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b'Today in the Orthodox Church is known as both the Sunday before the Nativity and the Sunday of the Genealogy. The Gospel lesson taken from Matthew 1:1-25 and the Epistle from Hebrews 11:9-10,32-40 both account for us the genealogy of Christ and all those who came before Him. Father Gregory shares with us an inspiring message about how faith is an action, beginning with Abraham and the faith he had in God and His promises. He focuses on the Epistle reading of the day and chooses the story of Gideon from the book Judges as an example of a man who put his faith into action making it tangible and seen. The Apolytikion of the day says that magnificent are the accomplishments of faith and from the Epistle we hear that faith suffers great things, as in temptations and trials, which is tangible proof of our faith as we suffer in the hope of God\\u2019s promises. Faith lives as if the things it hopes for are more real than the things of this world.'