Thanksgiving Daily

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Armodoxy for Today: Advent – Thanksgiving Daily

If the retailers can extend Black Friday to the entirety of the month of November, t we have extending thanksgiving beyond the traditional one-day commemoration to a series of thoughts on the subject.

Thanksgiving is not prayer. Thanksgiving is an acknowledgement of something greater than yourself. As such, it falls into the category of worship. In the Armenian Church, worship takes place seven times a day. From the early morning hours to the moments before restful slumber, there are seven hours of worship. For a people who have known very little peace and prosperity, that have been attacked, raped and murdered, it is extremely unusual that this group of people offer so much thanksgiving. It is unusual, unless viewed under and through the lens of Armodoxy. Thanksgiving, and therefore worship, is not about stroking God’s Ego. The Evangelist John tells us God is love. Accordingly, love has no ego-issue. Love is giving and sacrificing. When we worship and give thanks, we are acknowledging the power of love. The words of the Apostle (I Corinthians 13) come to life, “Love is patient; love is kind,” and we are forced to come to terms with the power of love, as St. Paul writes, “Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

Love is God, God is Love. Thanksgiving is, in fact, about acknowledging God, and therefore acknowledging the power of love.

Let us pray, Bless us with Love, O Merciful God; that we may Love as you Love. That we may show patience, tolerance, kindness, caring and spread love to all. Amen.

 

Thanksgiving During Advent

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Armodoxy for Today: Advent and Thanksgiving

In America, the country takes a break every third week of November to celebrate Thanksgiving. And although the claim is made that the United States is a secular country, the word thanksgiving would have you believing otherwise.

Today, we celebrate Thanksgiving, and it is more than appropriate that if falls in the Advent period of the Church, since the corporate worship of the Church is rooted in the act of thanksgiving.

To give thanks implies there is someone, or something, to which you offer appreciation. And while it is fashionable to negate God from the conversation, thankfulness also implies the appreciation is directed toward someone or something greater than the self.

Jesus shares this story with us, “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’”  Jesus then tells us, “This man went down to his house justified rather than the other…” (Luke 18:10-14)

Often our thanksgiving resembles the prayer of the Pharisee. Unlike comparison shopping thankfulness is not about comparing things we do or do not have with those things that others have or do not have. It’s easy to look at the blind man and be thankful for our sight. Or to see the street person and be thankful that we are not homeless. Or hear of hunger in countries threatened by famine or war and be thankful that we have food and peace. Thank God, we might say, that I am not like them!

In the history of the Armenian Church, you find that the prayers of thanksgiving are offered at times of abundance as well as times of scarcity, at times of peace and at times of war and even genocide. Thankfulness is the ability to put the ego on hold, in check, and understand yourself as a part of something greater. It is the beginning of religiosity and ultimately peace.

Today, let our prayer be for those things that are blessed in our life – family, love, beauty. We pray Psalm 26. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my mind and my heart. For Your loving kindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth. I will wash my hands in innocence so I will go about Your altar, O Lord, That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Your wondrous works. Amen.

Happy Thanksgiving.

No Worries is Not Child’s Play

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Armodoxy for Today: No Worries is Not Child’s Play

Jesus’ statement regarding worry seems childish, naïve and, well, unrealistic. What does it mean don’t worry about tomorrow? In a world that’s defined by long-term strategies, investments, and future payouts, the idea of living for today is absurd. With homelessness on the rise in every major metropolitan city, the idea of not worrying about what to eat, drink or clothing seems to contribute to the ever-growing problem.

At the beginning of this Advent journey, I suggested that you keep a journal of your travel toward Theophany. Reflect on the earlier teachings from the Sermon on the Mount. This statement on trusting our Heavenly Father is merely the logical follow up and conclusion to what Jesus taught earlier. Yes, if God feeds the birds of the air and clothes the flowers of the field which today are and tomorrow are gone, how much more will he take care of you?

But there is more to this than just not worrying. Anxiety, and the fear that causes it, are the opposites of faith. Fear is the biggest obstacle to your living a productive life. Fear is the opposite of faith. If you have faith you have trust. If you have trust then you diminish the power of anxiety because you completely submit to God. Of course, this all comes together when applied on the foundation established by Jesus earlier in the Sermon on the Mount. For instance, understanding that true treasures are not those on earth or discovering the true blessing in humility, these are the foundations upon which you escape the worry and the fear of this world.

Trusting God means to completely submit to His will. It means to allow God to be Father and for you to be His child. It means to enjoy the life that He gives you, to fly with the birds and to be clothed like the lilies of the field. Remember, in the old covenant God was known as Lord, but Jesus set up a new relationship, unlike any other, so that we dare to call God, “Father.” And not only my Father or your Father, but Our Father who art in heaven… Believe He is our Father. He takes care of every single part and aspect of the universe.

