Thanksgiving service marked the beginning of Madras Christian College’s quartoseptcentennial celebrations at Tambaram, a suburb of Chennai, on January 7, 2012.
With the choir singing the invocation song, the trumpet was sounded to mark the procession of Robert Willis, dean of Canterbury, UK, Canon Ivor Smith-Cameron (alumnus of MCC), former chaplain to the queen, UK, Geeta Menon (alumna of MCC), dean, Stern School of Business, New York University, and other dignitaries to the dais for the thanksgiving service.
The dean of Canterbury recalled the voyage of three Wise Men from the East to Jerusalem to worship Infant Jesus where wisdom knelt before innocence. Referring to Scottish missionaries John Anderson, Robert Johnston and John Braidwood as the three Wise Men from the West, he said they had come to India to spread wisdom.
“Rev William Miller has been here for 47 years and the longevity shows how he was committed to serve the institution and the people here,” the dean of Canterbury said. Earlier, he said “a human being must give his mind, body and soul to God and live in a community dedicated to hospitality”.
A rare photograph of the dean of Canterbury Cathedral of 1931 greeting Mahatma Gandhi was gifted to the college after the sermon. A greetings message from Archbishop of Canterbury on its 175-year celebrations was handed over to MCC principal R W Alexander Jesudasan.
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