Tag Archive for: Pentecost

Assessing Membership (and even more)

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Armodoxy for Today: Assessing Membership (and even more)

Groucho Marx, famously said, “I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.” It takes a moment to absorb the true humor in such a statement. It was something you would expect for Marx, who was a comedian, actor, writer who was famous for his wit, mainly during the first part of the 20th century.

Consider what kind of “club” would have you as a member. Would Jesus be welcome in that organization? This is a good exercise for churches – parishes – to undertake. It can be beneficial in understanding who Jesus is and what he is all about. Even more… understanding who you are and what you are all about.

Think of a member application from a 33 year old male to your church, and now we will read the notes that a member of the admission committee has written: In describing the applicant it says, “Rigid, angry, has authority issues, displays intellectual immaturity, unable to work well with others. Seems a bit too religious. Overly concerned with issues of justice and fairness which can possibly conflict with our donors. Keeps company with people of questionable moral character. Limited knowledge of by-laws. No experience in meeting protocols, banquets, country club outings. Dresses inappropriately.”

How would Jesus be accepted into your church, into your worshipping community? Would his application be stamped ACCEPTED “as-is” or would there be conditions on his acceptance or would it be stamped REJECTED because his ways were not the way of the parish? During Jesus’ time, he was rejected exactly for the reasons stated above (perhaps except the comments about country club outings, but you get the idea). This small exercise is necessary every now and then, and the feast of Pentecost – or the Birthday of the Christian Church – is an appropriate time to check your and your church’s norms and mores against those of Jesus. And what of the congregants? Would those who are poor, lonely or unusual be welcome in your church? Would they consider it home? If not, why not? In an honest assessment, you’ll have to ask what needs to change on our end, because Jesus, is the same yesterday, today and always.

A prayer from the Armenian Church, Bless, Lord, all who work for your Church. Grant that we may so agree in love that envy and jealousy may never mar our labors, but that our sincere and humble service may merit, your blessing. Amen.

Continuum of Life

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Armodoxy for Today: Continuum of Life

Life progresses along a continuum, with a defined starting point and an inevitable conclusion. On the day Jesus ascended to Heaven, the Disciples asked him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”  And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1)

As people, we are temporal creatures. We define our life years, we define years by months, and months by days. We seek order out of chaos. And the uncertainty of life’s end can be mind boggling and time consuming, if the purpose of life is misunderstood. Here Jesus, under no uncertain terms, directs the Apostles to focus on their mission.

The Apostolic Church has purpose and mission, and which is not to be consumed with end-times. God demonstrates that He has a timetable and only asks that we trust Him.  Three days after the Crucifixion, the Resurrection took place. Forty days later, the Ascension, and just a few days ago, fifty days after Easter, it was the Pentecost. His timing is perfect.

So as we are taught by our Lord, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  (Matthew 6)

The Church, which is born on Pentecost with the Reception of the Holy Spirit, is the dwelling place of God. With that in mind, I leave you today with words upon which to meditate. They come from great theologian and early saint of the Church St. John Chrysosdom – Hovhaness Voskeberan (John the Golden Mouth), who says, “If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door you will not find him [inside] in the Chalice”. 

Pentecost: Technology and Language

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Fifty days exactly after Easter the Christian world celebrates Pentecost, or what we in the Armenian Church refer to as hogegaloust, which literally means, “the Coming of the Spirit. As the Book of Acts records, it was this day that, with the reception of the Holy Spirit, the Disciples of Jesus received the gifts by which they became, Apostles – Arakyal – the ones who were sent. In more conventional terms – it’s the Birthday of the Christian Church. The Sacred Body of Christ, which Jesus set up to preach the gospel to the poor; to heal the brokenhearted,  proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those who are oppressed…” (Luke 4)

One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is that of communications – to be able to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, to share the Gospel message with the world. As the earliest and most ancient of Tradition we are thankful to be able to accomplish this by the use of the latest language, that is technology. Today, on Pentecost, we celebrate our ability to engage in Apostolic evangelism in an electronic world. Our audience is expanding daily. We thank you for listening to our podcasts and broadcast, and sharing these messages with your family and friends. You’re plugging into new productions of podcasts, video lessons, daily messages, multiverse virtual presentations, virtual tours and much more, which are all spreading the message of peace and harmony through love as expressed and exemplified by Jesus Christ.

We take this opportunity to thank Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, the Diocesan Primate of the Western Diocese for his steadfast encouragement of this venture. In his words, Epostle is the future of the Church, available today! We will always strive to engage with new and innovative means by which to share the Gospel of love and hope. We thank you for taking this journey with us. May the blessings of the Holy Spirit be with you all, along with that of the Father and Son, now and always. Amen.

