The Bridge and the Air Conditioned Car

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The Bridge and the Air Conditioned Car

I shared this story as part of my Easter 2025 sermon. The author is unknown.

Gus was the proud operator of a draw bridge over a busy river.

Each day he’d yank the levers that would elevate the old railroad bridge to allow passage of ships below.

One Saturday several years ago Gus invited his 10-year-old son Peter to spend the day with him at the bridge. Peter whooped with excitement. He’d always marveled at the bridge and its levers and big gears. His dad had the best job in the whole world, he figured.

As an old fishing boat eased up the river toward the bridge, Gus showed his son how the levers performed. With a grinding hum and a few creaks, the old bridge separated and rose toward the autumn sky. Peter gasped and chortled while the boat crept upriver and out of sight.

Gus began watching his gauges and jotting notes in his report book. Then came the unmistakable sound that sent Gus back to his levers. The piercing whistle of the 10:05 southbound train. The 10:05 was a little early and a little late in blowing the warning whistle. Gus knew he must lower the bridge quickly to avoid a tragedy.
Gus’ big gloved hands grasped the shiny levers and pulled. He looked over his shoulder for Peter. Where was the boy? “Peter!” Gus’ stomach knotted as his eyes nervously darted up and down the bridge.

“Peter!!!” The bridge began its descent.

“Daddy! Daddy!” Frantic with worry, Gus peered over the edge and saw his son atop the huge bridge gears. The giant teeth of the rotating machinery had consumed the boy’s jacket. Now his hand and arm were being devoured, slowly pulling his entire body into the grinding gears.

Gus reached for the levers. But there came the 10:05 loaded with passengers, whistle howling, roaring toward the bridge.

“DADDY! HELP ME!” The terror of the boy’s voice seemed to pound within every muscle of his father’s body.

Gus glanced at the train, then at his helpless son. In that split second, Gus was faced with deciding between the life of his son, or the hundreds of lives aboard the rushing train.

Gus held firm on the levers. The bridge continued its bow of mercy for the passengers aboard the train.

Gus wept as the machinery squeezed the life from his son. As the boy’s shrieks melted into echoes, the 10:05 sped across the old bridge. The vacationing passengers had no idea what had just transpired below the bridge.

In air-conditioned comfort, they waved and smiled at Gus as they whizzed past.

Two thousand years ago a similar situation faced a loving Father. Much more was at stake back then. But, confronted with that awesome decision, the Father chose to allow His Son to die so that we could live.

Now we are faced with some haunting questions. How will we demonstrate to God that the life of His Son means more to us than waving and smiling as we go by? Are we willing to step out of our air-conditioned comfort and reflect God’s love to those around us? What will it take to get our attention?

 

Easter: The News Delivered

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John 20:

Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb… [They both entered the tomb and saw] the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself….  as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

She turned and said to Him, “Vartabed!” (which is to say, Teacher).

Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”

Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.

Scriptural excerpts from the New King James Version
Music: The Way, Armenian Sacred Music, Hover Chamber Choir of Armenia 2005
Cover: Rise! by Gregory Beylerian available at Shop – epostle

Holy Saturday – Before the Dawn

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Armodoxy for Today: Holy Saturday – Before the Dawn

This Easter Eve we find ourselves in a rather awkward position. We have been through the Lenten journey and walked together during this Holy Week, but today, we find it difficult to really make sense of what we witnessed. Yesterday, we stood at the foot of the Cross of Christ, looking up at our Savior, looking up at a seemingly helpless god, a god who is unable to help himself and protect himself from the perils of humankind.

While Jesus was betrayed and sentenced to death, you and I – all of us – were betrayed to darkness, which is a much a bigger condemnation than death itself. Darkness is our first fear. A room without lights is scary at any age. Darkness holds the unknown. Each step we take in darkness needs to be measured. Imagine a life without Christ – a life without light, a life without love? Imagine a life with no purpose and no meaning. Darkness.

