How do the words “The righteous shall live by his faith” go from a context of hope in hopelessness to the cornerstone declaration of the chief doctrine of the Christian faith?
As soon as people understand what crucifixion means, the cross becomes offensive.
This is the third installment in the 1517 articles series, “What Makes a Saint?”

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Lewis takes us to the planets to satisfy our cravings for spiritual adventure, which, as he says, “sends our imaginations off the Earth,” in the first place.
This is an excerpt from “Finding God in the Darkness: Hopeful Reflections from the Pits of Depression, Despair, and Disappointment” by Bradley Gray (1517 Publishing, 2023).
We may not all be mass-murdering Nazis. But we all have the same root sin that causes the most egregious criminal activity on the face of the earth. We all have the desire to be our own God.
The Parable of the Lost Sheep bursts through the confines of convention and demands that we embrace the messiness of life and the unpredictable ways in which God's grace and forgiveness operates.
We live for the most part, on the strength of our moral fiber, under the law, by our zeal for God and all that which tickles our proud fancy.
What might Christians of the Reformation tradition think of claims like these about the nature of salvation?
What if sin was truly removed and what if the one who took it from us had the power to conquer it’s curse and spit in the face of death?
It’s scary to share my struggle and to show that I have cracks because once I’ve shown my cards, I open myself up for judgment.
Ash Wednesday's purpose is not to motivate our resolve to redouble our efforts to do better.
Even as he was dying, the heart of God poured itself out for the sake of sinners.
Repentance is meaningless unless we are willing to acknowledge who we are: sinners needing mercy.
For Christians, Advent is the time when the Church patiently prepares for the coming of the Great King, Jesus the Christ.