Tag Archive for: homeless

Christmas on Las Lunas

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Armodoxy for Today: The Advent Series – Christmas on Las Lunas

There is a house on Las Lunas, less than a mile from our home, that decorates for Christmas. For as long as I can remember my time in Pasadena, this house has been my favorite Christmas stop. Yes, there was the Balian mansion. Many happy memories were made there, taking visitors from out of town to see the elegant display of lighting. The kids would love it, and vendors knew it. They would line the streets with electronic gadgets, bright lights that would lure the kids to them, and along with the kids came the parents who would dish over a few bucks for these lights that would last for a night before they’d inevitably break while the kids swung them.

The Balian mansion was well manicured. Lights hung in an orderly manner with some traditional colored statues, such as the manger scene, angelic singers, wise men, and the rest of the Lucian entourage. On one side of the mansion was a large billboard with a note printed in large letters. It was from the Balian family, thanking the public for their support of their product, Balian ice cream. This landmark house still stands but the elaborate lights do not shine as bright. I believe the mansion was sold and the new owners did not carry on the lighting traditions.

Did I mention that the mansion and its lightshow was very orderly and refined?

In contrast, the house on Las Lunas is lights, on top of lights. Different sizes and shapes of bulbs. Statues, yes, of the Holy Family, the wise men and Santa Clause, for sure. But also, brightly lit plastic statues of cartooned carolers from Mickey Mouse to Looney Tune favorites. There are even a variety of superheroes hanging around the manger, Batman and Spiderman are peeking from some well-lit shrubs. Electrical outlets and wires throughout the front yard power the lights rolling off the roof stretching to the curb, giving a new meaning for electric blanket.

It is obvious that this is an amateur production, but I guess so was the First Christmas in Bethlehem. I mean, making do with a manger for a crib?

This is a celebration of Christmas both religious as well as secular. And I love it.

Throughout the years I’d take our boys to see the “House on Las Lunas.” More than the house itself, I’d love to see their expressions as they looked at the lights. A few years back, I knew it wasn’t right to enjoy this so much without offering something in return. So that year, and the years following I would carry some cash with me with the hope that I’d see the owner of the house, thank him and offer something to, at the very least, help with the electric bill to provide the power for all of these lights. I never saw him. Even on the off-season, whenever passing by on Las Lunas I’d glance over on the chance I’d see someone in the yard. But no such luck.

Last week, our grandsons, ages 4 and 2, had come over to visit. My wife and I bundled them up, put them in the car and took them over to give them their first glimpse of Christmas on Las Lunas. I took some cash along with me on the possibility, and hope, that we might find the artistic director of the light show. This time, we were in luck.

We arrived at the house and helped our grandsons out of their infant seat’s harnesses. They walked out with wide eyes, taking it all in. Big smiles, not knowing in which direction to go first. Christmas music was playing loud. And then… there he was. The owner of the house and creator of the light show was there with a drill in his hand and an assortment of tools he was working on a small “Santa’s house.” He was putting the final touches on the house for the season.

The kids went in and out of all the lights and arrived at the barn where the Holy Family, wisemen and animals were circled around the manger with the Christ child. Our older grandson looked in and we explained what was happening. His younger brother who has to copy everything his brother does, came and listened attentively. We went walking through the lights and different statues and of course, the kids were excited to find Batman and Spiderman in costume.

The owner was busy with the lights, but this was my chance to show my appreciation for the years of happiness he’s given our family and make an offering of assistance. He was working on the final details. I approached him and introduced myself and our grandsons. I told him that I had been coming to his house for years with my sons and now, the turn was my grandson’s. I choked up as I reminisced. “I just want to thank you for all the happiness and joy you’ve brought to my kids and now my grandkids.”

He smiled and thanked me. He gave me a brief history. His father lived in this house until his death 20 years ago. As a tribute to his father, he decorated the house every Christmas because one of his fondest memories was visiting the Balian mansion as a kid. We exchanged memories under the cold December sky. I was surprised to notice twinkling stars through all this light.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out some money. “I know this costs a lot of money to maintain. I’d like to participate with a small offering to at least take care of the electricity.” He looked at me. I was in the shadow of the light, and he probably didn’t notice a couple of tears swelling up on me, but he probably heard it in my voice.

