Wade Johnston, Life Under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis: MO, 2025.
This ancient “tale of two mothers” concerns far more than theological semantics—it is the difference between a God who sends and a God who comes.
This story points us from our unlikely heroes to the even more unlikely, and joyous, good news that Jesus’ birth for us was just as unlikely and unexpected.

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For the Christian, the iron gate of death was opened by the blood of Christ and the empty tomb.
When we fail, our first impulse is the same as that of our spiritual ancestors: to sprint headlong into the bushes.
Just like Peter, you don’t need to do anything to earn God’s forgiveness for your soul wounds.
The following entries are excerpts from Chad Bird’s new book, Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of the Psalms (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 311 and 335
To confess Christ crucified and risen as the only hope in a world that has lost its mind to wickedness and rage.
You’re permitted to call on “Our Father, who art in heaven” at all hours of the day and night with whatever you like.
The following entries are excerpts from Chad Bird’s upcoming book, Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of the Psalms (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 32, 52.
We need redemption, and we receive it in our church community through God’s Word.
We don’t flinch at sin. We speak Christ into it.
As soon as people understand what crucifixion means, the cross becomes offensive.
You are a soul. Not an algorithm. Not a hashtag. A soul knit together by a God who does not mock, does not abandon, and does not lie.
God chooses to clothe himself in promises and hides himself in his word.