Tag Archive for: Disciple

Discipleship – Lent Day 36

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Lenten Recipe

Recipe 36: Mutabbel

Lenten Journey Day 36 – Discipleship 

It would have been appropriate to start this Lenten Journey the topic of discipleship. I have intentionally left it toward the end of the Journey, because as I sure you will agree, discipleship means something different to you today than it did 35 days ago.

The word disciple means student, or a follower of a person. In the Bible, disciples were those who were in Jesus’ company, those who were learning from him. Some of this group went on to become apostles. Apostle means one who is sent. Once they had learned from Jesus, the disciples were commissioned to go out to the world to teach and preach.

Being a disciple of Christ means you are one who learns His teachings. You praise Him because you have applied his teachings to your life and the improvement in the quality of your life is overwhelming. At the beginning of this Lenten Journey I asked you to inventory the many aspects of your life: What is necessary to live? What is truly important in your life? By inventorying you can monitor importance levels. You will have a frame of reference. You can note changes in value and attitude.

Today we switch gears. We are now at a point – discipleship – where we are moving from theory to practice. Lent is no longer a burden but is something to look forward to, as a time for change, as a time for reflection, as a time of growth. I would venture to say that you are at a point where your outlook and attitude is noticeably chanced. Perhaps you would call it a mature outlook and understanding of the self and purpose for the self. How do we survive? How do we make a difference in our own lives? How about in the life of our community? Of our family? And even, the world? These are the questions we start asking now. We have a more mature understanding of faith: Less “me, me” and more “what can I do to help others?” “How can my sacrifice affect the bigger picture in life?” “How can I put something into the larger collection of what we call life? In this understanding, in this maturation process, Discipleship now has a different meaning, for it is not a question of merely following Jesus. It is not even a question of learning what He had to say. It is about actually becoming, living that faith, becoming the person and people God wants us to be.

The message that our Lord Jesus Christ brought to us 2000 years ago was a simple one that God is accessible, that God is there. And it does not matter who you are. It does not matter what social class you’ve come from. It does not matter what your past has contained or not contained. There are no more excuses. God has been revealed and in that revelation, He is now reachable. We cannot touch Him but we can understand Him in a new light. We understand Him as pure love, something that touches us and something with which we touch others. It is the message of sacrifice, of faith, hope and love. Most importantly it is a holistic message that to be a Disciple of Christ today means something different to us because we approach Christ holistically. We do not merely focus on His message, we do not merely look at the person of Christ, but collectively the person, the message, the sacrifice, the giving, the God nature is all there for us. So as disciples of Christ we use all of our senses.

We hear His message. We read the message with our eyes but likewise we bear witness to the message that is around us. We see the waves at the ocean, the mountains, the beautiful flowers and the smile of our children. We use our nose to absorb the aroma of His creation, the beautiful fragrances of God’s wonder. We appeal to our sense of touch. We reach out to people who need a hug, who need a hand. We also find that with those hands that are extended to us are bodies that are waiting to be hugged, waiting to be kissed, waiting to express that love holistically. Finally we appeal to our sense of taste in the Holy communion. It is that final recognition that we are disciples, as our fathers teach us, come and taste the Lord for indeed the Lord is tasty.

We are the disciples of Christ. We have learned love. We now live love. We must share that love. “By this they will know that you are my disciples”, says our Lord Jesus Christ, “that you love one another”.

Today’s prayer is based on a thought from neo-orthodox theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, on  Discipleship:

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: ‘Ye were bought at a price’, and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

Andrew, the First

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Armodoxy for Today – Andrew, the First

Saints come in all shapes and sizes. That might sound like an odd way to bring attention to the elite class of the Church, but each saint has a unique story that helps us in our Christian journey through life.

Andrew was the first-called disciple of Christ, in Armenian he’s referred to as Nakhagoch. He was the one who accepted the call of Jesus. Throughout Scripture we read that he invited others to follow, most notably is his older brother, Peter, who went on to be the Apostle to, and the first Bishop of, Rome.

Being the first takes a special and deep courage which is connected to inner strength but also to a commitment and belief that what you are following is absolutely and positively the correct path.

This weekend the Armenian Church celebrates St. Andrew Nakhagoch Disciple and Apostle of Christ, the first link on a movement that has changed the world. Today’s one-minute for standard time.

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Praying from the Book of Hours of the Armenian Church, with your Light, O Christ, we have all been enlightened, and in Your Holy Cross, O Savior, we take refuge. By the intercession of the Holy Apostle Andrew, hear us, O God our Savior, grant us peace, and show us Your mercy, Good Lord. Amen.

Changing over to Apostle

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Armodoxy for Today: Changing over to Apostle

There comes a time when children want to leave the nest and part of the parenting skill is finding the opportunity to encourage that move. Sometimes it requires a push, so the young one can catch the wind as they spread their wings. In preparation for their departure parents have given their children the necessary upbringing and education. Of course, the education process continues through life activities and events.

When Jesus stood at the Sea of Galilee and called his disciples to follow him, his invitation was simple: Come. After his Resurrection, at the Ascension, the command was just as simple: Go. He first invited them to come, follow and learn. At the Ascension he said it is time for them to go, teach others.  It is precisely at the Ascension that the Disciples (students) become Apostles (those who are sent = missionaries).

The Apostles received the tools with which to do their missionary work on the day of Pentecost, hokegalust in Armenian, which means “Coming of the Spirit.” As we read yesterday in the Book of Acts 2, the Holy Spirit gave the gift of utterance to the Apostles.

The gift of God is communication. We are not created as robots, but entities with the ability to process thought and communicate it to others. Is it any wonder that the human being is the only member of the animal kingdom that procreates, makes love, facing each other. In the most intimate of positions, the human being has the opportunity to communicate at all levels with thoughts, speech, feel and touch. Language is the skill to communicate with others.

Armodoxy rejects the idea that at Pentecost the gift of utterance was a secret sound-code that was understood by only some. Scripture says that the people who heard the Apostles talking said, “And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? … we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” The sounds that people heard were languages, not non-sensical words or sounds. The gifts of God are always practical; they have a function.

Words express our thoughts and teach, that is, they pass along knowledge. The object of those teaching-lessons is harmony among people. The idea that God would give people confusing sounds, or would want to confound people’s attempts to understand one another is foreign to Christian thought. The gift of the Holy Spirit brings us together, not draws us apart.

Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. With the Holy Spirit, the Church would now move to continue the work of Christ. The Church is community. There is no such thing as one-Christian. Christianity is about working together, so that “Thy Will be Done, on Earth as it is in Heaven” (from the Lord’s Prayer).

Christ taught his Disciples. When the time came and the Disciples were ready to continue the mission, what we may refer to as “spreading their wings,” Christ commissioned them to “Go” and share what they had learned, ensuring the continuity of his message in perpetuity.

The perfect vehicle for this is the group of people, that is community, that reach out to one another with hands, legs and voice, to find strength and work for what Jesus sought: Peace on Earth, good will toward one another.

The Church is one when it reflects this harmony in its teachings.

Today’s prayer will come from the last verses of Acts, chapter 2, the first Christian community after Pentecost:

44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. (NKJV)