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…
So must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. -Jn 3:14-15 Exaltation, exaltation, exaltation. Exaltation, exaltation, exaltation. Don’t worry, I am ok, I am just repeating the name of today’s feast so that we can recover its rightful place in history and our lives. You see,…
The moral of this powerful story is clear and always relevant. There is no venom quite so deadly as mistrust and fear. Fear of the unknown; fear of the other; fear of failure; fear of death—nothing causes spiritual and emotional paralysis more effectively than fear. It corrodes faith, cuts off our pathways for giving and…
One of the old names for our church is the Armenian Apostolic Church. We very much like to stress that our church has a direct connection with the apostles who had a direct connection with our Lord Jesus Christ. In addition to the Gospels, we emphasize that other aspects of our faith; sacraments, church hierarchy…
Fences and wells. That’s the analogy that will govern this sermon and which reveals a fundamental truth about our spiritual maturity and openness to God’s blessing at church, at work and at home. Here is how the fences and wells analogy goes. If you are a farmer with a ranch, you can build fences to…
So there is nothing new about identity theft, it is as old as humankind. In fact, Jesus warns us about identity theft-of the deepest kind- it today’s assigned reading from the Gospel of John. There are many thieves and imposters in this life, Jesus warns us, who will not only steal your stuff, but try…
On my way back from a family funeral service for Nora Keuroghlian, God rest her kind soul, I passed a sign in front of a humble church with the phrase “God’s ‘no’ is not a rejection but a redirection.” Funny that a sign on Curlew road can reveal wisdom for our everyday lives which also penetrates the depths of God’s relationship…