He said, “I can’t take it. It’s not about me. It’s about him.” He pointed to the manger and the baby Jesus laying in it. “I know what he would want you to do with that money. Please give it to the homeless. There are so many on the streets,” and he pointed to the main street.

I felt the greatest joy at that moment. I couldn’t say much, I was still choked up but I did manage to get out a few words. “I will. I will give this money to the homeless and God bless you.”

This weekend in the Advent Season, the Armenian Church sets its mark on the destination, that is Christmas, by giving the shopping list for the Christ child, the honoree of this Birthday celebration. The shopping list is found in the Gospel of Luke and is given by Jesus himself. It is only proper to ask him his choice of gift and give that which he desires. The Jesus’ words are as follows: When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just. (Luke 14: 12-14)

Muiron: Objects and Curtains with Blessings

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Armodoxy for Today: Muiron participation through a Curtain

The Blessing of Holy Muiron is an event that brings together blessings from the centuries – from the time of Christ – to the present, and in that present we – you and I – stand. As we heard the “noises from the ridge” (yesterday’s lesson), the members of the here and now – you and I – are now part of the living history of the Church.

Several years ago, while I was serving as Parish Priest of the Armenian Church Youth Ministries Center in Glendale, a generous individual donated a new altar curtain to the church. It was ornate and donned two large, embroidered crosses. The curtain we were using had served us well since the time we installed it when we first opened the center. It was made of a heavy upholstery-type material, in a nice dark royal red shade.

When vestments, or items used for the Sacraments, have reached their end-of-life cycle, ordinarily they are disposed of by burning them. But the weight of this curtain was measured by much more than the fabric from which it was made. For ten years it had collected the smoke of the incense and the candles, but its true weight came from the thousands of prayers that had been offered around it. They were filled with the prayers of a community of immigrants who, having come to this new land, shared their thanksgiving as well as disappointments, their fears and their strengths, their faith and their doubts, in conversations with Christ. The prayers of repentant hearts, who knowing their wrongs had turned for forgiveness in a spirit of, “As we forgive those who trespass against us.” This curtain was much too heavy to burn!

The next day, I put out a call to all available sewing machines and their owners to come to the church. A dozen or so ladies arrived with sharp scissors in their hands, sewing machines in tow, and a love for their fellow human being. They cut up the curtain and sewed the edges. The curtain would now live on as individual blankets for our homeless population – the least of our brothers and sisters on the streets. We went down to Los Angeles’ “skid row” and passed out these blankets filled with prayers and incense, knowing the recipients would be comforted and sheltered by a powerful force. And we had the satisfaction of knowing that night, there were homeless individuals walking around the streets as royalty, donning the Armenian Church curtain as a cape and would later fall asleep in its comfort.

Objects carry blessings, manifesting the power of the Holy Spirit. The curtain transferred blessings to the indigents on the streets. The priest holds a cross in his hand and blesses a family or a grave. The woman touches the hem of Jesus’ robe and is healed. (Matt. 9) Jesus makes a paste with his saliva and “anoints the eyes of the blind man with the clay,” and he sees. (John 9). Bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

The Holy Muiron is the oil which carries the blessings of the Holy Spirit.

Today’s prayer comes to us from the sharagan – the hymn of the Armenian Church dedicated to the Holy Spirit: Source of light, distributor of graces, O Spirit, who has come down from on high. You have divided Your incorruptible gifts among the apostles. May I be worthy to receive the same. Amen.

