This is the first in a series meant to let the Christian tradition speak for itself, the way it has carried Christians through long winters, confusion, and joy for centuries.
The crisis is not merely that people are leaving. The crisis is that we have relinquished what is uniquely Lutheran and deeply needed.
The ethos of the church’s worship is found in poor, needy, and desperate sinners finding solace and relief in the God of their salvation.

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In Scripture, laments are raw expressions of grief, but they always point to hope. What if our culture’s obsession with holiday lights is an unconscious way of crying out, “We need good news, and we need it now”?
If we want a true depiction of the Christmas story, we ought to consider the scandal of the coming of Jesus.
Everything was perfectly teed up to move the needle on the baptism metric, but I just couldn’t do it. I told her she shouldn't get baptized.
I saw a commercial once that said I just have to do whatever it takes to actualize my best me. And it makes sense, really. Doing results in being, cause and effect. Want six-pack abs? Just buy the right product and give your new, healthy lifestyle 110% for 10 weeks and maybe you’ll see results.
How are things at your church? Are people getting saved in droves, are there mass baptisms every Sunday, is giving at an all-time high, and are your members model citizens and pillars of the community?
If everyone would just live by the rules, the world would be a better place, wouldn’t it?
Martin Luther knew something about economics. Well, God’s economics anyway.
Is there ever a time in a Christian’s life when there is less need for grace? Think about it.
Americans love the vicarious sense of pride they get from the odds-defying underdog myth.
Your eternal salvation isn’t dependent on performance or effort. Well, not your performance anyway...
To be human is to be preoccupied with averting pain and despair. But despair gets a bad rap.
In our democratic society we love to talk about freedom. But anybody out there ever tried to be perfect? Ah, shucks. Turns out we’re not as free as we thought.