But today, off in the distance, we see light. We see a glimmer of hope, after all, we are children of history, we know how this story is going to end. Unlike the disciples, who were confused and didn’t know what to believe, we have the advantage of knowing that after crucifixion, something incredible will happen, Jesus will resurrect.

Easter Eve is a reminder that it’s always darkest before the dawn.

So off in the distance we see that light, that light of resurrection. In fact, Scripture tells us that before the dawn of the first day, before that Easter morning, the women went to the grave and found it empty. Plant your feet firm in this dawn, on this Easter Eve, you are at the grave. Easter has not come yet, but we know that there’s something great. We know that the journey that we took together over the last seven weeks is about to unfold – not end, but unfold into something greater, which we call life. We are about to confront life, as Christians, as witnesses to the resurrection, as witnesses to the power of love over hate, to the power of light over darkness, to the power of good over evil, to life over death.

All four Evangelists record the details of the first encounter with the Resurrected Lord. It was a small group of women, who had gone to with the intention of anointing Jesus’ Body that first received the news of the Resurrection. Today, you have arrived at the Grave before the dawn. Your anticipation will not be disappointed.

Holy Friday – The Great Equalizer – Crucifixion

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Armodoxy for Today – Holy Friday – Participants in the Crucifixion

The journey through Lent, and now through Holy Week culminates today. It all comes together at the foot Cross. The Cross is the great equalizer. No one is exempt from the Cross – young and old, rich and poor, statesman and transient all have their crosses, but today, we witness that even God is crucified.

The Crucifixion of our Lord, Jesus Christ is an event of singularity. It stands unique in the history of humankind. The acts of love, kindness and the message of hope with which Jesus came and showered us was repaid by acts of hatred, prejudice and death. He was crucified as a death sentence; a death sentence for spreading love.

With the help of St. Nersess Shnorhali, and his magnificent Aysor Anjar prayer we can come to understand the significance of this day as he takes love and juxtaposes it next to the hate that led to the Cross. First, we understand that this is not an ordinary man being punished, or even falsely punished for crimes. Rather, this is the Creator. This is the same One who breathed that first breath of life in the first human (and each of us) and now that Breath was being beaten out of Him. St. Nersess reminds us that the One who cried down from the Cross saying, I am thirsty was the same One who was offered vinegar, when, in fact, He was the one who made the rivers flow out of Eden.  The same Hands which were nailed to the Cross and from which Blood was now dripping, were the same Hands which had fashioned the heavens and the earth, the same Hands which had written the law on the tablets. Those same Hands had given sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf and had pulled Peter from the sea and then hushed the sea. Those same Hands which had created all of us were now being nailed by us to the Cross.

Today’s meditation is one of not only walking with Jesus to the Crucifixion, but understanding our place within the story of Crucifixion. That is, those people who nail Christ to the Cross are none other than us. When we practice hatred, when we allow prejudice, when we carry anger in our hearts, we are basically putting Christ back up on that Cross. We are the ones who are pounding those nails into Him, because just as we learned that when we practice good deeds to the least of Christ’s brothers and therefore do it to him, so too when we hate, when we allow anger to rule our emotions toward our brothers and sisters we therefore allow that hatred to go to Christ, and we participate in this Crucifixion,

Our Lenten journey, together with our Holy Week journey, is now ending. We arrive at the cross of Christ. We stand there at the foot of the cross, looking up and seeing our Savior beaten, bleeding and now killed.

We see Jesus looking down at us, asking for water, asking for assistance, asking for his mother. We hear him say to Here is your mother…  reminding us that in this world we are united. The Crucifixion reminds us about the common thread that unites us all: the suffering of humankind. In fact, we may never be able to understand in human terms what a resurrection is, but when you talk about crucifixion, each and every one of us understands some portion of betrayal, of denial, of loneliness, of hurt, of pity, of being nailed for things that we never will understand, and at that final hour, Jesus cries out. Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? (=My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me) cry that we share, a cry that comes from the bottom of our hearts as well.