Read an article by the Very Rev. Fr. Zaven Arzoumanian about: A Blessed Fate of the Blessed Curtain

Matagh for a Vow

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Untold stories from the Youth Ministries Center

Today’s episode: Matagh

Armenians have a custom, which is blessed by the Church, of making vows which are paid for by sacrifice to the needy. It is called “Matagh” (Մատաղ). The idea is simple enough, you make a vow to feed the needy for a goodness that has been granted to you. Good health, prosperity, children’s achievements, are some of the reasons, and sharing the goodness with those who suffer is a way of expressing gratitude. The Church blesses this gesture with a prayer over the offering. We believe, God’s blessings shower on those who give. (Acts 20:35)

In the early days of the Youth Ministry Center we met a young man named Haig. He was a Clark-Kent type, in that during the day his work demanded a suit and tie, and in the evenings he’d don is “working clothes” to do some super work: feeding the needy and providing for the homeless. His presence at the Youth Ministry was the perfect fit, especially since we had just started the In His Shoes mission which emphasized our resurrection as a people and the Christian mandate to celebrate by helping others. Imagine that, the once-starving Armenians were now feeding others.

The game plan was this: We’d boil 20 gallons of water. Mr. Mehrabian had furnished us with an industrial kitchen, making tasks like this easy enough. The water would go into large thermoses and into the back of a car. We’d pile into two or three SUV’s or vans, along with boxes of soup-in-a-cup, spoons, and some staple food. We’d head out to downtown Los Angeles’ “Skid Row” where we’d park on a corner and distribute a hot meal, of soup and more. Sometimes we’d take clothes and shoes, from collections we’d organize at the center. We’d make a few stops in downtown, and people would come to the vans.

The contact with the homeless was often strangely festive. There would be casual chatter about life and always ended with a lot of gratitude. We were like a small brigade – we’d arrive to a corner, jump out of the cars and do our work. Everyone had a job: drivers, secure the area, open the soups, pour the water, offer food and bottled water, show clothes and shoes. We’d drive away always with the joy of helping, but with a deep sadness that it was only a temporary fix and we’d be back next week.

Finding volunteers for this homeless run was always easy. Tell them you’d want them to serve on a committee for an upcoming event, you’d get blank stares, ask them to go on a “skid-row run” and we sometimes had to turn away volunteers. We’d start and end each run with a prayer, asking God for strength as we went to meet our brothers and sisters on the street.

One night a man came up to our soup-distribution graciously declined the soup. Instead, he asked two of our volunteers, Anush and Suzie, for a sandwich and “maybe salad.” They explained that the night’s offering was soup and a snack, and even offered to provide the dry soup, ready for a meal tomorrow. Once again, he politely refused the soup saying he didn’t want to take it away from someone who might be hungry.

The kindness we witnessed on the street was exemplary, it’s the kind you point out to your children. “Please,” “Thank you,” “God bless,” were the words we heard, even when we didn’t have what they requested, in this case, a sandwich.

We continued with our distribution, when suddenly a car stopped by our van. “Do you guys need some more food to give away?” yelled out a voice. “We were at Starbucks at closing time and they were giving away their unsold daily food, we figured there’d be people who could use these.” Anush and Suzie responded in unison, “Sure, what do you have?”

“Sandwiches and salads.”

Suzie accepted the goods and Anush found the man in the crowd.  When we came over and we presented him with his requested meal, his reaction was not one of surprise.  He was grateful.  He took the sandwich and salad, and right there, dropped to his knees on the sidewalk, raised the food to the heavens and gave thanks.

Another time a man asked for a size 8.5 shoe.  We tried to find a fit, but a size 9 was the best we could do.  He tried it and it wasn’t a good fit so he thanked us and went his way.  At the next stop we found a person who could use the size 9 pair.  He tried them on.  They were perfect. In trade, he took off his shoes and donated them to us saying someone else could use them. The shoes he gave us were a size 8.5.   We found the first man on the street, brought him the shoes, they were a perfect fit.

Stories like this motivated us and pointed to something greater at play during these distributions. The streets of Los Angeles have since gotten scarier and a few years back the police advised us to stop the distribution. We now distribute at a local shelter, and do so in the name of the Armenian people as a form of matagh.

Join me tomorrow as we explore more stories of faith and community building from our time at the Youth Ministries Center.

Jesus Blankets

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It was 20 years ago today:

Between the years 2003 and 2016 we ran an experiment in an area of Glendale, California known as “Ground Zero,” a place that Armenian organizations had ignored and forgotten, a place where education, identity and prayer came together.

