Fr. Joseph presents a snip of material that he and Steve Robinson are working on at the St George Cathedral (Wichita) men's retreat in Victoria, Kansas.

Fr Joseph rants and runs for cover—raising concerns, but not hands (please).

You might not be a Jedi in the Fast, but you may be speaking Wookiee and not even know it! The struggling faster Fr. Joseph calls in the big lightsabers for help: The Mamas & the Papas, The Boss, John Williams, Mississippi John Hurt, Scarlett O'Hara, and Chewbacca.

A silly visit from the "Easter Bunny" leads to a serious exposé of "Spring Celebration Customs," the bunny basket, and the Pascha basket—even red eggs—in this timely encore episode.

Fresh from a week at Camp St. Raphael, Fr. Joseph "heard the news of the day—O Boy!"

What do y'all think of the name St Elvis Orthodox Church? Okay, how about Father Elvis? Er ... can we at least have a church and priest in Tupelo?

The legend of Sunshine Boy and his lesson in humility.

Say what? Listen to this whimsical story about book sales, fake creatures and the birth of The Church.

The legend of Subdeacon Andrew and how to obtain an Orthodox mind.

Honk 40 times if you are Orthodox!

Who knew they were a protected species? Apparently not St. George!

Fr. Joseph discusses his introduction to, and the Church's teaching about, St. Joseph the Betrothed.

So tell us, Father Joseph—just how did the Resurrection of our Lord get mixed up with bunnies, chocolate, and eggs?

In this episode Fr. Anthony Perkins and Fr. Gregory Jensen have a conversation about how a person's personality type (e.g. extravert vs. introvert) affects their priestly service. This conversation is followed by two codas during which they talk about life, the universe, and everything (to include the problem with doing everything on the cheap).

In this episode, Fr. Anthony thinks back over the his first ten years as a priest, focusing on the roles perseverance, good role models/mentors, and a healthy marriage have had in redeeming his time as a "baby priest."

In this episode, Fr. Anthony uses the image of the pattern (as found in Genesis, Isaiah, the Gospel of St. Matthew, and the Amber series of Roger Zelazny) to help explain our calling to bring the Logic of the Center to the chaos of the edges. Enjoy the show!

In this episode, Fr. Anthony talks with Fr. Harry Linsinbigler about some lessons learned from the Nativity and Theophany season and why Royal Hours are not celebrated on weekends. In addition to being a parish priest, Fr. Harry is the Canonist for the UOC-USA and prepares its Ustav (liturgical calendar and order of services). Enjoy the show!

In this episode, Fr. Anthony interviews Fr. John Peck, the Dean of Great Marty Euphemia Orthodox Theological Academy. Fr. John shares his assessment of the biggest challenges Orthodox parishes face in America and the ways that this new academy seeks to help them face them. The academy is not designed to replace seminary education or compete with traditional Orthodox seminaries. Rather, it is designed to fill a real need Fr. John and other priests have found in their ministries: the equipping of the saints for ministry.

Fr. Anthony and Fr. Gregory continue their discussion on personalities and the priesthood, focusing primarily on the attributes/predispositions of agreeableness and openness. Along the way they end up talking about Jung, Flannery O'Connor, and Jordan Peterson. Enjoy the show!

GGWB gave its time in this episode over to its sponsor: Anaxios Gifts! From the Tin-Foil Skufia to a book of feel-good homilies to the "Beards of Love" charity, Anaxios has it all! Tired of acrimonious debates about patriarchal show downs? So were we, so we went double-dog silly on this one. Operators are standing by; enjoy the show!

This conversation with Bill Black, OCMC Missionary to Kenya, was recorded during the International Orthodox Theological Association conference in Iasi, Romania (9-12 January 2019). Bill gave a talk on this subject at the conference and was gracious enough to take time away from the sessions to talk about it for the podcast. Enjoy the show!

Listen as Fr. Anthony talks with Dn. Nicholas Denysenko, the Emil and Elfriede Jochum Professor and Chair at Valparaiso University, about his 2018 book The People's Faith; the liturgy of the faithful in Orthodoxy. Among other things, they discuss why it is important to listen to - and not just teach - the people and what can be learned when we do so (hint: it's more than an opportunity to figure out how to improve our catechesis). Enjoy the show!

Today, Fr. Anthony talks with Fr. Gregory Jensen, PhD, about the difference between isolation and solitude, how to cultivate transcendent introspection, the difference between pastoring and controlling, and the challenge of baptizing authoritarian tendencies. This is a recording of Fr. Anthony's livestream. Enjoy the show!

In this episode, Fr. Anthony continues the themes from his discussion with Fr. Gregory Jensen on transcendent introspection and a good test of our relationship with Christ (and complexity): can we love President Trump AND Antifa? This is a recording of Fr. Anthony's livestream. Enjoy the show!

In this episode, Fr. Anthony talks with Dn. Michael about three ideal types of parish music; choir, kliros, and congregational. They discuss their attributes, what is required to sustain them, and the way each brings glory to God in its own way. Enjoy the show!

On the Sunday after Theophany (Ephesians 4:7-13; Matthew 4:12-17), Fr. Anthony offers a meditation on Christ's command to "repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," focusing primarily on the fundamental role of repentance in discernment and pastoral care. Enjoy the show!

