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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When you step into the Lord’s house, he gives you a liturgical imagination to see with eyes of faith all of his goodness and grace.
What I was missing—what so many are missing—is a Church that doesn’t just speak about Christ, but delivers him.
“The fear of the Lord” is our heart’s awakening to and recognition of God’s outrageous goodness.
How intentional will we be about utilizing gospel spaces that already inescapably communicate?
In the liturgy, Christ is present, self-giving, and ever-addressing his people.
Christians don’t need a bucket list. We’ve got the whole bucket: the Word fulfilled, life fulfilled, and life in full.
The liturgy ensures that the gospel is never something inward, merely a thought or sentiment of the believer.
"When God has his say, have confidence that his Word and sacraments bestow precisely what he says."
The “Chalking of the Door” is a way to celebrate and literally mark the occasion of the Epiphany and God’s blessing of our lives and home.
Symbols throw together a physical artifact we can see, hear, touch, taste, and/or smell, with a truth beyond the tangible.
This is an edited excerpt from Addendum A, “The Church Year,” On Any Given Sunday: The Story of Christ in the Divine Service, written by Michael Berg (1517 Publishing, 2023), pgs. 113-120.
The driving impulse of Lent isn’t so much “giving up” things as it is “putting on” something.