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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Is it possible to celebrate Thanksgiving every time we come together as God’s people as well?
It is in your lows where Christ has hidden his highest high, eternal life itself.
What I like about Giertz’s approach is the devotional nature of these commentaries. He’s a pastor concerned with what these texts have to say to us today.
Jesus meets us in our life of lies, in our falsehoods, in the untruth of our being, and in the company, we create to cover up our nakedness.
When we — sinful, reprehensible we — become the enforcers of justice, we never bring about true justice. We either go too far or not far enough.
Jesus came from the heights of heaven above to the depths of earth below to rescue and redeem his long-lost love.
Bo Giertz attained infamy in Sweden for a humble adherence to unpopular, orthodox practice and doctrine.
Our Lord is not only the King of creation but the King of creativity.
Preaching is the first line of defense and catechetical offensive against these corrosive falsehoods.
God’s word is creative in both the imaginative sense and the constructive sense. It brings things into existence and displays new ideas, images, and concepts we did not previously perceive.
What is it to perform the Word? Is it to speak about it, to retell it, to illustrate it, to enlighten it? What?
In a time of unknown, the Flanigans found comfort in the words of the prayer book and made them truly their own.