What do most Orthodox Christians - for that matter most Christians, and perhaps not many Jews - know about Prophet Ezekiel? Perhaps couple of songs learned in childhood, one about wheels in the sky, one a spiritual about them dry bones. Listen in for an informative sermon on the Prophet.

The concept of justification so dominated western Christianity during the period of the Reformation that it is important for us to understand how this image drew lines between, and exaggerated the differences between, Catholics and Protestants, works and faith, that lasted into the 20th century. This is an argument that by and large bypassed Orthodoxy and allowed us to perceive a unity between faith and works. (Romans 5:1-10)

Since Fr. Gabriel considered All Saints at the Vespers on Saturday, on Sunday he turned to the Gospel and specifically to the strange words of Jesus about leaving parents and siblings behind. In our parish, composed mostly of people who have come to Orthodoxy as adults from another tradition or none, this can be a poignant, emotionally piercing, and personal word. Without denying that these words were doubtless addressed to a community on the verge of actual persecution, Fr. Gabriel looks at the potential meaning in the lives of those who have entered Orthodoxy and "left father and mother behind."

Fr Gabriel looks at this festival from the viewpoint of the absence of understanding of story and myth afoot in our culture which so emphasizes science and logic.

Fr Gabriel looks at this story from a different angle this year, that of the Evangelist/Theologian, asking what forces and tensions in his community may have contributed to the way the story is told. He ends with what this might mean for our local communities of faith. (John 9:1-39)

What's this about a place where people were healed? And what about the objections to various kinds of healing on the Sabbath? And what's the problem that this man is unable to receive healing for so long? Fr Gabriel looks into all this and more as we examine the story of the Paralytic from John 5.

This week Fr Gabriel reflects with us on the meaning of St Mary for the life of repentance, drawing out a number of lessons we can and should learn from the life of this great Saint as we know her.

Here's another way to look at this famous text, one that is referenced in every house blessing. Jesus enters under our rooves as he did under the roof of Zacchaeus. But what can this mean? Listen in to Fr Gabriel's exposition of this text which signals the proximity of the Lenten Triodion.

What if everybody in this parable got it wrong? What if it's not only the person who is called "wicked and slothful" (a word we'll come back to) who misunderstands the generous donor? Listen in as Fr Gabriel explores this angle on the parable of the talents.

Fr Gabriel notes the breathtaking sweep that the liturgical readings make from the birth of Jesus to the beginning of his ministry, which demonstrates that the church followed the pattern exhibited in scripture where emphasis is placed on the work and words of the adult Jesus. Fr Gabriel invites us to see the human Jesus as a visionary rabbi who calls people into enacting his vision of the Kingdom of God.