1. As Luther said, “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf of spring.”
  2. Church historians attempt to determine why Melanchthon made those controversial decisions.
  3. What I desperately needed was not to preach to myself, but to listen to a preacher—not to take myself in hand, but to be taken in the hands of the Almighty.
  4. Just like for Mordecai and Esther, our lives are also sustained by the hand of God in the ordinary, in events begging to be seen as the work of Christ in our lives.
  5. When we forget that we live by promise, that's when the danger tends to creep in. Because failing to embrace promise means we usually fall back into notions of luck, or even worse--into works.
  6. God wants his word of promise to be the only thing we bank on, the only thing we have confidence in.
  7. This hymn is not for people who feel strong, but those who are weak.
  8. Luther's emphasis on the need for sinners to have preachers who can provide them with the comfort and support they need for their faith in Jesus Christ and life is as relevant today as it was in his time.
  9. What greater legacy could you claim than that of Mark? Listen to the Word. Learn from Jesus.
  10. This is an excerpt from the introduction of “Common Places in Christian Theology: A Curated Collection of Essays from Lutheran Quarterly,” edited by Mark Mattes (1517 Publishing, 2023).
  11. What we discover in O’Connor’s stories and Martin Luther’s theology is that God’s grace is elusive because the human heart is resistant to it.
  12. When I finished this book, I loved the Bible, and the Bible’s author, even more. And I can’t imagine a better endorsement than that.