Certainly, you will always have fears and apprehensions of tomorrow, but you need to diminish them and the only way, the only cure for that is faith. To strengthen your faith, to really look at the examples that He gives us, look also at all of the examples that are plainly around you. Alongside the birds of the air and the lilies of the fields are the simple smiles of your children, the warm embraces of your loved ones, the monumental signs of the mountains, the crashing waves, the moon and stars, each of them telling you, as Albert Einstein says, “God does not play dice with the universe.” Life has not haphazardly been caused by an accident. God loves us and takes care of us.

Today we pray Psalm 37 (vs 3-5), Trust in the Lord, and do good, dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Amen.

 

Advent Out of Worry

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Armodoxy for Today: Advent – Worry

Worry is not a topic that will be explored once, neither during the Advent season, nor during the rest of the year. Worry is just as reoccurring as a topic as it is as a menace to good health. Worry contributes to stress, a cause of diseases of the mind and body. It was no different in the times of Christ, and of course, even before. Since the beginning of time, when man contemplated his own mortality he succumbed to worry. Whether it was dodging the attack of a vicious animal in the wild, or avoiding a diagnosis of cancer, worry has been a part of the human condition.

We begin to look at worry in the context of our Advent Journey by reading the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, as recorded by St. Luke (12):

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

Striving for his kingdom is the first step toward ridding ourselves of worry. Nice words, and it sounds simple enough, but what does it exactly mean to strive for his kingdom? And how do we do it? The Armenian Church has sung hymns of praise for the kingdom during times when world governments and principalities have imposed their will on the people. The hymn of victory has been pronounced within the walls of the Church while the sounds of hatred and intolerance were spit upon its exterior. The simplicity of seeking the Kingdom is held inside Armodoxy and the Advent Journey leads us there.

We pray, Lord, set my heart on Your Kingdom. While worries and fears abound, I look to the birds of the air and the flowers of the field and know that You hold us all in your hand. Let me feel the certainty of our Love. Amen.

On the positive side

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Armodoxy for Today: Advent, the Positive side of things

We started the first week of our Advent journey meeting the “Rich Fool,” a character in one of Jesus’ parables (Luke 12). In a sense, he is what we may call a negative hero, in other words, he’s the main character of the story who teaches us what not to be. Negative heroes are all too common in religious stories as well as in real life. In politics, some may vote for a candidate because s/he is not the other candidate. In business, some may choose to trade with one firm because it is not the other company. In so doing, we focus more on the negative attributes of one, instead of the positive attributes of another and in turn, we start seeing our religious obligations and responsibilities in terms of what not to do, rather than what to do.

The Advent Journey is a time for us to prepare ourselves for the message of Christmas. At the end of the journey is waiting Christ, as Gift, as Light, as Savior. The extreme and most positive expression in life will be waiting for us and we will react to that gift. That reaction is a movement, it’s a step forward in our life.

Over the past few days, we studied the Parable of the Rich Fool in different ways. At the end, if we are truthful with ourselves, we will discover that the Rich Fool is, in fact, us. Like the Rich Fool, we are each consumed by the riches and possessions which are polished by our ego, by our wants and desires. And all of these prevent us from experiencing the fullness of God and, therefore, the beauty of life.

Jesus prefaces the parable with the warning, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Taking this to heart, the first part of the Advent Journey is to inventory those things that matter and are important in your life and proactively, that is, take an action to celebrate the abundance of those things that matter in your life, such as your relationships, your love for others, the beauty of life that surrounds you. These are simple treasures that are accessible by all.

For today’s prayer I’d like to share with you a variation of Shnorhali’s prayer of the 9th hour, with an accent on the positive: All provident Lord, give me the clearness of vision to look at the beauty around me, the sharpness of hearing to listen to and hear the music of nature, the courage to speak words of truth, the clarity of heart to think goodness, strength to my hands to work toward justice and to my feet to walk in paths of righteousness. Guide me always. Amen.

 

Too Many I’s

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Armodoxy for Today: Too many I’s

Our Advent Journey continues with the parable of the ‘Rich Fool,’ as told by Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12. Over the last couple of days we have looked at this parable as the starting point for the Advent season. If you remember, on our first day of examining this parable I asked you to pay particular attention to the words expressed by, whom we now understand as, the Rich Fool.

The entire parable is all of 120 words uttered by Jesus himself. Of that count, 62 of the words, that is over 50% of the words are those attributed to the Rich Fool. And of those 50%, every one of them was about himself and articulated with I-s and My-s!

… ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?… I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’

In fact, the Fool has no regard for anyone or anything beside himself. The great minister of the Gospel and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. once answered the Fool by suggesting that he could have stored the extra food, the abundance of crops, in the bellies of starving children! But any hope of extending the bounty to others is wiped out by the abundance of the I-s and My-s in the Fool’s vocabulary.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus cautions against calling anyone a fool, yet he has no problem designating this man with this title, for in fact a person who doesn’t see life beyond themselves is a fool.

Armenian Orthodoxy grew in a world where sharing the abundance of the land was a rule of life. When we see beyond ourselves, we then mimic God because we begin to speak the language of love. “Love does not seek its own,” says the Apostle (I Corinthians 13:5). We understand the beauty of the Christmas message that God so loved the world, so much so that He gave His very best. (John 3:16). When we remove the I-s and My-s from our vocabulary, we make room for so much more, especially for words such as We and Us.

Let us pray a prayer that comes from the Wedding ceremony of the Armenian Church, a ceremony that ties two into one. It is a simple prayer, “Lord, plant me as a fruitful olive tree in the House of God.”

Keep your eye on the prize

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Armodoxy for Today: Advent – Keeping your eye on the prize, or Staying on Track

Our Advent Journey continues and our first stop is confronting the parable of the ‘Rich Fool,’ as told by Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12.

“The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then who’s will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” – Jesus (Luke 12)

Remember, Advent is a time of preparation for Christmas, to understand the holiness of the holy day. Right off, Jesus tells us the preparation is about laying treasures. He uses this parable to illustrate the importance of not losing sight of the prize. We are on a journey to Christmas when we proclaim that Christ is born and revealed among us. Along the way, it will be easy to be sidetracked. The rich man of the parable begins as an entrepreneur who uses his wisdom and knowledge to bring him profit. When his work yields a bumper crop, he loses sight of the purpose of his labor and falls into the trap of losing sight of the destination. Furthermore, Jesus gives him the designation of a “fool” because he had labored and not set aside treasures beyond himself.

St. Paul refers to the love of money as the root of all evil. Money itself is merely a tool. It has value when it is used, otherwise it is merely a figure of lines, circles, dots and dollar signs on a ledger somewhere. When money is used, an in particular to the aid and benefit of others – your children, your parents, your loved ones, your community, your church, and yes, those who you don’t know – it picks up value because now, it can be measured by the terms that are understood by others beside yourself. Herein is the value of a Christian community, the Church, where the values are around the common worship – the Divine Liturgy, the holy Badarak.

It always amazes me when I hear someone boast of himself or of his child, proudly proclaiming that they “know the value of a dollar.” In fact, a drug dealer knows the value of a dollar. So what? Are we not embarrassed then, that we are not aware of the value of Faith, of the Teachings and Person of Christ? The parable is staying focused on the prize, on your spiritual treasure: Christ is Revealed! He’s in our midst. There cannot be a greater prize. Stay focused through this journey.

We pray the prayer of St. Nersess Shnorhali, from the 23 hour: All-merciful Lord, have mercy upon all Your faithful, on those who are mine and on those who are strangers; on those whom I know and on those whom I know not; on the living and on the dead; and forgive all my enemies, and those who hate me, the trespasses that they have committed against me; turn them from the malice which they bear towards me, that they may be worthy of Your mercy. Amen.

The Cue for Advent

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Armodoxy for Today: The Cue for Advent

Advent means “coming.” The coming of the Lord was foretold centuries before his birth. His coming was announced by the angel of the Lord, “I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11). And for the last two thousand years we celebrate his coming as the Nativity, as the Revelation of God and of course, as Christmas.

Christmas is much more than the celebration we know of today. To better appreciate the celebration of Christmas, the Church has set up a period of preparation, which uses the name “Advent.” In other words, in preparing for Christmas, we focus on Christ’s coming to us in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, and into our lives today.

The first Sunday of Advent with its unique Gospel reading sets the pace and cues up the general tone for the days ahead. It is the parable of the “Rich Fool” and we find Jesus speaks it in the Gospel of St. Luke (12)

“The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

The Church Fathers ask us to begin the Advent Season with this parable. If necessary, read the parable again, paying attention to the words of the “Rich Fool.” If you’re inclined to push yourself a bit, compare it with the message Jesus gives us in the Sermon on the Mount, in the 22nd verse of the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 5. Ask yourself, what do you make of how Jesus refers to the man in the parable?  This is the starting point of our Advent Journey. We return tomorrow to pick up right where we left off.

Lord, open my heart, my mind and my ears to the words you speak to me. Amen.

