PASSAGES
Illuminating the "Healing Ministry of Christ" through CMC Vellore
A PUBLICATION OF THE VELLORE CMC FOUNDATION
ELEVENTH EDITION | MAY 2026
IN THIS ISSUE: A SPECIAL KIND OF VISION - 1
A SPECIAL KIND OF VISION
DEVOTIONAL - 1
Dr. Ann Harikeerthan, Communication Scientist Department of Infectious Diseases, CMC
INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES, CMC, AND MISSION HOSPITALS: A LEGACY OF PARTNERSHIP - 3
It takes a special kind of vision to see a tree, with branches on which birds can nest, in the tiny seed from a mustard plant. In my writing course, my teachers called this sort of imagination “magical realism.” This picture of an oak- or banyan-like mammoth burgeoning slowly and steadily out of the lowly mustard is the metaphor Jesus used to describe the kingdom of God. Such a tree does not come into being through human effort. It requires supernatural transformation. I think this is the potential that God saw in Aunt Ida when He put it in her heart to start a medical college for women in the obscure South Indian town of Vellore. She must have glimpsed God’s vision too; for when asked, she clarified, that she was building “not a medical college, but the Kingdom of God.” The idea of catching a glimpse of God’s glorious vision was brought into focus at the Consultation Conclave 2025. This conference is a once-in-a-decade endeavor that aims to help the people invested in CMC to reflect on how the institution has been doing and to dream together about where she might go in the next ten years. At the conference, I found myself asking two questions: “Is CMC staying true to her vision?” and “Do we still carry within us the Spirit who inspired Aunt Ida?” I came away convinced that the answer to both questions was “yes,” because there are people at CMC today who still see the tree in the seed of a mustard plant.
www.vellorecmc.org
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INSPIRING
EMPOWERING
GOD ORDAINED MINISTRIES - 4 BUILDING A LEGACY- “THE POWER OF THREE CAMPAIGN”- 5
DEVOTIONAL “God’s Closer Than You Think” Rev. Dr. Michael Bos, Senior Minister, Marble Collegiate Church
For in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:22-28) Paul stands in Athens surrounded by people searching for meaning. Temples, statues, ideas everywhere, and yet something is missing. So he begins with a simple observation: “I see how spiritual you are.” And then he points them to what they’ve been longing for all along: a God who is not far off but near… closer than they think. Paul shows them that the connection they seek with God is already there if they learn to notice it. The truth is we all need to find connection because it’s what we’re made for. Not just information about God, but relationship with God, and through this a deeper connection with one another. The challenge is that life often pulls us in the opposite direction. We can be busy, distracted, even sitting in church surrounded by people, and still feel disconnected. So how do we reconnect? Practice noticing: Pause and pay attention to where God is already present. Practice presence: Be fully with others and listen more than you speak. Practice remembering: You are never alone. God is already here… closer than you think.
TRANSFORMING
PASSAGES | Pg. 1