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Fr Vazken December 09, 2008
You know – in preparing for the Christmas SPIRIT concert I’ve been thinking a lot about change in our Church.Obviously, the Gor music is pretty radical change when you think of the Armenian Church, or any ‘traditional’ church for that matter. Anush – your comments about the mayrigs – made me think about all of the changes and differences that I’ve tried to bring into the Armenian Church during my years as a priest. I never thought of it until now – but its always been that older generation who got it. Maybe its the years, maybe its the futility that they see in preserving something that doesn’t speak to the people. But, among the younger ones there is this false sense of clinging to something that makes for a warm security blanket. (Yes, I saw Charlie Brown’s Christmas last night… poor Linus, he needs all the security he can get with that dew of his.) And they fight for that security which gets them through the years, but in the end, there’s nothing in it.This weekend we’re in for a treat – because Mariam Matossian arrives and will be singing at our church (and of course, at the concert). She’s going to be leading a special class for our Sunday School students this Sunday and it should be interesting because we’ll be uniting the past tradition with the more radical change.
Suzie, I believe you told me about one of our visitors this Sunday who mentioned that our church really had that unique balance of old and new, or traditional and contemporary. That’s what its all about, right? I mean, none of us are for abandoning our traditional worship and our Badarak, BUT on the other hand, we know that those are not the END we serve. I think that perspective – that traditions are the means, and Jesus is the end – has been our working platform. And it shows in every project we do.
On top of it all – did you catch this week’s Gospel passage? It was the story of the Great Banquet. As I was sitting through Gor’s playing and Mariam’s singing and subsequently the hokehankist – I had the great banquet in mind. This is not Burger King – you can’t “have it your way!” We are a church that is led by the Holy Spirit and the Pastor – the Parish Priest – is ORDAINED by the mark of the Holy Spirit. When he points the church in a particular direction, its because of his prayer life, his knowledge of the communities and the needs of the parishioners. The Holy Spirit guides the pastor to leadership. And as the Pastor, this direction that we have steered our ship on – I will tell you in no uncertain terms – is the path and direction for the Armenian Church today. Because its the same path we’ve been on through the centuries. This is the orthodox path.
Critics point to orthodoxy as something ancient and connected to the fathers of the church. They forget that those fathers were humans guided by the same Spirit! The Orthodox Church is alive today, not just in some history book.
The banquet passage is too close to my heart to let pass by. I’m going to use it as the theme for tomorrow’s podcast and will return to it next Sunday at church (since this past week, we had a musical sermon). I keep thinking about Nersess Shnorhali or Krikor Naregatzi. We love their works today – I wonder how they were received in their time? They were people like you and I, certainly with a gift for touching the soul with their words and tunes – a gift which Gor has. And their message was the same from the time of Christ.
Looking forward to a great couple of weeks of Christmas cheer. |
I’ve heard that expression “Not a dry eye in the house” in reference to a performance or speech well delivered. But I thought it was a cliche and an over-
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