Let us be glad and rejoice over each day.
It is the Lord who has made it and planned it for us.
He is faithful and takes care that today we will not
be tempted and tried beyond our ability to bear.

He will make the temptation and the way of escape so that we can bear it.
(1 Corinthians 10:13)

We also know that today all things will work together for our good.
(Romans 8:28)

Today the good works are being prepared for us, and we will have
abundant grace and strength to walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:10)

We must learn to number our days and live as if each day were our last.
Today could be the only day, the last day we have, to show all goodness and love to each other.

Today we will glorify Jesus’ name in everything we say and do
Let the sun of our love rise over the evil and the good.

Today we shall endure, suffer, and bear everything with joy,
Fully believing that God is in control.
Today we shall be bold and not lose courage,
But rather look to the things that are not seen,
Because then our tribulations will be light and temporary
and will work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
(2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Adapted from an article by Aksel J. Smith

Today is a very special day for Malankara World Family. Today, we introduce our new format Malankara World Journal. As announced earlier with the historic release of our special souvenir Issue 500, future MWJ issues will be published on a monthly basis rather than a weekly basis we had done since the inception of the Journal nearly 9 years ago.

The change in the format means that all the lectionary related information for the current month will be in the current journal. That means a minimum of 4 weeks, sometimes 5 and often special feast days will be provided in the journal. Christmas and Holy week time may require special editions.

The bible reflections specifically related to the lectionary readings will now be incorporated into the sermon notes files in the digital library rather than at the Journal level. The sermon notes will be linked to and updated. This, together with the past issues of the MWJ, will provide a rich source for sermon material, prized by many of our readers.

One of the challenges we faced following the church calendar was that some of the very important info/events in the bible could not be addressed effectively as they come too close together. For example, the Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman (John 4). This is included in the Pentecost readings. It does not get attention there. Another is the Jesus raising Lazarus, buried within the Holy week and overshadowed by the Palm Sunday. A third is the Jesus' appearances after the resurrection. We cover all of them in 2 weeks and miss the Emmaus journey completely. I can name many such issues. We also miss the old testament stories, Psalms, wisdom literature, old testament prophets and the new testament readings (except the gospels). These are all important stories to learn from in our Christian journey.

We will investigate how these issues can be incorporated in the future issues of MWJ. It is a tall order; but we have to start somewhere. In this issue, we start a bible study.  We will examine Psalm 91, a very important psalm for us. When you read the articles covering it, you will understand why. There are other rich material in the bible that gives us great opportunity to explore and learn. I welcome your suggestions.

It is the new church calendar year. We start by dedicating and cleaning the church to prepare for the incarnation of our Lord. So, MWJ also will start a new calendar year with volume 9 with this issue. And we will examine church as we celebrate the new year.

I hope you will enjoy this volume. We will make changes if necessary in future issues before settling on a final format. We welcome your feedback. (write to us at mail@malankaraworld.com)