American religion did not become optional because the gospel failed. It became optional because religion slowly redefined itself around usefulness.
The Passover wasn’t just Israel’s story; it’s ours.
God makes us pure saints by planting us back in the earth we imagined we needed to escape.

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This week we will take a closer look at God's love in Scripture.
This sermon was originally given at Luther Seminary chapel on May 20, 1986.
Love is pointing to Jesus who said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
Rightly distinguishing between law and gospel, as Paul helps us see in 2 Corinthians 3, is, quite literally, a matter of life and death.
Even as he was dying, the heart of God poured itself out for the sake of sinners.
I think the problem with the idea of eternity is that we do not have any direct experience of it, but we encounter enough of its possibility to be unsettling.
The law had to have its way with the expert to bring him around (and back) to Abraham's response.
The usual acclamation when one becomes King is: “Long live the King!” But this King of kings, this son of David, has come to die.
God resolves his wrath through the unexpected giving of his Son.
Maybe, just maybe, our goal for 2023 should not be to live more but to die more.
Toy Story is indeed a Christmas story.
That great truth of creedal Christianity – that God is man in Christ – is not set forth for our speculative enjoyment.