Author: stgregorychicago

Passages: Is. 49:13-23; Gal. 6:14-18; John 3:13-21
Ընթերցուածքներ՝ Եսայ. ԽԹ 13-23; Գաղ. Զ 15-18; Յով. Գ 13-21

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

A Christian missionary one day visited China where he was teaching and preaching the Word of God. Christianity is persecuted in China and so his work was illegal. Regardless, almost 20-30 student had gathered privately to learn. The preacher asked a question, “what will happen if the government catches us?” The students answered, you’ll get deported, and we’ll go to prison. And so as the lesson began, the missionary and his group handed out Bibles but they were shy by a few and so some people had to share. The preacher said, let us turn to Galatians 6. And as the students opened their Bibles to the page, he noticed one of the women giving her Bible to someone who didn’t have one. After the lesson ended, he asked the woman, why didn’t you read along. She said, I didn’t need to. While I was in prison, I memorized the entire book. Surprised the preacher asked, how? Aren’t Bible’s illegal to have in prison?  Yes, she answered, that is why we bring them in on small papers and memorize them quickly. Amazed at the devotion the preacher was lost for words. At the end of the 3 days lesson, as the missionaries were preparing to go home, they asked the students what would you like us to pray for as we go back to America? The students answered, “that we can be like you.” The preacher stopped for a moment and said, no! You see in the United States we have are free to pray and worship, learn and grow but we don’t. The students rode a cramped train 13 hours, secretly to come and pray; in the US, if we have to drive more than 30 minutes we won’t go. You sat on a wooden floor for three days, in the US if service is longer than 40 minutes, we won’t go or complain the entire time. Not only did you sit here for 3 days on the floor, you did so with no A/C, very little food, and with the risk of going to prison; in the US, if the pews are soft, the a/c or heater is not working, the coffee made and table set up for fellowship, we won’t go. In the US, there are an average of 2 Bibles per family, which we barely read; yet, you have almost no Bibles and yet, you memorize, you internalize the Word of God from pieces of paper. Why would you ever want to be like us?

My dear brothers and sisters, it is true that we here in the United States enjoy the liberties of freedom. We are free to worship, free to learn, free to profit and grow. Yet, in that freedom we have somehow grown cold and distant from the value that is our Christian faith. We have begun to view our faith in God as Christian’s merely as just another personal belief, just another viewpoint or even just another inconvenience. Even for us who come to Church, sometimes we merely go through actions without every allowing God to truly enter into our hearts. Or especially as Armenian Christian’s we come to Church on Sunday, or for weddings, baptisms and funerals because it’s the cultural thing to do. However, to be a Christian, to be a follower of Christ is countercultural. Our world today tells us to choose convenience, comfort, the lazy boy or memory foam; to numb ourselves through medication, alcohol, technology or countless other means. Being comfortable, enjoying a memory foam pillow or taking medication, having a drink or using technology are not evil or sinful. Yet, when they replace the message of the Gospel they become a god for us.

What does it mean? It means making all other things a priority above God. Giving more importance to football states and newspaper headlines than the Word of God. We can talk about sports for hours, politics for days and so much more. Of course, these are not bad things I love football, politics and history yet, what does the Gospel teach us? What is the basic belief of our faith? Have we ever thought about this? If we entered the elevator and someone asked us what we believe, what would our elevator, quick answer be to what it is that we believe about our Armenian Christian faith, how would we answer? This is very important to know my dears because when we are unprepared, when we have become numb to our faith, or don’t know we are vulnerable, to the attacks of the enemy, of the demon’s and of Satan. Not through scary images of pitched fork goblins but of the comfort and laziness of life. When we deny God not by saying we don’t believe but by replacing Him, replacing the Gospel with what makes us comfortable.

St. Paul says, in 1 Corinthians, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” The message of the Cross, the Holy Gospel is foolishness, it doesn’t make sense, it is inconvenient and stupid and it clashes with what the world tells us today. Yet, if we are truly Christian’s, true believers of God, who came down from Heaven in the Person of Christ Jesus, then the Cross is the thing we choose to follow. Not when it is convenient, not when it’s sunny, or the service is livestreamed, not when it’s Christmas or Easter, but always. Because it is in through the Cross upon which Christ spilled his blood for us, that we are freed from sin.The Cross which was a tool of death, of humiliation, of suffering for us now as children of God is the symbol of victory. It is the power of God that we must seek out by coming to Church not just physically but with our hearts and minds hungry to learn; opening up our scriptures and reading the Gospel, the Word of God daily; by praying and coming to confession, receiving Holy Communion and making our faith the foundation of our life. So that when we suffer, when we fail, when we face persecution and are on the Cross, even if we have no Bible available to us, even if the Church is not physically near, or the priest is not available, we will not lose faith, we will know the power of God.

Yes, we are blessed to live in a country where we are free to worship, to pray, to grow. Where we are not actively persecuted, jailed or even killed for our faith. Let us pray that in that freedom we freely choose to learn and know God, to love God as He loves us. To turn to God for all, not just for when we need. Let us pray that when we Cross ourselves, wear a cross around our neck, tattoo the cross on our arms, place a cross in our home, or see one on a Church, that those crosses become a reminder of God’s love and power, victory over all pain and suffering. Because “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” Do we know that love my dears, do we freely choose that love, do we know what that love means? May the Holy Cross of Christ reveal to us His love today and everyday, glory to God, Amen!

