Tag Archive for: Jesus Christ

Change Searched

Next Step #758: As Google announces its search results, and change followed fear from 2021 to 2022. Christ and his relevance 2000 years ago and today: a lesson for the Church today.
Google Video on 2022
Google Searches for 2022
Google Video for 2021
IHS Toy Drive
Diocese Glendale Building
The Box & Daily Message
Element Band Christmas Album
Jethro Tull Christmas Album
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for Epostle.net
Subscribe and listen on demand on your favorite pod-catcher!
We’re on StitcherPandoraSpotify and Apple Podcasts

The Jesus Gift

Armodoxy for Today

The Jesus Gift

You’re at the Great Banquet (Luke 14). It’s a celebration. It’s a table set in the Kingdom. And now you realize that a banquet such as this must have a purpose. It does. It’s to celebrate the Kingdom of God. And the guest of honor is Jesus Christ.

Imagine being invited to a celebration for the Lord. Actually, you don’t need to imagine anything, the celebration of the Lord’s birth, or nativity, takes place at Christmas, and as we will eventually understand, it’s not limited to the day of Christmas. It is customary, courteous and in good taste to share a gift with the honoree. What gift could you possibly give Jesus? Trust me, there is nothing on Amazon, in a catalog, or anywhere that falls into the Jesus-gift category. Fortunately, Jesus has given us his wish list for to celebrate his birthday. It appears as a preface to the Great Banquet parable.

Jesus says, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

There it is. It’s the Jesus-gift. Once you realize you’re at the Table of the Lord, life and immortality are given as gifts to you. Life and life eternal, is a gift for which you have absolutely no way of putting a price tag on it. It is indeed priceless and impossible to payback, unless you do exactly what Jesus asks us to do, that is, to give a gift to those who have no way of paying you back. Did you catch the specific list of people mentioned by Jesus? He said, to offer an invitation to the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind. This is the same group which is identified as outcasts by the Parable of the Banquet.

Jesus could not spell it out any clearer, the greatest gift we can give Jesus for the celebration of his birth, is the gift he requests: do good to others, do to those who have no way to pay you back or return the favor.

This goes against everything we’re accustomed to do during the Christmas season, but this is the true gift of Christmas. In this gift we understand that the measure of love for God is based on our ability to love and care for one another. Christmas giving begins with the acknowledgement of Jesus’ Birth as a gift to us, and to share the joy by bringing goodness to others, especially the ones who have no way of returning the favor. The orgins of Christian gift giving stems from this simple understanding that the only way to acknowledge and thank God for the awesome gift of life is to share ourselves with other.

Christmas is now in our sights. Purpose and meaning are now coming into play as we move on with our Advent Journey.

We therefore pray, Lord, we thank you for the gift of life. We prepare ourselves for Christmas by opening our hearts to one another. Help me to share my love with others with no other expectation than the satisfaction of fulfilling Your Will. May I give to others, in the same spirit with which You have given to us and may my gratitude be expressed in the offerings I give to those in need. Amen.

Theodicy

Armodoxy for Today
Theodicy

This week of the Advent Journey is dedicated to what theologians refer to as, “The Problem of Evil.” Simply put, it’s the incongruity of believing in a good God, who is all powerful and being faced with the reality that evil exists in the world. In other words, given that evil is real with headliners such as cancer, war, molestations, earthquakes, and famine, either God is not all good or God is not all powerful. Why would a good God, who is all powerful, allow evil to exist?

Evil is a problem which has perplexed people since the first-time villagers had to pick up after a devastating earthquake or a lightning bolt created a forest fire that wreaked havoc for people and all the members of the animal kingdom. In this day and age, when we understand that earthquakes are caused by the shifting of  tectonic plates, and lightning bolts are the result of charged clouds grounding, God doesn’t need to enter the equation. However, for theologians and clergy who make a case for a good and omnipotent God, forming an answer is called a theodicy. It follows that if God allows these evil, then is it possible that evil is a punishment from God? People of good faith, can easily reach this conclusion, and figure illness or death are paybacks from God for wrongs you have committed. And so, the question was brought to Jesus.

