“The fear of the Lord” is our heart’s awakening to and recognition of God’s outrageous goodness.
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.

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This tale of two professors has a common theme, plot, and denouement - the good news of the one true story, Jesus Christ crucified for you.
What if I’ve used up God’s forgiveness—he’s given me far too many chances and I’ve blown them all. Maybe his grace is for you but not for me. What if Jesus loved me once, but now regrets everything he’s done for me?
Salvation is not simply transactional; it is fundamentally relational. Not anemic, but full-blooded. Not disembodied, but bodied.
God makes all things new. He refashions us from those turned in upon ourselves, turned to idols of our own choice and making, to experience the freedom He gives by pronouncing us His righteous children.
We like to close with something great. We even have a saying for this behavior: “Saving the best for last.” God Himself has a way of saving the best for last.
Epiphany celebrates that we have not been left in our hearts’ cold darkness and this spoiled creation.
John has been preaching a radical vision of God, where God holds people accountable for their sin and calls them to repent. What will Jesus do?
Any good work we perform among you; any doctrine we write upon your heart – that is God’s own work.
To the extent that God is exclusive by offering salvation only through Christ we can say he is more gracious than other systems because he takes on our guilt upon himself while gifting us his righteousness.
We begin in ignorance and we end in ignorance. But, in the midst of our ignorance, Jesus is walking with us.
This story of despair met with the hope of the gospel is rightly told by many during the holiday season.
As Simeon sang, you might lead your hearers in a song of defiant and hopeful confidence to close out a year characterized by death and despair.