Pentecost: What Did They Do with the Church?

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Well, it’s Pentecost today, so it’s the church’s birthday. We really ought to have a birthday cake or something out there. Now, in June, we also celebrate the Feast of Holy Etchmiadzin. That’s always in June. But Pentecost is movable. It’s movable with Easter because it’s exactly fifty days after Easter. Pentecost, right? The descent of the Holy Spirit. Ten days ago, Thursday, ten days ago, it was the Ascension, Ascension of Jesus Christ. His work was over. His work was done. It was time to go back to our Heavenly Father. One thing remained. He had to hand over the church to those disciples who became apostles. We’ll get into that right now in just a second. But this is a very active time on the church calendar, and I love it. This starts the church. This starts my most favorite part of the church calendar because it’s no longer something, a little something for a secluded few in Jerusalem. It’s now going worldwide. They’re scaling it. You know, it’s got to go big time. Well, they put it — Jesus put it in the hands of those very simple people, fishermen and what? In the hands of those disciples, gathering up on a mountaintop, Matthew 28, the Great Commission.

So anyway, it was read just a little while ago. I’m going to take one passage, one, two lines of it only. They listened to the teaching of the apostles in fellowship, breaking bread with prayers daily. They, the believers, were together praising God. This is Acts chapter two. Just read it quickly one more time. They listened to the teaching of the apostles in fellowship, breaking bread with prayers daily. The believers were together praising God. So this is from Acts. It’s an account of what the apostles did immediately following the Pentecost, right, which is today, the descent of the Holy Spirit. And it answers the question, what did they do with the church that Christ handed them? So what’d they do with it? We’ve all been asked that. So it’s nice you are descendants of the Armenian nation. What are you doing about it? It’s nice that you’ve inherited your father’s money, car, house, business. What’d you do with it? So here we are 2,000 years after the Pentecost on the feast, coming up the feast of Holy Etchmiadzin, but today Pentecost, in a church which has the word apostle in its title, right? Apostolic. So we got it from the apostles. They came to Armenia. Whoever’s been — Margie, I saw you here a year ago. We were in Armenia together, right? And whoever the pilgrims you’ve been with me, you go and see the birth of the apostolic church in Etchmiadzin, right?

Honestly, to answer the question, what’s our church supposed to be like? The answer is pretty simple. Our church is supposed to be what it was in the very beginning with this added word, unchanged. Unchanged. That’s what makes us orthodox. Orthodox, straight, glorification, right? Direct, straight, not deviated from what it was originally. So what was the early church? One — and there’s many, many, many. We could sit here and talk for days, but I’ve chosen like maybe five.

It was a learning church. Maybe we should say teaching church. The faithful persisted in listening to the apostles as they taught. That’s a quote from Acts two, right? If we learn anything from Matthew 28, the Great Commission, it’s this. They were no longer disciples, but apostles. No longer students, but teachers. Nobody can be a student forever. Nobody should be a student forever. Sooner or later, you got to take what you learned and spread it. This is why during Badarak, we started just about an hour ago, before the consecration of the Eucharist, the fathers included elements of teaching. We read from the epistle, then the gospel. Then we have a statement of faith, what we believe. The Havadamk, we believe, right? Creed of Nicaea, which is actually like three or four creeds put together because it took a couple hundred years to get all of our thoughts down. And then we offer the spiritual message right now. So we teach, we learn, we proclaim our faith. That’s the essence of divine liturgy.

Two, it was the church of fellowship. Yes, it was a church of learning, teaching, but it was also a church of fellowship. I love this part. I love the way some of your parents, grandparents set up this sanctuary and complex in the 50s. The church here, we open the doors, there’s a small courtyard, and we enter the hall. I love that. That’s beautiful. I love being together because if we don’t know each other, getting to know one another in the hall, Paul Family Hall, then how can we pray for one another here? Really, I love it. So in Greek, the word for church is ekklesia, yeghetetsi in Armenian, meaning gathered faithful. An atheist once told me — she felt justified to tell me or something because I wore a collar and I don’t know — she had to tell me that she goes to the beach by herself to commune. By herself to commune, really. The root of the word commune is union, unity. Okay, if she’s an atheist and sitting alone, with whom is she communing? To commune is a transitive verb. It goes from one to another. This lady was dangerously close to nature worshiping, which we kicked out of our culture, you know, a thousand years ago in the Armenian church, right? It’s no accident in the Lord’s Prayer, the word our, O-U-R, our appears four times, us four times, we one time, but never do you hear the words I, me, or mine.