Cover: The Bulleted cross at Gyumri

Holy Thursday – Darkness

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Armodoxy for Today: Holy Thursday – Darkness

Holy Thursday is remembered as the night that after Jesus broke bread with his disciples at the Last Supper, he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, was betrayed by Judas, arrested, tried, tortured, mocked and humiliated and sentenced to death.

In the Armenian Church, the evening is marked with the service called “Khavarum” (=darkness) during which the Passion narrative from the perspective of the Four Evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, is read aloud in church. Following the story the evening unfolds portraying God who has humbled himself to understand His creation, and now we the created, have an opportunity to understand our God, our Creator.

Seven different passages from the Gospels are read during the evening, intertwined with the singing of a sharagan (hymn) called “Aysor Anjar” written by St. Nersess Shnorhali, the 12th century Armenian Church theologian and Catholicos. Alphabetically arranged according to each letter of 36 letters of the Armenian alphabet, the hymn follows the Passion of Christ by juxtaposing ideas and events that stimulate wonder, ponderings and mediation on the events of this night.

As the evening progresses, one by one, the candles in the church are extinguished until the congregation is left in complete darkness, hence the name Khavarum. As the narrative and the Passion plays out, the Light of the World, Christ, is betrayed and executed. In the darkness, you contemplate what the world would be like, without Christ in our midst.

When we began this Holy Week I asked you to walk with Jesus to the Cross. Tonight is the night of light and darkness. Somewhere in the shadows of the night you actually see darkness. It is not emptiness, but a darkness that begs to be lit. You are in the courtyard now. The trial is taking place insider. Peter is about to deny Christ. You hear the moans and cries of your Savior, you notice the indifference of the people, you hear the lies of religious establishment and in between, you ask yourself where and how you stand.  Who is Jesus? Who is he to you?

Holy Wednesday – Kneeling

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Armodoxy for Today: Holy Wednesday – Kneeling

The story of Jesus’ Passion, Crucifixion, Burial and Resurrection is a story like no other. It is the story of good being repaid by evil and evil being defeated by good. It is the story of betrayal, of loneliness, of hurt, of anger, and it is a story of the defeat of betrayal and anger, the defeat of loneliness and hatred.

The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ begins to unfold at the Last Supper, a meal which he shares with those he loves. Sitting at a table with his 12 disciples, he breaks the bread and pours wine, offering it to them, saying, Take, eat and drink, these are for the forgiveness of your sins. He offers His Body and His Blood for the salvation of humankind, and in this offering 2000 years ago, he includes us. He includes all of humanity from the beginning of history to the end of time, to sit at that same table. At that table we are offered the same opportunity for life. Take and eat. This is my body. Take and drink. This is the blood of the new covenant. The new covenant, which is now for us.

Today, we sit at the table with the Lord. We participate in the Body and the Blood. Oh, how great we must be that we are saved. How great we must be, that we are Christian, that we are greater than the rest of humanity! And as these thoughts go through our head, our comfort is interrupted as our Lord looks at us and sees the same faces he saw 2000 years ago when a dispute arose among the Disciples as to who was the greatest among them?

And so Jesus before committing himself to the mob, before leaving for the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, shares with his disciples one final lesson, a lesson in humility, and invites us today to be students and to be followers.

St. John records (chapter 13) that at the Last Supper, Jesus knelt before the Disciples and began to wash their feet, taking the dirt of the day’s hardship off of their bare feet. He washes the dirty feet of the disciples. He then asks them, Do you know what I have done? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 

Jesus says that if you really want to be great in the kingdom, you must learn to kneel. If you really want to be great in life, you must learn to give. The next time he will teach with example is only a day away, when he gives everything on the Cross. He gives his life for you and me.

