On the weekend of April 4th to 6th, the St. John Church SF ACYO was blessed to participate along with Fr. Mesrop Ash in the ACYO Spring Retreat held at the beautiful HyeCamp in Dunlap CA.

If you haven't had a chance to visit it yet, it is definitely a must for any Armenian Christian in the Western Diocese. The weather was sunny but chilly; it had snowed a few days ago and there were small patches of snow leftover, which of course were used for spontaneous snowball fights. Over 50 ACYO youth attended the retreat, along with many wonderful volunteers, who were spiritually led by Fr. Mesrop Ash and Fr. Avedis Abovian.

The first evening began with an ice breaker, with the ACYO youth laughing and feeling more comfortable with each other. This was followed by a meal and an overview from Fr. Avedis of the weekend’s theme: “Rooted & Resilient: Navigating Faith, Friends, and Responsibilities.” The youth were then free to enjoy the rest of the night with various activities. These activities included playing card games, making bead bracelets with religious sayings on them, dancing to Armenian music, and sitting by the fire having deep conversations of faith resulting in personal spiritual growth. The most powerful part of this evening was the unscheduled evening service led by Deacon Emin Matevosyan. Around 30 participants gathered under the clear crisp night sky to conduct a service in which we first rebuked the devil then thanked the Lord for the day and night that was given to us. What struck me the most was that all of these youth willingly joined the service. This warmed my soul as a Youth Director. As Youth Directors, we strive for our youth groups to share and participate in their faith, especially on their own and not by being prompted.

Saturday started with breakfast in the Mess Hall and was followed by 2 discussions. In the first discussion, Fr. Avedis spoke about our identity as a group and as individuals. He dove deep into the differences between the self and ego, and about compassion as a state of being rather than an action. He explained how the parts of us that sin are separate from who we truly are, and we shouldn’t define ourselves and our qualities by our sins. Fr. Mesrop followed up discussing how spirituality is religious and the tools we have to live a spiritual life are offered by our traditions.  

Following the first discussion, we broke out into four groups with different leaders: the junior boys were led by Fr. Mesrop Ash and myself, the senior boys were led by Fr. Avedis, the junior girls were led by Nareh Abovian, and the senior girls were led by Pasadena’s Youth Director, Victoria Amran. Each of these discussions followed up on the previous discussions, but were tailored to their age and the challenges they face. After lunch we came together to share our findings. One key take away was that in continuing our faith, we are not meant to go about it alone. We are all a band of Christian brothers and sisters and we are meant to share and worship together. Additionally, we discussed another tool to help us lead our spiritual life: private confessions.

After that final discussion, we had free time before dinner. Some youth went fishing at the lake, played basketball, met 1-on-1 with the priests, and others chatted with friends. The best part of the day was the moment when around 10 youth and myself sat on the dock and led their own discussions of faith. We talked about our responsibility of taking care of God’s beautiful creation: this earth and how it is our Christian role to take care of it. We talked about the loudness of God in the silence and I discussed that they are leaders who have a huge impact on this world. I also reminded them that God made them to shine in their own way with their own God given talents. The evening wrapped up with dinner and an evening service and sermon led by Fr. Avedis and Fr. Mesrop, which emphasized that the entire weekend was to help prepare us for something beautiful; the Divine Liturgy which was to take place the following morning. To conclude the night, the youth went stargazing, playing night basketball, and held even more deep conversations by the fire about faith, the future of ACYO, and how our faith has prospered by God’s grace.

Sunday morning began with the Divine Liturgy where our youth participated as deacons, altar servers, choir members, and congregation. The entire weekend had led up to this point, which showed each one of us the blessing of the liturgy and how it directly impacts our life as Christians. We had breakfast and started the sad task of packing our things knowing we would soon have to leave. After many hugs, tears, and random dance parties to our music, we departed down the mountain looking forward to the next time we can all be together.

My key takeaways from the weekend are as follows: it will all be ok. The next generation of Armenian Christians are more passionate than ever about their faith. From knowing about the early origins of our faith, to our practices and rituals, they are all dialed in. They are also compassionate souls who care about others, show love and grace, and are not afraid of being bold in our faith. Our Diocese and our faith are in good hands for the future. Our main priority as the older generation is to continue to guide and nurture these individuals. They will lead the Church where it needs to be: full of humility and grace. The lessons of this weekend will hopefully stay with me and guide me as well on my journey. Thank you for listening and allowing me to express my love from that weekend.

God Bless,

Dn.  Charles Cherezian

Youth Director, St. John Armenian Church SF