Thanksgiving 2009

As the heart of an entire nation beats with thanksgiving for the bounteous blessings of the Almighty God, people across the land in towns, villages, and cities, will gather together with family and friends for rituals of celebration and praise acknowledging the One from Whom all good things come.

This national holiday evokes in every human heart the benevolence of God revealed in Christ and extends an invitation for each pious soul an opportunity to express the spirit of loving appreciation to God who is ever present among us throughout our earthly pilgrimage.  

While each of us is created uniquely, God’s immeasurable love springs eternal.  We are thus bound and unified together in Him.  It is by this article of faith that we know that “We are not just a church, we are a family.”

As Armenian Orthodox Christians therefore, we have a profound sense of unity, togetherness and family that is kept alive in the wonderful traditions of our Orthodox faith and Armenian culture.

We are deeply thankful for the many gifts offered daily to us, gifts of health, food and prosperity, things that make life a treasure of blessings in this nation and land of freedom, opportunity and promise.

We are deeply thankful to God for the people who live with us: family, relatives, friends, colleagues and fellow citizens. It is a great gift to have our lives enriched with the presence of human beings around us.

We are deeply thankful to God for calling us to become members of His Church and thus opening to us the unique way to salvation, to the ultimate union with Christ.

We are deeply thankful to Christ God our Redeemer, for becoming one of us, inhabiting our earth, partaking of our food, breathing our air, walking our streets, and making a promise to us, with the words “I am with you always to the end of time” (Matthew 28:20).

In view of such an amazing abundance of gifts on this Thanksgiving Day, let each of us sing the hymn “Hamenayni”:

In all things blessed are You Lord, We bless You, We Praise You, We give thanks to you and we beseech You Lord our God.

I pray that each of you are blessed with a joyous Thanksgiving.

In His love, I remain prayerfully

Der Shnork