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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But the Creator of life and breath does not wait for Moses to identify with worthiness.
This blog is a part of our Advent series on the hope we find in, through and given by Christ. Each week’s installment will look at hope from a different perspective with special emphasis on corresponding passages of Scripture.
The sweet aroma of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ overpowers the icy winds that seek to destroy.
Advent is one big answer to the question of free will in matters of salvation. God is free. Our will is bound.
Immanuel is born to rescue all of us weak-hearted, cowardly, self-deceiving children of this world. He comes to set us free in the liberation of His death.
The restoration of everything that is and will be, was always meant to take place in a virgin’s belly, in a manger, at the cross.
With her iPhone, Mary snapped a pic of Jesus in the manger, chose the Clarendon filter, and posted it to her Instagram account.
Christmas wrecks all attempts to penetrate God's hiddenness and seek him out in Heaven. He comes to us clothed in our humanity.
It’s the shadow of death that causes mankind to sit in darkness.
This blog is a part of our Advent series on the hope we find in, through and given by Christ. Each week’s installment will look at hope from a different perspective with special emphasis on corresponding passages of Scripture.
He is and evermore shall be God With Us: though we await His second physical Advent, He is still fully human and fully present in His Word and Sacraments.
It’s the Christmas season, that time of year when families gather together to exchange gifts and spend time with one another.