Saint Hagop Armenian Church

God planted us and he hopes that we will choose to grow in his garden in a certain way.  The prophet Isaiah perfectly captures how we are to grow in words right after our assigned OT, “Take root downward, bear fruit upward.” The post Take Root Downward, Bear Fruit Upward first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

Every Sunday in church we say thank you in literally one hundred different ways, in ritual, chants and prayers, it’s not too much of a stretch to say all we do is practice saying thank you in church. A wise monk said, ‘If the only prayer we ever say in our entire lives is thank… The post Your Only Prayer first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

We all have this tendency to make ourselves greater than we are, and make others smaller, and the consequences are division and destruction.  Jesus knows this sinful tendency, and knows we are blind to it, so he puts up a mirror for us to see.  As the disciples fight, he takes a small child and… The post The Greatness of Smallness first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

In our Armenian Orthodox tradition, we understand sacraments as visible signs of God’s invisible grace. And what is music, if not a sacramental echo of heaven? Strings, keys, and voices—physical things—become effective signs of divine movement. When we sing we don’t just say things-we experience them-emotionally and physically in our heart. So if the words… The post Soli Deo Gloria first app...

Taken on its face, Jesus’s words today seem to be a rejection of the deepest held value we have on earth, the family. Yes as so often the case with Our Lord, what at first glance seems to be a rejection, is really just a redirection allowing us to honor our earthly families and see… The post All in the Family first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

Galatians tells us: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”  So I am not just being poetic and symbolic when I say we wear costumes and uniforms, it’s in the first reading you heard, the first time you entered church at your baptism. This means, me, name, name—everyone… The post The Costume That Never Comes Off first appeared on St. Hagop Armen...

Jesus wants us to pay close attention to what we are building in our lives, because it matters more than anything.  Most all of us work very hard to build a career, which helps us build a home and family, and secure our way in the world. This is necessary, and not at all easy,… The post Building Wealth first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

As Chesterton famously said, Christianity has not been tried and found lacking, but it’s never been seriously tried. The Bible, from cover to cover, agrees, demonstrating that the root of our problem is that we are born forgetful. We are children of God, but we forget who we are.  We are born with a great… The post Get Off The Forgetfulness Curve first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

There was a time when someone who had something of great value would often bury their treasure so that no one could find it and take it away. Of course, there was always the risk that one might forget where their treasure was buried, so to make sure that they would remember where it was,… The post X Marks the Spot first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

In today’s Gospel reading Jesus heals a deaf and mute man.  But as all things with God’s word, what happened once to this one man, is a life lesson for all people and all times. The clue to discover this, is in one magical word Ephphatha (say it). Its Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, it means… The post Ephphatha! first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

We are deep into hurricane season here in Florida. Back one hundred and fifty years or so, hurricane season was just three months-July, August & September. Then in 1935, it expanded to 5 months. Now we are at 6 months, and with the ocean staying warmer for longer, meteorologists want to expand it more. Pretty… The post It’s Always Hurricane Season first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Chu...

Mary is not given the first and last word in our Spiritual lives merely for being a great woman, though she was, but because of what she reveals to us of her Son Jesus Christ, such that the closer we are to her the closer we are to him. Taking our Holy Scriptures as one… The post Mary’s Memoirs first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. Jn 15:5 When the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, is asked what his best game was of his long career, he says it was the… The post Teamwork Makes the Dream Work first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

God has always preferred to do great things through the humble and the meek, we read of this attribute of God’s heart nearly every Sunday. It’s the entire story of Jesus and the New Testament. It’s the entire story of the Jews and the Old Testament.  It’s also the story of the Oldest Testament, nature,… The post Go to the Ant first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

The Apostles were teaching a crowd of followers well into the evening, such that they hadn’t eaten all day.  When they finally thought of food, it was evening and there were only five loaves of bread and two fish available to feed 5000 people.  Jesus says to them, well go ahead and feed them.  The… The post You Have What You Need first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

I returned from Armenia a week ago, the question asked more than any other is what’s happening with the turmoil between the church and state. Sadly, it’s become so publicly vicious that its in the news around the world, so it’s irresponsible to ignore it but neither do you want to talk about it. Well,… The post Wheat & Weeds in the Armenian Highlands first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Chur...

In today’s Gospel reading Jesus tells a ghost story. We adults aren’t generally into such stories, but talk to anyone in their early teens or remember when you were that age, we loved them!  I read nearly every Steven King book by the time I was thirteen, and today there are dozens of books, movies… The post Ghost Stories first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

It seems that nowadays there is a podcast on every topic (including my personal favorite St. Hagop sermons). I stumbled upon one last week which resonated with wisdom, especially with today’s feast of Pentecost.  The podcast is called ‘We regret to inform you: the rejection podcast,’ with over one hundred episodes about people who are… The post The Rejection Sermon first appeared on St. Hago...

Today’s reading from this week’s feast of Ascension, begins with an odd question.  Two angels of God ask the Apostles “Why do you stand staring into heaven?” Odd question, because they have just witnessed their teacher Jesus lifted up and into the clouds.  It would seem natural to stare.  But I don’t think they were… The post Stop Staring! first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian...

Voices are trustworthy and deeply personal, and since God made everything including us, he knows this. So does his Son Jesus, which is why he uses the metaphor of voice recognition of a loved one to describe the intimate bond he wishes to have with us his faithful. Jesus illustrates the bond in the case… The post Voice Recognition first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

There is always a choice in what we want to see and hear, and as God’s children we don’t always make the wisest choices. We tend to hear what we want to hear and see what we want to see, because we don’t know any better. Yet our Scriptures, our church and our Lord continually… The post The Hearing Ear, The Seeing Eye first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

In this way you could say that the Armenian church has always been like a “recycle bin,” a “repurposing bin” for its people and for individuals. We come to church, confessing and putting aside our old sinful selves, and through communion with God, He recycles and repurposes us for a new week to do His… The post The Great Recycler first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian C...

The danger in dealing with loss, and where our faith is absolutely crucial—is that we can easily get stuck in our loss, in our grief; I see it all the time and it happens to me too.  We can be so diligent to remember and preserve the past, that we forget to live in the… The post The Place Seems Empty first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .

There is an old story of two travelling monks, which might help us remember to put down our burdens and seek up for God. These monks come to a river where a woman was waiting, unable to cross alone without soiling her silken robes. She stood there with arms crossed scolding her attendants whose hands… The post Heavy Things first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church .