Simply Made Great

Lectionary: Is. 54:1-13; 1 Tim. 1:1-11; Jn. 2:1-11
Ընթերցուածքներ’ Եսայ. ԾԴ 1-13; Ա Տիմ. Ա 1-11; Յով. Բ 1-11

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!

It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.
She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.
And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.
But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.
Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.
The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.
-Khalil Gibran

My dear brothers and sisters, each one of us has a desire to want something more. A student wants to be successful in their studies and tests. An athlete in the sport they are practicing. A parent in raising healthy and smart children. A husband or wife in being a loving companion, partner to their spouse. Someone who is sick wants to be healthy. Someone who is hungry want to eat. A person who does not have work, desires a job or purpose. We want to be successful and reach our end goal. This is true in our everyday life and as well as our faith. In the hymns of the Church for example, we often beautifully illustrate this goal as the safe harbor. This image of having crossed the dangerous sea and reaching the safe harbor, the place of refuge. And when we do finally succeed, whatever it might be, in hindsight we look back at what it took for us to reach our desired destination. Even in our proverbs we teach that the destination is not as important as the journey because the journey is where we learn, and where we grow. And so, we look back and reflect on the hills we have climbed, the challenges we overcame and we are proud of where we are vs. where we began.

Yet, I wonder if there are some goals, desires and destinations that we are fearful of. I wonder how many of us delay our journey and make it longer. If we are honest with ourselves, as the poem of Khalil Gibran illustrates, are we afraid to become part of the ocean? A few days ago, I was having a conversation with a group of friends and someone recommended I read a book called, “A Reason for God.” I mentioned I had read this book and that I own a copy. One of the gentlemen, who has confessed in the past they don’t believe in God, was sitting with us and in passing asked about the book and I thought he was intrigued, and so I offered that if he would like, I can lend my copy to him. His response was, “no thanks Father, I’m comfortable with what I believe about God, I don’t need anything more.”

All of us here in this Church, among our many desires also desire to grow our faith in God. Much of society, whether they are believers or not, is in search of God. How they define God is a different matter but the desire and want is there. Yet, so many of us are afraid. We are comfortable with what we know or believe and if there is more, we often don’t want it. We think that ignorance is bliss, because knowledge and growth demand a response. In our everyday life, the more we know the more is asked of us. Yet, ignorance is dangerous, and this is especially true of our faith as Christians. St. John Chrysostom teaches us that “There is nothing colder than a Christian who does not seek to save others.” That is very dangerous because in what St. John is teaching us is that if we truly confess to believe in God, then that confession is not a momentary belief but a constant path forward. That forward path of faith in Christ is not practiced in a Church for a few hours, once a week. Faith is the knowledge and wisdom which we receive to practice and live everyday. Faith in God my dears, is us looking back at our life and recognizing that when we are in communion with God, we are sent forth into the vastness of the ocean, into the world. And this scares us my dears. We are afraid, we are anxious and unsure.

Yet, Christ reminds us not to be afraid not because we are all powerful or all-knowing but because He is. In the Gospel, when wine ran out at the wedding, St. Mary didn’t tell others “look what Jesus is going to say or do”, she said do what He says. And in the same Gospel, we read of how simple water was turned into the best wine. Likewise, my dears God transforms us into the best, He takes us as simple, broken and unsure as we are, and transforms us, when we do what He, God commands us. That transformation pushes us forward, not backwards; gives us courage and strength to continue to grow and live. That transformation invites others my dears to continue their search and journey. Everything we do in the Church my dears, ultimately has this goal: how can we know God and come into Communion with Him so that we are continually transformed – from glory to glory as St. Paul writes. It is easy to become overwhelmed when facing the ocean, yet, God guides us to our safe harbor. God’s love does not abandon us to the uncertainty, to the storms, to the depths of the unknown. God does not abandon even the greatest sinner, but by having taken on flesh and bone, dying on the Cross, and entering the tomb, Christ Jesus enters our journey and says I am with you. If you are with me, you will also be resurrected.

Is it scary? Absolutely. But as the poem says, when the river enters the ocean, “that’s where the river will know, it’s not about disappearing into the ocean, but of becoming the ocean.” When we come to God and respond to His love, when we repent, turn to Him and grow in wisdom, compassion and mercy, and when we live faith out in the world, we recognize, it’s not about being “a good Christian” or who we think we should be, but it is about us being transformed into who God created us to be.

Let us put our fears and anxieties upon the Lord. Let us pray and ask for wisdom and strength to know Him and what His Will is for our life. If the weather is cold outside this winter, there is nothing colder than a Christian who does not share the warm of God’s love. Whether we are a student, teacher, parent, spouse, child, adult, sick or healthy, rich or poor, fully Armenian or not, regardless of what we want and desire to reach in this life, when we are with God, when we trust Him, He will transform us and through us, by the love and grace of the Holy Spirit, He will transform this world into the best. Glory to God always, glory to God, in this life always we glorify God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!