These are the untold stories from the Armenian Church Youth Ministries Center.

Today’s Episode: Jesus Blankets

The Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church is truly a holistic experience engaging all of your senses. The melodies of the hymns captivate the ear (when sung properly). The vestments and shiny brass dance before the eyes. The olfactory senses are alerted with the frankincense. Greeting one another with the “Holy Kiss” calls our touch and feel into play. And of course, the culmination of the Liturgy comes with tasting the Holy and Precious Body and Blood of our Savior. Five of the carnal senses are at play every Sunday in our churches, and many other senses that we feel but shy away from defining. They are all real in the church, though they may not be seen, like the stars that are all around us during bright sunlight.

When we first built our altar area at the Youth Ministry Center we used a very heavy fabric for the curtain. It was a red velvety material with golden colored ropes and brocades. For our little church on the corner it was truly a majestic accent to the otherwise humble offerings around us in the church. It was also fairly difficult to open and close since it resided on a circular metal rod that had to be supported with extra garters because of the weight of the massive curtain. The deacons often pulled and pulled, sometimes in an awkward display of physical energy in front of the congregation. After a couple of years and a few hundred jerks and tugs at the garment, the curtain was showing wear and tear.

One of the members of the church donated new fabric for a lightweight curtain to be sewn. It arrived shortly after the order was place. We decorated the expanse of the curtain with beautiful cross brocades. Most importantly, now the curtain could easily be opened and shut with minimal effort.

While everyone was excited with the new arrival to our church, I had to figure out what to do with the old curtain. I knew old vestments had to be burnt and I figured the same was true of this huge curtain. Through the years, the curtain had absorbed the incense, smoke and prayers of thousands of faithful people whose cares and difficulties were expressed in prayer before this holy altar. The curtain was sacred and could not be put out for curbside pickup. I contemplated a huge bonfire in front of the church, inviting the neighborhood and community for a sacred burning, but the hassle of getting permits from the City of Glendale, which was already annoyed by our presence there, made it easy to opt out of that choice.

That week, during our homeless feed, we were going through the streets of LA’s “skid row” when it hit me! The curtain could be divided into several blankets for our homeless brothers and sisters! And a project was born!

Several women from the Ministry brought over their sewing machines, others brought sewing shears, irons and manual labor. The church was converted into a sewing factor. I swear that there was music playing in the church that day, but I know it was a happy hum of the ladies doing what they knew was right.

They sewed and manufactured 50 blankets from fabric that smelled like incense and the housed the hopes, dreams, prayers and answers of the thousands. These Armenian gifts of hope were cleaned, wrapped and delivered to the residents of the street, with a small note of explanation and a prayer by St. Nersess Shnorhali. It came with the compliments of one group of people who were once homeless, to another group, that they might find hope for a better future.

On our weekly trips through skid row I would keep my eyes open to see if I would spot someone wearing or wrapped up in a piece of curtain or donning it like a cape. I thought what a beautiful expression of Jesus’ command to clothe the naked, to have a person walking the streets with an Armenian curtain, now turned blanket.

I never saw pieces of the curtain again, a tragic reminder as to how large the homeless population is in the City of Angels. That winter, I was sure that there were at least 50 people snug in a sacred blanket unlike any other. From an apostolic era church, the love of Christ was shared on the streets. It was one small miracle that came from the Armenian Church Youth Ministry Center.

Join me tomorrow as we continue with more stories of faith and miracles that were, 20 years ago today.

Extending a Hand to the Extended Hand

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Next Step #355: Reaching for a hand – it can pick you up or you can pick him up – An Armodox look at the Passion of Jesus in terms that tie us to history and today. The 100 Souls project explained – Darfur, Artsakh, Syria, children, women and the homeless – commemorating the Centennial of the Genocide by stopping one now. Would you let this priest repair your brakes? Learning Brake Repair, Brain Surgery and God by reading?
Song: “Heyroor” Parik Nazarian from “Cycle of Life”
100 Souls in His Shoes
100 Year Journey
InHisShoes.org
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