A Tribute to KC

Sermon delivered at the funeral service of Rev. Dr. K. C. Abraham in St. Mark's Cathedral, Bangalore, 14 June 2016

We are here to celebrate a life well lived for the glory of God. KC was a senior friend to me before I married his sister. He and I grew up to what we had become through the Youth Movement of the Central Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India. He was handsome, bright and full of promises in worldly terms. He was a student of Mathematics who did his Bachelor of Science with distinction. But, about 60 years ago, he accepted the commission of Christ as found in John Ch. 21 “take care of my sheep.”  KC accepted this specific call to become a shepherd.

KC may have achieved many covetable positions and laurels in life. But first and foremost, he was a good shepherd following the great shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ. The Bible is rich with imagery of the shepherd. Yahweh is referred to as a shepherd in Psalm 23: “God is my Shepherd, I shall not want”. Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd who would lay down his life for the sheep. Jesus also narrates the parable of the lost sheep and also comments on his mission as one of leaving behind the ninety nine in the open and seeking after the lost one till he finds it. Jesus also insists on the apostolic ministry as one of taking care of the sheep. KC, the young man, never thought of positions and honors, when he accepted the call to follow Christ as a pastor in the Church of South India in the Central Kerala Diocese.

He began his career as the Secretary of the Youth Movement of the diocese. He served in many rural parishes. Even after obtaining his doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary, he was posted to serve in a parish in a remote corner of the diocese. He accepted the responsibility gladly and served that parish. It was then that he married Dr. Molly Abraham. The brightest spot in his several careers was his stint as the vicar of St. Mark’s Cathedral, which many of us have forgotten. He was a good shepherd, pastor, par excellence. It is not accidental that he spent most of his life preparing pastors for the church. His theological thinking, ethical reflections and political posturing and actions reflect this shepherd in him. 

KC was a good pastor to his students, his colleagues, those outside of the church involved in secular movements for liberation. First of all, it is marked by his tender compassion and love, his empathy and willingness to step into the shoes of the other, be it anybody, and act in responsibility to help them; that has endeared him to many from different walks of life. 

Second, his understanding of a shepherd was not confined to helping and serving those who are members of the Christian community. He believed and followed Christ’s insistence on God’s mission to those sheep “that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also.” (John 10:16). His shepherding went beyond the bounds of the visible church. He related to secular groups and movements; he also believed that the church is called to carry forward God’s mission of extending God’s love and grace beyond the boundaries of the visible church. He was always critical and impatient with a self-serving institutional church, and constantly reminded the church of its mission to a broken and suffering world. 

Thirdly, emanating from this self-understanding as a shepherd, pastor, was his commitment to those in the margins of society, whether they be Dalits, Tribals, women, mentally and physically challenged, the differently abled, the LGBT community or the mother earth, who is brutally treated and exploited without any qualm. He became an ardent spokesperson for the concerns of these groups and also brought them into the center stage of his theological and ethical reflection and action. Concern for justice and preferential option for the vulnerable are intrinsic to his theological understanding of the shepherd. The shepherd is not neutral. He is one who would leave the 99 and go after the one that is lost, whether it is willfully or of no fault of its own. God, as the shepherd is one who judges “between the fat sheep and the lean sheep” as we read in Ezekiel, Ch. 34. 

This finally led him to a theological understanding and commitment to the biblical category of those who were described as strangers. It is a biblical refrain addressed to the Israelites that they should care for the widows, orphans and strangers in their midst as they were once strangers in Egypt. Living with and caring for Liza brought this aspect of church’s mission very poignantly to him and Molly Kochamma. They were led to a greater sensitivity and concern for the most vulnerable in our society, strangers in our society. God gave them the opportunity, during the evening of their life, to practice what they preach and devote the rest of their life in caring for Liza and all those who are strangers like her. 

Unfortunately, we all consider the imagery of the shepherd as being neutral and passive. But KC through his life and work made it clear to us the dynamism and radical nature of the imagery of the shepherd. It is this self-understanding of himself as a shepherd, that made him radical in his thinking and action and become a votary of all those who seek liberation and fullness of life. He believed that the calling of the church is not to sustain itself as an institution and render services for its own members, but to be a community that extends its healing touch to strangers in our midst and to a suffering world. He reminds us that as pastors, our responsibility is not only to cater to the needs of its own members, but also become agents of what he describes as prophetic spirituality and extend their ministry of love and healing to those who are outside of our narrow communal entity. 

KC endeared himself to generations of his students, parishioners, friends and colleagues both in the theological field and outside as a loving human being who related to them in humility, warmth and in such deep concern.  Molly Kochamma can be proud and be thankful that she was given the privilege to be a companion to this man, sustain him, and challenge him to live out what he preached. We and the extended ecumenical community can be thankful for the gift of this man and what he has been by nature and grace to all of us and the theological legacy he had left behind which will continue to speak to us. May God give us the courage to carry forward this wider and deeper understanding of pastoral and prophetic ministry that is exemplified in such a beautiful way in the life of KC for the renewal of our church and extending the horizon of our theological thinking and action. We pray for Mrs. Abraham, Liza and their son Ajit who has the burden of carrying forth the legacy of his illustrious father who has left behind much for him to ponder.

(The photograph of KC posted in this blog has been taken from the Facebook wall of Ting Ting Lee)