 

 

Pentecost: Lesson of Life

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Armodoxy for Today: From History to Sermon

The sermon begins “Today is Pentecost” followed by a story from the pages of the Book of Acts. We hear the story of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples, turning them into the evangelists for Christ’s Holy Church. What’s our take-away from this sermon? There was an event, on the 50th day after the Resurrection – pente, 50 – and with the reception of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles embarked on their sacred mission to evangelize the world.

This is what’s known as a history lesson in the guise of a sermon. The purpose of a sermon, unlike a history lesson, is to preach a lesson to the listener, a lesson which applies to their lives today. It was for this reason that Jesus promised the Disciples to send the Holy Spirit, so that they would not merely present Jesus as a figure of history, but as the Living God that affects and interacts with His children in their lives today, as He did 2000 years ago. Pentecost is the event that invites us to the holiness of the Church. It is in His Sacred Church, where that message is revealed.

When Jesus began his ministry, he invited the Disciple to “Come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) At the end of his ministry on Earth he said to them, “Go and make disciple of all…” (Matthew 28:16-20) “Come” says Jesus to learn as my Disciples, “Go” says Christ to teach as my Apostles.

A simple but powerful prayer by St. Nersess Shnorhali reminds that the Holy Spirit has touched the Disciples and purified us by working and acting within us all. Today is a day to be receptive to the joy that fills our lives with godliness.

Spirit of God, true God, who descended on the river Jordan, and into the Upper Room; who enlightened me by the baptism of the Holy Font, I have sinned against heaven and before you. Purify me again with your divine fire, as the fiery tongues purified the Holy Apostles.
Have mercy upon your creatures, and on me, a sinner. Amen.

Conduit

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Armodoxy for Today: Conduit

Every effect needs a conduit to carry its cause. Jesus brought a message of hope, love and peace. His message was and is that the Kingdom of God is accessible to all. He established the Church to share this message here on Earth. In essence, the Church is the medium by which Jesus reaches us. Through an oral tradition, the Scriptures took form. Languages were created and codified to transmit the message. Icons, paintings and stained glass allowed for visualization in artistic imagery that stimulated imagination. Music, hymns gave a beat and melody to the message. Churches with spires reaching the heavens were erected so that the hands and legs of Christ could reach the poor and the hurting, through hospitals, orphanages and homes. In essence, the Church is the conduit by which Jesus reaches us.

As we approach the feast of Pentecost this coming Sunday, the lessons from Scripture point to the importance of the Church in defining Christianity. The stories of the early Church are recorded in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. Here we see how a small band of diverse people, who the system considered appalling, and even escalating them to enemy status, and whose leaders were sentenced to death, became the ones who carried and delivered the most influential and important message of all human history.

And it all begins with the “Great Commission” at Jesus’ Ascension: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20)

When we refer to the Apostolic Church, we are talking about the Church that links itself to this event and becomes the conduit to deliver the goods. Each of those eleven (and later 12 with the addition of Mathias) went to different areas in the world. Peter went to Rome, Thomas to India, Matthew to Ethiopia, Jude Thaddeus to Armenia, just to mention four of them. Each to carry out the commission. They ended up in areas that were hostile to their message and them, as we know all of them were martyred, except for John who ended up exiled on an Island.

And by the Power of the Holy Spirit, ordination, that is, the laying on of hands, this conduit continues to today, in the deacons, priest, and bishops, entrusted to keep the lines clear to ensure delivery. Yes, you are connected.

A prayer from the Orthodox Tradition to the Holy Spirit, Heavenly King, Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, everywhere present and filling all things, Treasury of blessings and Giver of life: come and abide in us, cleanse us from every impurity and save our souls, O Good One. Amen.

Heaven Within and Without

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Armodoxy for Today: Heaven all Around

In our last Armodoxy message I mentioned that the Ascension, as described in the Acts of the Apostles, drew the Disciples’ attention upward as they watched Jesus ascend to heaven. Of course, words such as Ascension, ascending, and their derivative, are defined as spatially upward.

But as Jesus teaches, heaven is not merely found up, it is also around, within and without. St. Luke writes, “When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ’See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

The “Great Commission” as it is called, is the direction Jesus gives to his Apostles just before he ascends to heaven. St. Matthew records the event, remembering that only eleven of the original twelve disciples (less Judas) made up the disciple’s group. We read:

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20)

Jesus commissions the eleven to continue his sacred work. When we understand Heaven all around us, we appreciate that the Holy Church which Jesus establishes, is reflective of Heaven. We start understanding that the Christian message is projected to the world, to all nations. There is no exception. There is no “favored nation status” for any one or any country. It is a command that his message is universal, and God is of the universe.

