Blog


25
Dec 2019
Christmas 2019 Syriac Orthodox Church

Christmas is the day when the Savior is born; and He was not only the Savior, but the prince of peace, the one who made reconciliation between heaven and earth. When we celebrate, and say “Merry Christmas,” we should share the real joy that the heaven descended to earth, although the earth did not receive it well. There was no room for Joseph and Mary, but the shepherds were honored to assist. The angels came to earth and told the shepherds “Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace......

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15
Dec 2019
Sayidna John Kawak

During the past few weeks we were reading from the gospel according to St. Luke. Now we are in the preparatory season to receive the precious gift, from God, His son Jesus Christ who was to be born in our heart. We read about the annunciation to Zechariah, then Mary, and then the visitation of Mary to Elizabeth. And last Sunday, Abouna Andrew spoke of the birth of John the Baptist and used him as an example for how we can be like John the Baptist. And today, we are going to......

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08
Dec 2019
John the Baptist - Syriac Orthodox Church

We are almost 3 Sundays apart from Christmas, the birth of Jesus, and today we celebrate the nativity of John the Baptist. We still remember a couple weeks ago when the Angel Gabriel came to John the Baptist’s father, and gave him the annunciation. He also told him something very important: this baby you will have, he will be great in the sight of the Lord. And somewhere else, Jesus himself said “among those born of women, there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist.” In both, we have a......

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24
Nov 2019
Annunciation of the Virgin Mary

I would like to ask a question to all of us – how many of us listen to the news daily? How many hours? A lot. The next question is, how much of this is good news? And, on the other hand, how much of this is bad news? At the end of the day, you may not hear even one bit of good news. Today we read about the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary – translated, the “annunciation” means “the good news.” (Luke 1:26-38) How, as Christians, can we distinguish between......

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17
Nov 2019
Assyrian Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary photo

If you have not paid your annual church dues, we now have a special online site for your tax-deductible donation. Your pledges this year will assist in critical renovations for our church. Adults can make their pledges here, while it is waived for children, students and seniors. Make your pledge online at this link: virginmarynj.org/membership....

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17
Nov 2019
Zechariah and John the Baptist

When we go to church after a long week, facing challenges in our life, we seek comfort, peace and rest in our mind, heart, body and thoughts. And we also seek forgiveness from the Almighty one to wash our hearts, receive His spiritual food – His body and blood – and we can charge our mind. So, we can go through the new week strong, facing our life without any fear. This is what the church is about. And so, the church prepares readings, and we can see the feasts, memorials and......

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27
Oct 2019
The Sermon on the Mount

When we read from Matthew 5, 6, 7, which we call the Sermon on the Mount from Jesus, we know there is nothing more important and significant. And he always said, “You heard…” and follows with “But I say to you…” Usually as a King gives decrees, only the King himself can make the change. In the Old Testament, Moses gave the commandments and the people kept and memorized those commandments. Nobody could change a single figure, until the arrival of Jesus Christ. Jesus, by saying “You heard” and “But I say......

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20
Oct 2019
Syriac Orthodox Church Sermon

When we speak about Jesus, we speak of good things. But when you test yourself through a hard time in your life, or you are not walking according to His word, no matter what you do or what you think, He is thinking of you. We see this in the story of the young man in the Book of Luke chapter 18 There was a young man, a ruler. He had a good social position among his people, and he was a rich young man. He showed Jesus all kinds of respect......

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29
Sep 2019
Rest with the Lord on the sabbath day

We thank God today because when He created the universe, the Bible said on the last day God rested. And by doing this, God taught us people, who He created in His image and likeness, are to follow what He did and also rest from our labor. And today — Sunday — is a day for doing good things and doing merciful actions. Unfortunately, the world is trying to turn the real meaning of the day of the Lord from spiritual meaning to physical meaning. We try to make ourselves Holy, go......

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22
Sep 2019
Pharisees and Sadducees - Syriac Orthodox Church

I was reading a story about a father who wanted to find out how smart his two sons are, and how well he raised them. He gave the same amount of money to both of them to fill a room. The one who filled more would succeed in understanding what he meant. The first one had very big bags filled with sponges, and yet it was not enough to fill the room. The other had nothing but five candles. He turned off the light and filled the room with the light of......

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