Today, we’re sitting at the supper with our Lord Jesus Christ. He kneels down and he washes our feet. He gives us an example and you can’t just sit there. You can’t just look at his face. You can’t just accept his gift without being changed. This is the day you make a commitment, that faith is not something that just lodges on your heart, but it’s alive in your life. That is in the giving that you understand what it means to be alive. It is in Christ’s divinity that we now understand our humanity, and today we begin to live.

Holy Tuesday – 10 Professionals

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Armodoxy for Today: Holy Tuesday – 10 Professionals

On the Tuesday before Easter, known as Great Tuesday, the Armenian Church remembers the Parable of the 10 Virgins. From the Gospel according to St. Matthew, we find a parable whereby Jesus teaches us the importance of always being ready. Five maidens who were prepared for an event are referred to as wise virgins, while five who were not ready are referred to as foolish maiden. Read the parable in Matthew 25

First of all, these archaic terms, virgin and maiden can be distracting and may deflect our attention from the real message of the story. So go ahead and change the characters. Substitute yourself and your profession for the characters in the story. Make this about the 10 dancers, the 10 accountants, the 10 doctors, the 10 architects, or the 10 dish washers. Make the story about 10 of your profession who are anticipating an event that comes up in your line of work. For instance, the 10 dishwashers are waiting for the plumber to fix the sink so they can finish their duties. Be creative and try it.

I will take the lead and talk about the 10 priests, five of them were wise and five of them were foolish. They were waiting for their bishop to arrive, a bishop who was going to come and celebrate the Liturgy. And while waiting, five foolish priests used up the candles and the incense that they had prepared to celebrate the bishop’s arrival. At the same time the five wise priests had kept their candles and their incense, anticipating the arrival of the bishop and were prepared. When the bishop arrived, he looked around and he said, I am ready to be escorted into the sanctuary. Light your candles, light your incense, and let us process into the sanctuary. The five foolish priests had used up their resources, they were not ready. And turned to the five wise priests and said, let us borrow some of your incense, some of your candles. But those priests said, we cannot give it to you. We’re escorting the bishop into the sanctuary, and the people are waiting. The crowds have arrived. We cannot let them wait. And so they entered into the sanctuary, and the five foolish priests were left out.

So you see, this story is not about priests just as the original was not about virgins. This is a story of preparedness and readiness. When God shares His kingdom with us, it’s not for us to be saying, Wait! Even with a Pretty please, on our words. Ours is to always be ready to interact with God. The stakes are greater than a plumber or a candle. This is the Holy Tuesday meditation that comes across Armodoxy on this Tuesday of Holy Week. Amen.

Cover Photo: Gregory Beylerian

Holy Monday – Hearing with our heart

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Armodoxy for Today: Holy Monday – Hearing with your heart

A post on social media asks, “Jesus crucified 1.5 million Armenians with him. He never saved anyone. Why praise him!?!” The large number is in reference to the martyrs of the  Armenian Genocide of 1915. Social media is only a new medium for an age-old question. This question is asked because the bigger question pertaining to this Week is even more puzzling. Indeed, the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ does not make sense on human terms for even more reasons. How do we explain a person who gives love, who is sacrificial in every aspect of his giving, who heals the sick, raises the dead, and in return, receives a death sentence. At this point, many will dismiss the Christian experience by identifying it as nonsense, literally, that is, that which does not make sense.

In a final farewell discourse, Jesus shares words of comfort with his disciples, to make sense out of the seemingly nonsensical. He speaks of God’s love.

The Disciples had been in the presence of Christ for three years when he spoke to their heart. You have been through the Lenten journey, 40 days of preparation for this week. I ask you to sit with the Disciples today. With the teachings and exercises of the last several weeks, listen with your hearts to these words coming from your teacher, your brother and your friend. And believe.

A reading from John chapter 14:

Jesus says, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

 Thomas [one of the Disciples] said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”

 Philip [another of His Disciples] said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.  Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

Palm Sunday Addition

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Armodoxy for Today: Palm Sunday

Jesus’s triumphant entry into the holy city of Jerusalem is recorded by the evangelists. It is important to read the narrative to understand that in God’s time, all things fall into place.