Passages: Is. 13:2-11; 2 Corinthians 7:4-16; Mark 7:31-37
Ընթերցուածքներ՝ Եսայ. ԺԳ 2-11; Բ Կորնց Է 4-16; Մարկ. Է 31-37 

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

When a child is growing up and slowly being exposed to the world around them, they begin to develop likes and dislikes, including flavors, style and their own personality. Who they will grow up to be is influenced by what they see and hear through the good and bad examples of their lives. One of the last acts or senses to develop in a child is speech; the ability to talk and express themselves. Not just when but even the kind of speech a child begins to use develops from what they have observed and heard. If a child lives in a foreign home, they may develop an accent; or if they live in a home full of cursing and vulgar language, they will develop a vulgar vocabulary. And once a certain vocabulary, habit, attitude, taste, and personality has been established in a child, it is very difficult to break. Yet, a devoted parent works and strives to bring that child to maturity in their speech and behavior by teaching them, by listening and instructing the child, no matter how stubborn the child may be. Of course, we all know this, that unless the child learns to listen and understand they will never actually want to change and so it will always be an uphill battle.

My dears, when we pray to God we are hoping He will listen. We sit in our cars, or at our workplace, in school before an exam, alone at home, or in Church, or wherever we may be, and if we have any belief, we pray. And there are a multitude of things we all pray for; opening up our hearts, we ask for forgiveness, healing, strength, patience, hope, love, courage, wealth, or health. We pray for rain, we pray for sun. We pray for many-many things hoping that God will hear us and give us what we are asking for. Yet, the Church Father’s ask an interesting question, when we pray to God and hope He is listening, do we listen to our own prayers? What does this mean? In the Gospel of Mark today, we read of how “they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they wanted him to lay his hand upon him.” In other words, they came seeking healing. In other translations it says deaf and dumb. This might seem offensive to a modern audience today, to refer to someone who is mute or has difficulty speaking as dumb, but in the ancient world and even at its root a “dumb” person did not mean “stupid” or “uneducated” but rather, one who cannot speak. Interestingly even in Armenian, what do we call animals? Anasoon, which today may seem like insult, just like the word dumb, but at its root it means those that don’t speak. So they bring to Christ this man who is deaf and unable to speak for healing. They bring a man who either from birth or over his life had lost his ability to hear and who was unable to speak. Whether this meant he grunted, or made noises, or perhaps was just not able to express himself we don’t know. Scripture indicates a speech impediment not complete silence. We do know however, that once Christ healed him, he was able to speak plainly, meaning in a way that others could understand him. Yet, I want us to look at how he was healed. “And taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, “Eph′phatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.” What stands out? Look at the order of events especially in that last sentence. “…his ears were opened, his tongue was released…”

When we pray to God, we come with requests and desires, and we look for words to be able to articulate and express what we want. Much like a child who has only just began to learn how to express themselves, in prayer sometimes we aren’t sure how to speak to God, or if God even understands or hears us. Perhaps we feel like a person with a speech impediment, we make noises but are not sure if we are understood. Yet, our entire Christian faith is not about us petitioning or telling God what we want. Our faith is about maturing, learning, and growing. It is about being healed of our sinfulness, our brokenness, our vulgarity, our perversions, our shortcomings, etc. To be a Christian is not defined in our ability to give a sermon, sing or chant in Church, recite prayers, or even talk clear sentences.  Those are the things that should be a natural reflection of an already healed and growing faith. Rather, Christ first must heal us, open our ears and our eyes to observe and learn so that when we pray not only do we hope that God hears our prayers, but we also listen and understand ourselves of how God speaks back to us.

Why? So we can speak plainly, meaning we can speak our faith, live and express our faith in a way others can understand. Sadly, especially in today’s society, we have chosen to become deaf and dumb once again. Much like a child who does not want to learn, we do not want to listen to God. We want to hold on to our own premonitions, thoughts, ideas, views, and concepts. We don’t listen to each other, we don’t see each other, and we act as if everyone else is dumb and unable to speak while we know better. We want the Church to change, we want our parents to change, our community to change, our government to change, our world to change, yet, we refuse to listen to God who first calls us to be changed and healed, and therefore, we become the change we want to see. For our own ears to be opened first, then for us to be able to speak plainly, speak with love, speak with hope, speak not just with words but with our very lives. In the same way, the best sermon is the life we live not the words that come from the pulpit, likewise, the greatest prayer is the faith poured out not with the words we say to God as if he was the mall Santa Claus. But rather, the life of faith lived which others will see and understand.

My dear brothers and sister, in Proverbs 4 we read, “be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.” Learn to listen first. Grow and learn what God is teaching us through the Holy Scriptures, through the Traditions and life in the Church. These are the tools by which God speaks to us and heals us saying “Be opened” – Be healed my child. Then live a life of faith, of maturity, of hope, love and courage; a life of compassion, mercy and joy standing firm in the knowledge that yes, God our Heavenly Father does hear our prayers, and through the Holy Spirit lifts us up, answers us, if only we would first choose to listen. Come to God, seek to be opened and grow. Take time to ask, develop a vocabulary of love and hope in Christ Jesus. Only then may we use what God has given us to lift others up, hear the prayers of others, listen to the commandments of our Lord who heals and transforms us each day we come to Him. And may we bring glory through the life we live, to God our Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever, Amen!