In 2021 I gave fifty-two sermons, using exactly 58,418 words, an average of about one thousand words per Sunday. Using a word frequency calculator, I found the top words in the St. Hagop year in search were God, Church, Jesus; People, Life, Time; One, Word, First…Love (2x). I laid this out in a beautiful graphic…
These questions of God arising from broken expectations and broken hearts somehow allow us to enter into the mystery of manna; the bread which falls from heaven. Somehow, like the Hebrews in the wilderness, we must come to the end of our own abilities to provide for ourselves, to take control of our lives, to…
Jonah reminds us that, as with any relationship, a real relationship with God brings forth many emotions, including sometimes anger. For anger only arises with those we care about the most. But alas, Jonah’s anger is not the last word, because God always has the last word. God ends Jonah’s story by saying in so…
Many people criticize our church for being stuck in the dark ages and lacking reform. I am one of those people, when it comes to practical aspects of our faith; things like allowing cremation or encouraging lay and particularly female leadership in the sacramental life of the church. However, in the essential tenets of our…
Today’s reading describes the Wedding at Cana; the first of Jesus’ seven miracles in the Gospel of John, where Jesus turns water into wine. We correctly use the term miracle, but it is one of those words that has been clouded by many false associations. I prefer the old Armenian word, Nshank, which simply means…
Our church calendar teaches us how to let go and grow. Our services of the hours prepares us for daily rest. Our days of abstinence on Wednesday and Friday make space for weekly Sabbath. The great fasts of our church, Advent and Easter, remind us that we are not machines, to live most fully, we…
As we approach the Christmas birth and revelation of our Lord, our church sacred calendar is very densely populated by saints’ days. Some of these saints are well known; we celebrated James and John, Peter & Paul, Ephrem and Stephen this week. Many of these saints are less know, we celebrated Eustratius, Auxentius, Eugenius, Orestes…