Saint Hagop Armenian Church Father Hovnan Demerjian

When we say Holy Etchmiadzin we reaffirm Orthodox and Catholics belief in sacred spaces. This includes the bricks and stones, architecture and icons of a place, as these can point to the story of God and man just as the words of the Bible do. And it is the story that is sacred. One Christian…
The post Sacred Place, Storied Place first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church.

Today we celebrate the feast day of Elijah, renowned prophet of the Old Testament. One of our assigned readings describes Elijah’s great prophetic demonstration of the power of God-picture Billy Graham preaching to 100k in Yankee Stadium-Elijah was that impressive!  The second reading, though, is much less dynamic.  It portrays Elijah at the end of ministry, basically as he enters retirement.  Yet…
The post What’s Now & What’s Next first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church.

‘They act like they own the place.’ If you have been a boss or a landlord, you know this can be a good or a bad thing.  The good part of a worker or tenant acting like they own the place is that they feel buy in.  Apparently at Facebook/Meta ‘This is now YOUR company,’…
The post Acting Like You Own the Place first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church.

According to today’s scripture, and just about everything we read in the Bible, increase in numbers is never directly achieved by human effort, it always seems to be the result of something else that God has initiated.  That’s what we see in today’s passage.  The Apostles says that the new church was built up by…
The post Not for Sale first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church.

Words have always played a supporting role in the Armenian Apostolic Church as compared to the post reformation churches.  Thus, my sermons are short and I work hard to make them so.  If you don’t believe me, let’s look at the data. Pew Research Center analyzed 50,000 sermons in 2020 and here is what they…
The post How to be Apostolic (in 9 minutes or less) first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church.

So what is lament?  The shortest definition of lament is a prayer in pain that leads to trust.  The Psalms are full of Laments. Our Ter Voghormea is a lament. Beating our breast and saying Vay Indz, Vay Indz during Confession is a Lament.  Gregory of Narek wrote an entire famous Book of Lamentations.  Lament…
The post Pain Killers first appeared on St. Hagop Armenian Church.