Over the Weeks, Months and Years…

Daily Readings: Acts 5:34-6:7; James 3:1-12; John 1:1-17
Ընթերցուածքներ` Գործ. Ե 34- Զ 7; Յակ. Գ 1-12; Յով. Ա 1-17

Christ is Resurrected from the Dead – Blessed Is the Resurrection of Christ
Քրիստոս Յարեաւ ի Մեռելոց – Օրհնեալ է Յարութիւնն Քրիստոսի

In 2007 I remember joining a group of Armenian Church youth from Canada who traveled to Armenia as volunteers. We lived in villages in Armenia while doing volunteer construction work, teaching the local kids, while also going on excursions to see the beauty and history of Armenia. It filled us all with pride and uplifted our spirits, because we felt a much deeper and appreciative connection to our homeland. When we returned home, we all stayed closely connected, we all attended more Armenian cultural and religious events. We appreciated where we were from and wanted to do more. Yet, over the weeks, months and years, this feeling disappeared. Many in the group stopped attending Church and cultural events, almost all of us stopped messaging each other, and life went on. Many years later, while I was a student in Jerusalem, I met a group of Armenian Church youth who from this Diocese came to Jerusalem as pilgrims. I witnessed the raw emotions and internal questions of faith, as the young men and women, walked the path of Jesus, prayed in ancient temples in their Armenian language, saw the history of not just the world but of our own people in the world. And revitalized, everyone returned to their parishes where they began actively attending their Churches, reading their Scriptures, going to Bible Study, wanting to learn more. Yet, over the weeks, months and years, this feeling disappeared. Life got busy, dating, marriage, careers, and so forth took priority and everything else stopped.

Perhaps my dears we have all felt this way at some point. Not just by going to Armenia or Jerusalem, but even in our everyday lives. When we feel connected and revitalized to do better, work harder, go to the gym, eat healthier, study more, and be more prayerful. Yet, over the weeks, months and years, this feeling disappears. Last week, we celebrated Holy Week, the high point and most difficult religious Christian experience of the reality of Christ Jesus’ being betrayed, tortured and killed for our sins. And the week climaxed with Easter Badarak, with the resounding words of Christ Is Risen, where we witnessed our Churches were filled with faithful. We felt good looking in the pews and seeing how the Church was full. And yet, we are now 1 week later, what changed? Today our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters are celebrating Easter, the Resurrection of our Lord, what will change for them next week? Will Church be full? Will we still be energized? What changed? My dear brothers and sisters, nothing has changed and that is the problem.

Our faith must change us, must renew us, and transform us. When we live our faith, it means we need to be changed by it so that what we feel is not merely an emotion but a reality. In the same way when we go to Armenia, when we go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, when we volunteer, when we try to better ourselves; if all we are doing is on the surface, eventually that feeling stops, success fails and we go back to being disconnected. Christ Jesus changed death into life, Christ Jesus changed brokenness and rejection into love and hope. That is what our faith is, a response to be changed, and transformed. Changed in how we behave, how we think, and overall live out our lives. Changes that take place over the smallest things, which is why James in his letter gives the example of the rudder on the boat, or the small flame that engulfs the forest. Small changes in how we live. God isn’t saying we need to become hermits or stop everything else but rather, my dears, God wants us to be with Him in our everyday, by recognizing His love. A love that teaches us every day Christ is born and revealed for us, everyday Christ is Risen from the Dead for us. And every day, Christ walks with us.

Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos says, “For true monks and believers, every week is Holy Week. When you think divine thoughts, you live through these holy events. You are transformed.” In other words, we don’t need a date in the calendar to respond and celebrate God’s love. We need only to humble ourselves, and seek Him daily, come to the light and be renewed. Today in the Armenian Church we call it “new Sunday” or “re-Easter”, because we again having been renewed celebrate God’s presence in our life, as His children. That is why in the Gospel we remember, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” To become, as in to be something they were not, receive something we don’t have; and we are called to become, receive His love and be changed into the children of God. For each of us this path is different, for each of us this process is different, yet for all of us it begins with Christ Jesus. And over the days, weeks, months and years, faith will not disappear but we will be changed.

Come and pray, seek and ask, thirst and drink. Don’t wait for Christmas and Easter, or an arbitrary day in the year to begin walking with God. God loves us every day! Christ calls all of us daily and send the Holy Spirit to show us the way, providing us the means by which we can truly be changed, and transformed. And seeing the wonderous and glorious works of God we will always be revitalized and strengthened in our faith, and we will continue sharing His light with this darkened world. May the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, Amen!