When we look up or upward to find Heaven, we miss the Heaven that is around us. We fail to see God’s presence in the flowering petals of a rose, in the miracle of life that is defined by the majestic animals of land and sea, or in the look of hope in the eyes of the child sitting on our lap. We forget that the people we live with and inhabit this planet with, are all created in that same image and carry the God-seed. “Our Father” means we are all brothers and sisters and the natural direction for our attention is to seek peace with one another.

Heaven is peace on earth and good will toward one another.

We pray, Our Father, who is in heaven, open my heart to Your Love, so that I may find You in the people I meet and the relationships I build. Keep me away from selfish desires, so that I may see Your presence all around me, in the Heaven that is within and without me. Amen.

Cover Photo: KTN, 2022

Language to Communicate

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Armodoxy for Today: Language to Communicate

At the Pentecost the Holy Spirit bestowed gifts upon the Apostles, the necessary tools with which to do their missionary work. In Armenian, the feast of Pentecost is called hokegalust, which means “Coming of the Spirit.” In the Book of Acts (2), the event is recorded, “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 thoughts and communicate those thoughts to others. In the most intimate of positions and circumstances, the human being has the opportunity to communicate at all levels with thoughts, speech, glances 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 a select few. 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.

Language is the perfect vehicle for this group of people, the Apostles. They communicated the message that was given to them through Christ: Peace on Earth, good will toward one another.

We conclude today with a reading from Acts chapter 2, regarding the first Christian community after Pentecost:

Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 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, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

Holy Spirit Then and Now

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Armodoxy for Today: Holy Spirit then and now

Something happened this year on the feast of Pentecost that connected us the event 2000 years ago when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles. Sticking to our charter of bringing apostolic evangelism to an electronic universe, Epostle.net facilitated a conversation with a gentleman named Malkon who lives in Jerusalem. Malkon is an Armenian Palestinian who lives by the Christian credo of not resisting evil and praying for the enemy. His family has been exiled several times from their homes and land throughout the decades. He finds himself in a country filled with animosity toward him and his people.

We connected with him because of our background as Armenians who attest to the Christian faith as expressed and demonstrated by Jesus Christ. Having experienced Genocide in 1915, and then having lived through the totalitarian communist regime for 70 years, while it spewed its atheistic propaganda, we found independence in a world that ignored us. In 2020 and 2023, we were forced out of our historic homelands, in a broader scheme that targeted the existential destruction of a nation. The world looked on in the pose of the three monkeys blocking their eyes, ears, and mouth: “See no evil,” “Hear no evil,” and “Speak no evil.” We had to meet with Malkon, because even more than exonerating ourselves from the evil of apathy and being accused of monkey-see/monkey-do, we had to connect with a person for whom the tenants of Christianity were part of his daily ritual of overcoming evil with love!

At Epostle.net, every day we preach a message of Christianity from our ancient roots as the first Christian nation. What we call Armodoxy is the application of that ancient Christianity in the world today. Often it gets assigned to a category of idealism and its application is assumed to be impossible, and therefore, not even tried. Malkon presents a model we need to identify with. He moves from theoretical Christianity to the practical side of faith, and it works! Here we witnessed the expressions of a man who lives in and with war, facing every day an enemy that is consumed with killing him and erasing the existence of his people off the pages of history.

We were encouraged by the number of people who attended this event virtually as well as on our new Metaverse platform. In the weeks to come we will be releasing excerpts from the discussions that manifested at the event. For today, we announce it with the excitement that must have surrounded the Apostles who were touched by the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The Risen Lord is speaking in what the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, has brought to us this day.

We end with the words of our Lord, who spoke then, and speaks now:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)

Pentecost: Beyond History

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Armodoxy for Today: From History to Sermon

The sermon begins “Today is Pentecost” followed by a story from the pages of the Book of Acts. We hear the story of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples, turning them into the evangelists for Christ’s Holy Church. What’s our take-away from this sermon? There was an event, on the 50th day after the Resurrection – pente, 50 – and with the reception of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles embarked on their sacred mission to evangelize the world.