On this Sunday of Advent the Church offers the Gospel reading from Luke chapter 13. Here, there were two incidents that people perceived to be delivered as punishments from God. The stories – one of Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices and the other was of a tower which fell in Siloam causing the death of 18 people – were the focus of this inquiry of Jesus. On today’s scale, it would be like us asking Jesus if the Indonesians who died in last month’s earthquake perished because they were sinners? Or was it because of the sins of the Ukrainians that bombs fell on their cities?

In the passage, Jesus answers, Do you think that they were worse sinners than all the other because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

Under no uncertain terms, Jesus gives the definitive answer that evil is not the punishment of God upon us! The idea that God sits in heaven waiting for us to make a wrong move so he can blast us with a lightning bolt is as absurd as it sounds. And Jesus emphatically gives us a big N-O!

So then, why evil? Can’t God vaporize all evil? Or is it that he just doesn’t want to? We will pick up with these questions tomorrow, on our journey through Advent.

We pray Shnorhali’s 15th hour: Christ, guardian of all, let your right hand protect and shelter me by day and by night, while at home and while away, while asleep and while away that I may never fall into sin. Amen.

Masks

Armodoxy for Today

Masks

After trick-or-treating the neighborhood and snapping enough pictures to keep the memories going beyond the evening and season, the custom of opening the bag, inspecting and sampling the treasure takes place. The first step, though, is removing the mask off of your face, to better enjoy the goodies.

The masks we wear in life come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The masks we wear at Halloween are celebratory, they are part of the fun and excitement of the evening. The most beautiful young face can be distorted into something so old and hideous, and vice versa. The masks we wear after Halloween are the ones that we need to examine for they are easy hiding places for our true nature. We wear one mask at home and another at work. The mask we wear as a husband or wife might be different from the mask of a friend. The one we wear as parent speaking with our children might be different than the mask we wear speaking with our parents. One mask may be that of the boss and the other of the faithful employee. We wear masks to fit the occasion.

At the end of the day, we remove our masks, and usually do so in front of a mirror. What we see is the maskless self – the one that looks back at us and the one who’s stare we cannot escape.

When we talk about an all-knowing and all-seeing God, we understand He has the unique vantage point of seeing through our masks, no matter how many and how layered they may be. In this sense, it’s like the mirror-stare, in that we can’t escape His view. To open the bag of “goodies of life” and enjoy the treats within, that view – unhindered, unobscured, is the God view that is the same view from a clean and receptive heart.

The prayer of St. Nersess says (#9) “Lord, Protector of all, instill Your holy fear in me that my eyes may not look lustfully, that my ears may not delight in hearing evil, that my mouth may not speak lies, that my heart may not think evil, that my hands may not do injustice, that my feet may not walk in the paths of iniquity. But direct all my actions that I do your will in everything. Amen.”

Lunch Date

Armodoxy for Today
Lunch Date

Several years ago, I was interviewed by one of the local newspapers here in the Southland. One of the questions they asked me was, given the chance to have lunch with anyone, historic or contemporary, dead or alive, who would I choose?

These types of questions come with some expectations, especially of the clergy. The obvious historical character for clergy is Jesus Christ. Even in secular circles, among non-religious people, the influence of Jesus and Christianity on human history and thought is undeniably tremendous. And so, in a sense, it’s a loaded question when asking a clergy person to pick out a person, from all of time, with whom to spend the lunch hour.

I disappointed the interviewer, and perhaps you, the reader or listener, not because I didn’t want to take the bait but because there’s nothing more that needs to be asked of Christ. At the Crucifixion, Jesus is recorded as saying, “It is finished.” (John 19:30) He had come to the world as a gift from God as the ultimate expression of love. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16) “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) It is finished. He has given us everything we need to know, everything that is necessary to make “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” He has given us nothing less than what is necessary to enjoy life, live it abundantly.

