Luther neither removed the Apocrypha from the Bible nor discouraged its use. Rather, he received and preserved the ancient distinction inherited from the fathers: the Apocrypha is valuable, edifying, and worthy of reading, but it is not Holy Scripture and therefore cannot serve as the foundation of Christian doctrine.
The confessors at Augsburg remind us that every generation of Christians is called to bear witness to the gospel amid the challenges and pressures of its own age. As they confessed Christ before emperors and kingdoms, so the Church continues to confess Him before the world today.
When Jesus washes you with baptismal water, you can rest assured that the Lion of Judah is on the move.

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Repentance is meaningless unless we are willing to acknowledge who we are: sinners needing mercy.
The law had to have its way with the expert to bring him around (and back) to Abraham's response.
The sermon takes place in the context of a multi-facetted set of relationships experienced through the weeks and months of being together in congregation and community. Those relationships shape the credibility of the preacher in the pulpit. 
As the writer to the Hebrews affirms, what makes the Christian gospel so much better is that we are no longer dealing with “types and shadows."
Maybe, just maybe, our goal for 2023 should not be to live more but to die more.
That great truth of creedal Christianity – that God is man in Christ – is not set forth for our speculative enjoyment.
Despite our best efforts to avoid him, King Jesus remains very much unavoidable.
Who would ever want all these screamers and haters? It turns out that Christ does.
When and how did the church start this season of anticipation?
For with God we look not for the order of nature, but rest our faith in the power of him who works.
Help comes for those who cannot help themselves. When we bottom-out and come to the end of ourselves, that is where hope springs.
For Christians, Advent is the time when the Church patiently prepares for the coming of the Great King, Jesus the Christ.