Three, it was a church where things happened. Things happened. The church was never, ever intended to be a museum of rituals or a concert hall or a source of ethnic pride. And that’s a hard pill for us to swallow as ethnic Armenians, isn’t it? We hide behind we are the first Christian nation, or we defended our faith in Vartanants. Funny thing, none of us were alive in 301 or 451. We can’t take the credit for things we didn’t do. That’s plagiarism. The question to ask is, what have we done about being the descendants of the first Christian nation? What have we done about being the inheritors of Vartanants? Two critically important events in the history of our people. Now, it’s sobering to know, and this is kind of sad — as many who died in Avarair, the field of Avarair in 451, we’ve lost 100 times more in America in the last century. Heratsads, odaratsads, no longer part of the Orthodox Church and without any ethnic identity. That hurts. We’ve lost them. A million and a half we lost 105 years ago, but their descendants, we could say, in America — go down the list of any Armenian church in America of the founders, list of the founders, and go down two, three generations. We’re keeping about 4%. Heratsads. The church is the tree which gives fruit by which we shall be judged. The question before us at the second coming won’t be, which sharagan did you sing? It’ll be, how many people did you bring to me?

Four, it was a sharing church. And I love this part too. And here we have the bicyclists coming here in a few weeks. I think that’s just terrific, the ones who are part of the building the shelters, the Fuller Center. That’s wonderful. Not just shelters, but homes. Early Christians had an intense feeling of responsibility for one another. They were commanded to remember not only the poor, but especially the widows, the orphans. The first Badaraks wasn’t this opera we got now. They were occasions for worshipers to bring enough food to provide for those who could not provide for themselves. Real Christians can’t be indifferent to the suffering of others.

Five, and this is important. It was a happy church. A gloomy Christian is a contradiction in terms, right? Centuries ago, the church fathers had an important decision to make. What shall be the first words of the divine liturgy of the Badarak? Shall it begin with a prayer? If so, what prayer? Shall it begin with a hymn? A hymn about what? Shall it begin with scripture? If so, which passage? Old Testament, New Testament, what? What was their final decision? Psalm one hundred. And until this day, we begin the Badarak with that. You’ve heard it a hundred times. You know what that is? That’s a psalm. Cry to the Lord all lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with joy. Know that he is the Lord our God. Gladness and joy. What’s the point they were trying to make? We’re not here because we’re sad and angry people with a gripe against our lot in life. We’re here because we’re happy, joyful, spiritually filled people despite what sad or evil things happened in life.

It was a church whose people others could not help but like. There’s two words in Greek which mean good. Agathos — we get the name Agatha, right? Simply means the adjective good, okay? It’s good. But then there’s kalos. Kalos means not just something good, but looks good as well. If something is kalos, it’s something that has charm and attractiveness about it, okay? As in real Christianity is a lovely thing, and others like to be part of that too. Part of the mission of the church is to attract others to the mission, but nobody wants to be a part of a mean group of people. Goodness begets goodness.

So what should this church be all about? It has to reflect what it was in the beginning. Pulling up today, I’m driving up Portola, I saw the Purple Church again. It made my blood pressure go up — fifteen years ago when I left, with the banner, “God loves all her children.” Okay. It should reflect whatever Christ left in the hands of the disciples becoming apostles — it should be the same today. Well, Father Sarkis, we’re just like it was before. I know, but sometimes we go off track. When I first got here in 1998 — “Oh, Father Sarkis, we have our annual trip.” Is it like a pilgrimage? What are you talking about? “No, our annual trip.” Where? Reno? Okay. I’m fine with that. It’s good. We need to — you know, that’s fun. When is it? “Oh, it’s the third week of Lent.” Okay. Guys, this is Lent — is it a prayer vigil? We’re going to go pray amongst the sinners in Reno or something? “No, but it’s—” But guys, it’s Lent. Can we do it? You know, on Friday nights during Lent, we have huskoom here. We have our Lenten prayer vigil. “It’s okay. We get back at three.” But don’t you think people will be too tired from the trip to attend the services? “It’s okay, Father Sarkis. We don’t go to the services anyway. What’s the difference?” Okay. Let’s move that trip out of Lent, and let’s make an annual pilgrimage to Hayastan, right? That’s what we should be doing. Let’s go take some money for the poor. Let’s adopt a sister parish. Let’s help these — that’s our job.

It should reflect what the church was in the very beginning. What was the church all about? We’re called to be a church of people who love to learn, teach, share, worship, and foster fellowship, all while being a likable and happy people. So let’s remember this is our task. For this, the Feast of Pentecost, and in a few weeks, one of my favorite feast days on the church calendar, Etchmiadzin, the Feast of Etchmiadzin. We realize where the center of the Armenian church is that kept our people in faith from 301 onward. Let’s love to learn. Let’s share, worship, and foster fellowship, all the while being likable and happy. This is our task as we continue the mission. We inherit it from the forefathers, by the design of the Father, by the command of the Son, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit. And I ask you to remember that in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.