This is an excerpt from Chapter 6 in Sinner Saint: A Surprising Primer to the Christian Life (1517 Publishing, 2025). Sinner Saint is available today from 1517 Publishing.
On its journey from Byzantium to Constantinople to Istanbul, this special place helps us understand the broader arc of Christian history, which goes on until Christ's return.
We needn’t fear statistics and studies as palm readings into a certain future. God is God, and his Spirit is alive through his Word.

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Christ does not hide his wounds. He offers them.
This is a fine addition to Jon Guerra's growing discography, and I look forward to hearing what new songs his continued contemplations will produce.
The Psalm now is this: as Christ suffered and then was exalted, so we are also in him.
Sometimes the old story is the one we need to hear again and again.
Despite the mathematical incongruity, the church confesses that Christ is one hundred percent human and one hundred percent divine.
In the liturgy, Christ is present, self-giving, and ever-addressing his people.
The story being told in the film is not Bonhoeffer’s story. It’s not the Confession Church’s story. Nor is it the story of the German resistance against Hitler. It is a completely fictional story of Hollywood.
There is no one — not now, not ever — who cannot be included in the family of God through the efficacy of Christ’s saving power.
Jesus, the true Bridegroom, erases that mistake by his own compassionate, saving act. Isn’t this also a picture of the gospel?
By the end of this prayer of wrestling, David finally has the strength to claim victory over his lying enemies.
Peace is ours, even when what seems like the end draws near, because we know who Christ is and we know what Christ has done, and we know that who he is and what he’s done is all for us.
"When God has his say, have confidence that his Word and sacraments bestow precisely what he says."