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| Unashamedly Armenian; Unapologetically Christian |
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One of the Armenian newspapers this week featured a spread of the candidates who are running for the presidency of Armenia. Their bios and personal statements read well, unless, of course, like me, you're a reader from the here in America.
In the US, we're in the middle of a very early and heated primary season. And religion is very much a part of the national discussion. I'm not talking about the obvious contenders like Romney - a Mormon and Huckabee - a Protestant Minister, but the national debate is looking at the role of religion in the lives of the candidates, as if it were the gauge of their ability to govern and lead the country.
And certainly, the Christian Right has done a successful job of bringing to forum issues which teeter on the wall of fanatic religiosity. But the fact that this conversation is not present in the Armenia elections is not the point of this blog. Rather, I wish to bring to our own discussion , of Armenian Orthodoxy, the idea that religion cannot be apart from the reality of all things touched by our existence.
We just came out of the Vartanantz holidays and were once again subjected to the self-serving rhetoric. I sat through a “Vartanantz Program” this year which was exactly – speeches, songs, poems – as what I sat through 45 years ago, sitting with my mom in the stuffy church hall at St. James. (And probably protested about the show back then too.) Vartanantz is the ultimate nation/religion binder. We go to great lengths to make sure that national identity is intertwined with Christian faith. We have some cute mottoes too: “For Jesus and the Fatherland!” “The Armenian Church is a national church!” “We have a dual purpose as an Armenian Church: Preserve the heritage and preserve the religion.” (Yes, the word we use is “preserve” not “live.”)
In tying the faith and nation together, we’ve lost track of the power of the faith in the lives of a people. In fact, if you listen to the rhetoric expounded by “Armenian leadership” (including Church leadership) you can substitute any religion you want into the sentences. They would never admit, but listen carefully, there’s nothing that ties the word “religion” to Christianity apart from the titles they use and invoke.
In contrast, what we focus on as the foundation to Armenian Orthodoxy is the confession that the Armenian Church is the Church of Jesus Christ. It is not a national church in the sense that it has a purpose of preserving the nation. It proclaims and promotes the Gospel as proclaimed 2000 years ago by God Incarnate, Jesus Christ, and as passed along to us by a Church that was delivered to us through the Holy Apostles.
Now, that being said… if you hear and receive the Gospel, if you understand the Love imperative, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked and console the bereaved… it is IMPOSSIBLE to NOT help Armenia and the Armenian people. Yes, we remained Armenian because of the power that was in the Gospel message as proclaimed to us by the Church. But beyond remaining, there is a moral imperative to go and do likewise, in other words, take the Gospel out to others.
Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the Democratic candidates for President of the United States have Christian roots in Illinois. NPR recently did a program on these roots. Take a listen to what is being discussed:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18619707
Prof. Dwight Hopkins, Chicago Divinity School & Member of Trinity Church in Illinois, described the church - Trinity - where Barack matured and developed ideas of social justice: "African American community has to take responsibility for what’s happening in their own community in order to engage in the larger conversation of the nation, if not the world. And one does this by looking at how to apply justice issues in the Bible to everyday living in the United States. (Interviewer: “Unashamedly Black, unapologetically Christian?”) … Yes.”
Sound familiar? This is where we come in with "In His Shoes" philosophy - with the responsibility for our lives and the responsibility we feel for others by virtue of our faith. It is the call that we've heard - a call from the Gospel, at the time of Vartanantz, and now to us today. That's why our church ministry is the Armenian Church today. Its the reason why we have the audacity to call it Armenian Orthodoxy.
We're unashamedly Armenian, unapologetically Christian.And the journey continues... |
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| February 10, 2008 |
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| "In His Shoes" is answering the call from the Gospel. The faith of our people and of the church is challenged every day. Our people from the time of Vartan all the way through the time of of 1915 embraced the message of the Gospel and the Cross even under the threat of losing their own lives.
Today, we and our church are affronted not by Parthians, Tartars, Arabs or Turks but by our own people loosing their Christian identity and faith do to apathy and ignorance from the laity and non-laity alike. Church attendance is way down in many of our parishes across the country and it has been so for quite some time now. Many of our people, with and without collar, are Biblically challenged and our youth groups for past two generations, have not produced much fruit.
"In His Shoes" ministry is the most impressive ministry that I have ever seen come out of the Armenian Church. Even better than the spiritual Debutante Ball! The hand of our Lord is working with this ministry. It needs to reach out beyond Glendale, beyond North America and across the globe.
All of you who are involved with this ministry, need to continually find a way spread it around just as St.Paul spread the message of the Gospel. Put on the shoes (OK sandals) of Paul and open the eyes of our people.
Jeff
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| February 13, 2008 |
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| Well said, guys. Linda, the perfect spot for this passage. It is so beautiful to hear all your wonderful expressions. And it is great to feel that we are truely not alone in our church, OUR Armenian Church, our church, the church of Christ! |
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