Such hope, is the hope of an everlasting life beyond death accomplished by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who took hold of you, baptised you and granted you the gift of faith. This gift anchors you in Him. It enables you to see past the corruption and hopelessness of this world, and to be conformed to Him, in suffering and death, without wavering, armed to press on, faithfully, towards the prize which He promises. The Resurrection!

People are always attempting to attain to greater status, wealth or power. Very often people's own heritage gives them a sense of superiority or confidence. Consider the booming business of plastic surgery with their promise of beauty, as if there is merit or superiority in such things. Consider the white supremacy movement that considers itself greater than the black race.

Consider the pride of America when they killed thousands of Iraqi soldiers in the deserts of the middle east. Humans are always attempting to "one up the next guy". Just look at the apostles, among whom there was rivalry "as to which of them should be considered the greatest." (Lk. 22:24) Jesus Christ, personally God Himself, had no such thoughts. He did not exert His power on us, but rather came to serve even giving Himself up in ransom on the precious cross. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The Son of God did not seek to show off His greatness, His glory. Rather, He "being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation," (Phil. 2:6) so that we might somehow become partakers of the invitation to the upward call of His glory that will be fully disclosed in eternity. This is how Jesus earned us a qualifying berth in the sprint to salvation.

What, therefore, can we do to merit even an ounce of God's forgiveness or mercy? There is no attribute that we can appropriate towards our reconciliation with God. It is simply not in our nature and counts as worthless. Any attempt to take inventory of our self worth, in the eyes of God, is a reflection of the damnation that every descendant of Adam faces. Knowing Christ, and the power of His influence in your life is, as St. Paul says, "most excellent". All our possessions, all the pride of things accomplished are useless. Christ is our Lord. He has revealed Himself through the Sacraments and His Word. Partake of His life by a total abandonment of your self and embrace the faith that God has given to you. Let it be the only possession that you guard with abandonment.

Some years ago, on the occasion of the 84th Anniversary of the commemoration of the Armenian Genocide in which perished 1.5 million Christian Armenians at the hand of the infidel Turk, I visited an elderly woman of my parish who was a survivor of the dreadful genocide. In conversation, the subject of death and dying came up. While we discussed our ideas and visions of what heaven is, I asked her, "what do you think heaven will be like?" She answered without hesitation and also, I'd say, with anticipation; "I don't know. But, I know that I shall continue to be embraced by God's love there as I have been here on earth." By the grace of God this woman, like St. Paul is able to keep her heart and eyes focused on the reality of her life beyond the frailty, pain and eventual death that this life holds for her. I can not begin to explain the horrors that this woman could recount concerning her youth, being driven from her home in a caravan and not seeing any "pot of Gold" waiting for her at the end of her walk, but instead, starvation, rape, torture, disease and probably death. Was she able to forget those things that she left behind? Could she press on, having like Paul suffering the loss of all things, that she might gain Christ? This woman knew the "power of the resurrection, through fellowship in Jesus' sufferings and being conformed to His death." Being a Christian does not magically exempt us from the laws of nature. On the contrary, having new life from the font of Baptism, our lives are conformed to Christ's. We carry our cross, we share in the suffering of our Lord even becoming like Him in His passion. We press on. We rejoice in the revelation of Christ's resurrection. Neither the ridicule and insults of this world, nor the successes nor failures in our careers, nor our pride in our heritage as Armenians or Canadians mean anything without the knowledge of the risen Christ and the surpassing excellence of anticipating our life in Christ now and into eternity. St. Paul says, "for me, to live IS CHRIST", yet it seems strange that his life in Christ, at least in this world, is the way of the Cross. He knows that he will be hated by men, persecuted, even put to death for the Gospel, but, his life is all for the progressive encounter with the risen Christ. Every obstacle and persecution therefore is for him and for us transfigured into equal and even surpassing joy. God turns our suffering into perseverance, our perseverance into character and our character into hope (Rom. 5:3-5), the hope that enables us to press on towards the prize.

