This is an excerpt from Chapter 6 in Sinner Saint: A Surprising Primer to the Christian Life (1517 Publishing, 2025). Sinner Saint is available today from 1517 Publishing.
On its journey from Byzantium to Constantinople to Istanbul, this special place helps us understand the broader arc of Christian history, which goes on until Christ's return.
We needn’t fear statistics and studies as palm readings into a certain future. God is God, and his Spirit is alive through his Word.

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In His grace, Jesus promises that all who come to Him in faith will live abundantly and eternally.
When the One who created the world comes to you, there is reason for courage and never reason to fear.
Because Jesus turns desolate, dying places into holy landscapes of life.
What Luther is doing in his Catechism is teaching how the gospel is an action of the whole Trinity, not just one of the persons.
Christ strikes a blow first against the presumption of those who would storm their way into heaven by their good works.
I would understand if you were a bit offended. This looks more like Game of Thrones than the Kingdom of God.
Jesus will bring good news, send His disciples to bring good news, and, in His death and resurrection, become good news for all.
“Poverty of spirit” is not an ethical value we strive for. It is an act of God’s mercy spoken to the deepest recesses of our soul when it’s overwhelmed by God’s grace.
The people you serve are still hanging on by a thread, which is another way of saying they are living by faith.
The story of Juneteenth is one of living between proclamation and emancipation, and the story of the Christian faith is one of living in that same tension.
We continue to run the race, knowing the victory has been won and given to us through Christ Jesus.
It is not her sacrifices that define Jane's faith, but her belief in the one who sacrificed for her.