Tag Archive for: Superbowl

Getting Greatness

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Armodoxy for Today: Getting Greatest

The Superbowl is much more than a football game, it is an annual display of athletics and dramatics, from the celebrities who attend, to the celebrities who perform at the half-time event.

The Superbowl is now over and one team has been declared as the greatest. Roughly 76,000 people attended in person and millions watched it as a broadcast on television and streamed over the internet. Interspersed throughout the game, creative and unique commercials debut during time-outs and breaks in the play.    If you were there in person, you may have spotted the President of the United States and if you watch on television you may have caught my boss being featured on one of the commercials. The ad in question starts off with guitar strums and a vocal by Johnny Cash, singing “Personal Jesus.” The question that came on the screen is this: What is Greatness? Next, pictures of people helping people in all types of situations fade from one to the next. People reaching out, hugging, engaging one another in times of need. And a slide appears with the words, “Jesus showed us what greatness really is.” Without getting preachy, the commercial ended with a message that “Jesus gets us. All of us.”

This is the third year that that the Christian website, He Gets Us, set up a beautifully orchestrated campaign of pictures and sayings of Jesus to bring the point home that He gets us! It’s a simple message that Jesus is alive and well and talking to the world today. And this year’s message was especially poignant: Jesus showed us what greatness really is: it’s in the serving and caring of others. And people listened ! I know because last year, immediately after the ad aired, both sides of the political spectrum – the left and the right – criticized the advertising of Jesus in this manner. Yes, just as he did 2000 years ago, so too now, Jesus is shaking up the establishment. On a day when the “greatest” team and players are singled out as champions, Jesus gives us a message of finding greatest in given, sharing, serving, in one word, loving others.

The challenge now comes to us. If Jesus “gets us” we need to “Get Him!”

Let us pray, “O Jesus, You humbled Yourself, as Lord and Creator, You came to give us an example of serving others, and doing so in humility. Help me to get you. Help me to put my ego to one side so I may help and care for others in humility and in kindness. Amen”

Super Sunday II

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Armodoxy for Today: Super Sunday

It’s that time of year again. It’s Super Sunday! Everything gets put on hold for this Sunday. Hostages are still being held, wars are still be fought, rogue nations are still developing plutonium for bombs, and on the streets, fentanyl is destroying lives and politics continues to divide families, communities and the nation. But for a few hours on Sunday, at least here in the United States, two of the best football teams will battle it out for the championship title. Everything else will be forgotten for those few hours as the Superbowl takes center stage and puts the world on hold.

The Superbowl is a multi-billion-dollar operation. The average cost of a ticket is close to $7,000, even though the best seats are relatively inexpensive considering that the game is televised and streamed on many platforms throughout the world, affording fans an opportunity to huddle together with friends and acquaintances to share chips, dips, bar-b-cues, and drinks that make the Superbowl another opportunity for comradery and partying.

Businesses and companies have studied and know the power of this event. They will spend millions to grab your attention during the Bowl game. This year they will be spending $15Million for a minute of advertising. Think about about how many bottles of beer, or how many potato chips, or how many policies a company has to sell to recoup an investment of that size. The mere fact that they advertise at the Superbowl tells you that they have thought about how many cans of soda they have to sell and they know their investment will pay off.

It’s simple business practice: It takes money to make money. And Jesus brought it down to this: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

In Armodoxy we refer to this Sunday as Super Sunday as well, but in reference to another event.  It’s the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s celebrated every Sunday and so we refer to every Sunday as a Super one. The Resurrection is the event that overshadows every other event in human history. Unlike the football game (which is actually the story of a ball going from one team to another, from one side of the field to the other for a few hours)… everyone has an opportunity to win, everyone has a best seat in the house, and everyone can invest in it for a large return.

“I am the resurrection and the life,” says Jesus, “The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)

Happy Super Sunday.

A prayer from St. Gregory of Datev, O Mighty one, You formed in lordly fashion the complete natures of all things out of nothing, of all beings, of all existences out of no existence. Through you shall all these your creatures be renewed at the resurrection, in that time which is the last day of this life and the first day in the land of the living. The first-born Son, being your kin and of the same essence of the Father, obeyed you also with oneness of will, as he did his Father. While in our likeness, he proclaimed you as true God, equal and consubstantial to his mighty Father. He declared blasphemy against you to be unforgivable and he stopped the impious mouths of those who rebel against you, as of those who fight against God, though he forgave blasphemy against himself, the righteous and the spotless one, finder of all, who was betrayed for our sins and rose for our justification. Glory to him through you, and praise to you with the Father almighty, unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Jesus: Get him?

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Armodoxy for Today: Get Jesus?

Are you going to tune into the Superbowl this Sunday? If you’ll be watching on TV you’ll have an advantage over those attending the game, because the head of our Church will have a commercial spot during one of the breaks.

