V. Rev. Fr. Barouyr Shernezian
I vividly remember the advice of my seminary teacher: “Whenever you celebrate mass, do it as if it were your first or last mass.” These words are full of so much wisdom. Until today, I do my best to follow his advice. In this reflection, we’ll discuss how we can serve in the church.
The Armenian Orthodox Church has a rich liturgical tradition that has been preserved for centuries. The clergy works to accomplish this mission in the local churches, with the dual goal of preserving both Armenian cultural identity and the Armenian Orthodox Church. This mission can take a lot of the priest’s time and energy and often comes at the cost of passing down the spiritual essence behind the traditions. As a result, we often find that people know how to celebrate the liturgy but are unaware of the underlying meaning. This overemphasis on the preservation of liturgical traditions can result in losing the spiritual meaning. This reflection aims to emphasize the importance of celebrating the liturgy mindfully and absorbing the rich spirituality behind it.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ criticized the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law because they had turned worship into mere rituals. A verse in the Gospel of Matthew explains it very well: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you, cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside, they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish so that the outside of them may be clean also.” (Matthew 23:25). In other words, Jesus questioned the meaning of performing every aspect of the Law perfectly, but only doing so before the eyes of people. In fact, their thoughts, words, and deeds did not reflect true worship to God. They have stretched the importance of the rituals that they perform to ensure the “protection” of the Law while ignoring the meaning behind those same rituals. They worried about keeping the Law but not living the Law. That is why Jesus called Pharisees “white tombs” (Matthew 23:27), who look perfectly beautiful outside but are dead inside.
Under this illusion, the Samaritan woman in the Gospel of John was not sure if she and the Samaritans would receive God’s salvation because they did not have the luxury of worshiping God in the Temple in Jerusalem. When meeting with Jesus, our Lord and Savior assured her that, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24). This illustrates why the Temple worship at that time had become unacceptable to God.
If we look at ourselves as church servers and find that we are only performing the rituals to preserve them, we will find that we are trapped in the same pattern. As church servers, we stress what to do on the Holy Altar or in the choir, but not why we do it. This sometimes results in arguments and broken relationships within the church because the service ritual becomes more important than its spirit and truth. No matter what rank we attain or what we are called to do on the Holy Altar if the Holy Spirit does not guide us and fill us with His grace, our service is meaningless. The same words that Christ addressed to the Pharisees may apply to us.
The example of the Pharisees highlights the importance of why we worship our Lord. Those who have the honor of serving God on the Holy Altar are called to make God’s grace a living presence in the church, play a part in the living presentation of Jesus’s life and passion, and deliver God’s word (not necessarily using words) to the attendees. Serving God on the Holy Altar is a serious responsibility. Accordingly, we are invited to pay attention, prepare ourselves before ascending to the Holy Altar, and approach altar service with a sense of responsibility.
There are two important approaches to employ every time we are honored to serve on the Holy Altar: to serve as if we are in Heaven in the immediate presence and glory of God and to serve as if it is our last opportunity to serve God on the Holy Altar.
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