Holy Spirit, our companion and comforter
We do not believe that God has chosen any particular race, caste or gender
But we believe that God has called all to work for the transformation of the world
We believe in the life of the world to come
But we struggle for fullness of life for all in the world we live in - Today
Congregational Lyric:
Intercessory Prayers:
· Let us remember the Dalit Pano and Tribal Christians in Orissa.
· Let us pray for peace, for compensation to the victims and the affected, re-settlement and peaceful co-existence among people of all religions.
· Let us pray for the Union government to ensure justice to Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims by granting them Scheduled Caste Status.
· Let us for pray for the annihilation of caste within and outside of the Indian Church.
· Let us pray for the movements, civil society organisations, faith-based organisations working for the rights and justice for Dalits & Tribals.
· Let us pray for the defeat of the forces of fundamentalism, communalism, casteism, patriarchy etc.
Lord’s Prayer: (in local vernaculars)
Benediction:(Together)
From now on, there shall be no differences among us, as masters and slaves, as men and as women, as Dalits and as caste people, for we are all one in Christ. There is no more death and sorrow. Go into the world to seek justice and rescue the oppressed. May the liberation, equality and justice of the Triune God lead us all with new life into a new community.
The Blessing of God our father and our mother, of son Jesus Christ and of Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever. Amen….
You can reproduce this liturgy according
to your local setting with due acknowledgements
(Acknowledgements: Thanks to all those shared their input for this worship, special thanks to Mr. Christopher Rajkumar, Mr. Philip Peacock and all my colleagues in the NCCI Secretariat.)
- Rev. Raj Bharath Patta
Executive Secretary, COD
Commission on Dalits
National Council of Churches in India
P.O. Box # 205, Civil Lines,
Nagpur - 440 001 (M.S.)
www.nccindia.in
www.nccidalittaskforce.com
Source from Commission on Dalits
|
