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Of Hate and Forgiveness
​Imagine you are on the altar, addressing your congregation in a sermon. You don’t have a written script; you are focusing on the flow and cohesiveness of your thoughts, and you see a young person approaching you and then he attacks you and stabs you with a knife. Mari Emmanuel, Bishop of Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, New South Wales, Australia was delivering a sermon to his congregation when a young person approached him and attacked him with a knife. The Bishop, who comes from the Assyrian (Nestorian) tradition and runs an independent church, often teaches controversial and provocative messages. However, no one should be attacked for exercising their freedom of speech. Despite the attack, Bishop Emmanuel showed compassion and forgiveness towards his attacker by telling him: "You’re my son, and you'll always be in my prayers." This is an inspiring example of practicing what one preaches.

St. Sarkis Won’t Be The Same Without Digin Mary
Today, the St. Sarkis Community mourns the loss of a dear member, Mrs. Mary Arslanian. She passed away last Tuesday night and will be deeply missed. Mrs. Arslanian had been a lifelong devoted member of our church and had a significant impact on the lives of the young parishioners who were fortunate enough to be her students at our Saturday School. Her kindness, generosity, simplicity, and hospitality will always be remembered.

BOT Executive Positions
The Board of Trustees of our church, who were elected in March and recently approved by the Prelate and the Executive Council, had their first meeting yesterday. They elected Dr. Annita Nerses as the chairwoman, Mr. Simon Bardizbanian as the vice chairman, Mrs. Diane Boyadjian as the secretary, and Mrs. Alina Kochoumian as the treasurer. During the meeting, the Board discussed their plans to uphold St. Sarkis church as a beacon of faith and service for our community.

The Anxious Generation
This week, I started reading "The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness" by Jonathan Haidt. He is a New York Times bestselling author and a social psychologist at NYU. I had previously enjoyed his book "The Happiness Hypothesis". In his latest book, Haidt uses research data to show that phone-based childhood, a term he coined to refer to children and teenagers growing up after 2010 when social media became part of smartphones, is causing an epidemic of mental illness, including severe anxiety, depression, and addictions in teenagers and young adults. I have listened to over half of the book on Audible and believe that it's a valuable read for both parents and young adults.​

Freud's Last Session
Annie and I watched "Freud's Last Session" (2023, PG-13, 1h 48m) and enjoyed almost two hours of psychology, philosophy, and existentialism. The movie is set on the eve of World War II and portrays a debate between Sigmund Freud (played by Anthony Hopkins) and the iconic Christian author C.S. Lewis (played by Matthew Goode) on the existence of God. While there is no evidence that this debate actually took place, I found it fascinating to see the contrasting ideas and sometimes similar experiences of these two important figures from the last century.​

The Word of God
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is from John 5:19-30. This Sunday we hear Jesus proclaim: “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). According to New International Bible Commentary, “The construction here shows that both hearing and believing are to be taken together. Hearing is not a passive activity only”.

Come to St. Sarkis Church this Sunday and join the worship service.

Prayerfully,