This is what’s known as a history lesson in the guise of a sermon. The purpose of a sermon, unlike a history lesson, is to preach a lesson to the listener, a lesson which applies to their lives today. It was for this reason that Jesus promised the Disciples to send the Holy Spirit, so that they would not merely present Jesus as a figure of history, but as the Living God that affects and interacts with His children in their lives today, as He did 2000 years ago. Pentecost is the event that invites us to the holiness of the Church. It is in His Sacred Church, where that message is revealed.

When Jesus began his ministry, he invited the Disciple to “Come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) At the end of his ministry on Earth he said to them, “Go and make disciple of all…” (Matthew 28:16-20) “Come” says Jesus to learn as my Disciples, “Go” says Christ to teach as my Apostles.

A simple but powerful prayer by St. Nersess Shnorhali reminds that the Holy Spirit has touched the Disciples and purified us by working and acting within us all. Today is a day to be receptive to the joy that fills our lives with godliness.

Spirit of God, true God, who descended on the river Jordan, and into the Upper Room; who enlightened me by the baptism of the Holy Font, I have sinned against heaven and before you. Purify me again with your divine fire, as the fiery tongues purified the Holy Apostles.
Have mercy upon your creatures, and on me, a sinner. Amen.

Pentecost: Non Denominationalism Up Close

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Pentecost, Non Denominational, Bible & Church

As a kid I remember a commercial on television featuring a nice looking building. A voice asks, “Nice building, huh?” Then the camera zooms in to reveal cracks and chips that were painted over, and without skipping a beat the voice would divulge the truth, “…until you look up closely!” The body of the voice would then come on screen to plug some kind of texture coating that hid the scars of the building.

Usually things look nice from a distance, but upon a closer look the cracks start showing. The same holds true for religion. We will confine our discussion today to the Christian religion. One of the popular designations of Christianity that needs to receive a closer look is the term “non-denomination.” It is fairly popular these days because it is presented as a free-spirited version of Christianity. “Generally, non-denominational churches believe that the Bible is the sole authority that dictates every aspect of the church, with scripture shaping their beliefs and philosophies.” (source: christianministryedu.org)

Now, before taking a closer look, let’s remember the course we have travelled to get to this point. We went through a period of preparation called Lent. We celebrated the Resurrection, and then continued with the formation of the first Christian communities. Currently we are in that period between Ascension (40 days after Easter) and the Pentecost (50 days after Easter).

There is a reason the Church asks you to take this journey. When Jesus was crucified, there was no Bible. When he resurrected, there was no Bible. When he ascended, there was no Bible. In fact, there was no formal Bible for a few hundred years! However, at all those same events – crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and on into the formation of the communities –there was the Church!

Those who claim to be non-denominational say that they accept the Bible as the sole authority in matters of their faith. By their own admission, they have excluded themselves from major events of Christian history and development. History shows that everything we know about Jesus Christ has arrived to us because of His Holy Church.

God’s greatest gift to humanity was not the Bible. Much more important than the Bible is Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God the Father. Jesus’ gift to humanity was not the Bible, rather it was his holy and precious Body, namely the Church. And it was the Church that compiled the books together to give us what we refer to as the Bible.

The Armenian word for the Bible is Asdvadzashunch, which literally means the Breath of God. The Armenian Church refers to it as the “breath” because it guides us as spirit, not as a book of laws and regulations, along the path of Truth, Hope and Love.

The appeal of non-denominationalism is understandable in our world today, where everyone is given a platform to interpret. Often those interpretations create a derivative of Christ’s holy and sacred message. In other words, within the non-denominational category, you can have several hundred or thousand derivatives of the faith, which means, there is no such thing as non-denominational. Everyone’s reading creates a new denomination.  This is why when we speak of the Armenian Apostolic Church, we are grounding ourselves in a Tradition that dates back to the time of Jesus Christ himself, that is, before there was a Bible.

At this feast of Pentecost – the Coming of the Holy Spirit and therefore the birthday of the Church – it is important to understand that the Armenian Church is not a Bible-centered community of believers; we are Christ centered.  We make this proclamation unapologetically. Non-denominationalism is very nice looking, and appealing, but when you look up closely you notice the chips and the holes. Jesus set up his Church and it is guided by the Holy Spirit. In his unfailing words Jesus says, “The gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church!” (Matthew 16:18)

We conclude with a prayer from the Holy Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church: We thank you, Father almighty, who did prepare for us the holy Church as a haven, a temple of holiness, where the name of the holy Trinity is glorified. Alleluia. We thank you, Spirit of Truth, who renewed the holy Church. Keep her without blemish through the faith in the Trinity forevermore. Amen.

Want something more? Try: Pentecost: Language after Asphyxiation

Cover Photo: Luna & Gregory Beylerian, 2023