The women at the tomb were surprised by Easter. Amazed and filled with wonder at Jesus' Easter eucatastrophe. And so are we.
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.

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Jesus lives to intercede. So we needn’t bring him our feigned righteousness or our faux rehabilitation.
Repentance means being cut down by the law’s declaration of judgment. It’s not an activity we do to prepare for grace, but a point of despair worked by God himself.
There is joy in Lent, but it is the kind of joy that comes in being made whole.
Jesus enters this world’s darkness and brings us the life-giving power of God’s light.
Because of my Advocate, there is no judgment or condemnation by God in my suffering.
At times, our Church struggles with clutter which distracts us from what is most important: Listening to our Lord and gathering at His table where we are fed.
Repentance comes on account of suffering, loss, failure, and death. It happens when the promise of forgiveness of sin given in Jesus’ death is proclaimed to us down-and-outers.
Yes, Adam and Eve both participated in sin. This was a joint effort of the two genders of mankind. They are both sinners. But the first sin wasn't letting the serpent in the garden.
Make no mistake, the life to which Jesus is calling His disciples is radically other than what our world preaches.
The forgiveness of your sins and your reconciliation with God the Father courtesy of Christ’s cross and blood is gifted to you, for you.
We cannot scan any random passage of Scripture and automatically assume the words are unconditionally addressed to us. Often, very often, they are not.
Ash Wednesday, is meant to remind us we have a death problem. All living things made from the soil shall return to it.