Advent Prep Time

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Armodoxy for Today: Advent Preparation

Preparation is important to the success of any life event. From something as common as your next meal, to milestones such as graduating school, preparation is fundamental to the success and enjoyment of that event. Likewise for events we commemorate in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Church offers us times for preparation so that we can come to better appreciate, and thereby enjoy, the message of the Gospel in our lives.

Christmas comes and goes as an event of the Winter. Noting the commercialization or the secularization of the Christmas holiday is only tied to our lack of being prepared for the Mystery we proclaim on Christmas: Christ is born and revealed.

The Church has given a period of times, called “Advent” which means “Coming.” In the Armenian Church this period is called hisnag designating a 50-day period before Christmas. Prior to Easter we count off 50 days as well (he 40 days of Lent along with the Day of Good Living and Holy Week, add up to 50 days). And that period, commonly referred to as Lent, has a certain notoriety which is missing from the pre-Christmas season. The Advent season is equally important in preparing ourselves to fully participate in the Christmas joy.

The Advent preparation is one of tuning the body, soul and mind to wonders that await us in the manger, under the tree and at our church service.

Advent is a journey and we are journeying together toward the day we greet one another with the merriest of Christmas messages, “Christ is born and revealed.” On this road, we will be preparing to meet Jesus at his nativity. You’ll come to find how God of the universe interacted with our world in a humble manger and find a connection to how He interacts at the places of our lives today, wherever they may be. This journey is for the next 50 days along with the special “12 days of Christmas” at the end.

I look forward to taking this journey with you here at Epostle.net.

We pray, Heavenly Father, as we begin this season of Advent, open our hearts and our souls to the wonders you have shared with us. As we prepare for the blessed Birth and Revelation of your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ, we ask that you keep us focused on the opportunity to prepare, so that we can fully participate and enjoy the celebration of Christmas. May we be led by the Holy Spirit as we begin this journey in faith. Amen.

Baptism Revelation: Theophany

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We have arrived at the Theophany. Advent has prepared us to accept the great news: Christ is Born and Revealed. More than a “Christmas Celebration” we now understand that this is the Revelation of God to the world. “God so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son…” (John 3:16) says the Scripture that most have learned by heart. Following Advent and this Advent Journey, I trust that these words resonate deep in your spiritual consciousness.

It is not by accident that we haven’t spoken about the virgin birth, the obedience of Joseph, the visit of the Magi or the shepherds’ vigil until now. Today we move to the Baptism of Jesus, which is recorded by all the evangelists in their gospels. It was after his baptism, that Jesus began his ministry. In a very real sense, his baptism was the “birth” of him ministry; it was immediately after his baptism that Jesus went into seclusion and began the period of his life that we read in the Gospels. Reading the account of St. Matthew (chapter 3) we find, “Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’”

At this one moment in history, God is revealed as the Holy Trinity. The Son of God stands next to John the Baptist in the River Jordon, the Holy Spirit of God descends on Jesus in a dovelike manner and the voice of God the Father is heard. The Holy Trinity is revealed at this moment in History. Hence, the name of the Feast is “Theophany” = the Revelation of God: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  The Armenian word for the feast is Asdvadzahaydnoutiun, which is a literal transition of God is revealed.

In the Armenian Church the Feast of Theophany encompasses all of the events in the life of our Lord Jesus from his Birth to his Baptism. At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, water is blessed to symbolize the Baptism of Jesus. Into the water is poured Holy Miuron, that is chrism or “Holy Oil” which is made up of the essence of forty different flowers indigenous to the Arartian plateau in Armenia. It is blessed every seven years by the head of the Armenian Church, who is referred to as the Catholicos, or the chief bishop. During the Blessing of Miuron, some of the previous batch is poured into the new batch. Technically, there are molecules in the miuron from the time of Christ. This is the strength of the Apostolic continuity of the Armenian Church.

Today is a new beginning. It is a new day of celebration. In modern terms, you can think of it as a hard-reset, it is like hitting the reset button on your device and coming back to the original form.

Now that you have arrived at Theophany after an intense period of Advent, I invite you to follow along the daily podcasts, “Armodoxy for Today” where we will explore the intricacies of the Armenian Church and her faith. We’ll learn where do the Christmas narratives of shepherds, wisemen and stars fit into our Faith? What is the mystical and magical quality of Holy Miuron? What is the strength of the Holy Divine Liturgy that is repeated every week? Mostly, Armodoxy for Today will connect the dots between the relationships and aspects of our lives with the beauty of God’s Kingdom and His Love and Kindness for each of us. I look forward to having you join us.

For today, we play the hymn of the synaxis dedicated to the Holy Mother of God. It is meditative and I invite you to be swept away by the melody and this celebration by the Luyse Vocal Quintet.