Fr. Anthony talks with Fr. Gregory Jensen, PhD, about how NOT to elicit repentance during confession, some of the differences between confession, interrogation, and therapy, and why love and trust are foundational to the process of reconciliation. Enjoy the show!

The Guru as a Dysfunctional Archetype with Anthony and Fr. Gregory Jensen, PhD, about guruism, why it is dangerous, and how to avoid it. Enjoy the show!

Elissa expresses how important it is to be honest and humble when teaching children, freely showing our imperfections.

Elissa details what she and her parish learned when FOCUS North America's Youth Equipped to Serve (YES) came to visit Austin, Texas.

Elissa demonstrates how talking about St. John the Forerunner can be a great way to illustrate and understand the roles of the prophets and the saints all at once.

The four Gospels offer different perspectives and even different stories on our Lord. Elissa uses this situation as the basis for a family retreat during Great and Holy Friday.

Fr. Michael reflects on a recent public-transit pilgrimage.

Fr. Michael shares from St. Isaac the Syrian, "How one speaks of spiritual things is perhaps more important than the very spiritual matters themselves."

Fr. Michael talks about the Orthodox Church understanding of Paradise and our encounter with Paradise.

Probably the most controversial teaching of St. Isaac the Syrian is his teaching on Gehenna, or hell. Homily 27 begins with the following statement and explanation of St. Isaac’s thoughts on sin, Gehenna, and death: "Sin, Gehenna, and death do not exist at all with God, for they are effects [or acts], not substances."

One of the greatest frustrations in my spiritual life has been caused by a passion for certainty. You might call it a need to know, a need to know what God is doing in my life, a need to have some explanation for or feeling for why my life is the way it is right now. When I don’t know—or when I don’t have some explanation that I can tell myself is the reason why things are happening to me and around me the way they are happening—if I don’t have something I can say to myself that gives reason and explanation to the pain and apparent arbitrariness of my experience, then because I don’t know, I have a great deal of inner turmoil. And it often happens that the inner turmoil of not knowing—or not thinking that I know—why things are the way they are or what God is doing in my life and in the lives of those around me through the painful, unfair and unbearable circumstances I or we are experiencing, the pain of this not knowing is more tormenting than the actual suffering I experience from the circumstance.

Maybe it’s just the weather: Cold rain, wind and fog. Repeat. If there is any lesson I have learned while praying in the rain, while I have tried to pray in the damp, dreary mess that is my life, if there is any one thing I have learned it is this: God is where I am, not where I wish I were or think I should be; God is near the brokenhearted; God has mercy on sinners.

I was speaking to an eighteen year old recently who told me about her bucket list: things she wanted to do before she dies. At the time, I didn’t think much about it. In fact, it seemed rather mature of her to have such specific goals. However, as I have thought about it, I’ve begun to suspect that having a bucket list is a symptom of a particular disease in our culture. What we do does not define who we are, it manifests who we are.

I feel a little crazy sometimes, like an idiot—not a godly, holy idiot, just a plain, old-fashioned idiot: the kind that boasts of humility and speaks about the virtue of silence.

Those whose minds are set on the good and the holy, tend to see goodness and even the glory of God in just about everyone they meet. A holy man or woman feels compassion and love for everyone, even those who to most of us seem to have nothing about them worthy of love or compassion. They can see the glory of God in a very broken human being because they themselves have been illumined and shine with God’s glory.

Fr. Michael Gillis uses a gardening analogy to discuss dealing with the deep-rooted sins in life.

For all that Christ accomplished for our salvation at Pascha, it remains still for us to receive it. And for us to receive the resurrected Life, we have to thirst for it. All of the blessings and gifts and graces of heaven are ours through Christ, but God will not force them on us. God will only give us the heavenly gifts if we thirst for them.

We have to remember the mighty things God has already done in our life. We have to remember that whatever good we may have done is also a mercy. We could have just as easily done wrong, just as easily gone the wrong way, just as easily said the wrong thing. It is God’s mercy that has saved us, and it is God’s mercy that will save us again, not our ability to figure it out.

On October 8, we commemorate two Sts. Pelagia of Antioch. The first is a virgin martyr, and the second is a repentant harlot, sometimes referred to as St. Pelagia the former courtesan of Antioch.

There are many kinds of waves in the chaotic world we live in. Sometimes the waves are pushing to the left. Sometimes the waves push to the right. Really, there is no rhyme or reason to it. In fact, part of what can drive you crazy is how unreasonable life in this world is. Like the waves on the ocean, it all depends which way the wind is blowing. And the wind that influences the political and social realities of this fallen world is the spirit of the age, the spirits of wickedness that dwell in the air (Ephesians 6:12).

Fr. Stephen begins his verse by verse study in the Gospel according to St. Luke. This first episode give an introduction to the book. (Please note that the first 2 episodes will not have the same high quality audio as all of the subsequent ones.)

Fr. Stephen De Young introduces the Epistles of St. Peter and Jude.

Fr. Stephen De Young begins the discussion of St. Peter's First Universal Letter.

Fr. Stephen De Young continues the discussion of 1 Peter.