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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The word which justifies by bringing faith in baptism is the same powerful word that recreates, regenerates, and re-births a human being in baptism.
Toy Story is indeed a Christmas story.
The king has arrived and has already begun his reign forever and ever.
God the Father sent us – his wayward, sinful, and naughty children – his own series of Father Christmas Letters.
If Jesus shows up and you are a sinner, ‘tis more blessed to receive than to give
O weary ones, O long-time waiting and watching ones, O ones who are late to the game, he is your rest this busy season, and always.
We will not become hopeless because the Lord is with us.
God is not calling us to “grow up.” He is calling us to dependence.
It is terribly easy to set up our theology as a buffer against the real coming of the Lord and its consequences.
All our sin and shame is answered for in the death and resurrection of our Lord.
We ache in eager anticipation as we see Christ in action and as we take in the snapshots of his life, death, and resurrection.
Weak faith in a strong Christ is still saving faith.