News We Can Use!

Daily Readings: Acts 1:15-26; Mark 16:2-8
Ընթերցուածքներ: Գործք. Ա 15-26; Մարկ. ԺԶ 2-8

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

Քրիստոս յարեա՛ւ ի մեռելոց։ Օրհնեա՛լ է Յարութիւնն Քրիստոսի։
Krisdos haryav ee merelotz! Orhnyal eh harootiunun Krisdosee!
Christ is risen from the dead! Blessed is the resurrection of Christ!

How many of us watch or read the news? Today it has become a lot easier to access the news especially through our smartphones and computers. However, the reality is there is so much information out there, it becomes overwhelming. The U.S. News & World Report and as well as, NY Magazine have a section called “News You Can Use” and while I may not agree with what is written, there is a sense of clarity that this information is somehow useful to my everyday life. As an Armenian Christian living in the United States, I pray for peace in this world, yet, the political disagreements world leaders have around negotiations is not directly going to impact my day to day – it’s not very useful. Having “news I can use” clearly laid out is important because it is digestible and applicable to my everyday life. The same is true about our faith my dears.

There is a lot of information out there in the world about “religion.” There is good and bad information, there is misinformation, in-depth theological and historical information. The issue we face is we don’t know what to do with all this information, what’s right, what do we as Armenian Orthodox actually believe and most importantly, how can we use it in our every day life? When I am hurt, when I am suffering, confused, anxious, and so forth, what do I do? This is especially important because for so many of us, all this information causes us to fall into 3 categories:

• Confusion
• Disillusion
• Glass Half-full

Confusion happens when we begin taking things from all over and begin forming our own “personal” versions of what we call Christianity. “Smorgasbord” Christianity – a little of everything and nothing; where we treat religion like a buffet, taking what we want and what we like. This is what has caused so many different branches of Protestantism to come forward. This is also why so many of us have wrong and even dangerously bad misconceptions about what the Church believes or teaches. Confusion naturally leads to dissatisfaction and more confusion. This is where we become disillusioned with all that information seen as pointless. “I don’t need deep theology, history, etc.,” “As long as I’m a good person.” Finally, we fall into the category of glass half-full mentality. We begin making statements such as, “we ultimately all believe in the same god” or “I’m spiritual, not religious.” Or perhaps we’ve seen the bumper stickers with the different religious symbols that spell out COEXIST. While the notion to live peacefully with our neighbor’s and those who think, believe, or live differently than us is admirable, it is imperative that we learn and know what we actually believe and that we recognize, what we believe is useful to our everyday life.

This is because real Christianity is a full-glass truth which is offered to us to drink from and to be transformed by. Today we proclaim, Christ is Risen! The hymns and theological discourse of this past week reflect that God became human in full in the person of Jesus Christ, but without sin, and through his passion, suffering, crucifixion and resurrection, defeated the power of death and those who believe in this will inherit eternal life. While this is a beautiful expression of God’s love as we read repeatedly in Scripture, for many of us it feels inaccessible sometimes, and hard to understand. This is because my dears, too often the stories we read in the Holy Scriptures or which we hear about in Sunday School remain as stories. However, our faith, the full-glass of our faith which will quench our thirst and leave us satisfied requires a recognition of our active participation in those stories. When we come to Badarak and just stand or sit in the pew, while our mind is on dinner, or the game, or the weather, or our housework, etc. we are not participating, and this all leaves us unsatisfied and bored. It would be the same as going out with friends but being distracted by our phones, or going to the gym and never lifting any weight. Eventually those relationships would die out and our physical presents in the gym will have left no health benefit to us. So, what do we do?

My dears, our active participation in our Christian faith, what we as Orthodox Christian’s call Communion or drinking a full-glass begins by “losing our life” or as St. Clement of Alexandria put’s it “separate our lives from the customary things of this world.” This means placing not artificial trust but real and tangible trust in God’s Word. This can look as simple as starting our everyday with prayer rather than our phones. This can look as sophisticated as calling Der Hayr and asking faith questions, attending Bible Studies and private confessions. This can be practiced daily by reflecting on how we look at one another, how we treat those around us, our environment, our communities, our bodies, our mind, etc. When a beggar comes up and asks for money, how many of us, even if we give, have a thought that they will waste that money on drugs or alcohol? I know I’m guilty of this as well. Yet, my dears how much money do we waste on pointless things? How many pairs of shoes do we have, how many t-shirts, bags, or other clothes are in the back of our closest never to be worn? How much food do we throw away? How quickly do we change our smartphones ever year? How much of our time, and energy do we waste or abuse? And yet, we condemn a person who is asking for help.

My dears, following the word of God is not abstract and obscure, but it can be uncomfortable. It is uncomfortable because we need to reflect on how we live; it is uncomfortable because it means we have a part to play and we must be ready to be changed; it is uncomfortable because it begins by coming to the Tomb, facing our pain, suffering, anxiety, hurt, brokenness, and so forth. It is uncomfortable because we must accept that others may not accept us in the same way they do not accept Christ. But to answer what means to be a Christian, to know how to “use this news”, to look into the empty Tomb and see Christ alive, we must accept that it is not how I am treated by the world that matters, but how I treat the world because this is a direct reflection of how God treats the world. God is love – I must love; God forgives – I must forgive; God shows mercy, guidance and compassion – I must show mercy, guidance and compassion. God rejects sin while loving the sinner – am I able to do the same?

My dears, our faith is a reflection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus whose death and resurrection is an active search for the sinner, the hurt, and fallen. He comes in search of Adam, humanity, and even enters Hades, Hell, for our sake and brings us out of darkness by breaking those chains of damnation. This is a transformational act – death to life, sorrow to joy, hate to love. Therefore, to respond, to participate and truly live and proclaim the Good News which we can use every day proclaiming that Christ is Risen, we must come to the Tomb and be transformed ourselves to be that which Christ is – to bear his image and reflect His likeness. Or else, we too will fall into confusion, disillusion and glass half-full religiosity – leaving us ultimately unsatisfied, hurt and fallen. My dears, the Resurrection of Christ Jesus is news that matters to us every day; news we must use!

I can only imagine how if the news of Christ’s resurrection was heard today, how we would react. Perhaps if the Myrrh Bearing women at the tomb had smartphones they’d text or tweet, “Breaking news! The tomb is EMPTY. An angel just told us Jesus is STILL ALIVE.” Yet, my dears the glorious news of Christ’s resurrection, our faith is not merely something to publish or post pictures about or feel in our heart like an emotion – but it is news to use, to live. The hymns, history, theology, sacraments, canons, writings of the Fathers, are not pointless information to gather. They are the means by which we grow in Communion with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; means by which we actively participate. Through prayer we are given an opportunity to learn and to ask how can I use these tools? how is this news I can use for my benefit and for others? God our Heavenly Father sees us, loves us, calls us to Him. God the Son, did not idly sit back and leave us in the darkness but came into Hell to trample down death by His own death. When we come into Holy Communion with Him, when we respond, the Holy Spirit will reveal to us how we are transformed, how we must live every day in such a way that from all corners of the world we will declare the glorious news of Christ Is Risen! Krisdos Haryav I Merelots! Blessed are we by the Resurrection of Christ!

Now this is News we can use!