The Super Bowl is an event unparalleled in the United States. It attracts a wide variety of people to an annual display of athletics and dramatics. Much more than a football game, the Super Bowl has become a phenomenon with its high-priced tickets and astronomical advertising fees. Let’s get the statistics out of the way first. The average price of a ticket is about $9,000, the stadium holds 65,000+ people, the cost of advertising is $7,000,000 for 30 seconds (yes, that’s a half-a-minute) of airtime, and an estimated 113,000,000 people will view the game on TV and live streams.

The theatrics of the Super Bowl are not limited only to the half-time-show. Actors and celebrities are commissioned to sell everything from alcoholic drinks to food products, from invisible wireless services to very visible luxury vehicles. Of course, it’s all calculated on the returns. If an advertiser is going to spend $7Million for 30 seconds, be sure that they’ve calculated the return will be many times over. That’s good business and has been the business of Super Bowl advertising, until now.

The product? Jesus!

Last year, a Christian website, He Gets Us, set up a beautifully orchestrated campaign of pictures and sayings of Jesus to bring the point home that He gets us! And there’s a good chance they’re going to do it again this year. On a week where Jesus is celebrated by the actions of the warrior and the priest, Saints Vartan and Leon, these commercials make it clear that Jesus is alive and well and talking to the world today. And people are listening! I know because last year, immediately after the ad aired, both sides of the political spectrum – the left and the right – criticized the advertising of Jesus in this manner. Yes, just as he did 2000 years ago, so too now, Jesus is shaking up the establishment.

So they spent $20Million on a minute-and-a-half of advertising and what is their return? In proclaiming that Jesus “Gets us” the purpose (or the calculated return) is to challenge us to “Get Him!”

This coming Sunday is Super Sunday, not because two football teams will carry, throw and kick a football from one side of the field to the other. It’s Super Sunday because God loved us so much that he wanted to get us and so He sent His very best, His only Begotten Son. This Sunday is the “Day of Good Living” followed by the Lenten Season which begins on Monday. Lent is about how we “Get Him.” Yes, God understands us. Yes, “Jesus gets us.” Now the challenge is ours: do we get Him?

The forty-day period of Lent begins with an invitation to “Get Him.” The Armodox practice of abstaining from animal products in our diet and increasing our time in private prayer and acts of charity sets us on a course to meet the Resurrected Lord, at Easter and to take Him with us into our lives. In other words, 40 days of Lent prepares and arms for the 325 days of the year that follow. Get it? If you do, then you’ll be challenged to “Get Him.”

Let us pray, “Lord, I thank you for hearing my prayer and understanding me. As I prepare for the Lenten Season, open my heart to Your love, so that I may grow spiritually, to hear your answers and how Your Word touches my life every day. In Your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen”

Cover: 2023 Luna & Gregory Beylerian

The Water Ad

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Armodoxy for Today: The Super Bowl Ad you missed

This week before the beginning of Great Lent starts with a passage from the Gospel of St. John, where Jesus says, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (Luke 7:37-38)

Jesus’ offer is unique in that He is a fountain from which we can quench our thirst, but He also empowers us, so that “living water” flows from us.

Think about this as a product. There are many brands of designer waters these days, some touting special pH levels that can bring about health benefits. Other brands are locale based, with treats from Arrowhead, the Alps and even Iceland. And all carry hefty price-tags in comparison to the similar looking stuff that comes out of the kitchen faucet. Now, think about the “Living Water” described by Jesus: A water that quenches thirst and then empowers you with “rivers” of flowing water. How much would that be worth?

The Sunday on which this passage of scripture is read in the Armenian Church often coincides with Super Bowl Sunday. If ever there was a market for the thirst-quenching drinks, the Super Bowl audience seems to fit the bill. In 2023, the average cost for advertising on the Super Bowl was $7Million a half a minute! And companies that advertise on the Super Bowl have the financials figured out, that is, if they’re going to buy a 30 second spot on the Super Bowl for $7Million, be assured that they are assured that sales will offset the cost of advertising. How many bottles of beers must be sold to pay off a half-a-minute ad? How many soft drinks must be sold to cover the bill of advertising? Whatever the number, we know that these companies are not losing money. They are investing in their product, as they should. It is a product they believe in, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” says Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

The challenge before us today is to invest in the drink from the living fountain that will give living water. The investment is with your most precious commodity, you! Read the passage of the day again (John 7:37-39). Jesus offers to quench our thirst and to empower us as a source for Living Water. As we unravel this week with its messages of saints and sacraments, we prepare ourselves for the beginning of the Great Lent season. It is a time of spiritual growth and Christian living. I’m asking you to buy the product. You will taste and know the difference because it quenches thirst like nothing else.

Let us pray, “Fountain of immortality, help me to grow in your love. I come willingly to drink from you. I thirst and I have heard your call. Accept me as I am. I am on the journey of life and seek the water you offer. Amen.”

Cover photo: Lake Van, 2019 Fr. Vazken

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