Today’s celebration of Pentecost is celebrating the birthday of the church. Like when any of us celebrate our birthdays, we don’t tend to dwell on the actual day we were born, for the obvious reason that we can’t remember anything. We can however ask any of our Moms and they won’t have trouble remembering. “We…
Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. –1 Jn 3:2 I’ve titled today’s sermon ‘firsts & worsts’, because in times like these of trial…
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you. -1 Pt 5:10 Every Spring at St. Hagop we have the same friendly debate among our altar servers when selecting a cross for our Lenten altar. …
Jesus said to (Mary), ‘Do not cling on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’ –Jn 20:17 Sometimes the absence of a loved one seems to be more…
No language is more sacred, than words of thanksgiving in times of distress. Չկա աւելի սուրբ լեզու, քան այն, որ գիտի վշտերի մեջ գոհութիւն հայտնել When the coronavirus crisis began over a month ago, this saying from 14th century Armenian churchman Barsegh Mashkevoratsi was among the first thing I recalled and shared with you. Truly…
There is a story told by the Armenian writer Teotig who collected accounts of the clergy and their martyrdom during the Armenian Genocide. One day in 1915, the roughly 800 Armenian families of Kourd Belen near the Turkish town of Izmir, the old Greek city of Smyrna, were given orders to abandon their homes and…
“Who is this,” the amazed crowds asked as Jesus made his final trip to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and entered into his final Holy Week. From the very first Holy Week up until today, there are no simple answers to this simple question. This is a king with a great following, who claims his kingdom…