A week after Jesus had resurrected, the Apostle Thomas stands out from the group of Disciple by doubting the Resurrection. He is not with the others when Jesus appears and when they try to convince him that they have seen the “Risen Lord” he doubts their word. “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” Thomas is forever more known as “Doubting Thomas” because of this hesitancy to believe and accept what was physically impossible.
My guess is that most of us would be just as skeptical over such news that goes against everything we know through experience. Every person who has been laid to rest has remained in their grave or cremated to ashes. No one, in our experience, as well as in Thomas’ experience for that matter, has ever come back to life. Resurrection begs doubting.
Doubting has a bad name. Many think it is the opposite of faith. Actually, fear is the opposite of faith. Doubt is the beginning of the questioning and reasoning process that leads us to understand, to accept and believe. It is the beginning of the Faith process. From doubt comes question and an opportunity to reason, think, process and come face-to-face with our fear. Having put away our fears, we come to terms with our Faith.
Doubting is a normal part of our thought and learning process. Stifling that progression of ideas leads to misunderstandings about ourselves and the harmony that we should have with life and the world around us.
It is okay to doubt. It is okay to question. It is okay to think/ponder the great miracle of Life. Accept the invitation that Jesus extended to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
From the Book of Hours we pray, Lord our God, my soul is in Your care at all times, and I trust in Your Holy Cross. I have the multitude of saints as my intercessors before you. You are forbearing toward all, do not disregard those who rely on You, but protect them with peace by Your precious and holy Cross. Amen
Cover: Kick off the Cascade, 2019 Fr. Vazken
https://epostle.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Flicking-the-Man-off-the-Cascade.jpg23522448Vazken Movsesianhttps://epostle.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/final_logo_large_for_epostle_web-300x189.pngVazken Movsesian2024-07-24 00:01:312024-07-23 21:12:46Okay to Doubt
It was 20 Years ago today: The untold story of the Armenian Church Youth Ministries Center
Today’s episode: Resurrecting the Presence
The days that followed the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ were days of organization. An event unparalleled in history had taken place and it was necessary to carry on the momentum experienced by the witnesses of that Miracle of miracles. The celebrations we hold today, 2000 years later, minimizes exponentially the magnitude of the actual resurrection event. Bunnies, eggs, Easter bonnets and baskets, are hardly as shocking and awe inspiring as witnessing a person be critically wounded, assaulted, and killed and then finding that person not only alive, but engaging in conversation and in full power, so much so that he is calling the shots for the newly created Church.
In the Gospel we read that Jesus appeared to the Disciples and breathed into them the Holy Spirit giving them authority over sins. (John 20:21-23)
Not only was he alive, but he was organizing and empowering those who witnessed the resurrection. And to those who did not see him, such as the Disciple Thomas, he offered an opportunity to interact. We read in the Gospel of John (20:24-29)
Thomas said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later, Jesus appeared to the disciples and this time Thomas was with them. Jesus said to him, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
And there, Thomas made a complete confession, “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
It’s easy to label Thomas as a doubting personality, but in fact, he is like people around us today, and like most people who have come to Christ over the last 2000 years. We all have our doubts. The Resurrection was not an event described by bunny rabbits and colored eggs. This was an earth shaking, history making reality. Humanity would come to split the calendar by this event into BC and AD.
Like Thomas, all people need is a little confirmation of the events. Thomas wanted a tactile feel of the Risen Lord, instead it was his other senses which gave him the bravery to commit “My Lord and my God.” Read the story; Thomas never touches Jesus, he only confesses Jesus as his Lord and God once he has been touched by the presence of the Living Resurrected Lord.
The Armenian Church, as an Apostolic Church, is the Body of Christ. It must reflect the Resurrected Lord in all that it is. In other words the Body of Christ should jar its people to understand that they are in the presence of the Resurrected Lord.
The Youth Ministries’ Center began during the Holy Easter Season. Mr. Mehrabian had given me the keys to the Center at the beginning of Lent. He quickly instructed his team to renovate the church building to bring it up to code and standards of an Armenian Church. Plumbers, electricians and contractors were moving walls, wires and pipes. I was blessed with a team too, they had the tools to transform on the spiritual side. We had 40 days to present the Resurrected Lord on this corner in Glendale.
My family, always part of the ministry equation, went into action, with Susan sewing beautiful banners draping across the newly converted altar area, showing the loaves and fish, and the holy chalice. My youngest, Christaphor, started “sewing” together crosses out of palm branches. My older two, Varoujan and Sevan, had taken up woodwork as a hobby and were only too anxious to create ornamental fans (kushots) out of a wide array of materials.
We tore out the altar area with its adult pool and replaced it with an area where the Liturgy would be celebrated. Mike Geragos, a designer and architect, built an Armenian style altar. Tamar Khatchadourian (nee Papirian), a faithful member of our Bible Study, scoured streets of downtown looking for items to decorate the church and its altar as closely as we could to an Armenian church. She was quite innovative in her selections, going through Catholic supply stores and mom-and-pop curios shops, finding cloths, candle holders and everything that should belong there. She made it happen.
Day-by-day the old dilapidated building was turning into a church. Very much like Jesus’ body, this building was being resurrected. In the end, we had a church which looked, smelled, sounded and felt like an Armenian Church. The people who came in that week, entered and came in contact with the presence of Christ. No wonder it was special and sacred space. It was from here that the miracles came pouring out.
Join me tomorrow as we continue with the untold stories of the Armenian Church Youth Ministries Center which began “20 years ago today.”
If you missed earlier episodes, you can binge listen on your favorite podcatcher or at Epostle.net under the “Armodoxy for Today” tab. Remember to leave a comment and/or write us at feedback@epostle.net.
https://epostle.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Presence-cover.jpg10131614Vazken Movsesianhttps://epostle.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/final_logo_large_for_epostle_web-300x189.pngVazken Movsesian2023-04-19 00:01:482023-04-18 23:04:3520 years ago: Resurrecting Presence