On Palm Sunday, all the players are moving into their positions. Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. The Pharisees, the Disciples with Judas and Peter, and, of course, the mob, are all there, each one of them, bringing their participation to this passion play.

But there are a few people missing from the story. You and me. We move ourselves into the narrative by picking up the palm branches and adding our voices to the crowd: Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Jesus walks by us. He is en route to the temple, the shrine built to praise God. Instead he finds this house of prayer has been converted to a den of thieves. Merchants and moneylenders are doing a robust business under the temple walls. He turns over the tables and one by one, everyone and everything that does not belong in the temple, he throws out in an unusual display of anger. He does not stop until everyone who does not belong in the temple is thrown out and the temple is wiped clean. Needless to say, he has irritated the establishment, the people in power.

We have witnessed this episode and realize that we are part of the story. The holy temple is no further than our heart, at the center of our being. Jesus comes in today to clean the holiest of all temples. He asks that we walk with him through this Holy Week with the simple condition that we remove everything that distorts the truth, whatever prevents us from enjoying all that God offers us.

In the Armenian Church the Palm Sunday Liturgy is followed by a service called “Tur’n batzek” which means “Opening of the Portals.” It is focused on the Coming of Christ and the message is one of preparedness.

We have been through  the Lenten Journey and now at the beginning of Holy Week we pray, Heavenly Father, You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, for the salvation of the world. He arrived at the appointed time, entered the temple and removed all that did not belong there. I ask that you enter my heart and clean it of all that does not belong there, the hatred, the sickness and disease, the prejudice, the injustice and all that prevents me from seeing the goodness of life. Amen.

Do You Believe This? (Lazarus Saturday)

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Armodoxy for Today: Do you believe this? – Lazarus Saturday

The Lenten season is over, and now begins the holiest of all days and journeys, as we prepare to greet the Empty Tomb, that is Easter Sunday. This preparation is an actual walk with Christ, walking with him as he enters the holy city of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, through his passion, through His crucifixion, even His burial, and ultimately finding ourselves at the Resurrection as a witness to life beyond the grave.

Welcome to Holy Week.

The first day of Holy Week is called Lazarus Saturday. The story comes to us from the Gospel of Saint John chapter 11, where we learn of the death of Jesus’ close friend Lazarus. When Jesus arrives at his friend’s home, Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, turn to Jesus and say, If you had been here, our brother would not have died, an acknowledgment of Jesus’s Lordship and power even over death. Jesus turns to them and says, Your brother will rise again. Martha agrees and says, I know he will rise in the resurrection of the last day. But Jesus says to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.

Having proclaimed this truth, Jesus turns to Martha and says, Do you believe this?

I invite you to read the entire story of Lazarus resurrection (John 11). For today, I’d like to focus on the words that Jesus speaks to the sisters, Do you believe this? Because it is the same question that he asks us. We can recognize Jesus at many levels. We can even proclaim His Lordship. We can call him the Son of God, the question that he asks to the sisters he asks now of us, Do you believe this? Do you believe that I am the resurrection and the life. Do you believe that I am love incarnate? If you believe that, then you must believe that love is the resurrection and the life. You must believe that it is love that prevents any of us from dying, that love is the one factor that allows us to live forever.

As we begin this Holy Week, ask yourself this very personal question: Do I believe this? The road in front of us is a tough one. We’re going to go all the way to the cross and then to the tomb. Love is the one thing that cannot be killed. It is the resurrection and the life. It’s only with this commitment and with this confession on our part that the rest of the week will make any sense that the rest of the week will rise from the pages of history and become a living testament to what faith means today in our lives, how that faith will actually allow us to be participants in the Resurrection.

We pray, Lord Jesus Christ, who are Resurrection and the Life, fill my heart with your Love so I may forgive my enemies and care for others, and share that Love in my life. I await the travel before me, to accompany you to the Cross. Amen.

Cover photo: 2023 Luna & Gregory Beylerian