Tag Archive for: God’s time

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.

God’s Time

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Armodoxy for Today: God’s Time

This week we’re exploring timing: how events, large and small, take place over the course of time. Time marches slow when you’re young. You can’t wait to get older, to walk to school by yourself, ride a bike, later a car. To date. To stay out. You can’t wait to get older. Time is slow. And the older you get, time seems to be rushing through at too fast of a pace. You want to pull the breaks, but there’s no way to slow it down.

Time is in fact, relative, not on because of any complex Einsteinian equation but by simple mathematics. For a child of two years, a year is a half a lifetime! For a person of 70 years, that same year is 1/70th of a lifetime. Of course it goes by fast!

Sometimes to cut our anxiety and temper our impatience we refer to “God’s time,” an idea that God has a predetermined time for events to happen, and that it may differ from our own sense of time. In non-religious terms, we say, “In due time.” God’s time is beyond our measurements. In the passage where Jesus is tempted by the Devil, it says, “In an instant he showed him all the kingdoms on Earth.” (Luke 4) That instant might be understood as outside of time.

In Armenian churches throughout the world the symbol of “է” (pronounced ‘eh’) is found atop altar tables, on khatchkars (stone carvings of crosses) and on ornamental vestments. The “է” is the seventh letter of the Armenian alphabet, seven being the number of universe, or completeness, that is, the combination of four (for the corners of the earth) and three (the number of the heavens as in the Trinity). In the Armenian language that symbol/letter is the verb to be in the present tense. It is. It is, is the name of God. No He was, not He will be, but He is. He is the eternal present. In the Old Testament, in the Book of Exodus (3:14), God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the People of God: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” And before Biblical times, throughout Armenia, near the base of Mt. Ararat, at the cradle of civilization, markings and symbols point in temporal terms to the eternal truth of living in the moment. That’s Armodoxy. That’s “O.G. Christianity.” In Jesus’ experience, “in an instant showing all the kingdoms of Earth.” As we grow in faith we align more and more with the Eternal and with eternity, with the “է”.  Aligning with “է”, finding God, is the purpose of good religion and certainly the call made to us by Christ. There, we find that God’s timing is perfect.

We pray, from the words of St. Peter, (2Peter 3:9) Lord, You are not slow in keeping Your promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, You are patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to repentance. Keep me strong in my faith and in my love for You and all my brothers and sisters. Amen.

Religious Scams

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Armodoxy for Today: Religious Scams

We have all become familiar with this word, scam, though we may be unaware as to how prevalent it is in our lives. We have heard of Internet scams, financial scams, email and telephone scams, and try to exercise some degree of caution against them. Banks, financial institutions, even health care foundations issue warning about the threat of being scammed. But when it comes to religious scams, we are certain that it could never happen to us. After all, we think, I’m a Christian, born and raised a Christian, and I know what I believe to be true. In that statement is the weakest link in what protects us from religious scams.

These days we have everyone and their uncle professing authority in all matters concerning Christ, Christian faith and Christianity. Quote a few Bible verses and do it loud enough on a social media account, and anyone can proclaim just about anything with some degree of authority by virtue of the platform. Fake news gets tagged; but anything goes when it comes to religion, especially Christianity. With wars and talk of wars escalating, the field is open for end-of-world predictions that have to do with a battle called Armageddon.

Because religion is a personal matter, people don’t really care to know the background story. For instance, the Armenian Church, being an Apostolic Church, that is from the time of the Apostles, has a unique spot in the Christian world and speaks with authority when it comes to Christian concepts and dogma. Still, it’s easier for people to believe what they want, as hideous as things may be, rather than educating oneself.

So, in the interest of passing along some information which you may not know, here are a few things to keep in mind as you read through the some of scary predictions which are being made in the name of Christ and Christianity.

The Old Testament is not salvific. Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the law and the prophets.

Jesus is the Son of God and therefore His ethnicity transcends our understanding of ethnicity. He belongs equally to everyone and to all ethnic groups.

The word Israel means the “people of God.” After baptism, we proclaim the child as a member of the “New Israel” which is not to say they belong to the Jewish state in the Middle East.

Jesus will return. His return is imminent, but it has been imminent since the 1st century. For this reason, Jesus says, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36)

The location of Jesus’ return is not disclosed. It’s his business. He asks us to love and care, not to predict places. Despite what you have read or heard, if Jesus decides he wants to come back in Puerto Rico or in Armenia, you can site all the pages in the Bible and all the preachers that you’ve heard, he doesn’t have to go by those rules. Again, He asks us to love and care, not to predict places.

Anyone who predicts Jesus’ return on a specific date or place is running a scam.

The Book of Revelation was written by St. John, one of the 12 disciples. He was imprisoned on an island writing to the Christian’s of the time. He wrote in a code that they, the people of the time, would understand. The message is simply: endure the sufferings and persecution, God’s victory is guaranteed in the end.

Who goes to Heaven is God’s business. Ours is to love and care for one another and leave the rest to God. Our prayer is: Lord have mercy.

These are just a few items I wanted to share with you considering all the scary religious misinformation that’s being pumped out in the name of Christianity. There’s much more and that’s why we speak about the Apostolic Evangelism, and hope you follow the ancient teachings.

Pray the Prayer that our Lord Jesus taught us: Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.