Passages: Zech. 2:10-13; 2 Corinth. 6:16-7:1; Lk. 1:39-56
Ընթերցուածքներ՝ Զաք. Բ 10-13; Բ Կորնց. Զ 16- Է 1; Ղուկ. Ա 39-56
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!
Søren Kierkegaard, the 19th century Danish theologian and philosopher, once shared a story with his students about a goose who had become wounded during migration and was forced to land in a muddy barnyard with some chickens. While in the barnyard, he rested in the chicken coop where he recuperated. Overtime, the goose began, eating with the chickens, playing in the yard with the chickens. Eventually the goose began behaving more and more like a chicken. One day, as the winter snow melted, a gaggle of flying geese flew over the chickens’ coop, as they migrated to their home. The geese honked through the sky, and the goose, who was now fully healed, heard a familiar sound and rushed out to look up at the sky. “Something stirred within the heart of the goose. Something called him to the skies.” Kierkegaard said. And as the other geese flew by, he began to flap his wings which he hadn’t used for a long time. Rising a few feet into the air, suddenly the goose stopped and settled back again into the mud of the barnyard. Kierkegaard said, “He heard the cry to come home, but he settled for less.”
My dear brothers and sisters, it is impossible in life not to be hurt, disappointed or lost. This life is feeble, temporal and fragile. It is full of highs and joys, but it is also full of tears and lows. Throughout the Holy Scriptures we read repeatedly that especially for believers in Christ, persecution, hurt and injury are real and possible. And when we are injured and hurt, emotionally, physically, financially, psychologically, we may feel a sense of safety in the proverbial “kitchen coop” of life. These can be family and friends, jobs, education, money, drugs, sex, alcohol, food, exercise, diets, social media; the list goes on. However, in the same way the chicken coop in the story served as a place for temporary refuge for the hurt goose, likewise, those things I listed earlier serve us only temporarily. They have a purpose, as the proverbial chicken coop had a purpose. But we are not confined to that purpose, to only remain in the barnyard. In the same way, geese fly high in the sky over long distances, we as children of God, are called to set our eyes to heaven, to travel through this life not merely as hurt and injured creatures’ but as grand creatures of God’s creation.
That is why so often in theological discourse we read of how we as humans are the crown jewel of God’s creation; we are the only creatures that were created in the image and likeness of God. Some of the Church Father’s even indicate that God created everything else by saying “let it be so” whereas we read that God took mud and formed humanity. This reveals how important humanity is for God, that we are called for something greater than all other creatures. Yet, how we are called to be greater. What do we do with such greatness my dears? St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians asks us, “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” What do we as children of God, as temples, as this great creation in the image and likeness of God have to do with idols? Idols are those temporary things in our life which we create and put above God. The proverbial chicken coops: Those things that we think give us real safety and healing.
Material and passing things which serve a purpose, which God has given us, but which we must never place above God. Those things I listed earlier are not evil and they are blessing given by God for a purpose. Friends and family are a blessing; having a job, career and calling gives us drive, and means to use our talents and build relationships every day. Yet, becoming a workaholic and hurting our families makes it an idol. Money, we use to build a stronger economy, purchase material things that we need, but it is the love of money that is evil, that makes it an idol. Drugs and alcohol, when used properly are created to bring physical healing. But if it takes us to alcoholism or drug abusing, numbing us to the realities of life, they become an idol. Sex and sexuality are a divine union given to us for procreation and intimacy. But when they become perverted and pornographic, they become an idol. Diet and exercise are ways to take care of our bodies needs physically. Yet, if the food we eat makes us into a glutton, or if we think having our bodies look a certain way, whether cosmetically or through exercise than that makes us a better person that others around us, that becomes an idol. Social media is a tool by which we stay connected over long distance and periods of times. Yet, it too can be made into an idol. If any one of these things become more important for us than God, if they become the purpose of our life above serving God, they become an idol for us, then, my dears, and we too fall victim to the lie of the chicken coop. We settle for less, when God has created each and every one calling us home to Him to reveal to us greatness.
What have we chosen to settle for my dear brothers and sisters? The Church, the Holy Scriptures, the Sacraments and in fact all of creation are blessings given to us humans to reveal God’s majesty. However, through creation we enjoy God’s blessings, through the sacraments we desire to be healed by God, through the Holy Scriptures we hear the call to come home (the honking in the sky), and the Church becomes our home, the place we commune with God, the place where true healing happens. This healing is not a temporary bandage or something that can fall away. This healing is Christ Jesus presence in our life, who calls all of us who are hurt, who are injured, a voice that is heard even from the graves. A voice that we read from the Gospel today, filled Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit, when she heard the mother of God greet her, when she came into the room. The voice that calls each and every one of us, calling us home, where we will be with God.
Which is why the Prophet Zechariah writes, “‘Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming, and I will dwell in your midst,’ says the Lord.” Do we sing and rejoice my dears? Do we settle for less than we were created for? It is opportunity my dear brothers and sisters, for us to examine and ask ourselves, are we settling for less or do we answer the call to come home, to be the great that God has created each one of us to be? May the grace of the Holy Spirit, stir our heart, fill us with joy and love, bring healing and revealing to us to answer, did we settle for less or are we ready to come home when we are called by God?
St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church 