Jesus says, "No greater love has any man than if he should lay down his life for a friend". Jesus' words were put into action on the Cross. The vision of the mangled corpse of the Son of God on the rugged cross of Golgotha is a constant reminder of His atoning work for all sinners, of which I am chief. His complete servitude, humility and self denial to the will of His Father is the great paradigm for all men. He gave himself freely for the forgiveness of our sins. In fact, "He who knew no sin, became sin" for us. He not only participated in our life, He partook of our death also. He took upon Himself the penalty of sin so that we might receive in us His righteousness. Through baptism, we partake of our Lord's death and in doing so participate eternally thereafter in His life. Everything following that moment of Baptism is part of a new life, in Christ. No harm or danger, of this world can take away from our new life. Having "died with Him, we will also live with Him (2 Tim. 2:11)". The physical death of this world is merely an obstacle in our race that God is running with us. He gives us the strength to submit to His will and believe that He will raise us on the last day, as He raised His Son. We are no longer afraid of death (Mat. 10:28). The prophet Hosea writes; "let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, so will He appear." Writing 800 years before the birth of His Saviour and ours, the same Jesus Christ, Hosea spent his whole life focused and dedicated to the glorious coming of the promised Messiah. It is for this same hope and expectation that Christ takes hold of you.

The progressive encounter with Christ is a journey, or like one of St. Paul's favourite metaphors, a footrace. Death is merely an obstacle before, the finish line. Not the finish line, just "the last enemy to be abolished (1 Cor. 15:26)" before our glorious resurrection for which Christ has taken hold of us. It is by the very power of Christ's resurrection from death that God gives every believer the endurance to press on, faithfully. But, if we remain blinded by our own temporal gain and take our eyes off the destination that Christ calls us to, we remain as dead as the old Adam into which we were born. Satan blurs our vision and sidetracks our thoughts. We are tempted daily by Satan and his every evil, to wander off the path of salvation. I remember my Grandfather, who was also a survivor of the Genocide, telling me that 3 times as a child, in the Anatolian deserts of Turkey and Deir el Zor, he was tempted to deny his Christian faith, first by Turks, then by Kurds and finally by Bedouin Arabs. Grandfather, who is with the Lord now, would admit that it was the grace of God that sustained him in the hour of temptation. Even when our faith is tempted, we feel the anxiety of doubt and are faithless, God remains faithful. He is with us in the obstacle course of life. Beloved, "run the race in such a way as to get the prize (1 Cor. 9:24)". According to his life story, whenever he was tempted to sin, wavering in faith, and downtrodden, Martin Luther would be consoled by saying "I am baptised." It is by our baptism that we are sustained, carried along by God's Spirit to endure and look ahead forgetting what is behind. The greatness of being in Christ and the "love inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 1:3)", gives us that endurance to press on.Brothers, remain confident in the victory that Christ has promised you. The power of His resurrection is given to you freely. The empty tomb of Christ illuminates your path, so that you can pursue the prize that Jesus has won for you. The proclamation of His victory over death and our fellowship in His resurrection, as partakers of the holy Eucharist as the living and life-giving "medicine of immortality (Ignatius)", reminds us of the sureness of our eternal life and the importance of focusing on what's ahead, beyond death. The prize is won, but we have not yet obtained it. We must run the race, "run it in such a way as to get the prize (1 Cor. 9:24)". We have hurdles and obstacles, we have grief, pain, uncertainty and confusion, but, we also know that our Lord is running with us, yes even willing to carry our fatigued and tired souls over the finish line where He will crown us with His victory. Have your eyes fixed on the prize, look past the finish line, do not be disqualified or sidetracked. God has personally called you to participate in the race and He has, by His Son, provided the strength, by faith, to press on and the promise of the victory. The victory is the prize for which He calls us to yearn for, not that we deserve it or take hold of it alone, but because of His love for us and His closeness. Therefore remain fixed on the prize, that Christ has won for us, press on and "run the full distance, keeping the faith for waiting is the prize of victory awarded for a faithful life, the prize which the righteous judge, will grant (2 Tim. 4:7-8)" for the sake of Jesus Christ, the RESURRECTION from the dead and life eternal, Amen.