When we consider our own end, it will not bring us into a final wrestling match with the messenger of God, but into the embrace of the Messiah of God.
What do such callings look like? They are ordinary and everyday.
This is the third 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.

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Grace comes for every foolish, self-absorbed sinner, for every “Nabal,” and announces that there is one who has already taken it upon himself to shoulder all of our wrongdoing, paying the price for it through the sacrifice of himself.
As Luther said, “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf of spring.”
The Parable of the Lost Sheep bursts through the confines of convention and demands that we embrace the messiness of life and the unpredictable ways in which God's grace and forgiveness operates.
God is the end of living, the destination, the point of it all.
The Lord’s prayer is a prayer in perfect accord with the will of God, and Jesus gifts it to us to plagiarize at will.
Luther's emphasis on the need for sinners to have preachers who can provide them with the comfort and support they need for their faith in Jesus Christ and life is as relevant today as it was in his time.
Walther’s living legacy is his enduring teaching on how to distinguish the law and the gospel in the Church’s proclamation.
Christ's words of exclusive salvation are not just a warning but a sure promise for you.
How can we be sure that we are getting a “solid spiritual diet” and not a “milky” one?
In the sacrament, we receive an earnest of that future promise here and now in the body and blood of Jesus given and shed for us.
As I look back, I choose to remember her as a soul redeemed by Christ.
This is an excerpt from part two of “On Any Given Sunday: The Story of Christ in the Divine Service” by Mike Berg (1517 Publishing, 2023).