The presence of Governor Ranjit S. Mooshahary and his sermon excited many delegates at the 39th general assembly of the Presbyterian Church in India. Still, some church leaders said they were angry because a non-Christian had been allowed to address a solemn worship service.
The Rev. S.S. Majaw, who heads communication for the Presbyterian Church in India, however, told Ecumenical News International on April 26, “it should have been treated as an honor that the head of the government came to our worship service and addressed us.”
Speaking to an estimated 25,000 worshippers, Mooshahary quoted from chapter nine, verse six of the Book of Isaiah in the Bible’s Old Testament, which looks forward to the birth of the “Prince of Peace.” The governor noted that “the true purpose of Jesus coming to this world” was to bring peace.
Mooshahary hailed Christian missionaries who “laid down their lives to foster human values in remote areas and to spread the message of love, trust, and peace in the turbulent tribal societies” of northeast India. “What is most beautiful about religious faith is its ability to give solace to humanity in the strife-torn world,” he said.
The governor’s sermon at a soccer stadium was followed by a homily given by the general secretary of the Geneva-based World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the Rev. Setri Nyomi. who exhorted those present to “break the chains of injustice” as agents of peace.
“Yes, this is the heart of the Gospel — to be messengers of our Lord Jesus Christ who is our peace,” Nyomi told the crowd at the Mawngap stadium at a small town in Meghalaya. Nyomi, who is from Ghana, reminded those present that the message of peace “challenges us to question how we treat others in our lives so that they do not have peace.”
He was focusing on the “Christ our Peace” theme of the April 22-25 convention and noted that the message of peace “also questions us to examine our life styles and ways in which we perpetuate lack of peace for others.”
The Presbyterian assembly was attended by nearly 1,000 delegates belonging to various ethnic and language communities from northeast India.
The region is sandwiched between Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, and Myanmar and connected to the Indian mainland by a narrow strip of land. Four of the tiny seven states in northeast India have a Christian majority. In Meghalaya 70 percent of the state’s 2.2 million population practice Christianity.
