The following entries are excerpts from Chad Bird’s new book, Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of the Psalms (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 311 and 335
Why did the church dedicate a day to St. Michael anyway? Who is he, and what does he do?
The Antichrist offers another continual presence. It is every whisper that tempts us toward autonomy, that tells us to carry it alone, that insists suffering is meaningless.

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The episode of the boy Jesus in the Temple raises questions. It raised questions for Mary (and Joseph) and it raises questions for us.
What we are asked to believe as we ponder the birth of this child is that in his coming, a new creation has dawned.
The best we would have to look forward to, without Jesus, is a society dedicated to addressing problems and working through them.
Luke does not say much else about Anna, especially in comparison to Simeon. But the fact that he mentions her suggests she has something to teach your hearers today.
The Advents of Christ (past, present, and future) elicit faith in the word of Christ, confirmed by his presence.
We don’t have to worry about deserving, earning, or reciprocating his gifts. Our Lord doesn’t give us what we deserve. We are given what he deserves, what Jesus has won for us.
Moses was sent to keep the house in order, but this Child is sent to bring the house home, and you are part of that house, the household of God.
Lutheran theology begins not with God in His terrifying majesty but with God in the flesh, God crucified for sinners. Advent is about this trajectory.
The Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles to put God’s Word into human language has guided and guarded their transmission in the course of human history preserving them for the sake of the Gospel.
Your Christian faith is a bloody faith, and that ought not make you fearful or scared or embarrassed.
Our Advent anticipation of the coming of the Savior to liberate us from sin and its wage of death, from the condemnation of God’s Law and the wrath of a loving heavenly Father, is indeed a daring and defiant stance.
This Messiah is not a continuation—He is the fulfillment and the beginning of something new.