Prayer Beyond the Wish List

Praying for a Mercedes with Janis or an end to the war in Iraq all involve something deeper than a mere conversation. Fr. Vazken discusses a very misunderstood topic: Prayer. Whether you want to hang out at the pool of Bethesda or lament your losses in the stock market, you’ll want to listen in on this Lenten journey brought to you after this year’s Vernal Equinox.

Darfur update – following Gabriel and the StopGenocideNow team

Global Perspective with Hratch Tchilingiran discusses the spiritual dimensions to the global economy and the G20 Summit taking place in London.

Spiritual Bubbles with Ani Burr continues Nerses Shnorholi's Havadov Khosdovanimk (17-20)

Darfur Genocide Escalates

As the Genocide escalates in Darfur, the In His Shoes mission turned its focus to more creative means of activism. This podcast is uniquely dedicated to the Darfur Genocide, but much more, it is about the faith and hope in the power of good. Here, Fr. Vazken guides the listener through an exercise in spiritual and moral warfare against evil. Complacency and indifference are constants that keep us from peace and harmony in our lives as well as on our planet. Martin King equates silence over crime with cooperation of evil, laying the groundwork for the moral-imperative Christians must find in life. This podcast will challenge the listener to move to action in various parts of his or her life. What does a mother pray as she watches her child raped or killed? The outrage over young girls being raped in Darfur, continues as an outrage against our own apathy. This is must listening for everyone who wants to “walk in the shoes of others.”

Global Perspective: Hratch Tchilingirian gives a briefing about Darfur, with historical and analytical angles.

Spiritual Bubbles with Ani Burr: St. Nersess Shnorhali’s “I Confess with Faith” continues (verse 13-16)

Coming Home – the sin of the Prodigal

Building on the theme of Lent, this 3rd week of Lent focuses on the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15). The theme of the podcast is “Coming home.” On this 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against China, Fr. Vazken adds a candle on an Armenian altar as a gesture of solidarity. Listeners are invited to go beyond the story of the Prodigal and see themselves as reflections of the characters – whether the envy of the older brother, the wasteful natures of the younger son, or ideally, in the compassion of the father. Also – the flight of the bumble bee casts a stinger at the honey as a “Lenten food”?
A fitting podcast for the mid-Lent journey.

Spiritual Bubbles with Ani Burr continues Nerses Shnorhali's Havadov Khosdovanim.

Global Perspective with Hratch Tchilingirian. Part 3/3 of Christian minorities in the Middle East. This segment highlights the external problems and pressures, again taking the Armenian community as an example.

Free Will and Responsibility

Building on the themes presented last week, the Lenten Journey continues with a look at Free Will and Responsibility. An Armenian Orthodox look at God presents metaphysical concepts which scrape the surface of space-time as understood in the concept of Love. This is some of the ground work necessary to understand the broader concepts of love and relationship building that will be coming out in subsequent podcasts. The prodigal, steward and judge are stored away for next week’s continuation of the Lenten Journey. Also, an invitation to participate in the annual In His Shoes ‘Famine’ aiding world hunger.

Spiritual Bubbles by Ani Burr: The Prayers of St. Nersess Shnorhali (continued)

Global Perspective with Hratch Tchilingirian: Discusses Christian minorities in the Middle East today with a particular focus on the Armenian communities and issues of identity with a look at school, church, and media. (Part 2/3)

Song: “Orhnyal eh Asdvadz” by the Students of the Vazkenian Seminary, Sevan, Armenia