This is the first installment in our article series, “An Introduction to the Bondage of the Will,” written to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s Bondage of the Will.
Just like Peter, you don’t need to do anything to earn God’s forgiveness for your soul wounds.
When a congregation is abused by its pastor, it loses more than a shepherd. It loses its threshold place; that fragile seam between earth and heaven.

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This is the second installment in the 1517 articles series, “What Makes a Saint?”
Because Jesus Taught It. By Flame. Concordia Publishing House. Paperback. 205 pages. List price: $17.99.
The doctrine of the Trinity is not so much the story of a “who-dunnit” as it is the story of the “who-is-it.”
What I was missing—what so many are missing—is a Church that doesn’t just speak about Christ, but delivers him.
Every time someone is baptized, every time bread is broken and wine poured, every time a sinner hears, “Your sins are forgiven in Christ,” Pentecost happens again.
They were still praying, trusting, and hoping. Why? Because they knew who was with them and who was for them: the risen Christ.
So Christ is risen, but what now?
In Christ, you are bound. Bound to mercy. Bound to grace. Bound to a God who won’t let you go. And because of that, you are free—gloriously, joyfully free.
Forgiveness from Jesus is always surprising to us.
The church does not await a verdict; she proclaims one.
While I disagree with many things Francis did and believed, I think he deserves credit for this: Francis showed us what Christian leadership can look like.
Every earthly kingdom meets its end. All empires crumble and fall. But from the beginning, the kingdom of God, which Christ would rule, was said to be eternal.