Fr. Mesrop AshSermon Archive
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Sermon topic

Repentance and restoration

2 sermons with this topic

August 3, 2025

The Lost Sheep: Being Found by Christ

Unknown preacher

On the first Sunday after the Feast of the Transfiguration, the preacher shares two personal stories of being lost—one from his childhood at Disneyland and one about his young son getting separated in Japantown—to illustrate Christ's parable of the good shepherd seeking the one lost sheep. He connects these experiences to Matthew's Gospel, emphasizing that Christians cannot be indifferent to the lost and vulnerable. He then traces three Gospel examples of Christ seeking the lost: Zacchaeus, the Samaritan woman at the well, and Peter after his denial. The sermon concludes with the invitation that Christ's question to Peter—"Do you love me?"—is the same invitation offered to each of us to be found and restored to the flock.

Matthew 18:12-14; Matthew 18:6; Luke 19:1-10; John 4:1-42; John 21:15-17; Matthew 16:16-18

March 3, 2025

Bun Barekendan: Sincerity and the Meaning of Lent

Parish priest (unnamed in transcript)

On Bun Barekendan (the Sunday of Good Living before Great Lent), the preacher delivers a children's sermon explaining the meaning of Poon Paregantain and why fasting during Lent makes us spiritually stronger, followed by an adult sermon in Armenian and English on the Gospel of Matthew's teaching against hypocrisy. The adult sermon explores the etymology of sincerity (without wax) as presenting ourselves honestly with our cracks and imperfections before God, inviting him to restore us rather than covering our brokenness with artificial means.

Matthew 6 (Sermon on the Mount — almsgiving, prayer, fasting, Lord's Prayer)