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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I apologize for my part in making Christmas necessary. I have learned that Christ is NOT the reason for the season, I am.
The incarnation was universal, irrespective of nationality, race, or even Christmas tradition.
Do any of you have one of “those” kids? Every family should have at least one. They humble you.
Is a god fully understandable and explainable according to the finite logic and world we inhabit, is that a god one can trust and truly believe?
I’m a life-long New Yorker, and I have the pleasure of working minutes from the neighborhood I grew up in as a boy.
As we enter into this year’s Advent season, this blog is a part of our 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.
In the beginning, we read about the invention of religion. It begins simply enough in Genesis 3
We tell our children if they work hard and play by the rules, they’ll succeed in life. Jerks, cheaters, and thieves won’t. They’ll end up in the gutter. Or jail. Or worse.
I’ve had a lot of nasty things done to me in my 43 years of life. Many of which were done by church people while we were worshipping and serving Jesus together.
But there is something far more serious and important: being reconciled to our Father in Heaven.
The devil isn’t a popular subject nowadays. The argument is made that we’ve progressed as a culture.
I am often haunted by my past. I am daily haunted by what I should be doing.