Empty Routines and Work!

Readings: Isaiah 1:21-31; Rom 7:25-8:11, Mt. 12:38-45
Ընթերցուածքներ` Եսայ. Ա 21-31; Հռոմ. Է 25- Ը 11; Մատ. ԺԲ 38-45

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

American essayist, historian, and philosopher Henry Thoreau wrote, “It is not enough to be industrious. So are the ants.” This means that for life, it isn’t enough to just work or go through the motions. Get up, get dressed, drink coffee, go to school or work, only to come home, maybe get a workout in, read, watch a movie, etc. go to sleep and do it all again. Or for us Church goers, get up, get dressed, get to Church, maybe sing in the choir, serve on the Altar, give a sermon, go downstairs, have coffee, say hi and then go home. Henry Thoreau’s argument isn’t that we shouldn’t be hardworking or that a routine is bad, but that even animals such as ants, who are tiny in the grandness of all creation, all they do is work, all they have is routine without any real Divine purpose. And so he argues that we as human’s, should be different. How? Through 6 qualities applied to our productiveness:

1. Authenticity – Meaning our work should reveal to us who our true self.
2. Agency – through our free will we should find ways of making a real impact beyond just our life.
3. Self-Worth – whether in the large or small milestones, in our daily tasks we should find value in who we are.
4. Purpose – a defined reason, our why.
5. Belonging – recognizing our worth in not just what we do but with whom we do it, the community we build.
6. Transcendence – recognizing the greater cause, the overarching sacrifices we make that leave us in a deeper state of wholeness.

These 6 qualities can also be applied to our Christian faith: Authenticity – How does our faith in Christ Jesus – reveal to us our true self? This may be ugly and dark but by coming into the light as we read in the Gospel of John, through repentance the real image and likeness, our true self must be revealed. Agency – How does the Holy Spirit guide us to use our free will, our choices, our decisions to positively impact our lives and the world around us? Self-worth – How does the love of God our Father, lift us up and reveal to us our true value, regardless of what those around us say? Purpose – Do we find our purpose in our Christian faith whether we are in Church or elsewhere? Belonging – Do we recognize this community, this Church family as the body of Christ, and that we are an irreplaceable part not for what we can physically do but for our spirit that God has placed in us. And finally Transcendence – do we accept that our faith in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, has a transcending quality? That our festivals, our liturgies, our Bible Studies, our prayers, and coffee hour fellowships serve a higher purpose beyond just this moment, beyond just fundraising.

St. Maximus the Confessor says, “A Christian receives divine wisdom in three ways: by the commandments, teachings, and faith. The commandments free the mind from passions. Teachings lead it to true knowledge of nature. Faith leads to the contemplation of the Holy Trinity.” My dears, when we act out of faith, when we say we are Christian and try to live our life, apply the teachings of God to us, we are first called to begin by emptying ourselves, to clean house. This means when we read in the Scripture’s and apply what we have learned to our daily faith, we being to grow in the knowledge of God; we begin learning how to deny or empty ourselves. To live out the commandments of God both read in the Holy Scriptures and as defined and taught through the Holy Church. This is what it means to be a Christian, right? Yes, but not fully my dears.

In the same way, having a job, going to school and just going through the daily motions is not what it means to be a person, likewise, coming to Church, and doing the “work” of being a Christian without something deeper often leaves us undefined. As an examples look at the warning Christ gives to us when He says, “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order…” (vv. 43-44) When we “do” the commandments of God, when we come to Church, light our candle, volunteer, act charitably, etc., when we read scripture and live our faith, through these we are learning to empty ourselves. We are sweeping, cleaning and being put back in order. However, unless we fill that emptiness, that space, or purpose in our life, then our past demon’s, our past addictions and sins will return. The reality is we all want to be healed, we want faith but at the same time we don’t want to be uncomfortable, we don’t want inconvenience and so many of us don’t want to let go of the sickness that brings us so much pain. This is because we’ve began to identify with those “demons” as part of who we are rather than the love of God, the grace by which our true self and purpose is revealed. Therefore, this leads us to we not know how to fill that emptiness when we do finally come to faith.

So how do we fill it? By having a communion with God – applying those 6 steps to our daily life of faith – understanding the why we follow Christ; recognizing our self-worth in the image and likeness of God by which we are created in; by finding belonging in the body of Christ, the Church and recognizing that singing, serving, or volunteering, throwing out the trash, making coffee is a ministry, a display of God’s love for those around us; and finally by discovering that each of us are serving the higher cause, the building up of the Kingdom of God here on earth. Our emptiness is filled when we recognize that our Christian actions, our work isn’t what saves us, rather, it is what prepares us to be saved, it is our response to the Cross and the empty tomb.

Yet, St. Paul tells us “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Meaning we must be uncomfortable sometimes. If we think we are a good Christian because of standards we have created for ourselves, if it is something that makes us feel good about ourselves, or an act that we do because our parent’s came to Church, so come, or because we believe as Armenian’s we have to come but there is no deeper communion or relationship with God, than our mind is set on the flesh, the external work and not the spirit by why we are a Christian. Then we remain empty! We might be cleaned up, but we remain empty; and as Christ says, by remaining empty, that which we were healed from, our demons, will come back and our lives will be far worse than before. St. Porphyrios teaches us, “when people are empty of Christ, a thousand and one other things come and fill them up: jealousies, hatred, boredom, melancholy, resentment, a worldly outlook and pleasures. Tor to fill your soul with Christ so that it’s not empty.”

St. Ignatius of Antioch says, “I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire his blood, which is love incorruptible” (Letter to the Romans 7:3 [A.D. 110]). My dears, what do we want from our Christian faith, what does it serve? How does our work make us any different than the ants in the ground, how does our Christianity make us any different than all those other religions of the world? It is only when we empty ourselves and have a desire to be filled with God’s real presence. Through prayer, repentance, confession, through reading our Scriptures, asking questions, reading the Fathers, attending Bible Studies, receiving the body and blood of Christ Jesus, Holy Communion, do we begin to not just put our house in order, not just heal but begin filling the wound with the mercy, love and compassion of our Lord.

So that our work will reveal our likeness in our God, so that our life will impact not just us but the world around us, by showing our true worth, by giving us a higher purpose, by building up this community and finding true healing by the grace and love of our Lord. Let us all respond my dears, whether we sing, make coffee, are a priest, a teacher, a parent, a student, regardless of our age and language, or external work. In the grandness of God’s creation, if the ants are ones we can look to and learn from, imagine what the universe can be when it see us, the creatures of God who are created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, let us all in faith respond to the love of God and live a life that brings glory to our Heavenly Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!