The Call - Year of Vocations.

Light the Lamp of our Future

by Fr. Shnork

 

This year the ACYOA Sports Weekend and General Assembly was organized by a very outstanding and competent regional Committee comprised of youth form various local and regional ACYOA members in the Tri State area and Pennsylvania.  Our own Jon Pelaez was an integral member of the Committee and I was privileged to serve as the Spiritual Advisor to the Committee.  It was an outstanding weekend.  Below is a copy of my address to the participants of this year’s Assembly and Sports Weekend.

 

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

Beloved youth of the Armenian Church in America and members of the ACYOA,

 

You are a truly remarkable, blessed and inspiring generation!  Your achievements in academics, sports, arts, music and leadership in your churches, schools and community, at such a tender age are already well known and admired by your parents, teachers, families, peers, parishes and pastors.  Your sense of purpose driven by your desire to succeed and tempered by your sense of fair play, sportsmanship and a wholesome spirit of competition and morality as members of Christ’s Body, the church, is extraordinary and unique in this complicated society that you find yourselves outnumbered in. 

 

ACYOA Sports Weekend, past and present, therefore stands as a perennial icon of our Armenian Christian ethos, our shared spirit of survival, unity of faith, our desire to establish unbreakable and eternal bonds of fellowship with each other in mutual love and our insatiable desire to chase the unfading crown of eternal fellowship with Christ and His Church both here in America, and with our brothers and sisters in Armenia and throughout.  Neither the games nor the competition, nor the victories then, are ultimately as important as the spirit that they generate.

 

I am blessed beyond words and also humbled to have been called by the Almighty Lord and Savior Jesus to serve our church and to care for His flock and for the people of His pasture as a priest.  This precious and priceless ministry, walking in the Apostles footsteps, finds its zenith, at least for me, in the service of, with and for the youth of our church.  You are the hope of the Armenian Church in America and the delight of our founding generation who arrived in this land armed only with their orthodox Christian faith, courage, tenacity and a desire to overcome the obstacles and challenges facing them.  As a priest, to witness this torch being not only passed, but held HYE by you is truly an honor and a gift of God to whom I offer glory and thanksgiving!

 

I pray that our Lord Jesus continue to bless each of you in such a way that you harness the energy, and enthusiasm that you have displayed during this ACYOA General Assembly and Sports Weekend and that you remain committed to the prize, focused on the imperishable Crown and unsurpassable glory of God in your loving service to the Holy Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church, Amen. 

 

Prayerfully,

The Rev. Fr. Shnork Souin,  Spiritual Advisor ACYOA General Assembly and Sports Weekend Committee 2009