Dinner-Date: Ararat from Both Sides
I was once asked by a newspaper reporter, if I could have lunch with anyone in history, living or dead, who would it be? The reporter had asked other clergy and received standard replies and Jesus was at the top of the list. For me, Christ is Love. I know that. Not much more to ask or talk about. Love and love without condition….
No, my choice for a dinner date would be my dad. I’d love to sit with him and find out
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| On the western side of Mt. Ararat. |
what made him tick. How he dealt with juggling family, work, love, mortgage, spirit and obligations, while keeping his sanity. I’d love to ask him how he held it all together, living as an Armenian in America and how he understood identity. Man… there are so many questions I can think of asking dad. Among the first – How does Maxim Vengerov play La Ronde des Lutins – bowing and plucking at the same time and hitting those harmonics? (Even more, I’d just love to listen to this and watch my dad react to the notes with his smile.)
It was with that same wish – to connect to the author of our DNA – that we went on a pilgrimage last month to the base of the most sacred space on Earth: Mt. Ararat. We went to the Republic of Armenia, Artsakh and to historic Armenia on the West side of the holy mountain. What we found there was the the answer to the puzzles of life. We actually found possibilities for peace – both in the world and for us individually – through the sacred spaces we visited, touched and absorbed.
Today was my father’s birthday. It is also the day we begin our 7th year of broadcasting the Next Step. This year we will be focusing on the mystical and sacred spaces that exist in the isolated and land-locked area around the base of Mt. Ararat, known as the Cradle of Civilization. Join me today and every Thursday for the Next Step. It’s like a cool dinner-date, where we talk about life, love, purpose and direction. Listen in at https://epostle.net
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