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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Christ has come to make all things new, and water and the Spirit are used for His new creation just as it was for the original.
Fred Rogers did not teach children how to live through a pandemic, but he had many profound things to say about loving our neighbors and finding our identity in that calling.
The receiving and/or possessing of a gift, even one from God, is far different than putting it to use.
We’ve hung on every whisper of hope that this way of life would end and a new one would rise to take its place.
People do not seek the gospel because they want to, but because God’s Word drives them to it.
On each of the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve (December 17-23), Chad Bird will provide a meditation that focuses on the ancient “O Antiphons,” each of which addresses Christ by a different Old Testament name. Today’s reflection, the sixth in the series, is on “O King of the Nations.”
Christian peace is not the absence of problems, but it is the presence of God amid our pain and sorrows.
The Lamb of God is stripped of His garment and sheds His blood on a cross to clothe us in robes of righteousness and garments of salvation—like a bridegroom who adorns himself and his bride.
On each of the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve (December 17-23), Chad Bird will provide a meditation that focuses on the ancient “O Antiphons,” each of which addresses Christ by a different Old Testament name. Today’s reflection, the fourth in the series, is on “O Key of David.”
On each of the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve (December 17-23), Chad Bird will provide a meditation that focuses on the ancient “O Antiphons,” each of which addresses Christ by a different Old Testament name. Today’s reflection, the third in the series, is on “O Root of Jesse.”
The way through loneliness will lie in the blessing of solitude and the care of God.
Hannah’s story is the story of God’s great reversal.