1. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of these early Lutheran hymns – and their physical availability in hymnals – in the piety of common people living in Lutheran towns and territories.
  2. God chose Russell Brand, chose to defy his fast-escaping life and drink up all his swift-running sin in the River Thames.
  3. Five promises were seemingly all those apostles, staring into the sky, had to go on. Five promises that were more than enough.
  4. Elsewhere makes promises that can’t be kept, but God’s promises are secure, reliable, and certain.
  5. It's easy to have courage when things go well.
  6. The Good Shepherd doesn’t leave the sheep to fend for themselves.
  7. A Christian story untethered from the reality of Christ and his mercy toward sinners becomes a mere fable, while a sermon disconnected from the hearts of its listeners remains a hollow oratory.
  8. We can interpret "be the Church" as either law or gospel.
  9. Regardless of background or beliefs, every American I talk to seems on edge, as if the sky were about to fall. But the sky is not falling.
  10. There is no AA for legalists. At least not officially. But there ought to be, and it should be called your local church.
  11. Regularly reading and hearing God’s Word helps us to keep a song in our hearts.
  12. What if the dissonance in this calendrical coincidence can be harmonized into a deeper melody?