Part of the joy of life is the wonder, the mystery, the search and discovery for ourselves. Jesus has given us the Truth, which applies across generations and civilizations. As Christians, we all come with our own set of circumstances and are touched by the Truth. We search, make mistakes, mark accomplishments, wonder, marvel, cry, laugh and in the end, we live. It is the process of that gives life meaning. Our prayer is for the wisdom, to live in harmony with all that is around us. St. Nersess’ prayer is, “Jesus, [you are] the wisdom of the Father, grant me your wisdom that I may speak, think and do that which is good in your sight. Save me from evil thoughts, words and deeds. Amen.

And, who would I have liked to have lunch with, dead or alive, historic or contemporary? Well, my father, of course. We lost him at an early age. I would love to see him one more time, share with him the wonders of life, the magic, the music, laughs and sorrows that I have discovered… and perhaps compare notes.  

Mission & Continuity

Armodoxy for Today

 

Mission & Continuity

Jesus began his ministry in the town of Nazareth. St. Luke the Evangelists records (chapter 4):
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Thus, proclaiming his mission.

When we describe the Armenian Church as “Apostolic” it means we are in a link to the apostles themselves and carry on their mission, which is the mission of Jesus Christ. Today, in our hearing, Jesus has proclaimed His mission. Our mission.

First Tweets

Next Step #747: This next step is the first step on the Epostle.net network. A run-down of the Launch, arrival and moving forward with the steps. Jesus and the art of the tweet: simplicity in the Gospel is a mission and articulation at a different level.
We’re now live: https://epostle.net
Highlights of 40th Anniversary Divine Liturgy
Epostle.net launch – afternoon session
Epostle Launch Program
Amerikatsi
Michael Goorjian
Ludovico Einaudi
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for Epostle.net
Subscribe and listen on demand on your favorite pod-catcher!
We’re on Stitcher, Pandora and Apple Podcasts.

Universal Converter

Next Step #744: Queen Elizabeth II, passes and the speed of updates. Personal passing’s: reflections on Sam Boranian and life led in humility. Jesus and accessibility: The Universal Converter and how to “plug” into the power of the Holy Spirit. Metaphors and more on postures.
Queen Elizabeth II, first hour after passing
Sam Boranian obituary
Universal Converter 
Grandpa’s Magical Toys
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for InHisShoes.org and Epostle.net
Listen via Stitcher Radio on demand!
Listen on Apple Podcasts

Forgiveness & Freedom

Next Step #735: Back in 2007, on this day, we established the Day of Forgiveness based on Christ’s principle of forgiving without limit. Here’s another reminder of the dimensions of forgiveness and leading to freedom. A shooting in Chicago is the latest of a string of shootings in a country that is struggling with freedom and the control of that freedom. Here are the links to today’s topics.
July 3, 2022 – Freedom Sermon at 1:12:25
1927 – 4th of July picnic, picture and commentary
Forgiveness conference on 7/7/7 www.7×77.org
7×77 Universal Peace Symbol through Forgiveness
Chicago Killings
Book of Forgiving by Bishop Desmond Tutu
Jethro Tull www.jethrotull.com
Cover: Building the human embodiment of 7, Vasquez Rocks
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for InHisShoes.org and Epostle.net
Listen via Stitcher Radio on demand!
Listen on Apple Podcasts

Children Unheard

Next Step #732: Whether children of war or those who suffer the effects of autism, it’s the Church that is the Body of Christ in this world today. Pope Francis, Little Red Riding Hood and the bad wolf: WW3? Jesus and the problem of unchosenness. Fr. Vazken discusses the challenge of a war that is forgotten and points to a new ministry initiated in the Western Diocese, to families challenged by autism.
Pope Francis says WW3 has been declared 
Divine Liturgy at Pentecost 2022
Armenian Autism Outreach Program
Blessing Armenian Autism Outreach and children at the Cathedral (6/12/22)
Conversations with God
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for InHisShoes.org
Listen via Stitcher Radio on demand!
Listen on Apple Podcasts