There are many reasons, some good and some less good, of why people come to church.  I want to offer thanks to God and give myself to the upbuilding of his church, that’s a great reason. I come to church to see Santa or I come to church for the great food, those are less…

Sunday Reflection by Ms. Sarah Stites Director of ‘AYO,’ a program of Fund for Armenian Relief 12-08-24

That’s why we not only have one day of Thanksgiving in our church, every single week, every single Sunday is Thanksgiving day in our church. We say thanks to God in a bunch of ways in our Sunday worship.  In our prayers right before we go up to the altar we say ‘Enter God’s gates…

The Gospel reading for today’s first Sunday of Advent is our seasonal realignment to get our priorities right; warning against the addictive nature of worldly wealth and what true riches actually are. Today’s parable is the story of a man who amassed greater and greater wealth, only to have has life taken away before he…

Imagine that you are the coach of a four-person championship track and field relay team.  How do you arrange your runners so that you are most competitive?  Does the fastest guy or girl go first, last, or in the middle? Well ask any track coach-high school, college or Olympic-and they will say let the second…

Just two weeks ago the newest church in our Diocese was consecrated the Church of the Holy Archangels, Sts. Michael & Gabriel, whose feast day just happens to be this weekend.  What better time than now then, to reflect on what angels are and aren’t, throw out popular misconceptions, recover their original meaning and see…

If a book was to be written about how not to be elected and how not to be popular, Jesus would probably be the main character. In today’s Gospel reading, we see that Jesus is becoming popular and electable, and he does what he can to ruin that.  He insults his potential donors and powerbrokers…

As those of you know who have travelled through the seasons with me a few years, I struggle with holidays like Halloween, Valentines Day and even Christmas, which seem to have lost much of their original meaning and function mainly as consumer holidays.  That struggle was real yesterday as Narek, Nora & I wandered through…

‘My heart is Democratic, but my brain is kind of Republican,’ said JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon years back, and I resonate with that myself. There is an openness and idealism about being a democrat, openness to immigrants, to the downtrodden and to the rest of the world that I think is virtuous. And…

Today’s Gospel reading is about the bottom line of our spiritual life.  The phrase ‘bottom line’ comes from the practical and efficient business world. The bottom line is the number found under the bold bottom line on a profit & loss statement or balance sheet.  Don’t give me all the details, what is the bottom…