This article is the first part of a two-part series. The second part will take a look at when pastors abuse their congregations.
The following entries are excerpts from Chad Bird’s new book, Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of the Psalms (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 311 and 335
Why did the church dedicate a day to St. Michael anyway? Who is he, and what does he do?

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Samuel plays a very important role in preserving the line of Judah by anointing and instructing the first kings of the united monarchy—especially King David.
The church does well to remind the world that God is unmasked, indeed, that God has unmasked himself in the person of Jesus.
Rituals resist domestication and confront us with a world and worldview brought forth from the Bible and through twenty centuries of Christianity for the purpose of arresting our contemporary worldview through its self-sameness.
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.
The receiving and/or possessing of a gift, even one from God, is far different than putting it to use.
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.
Hannah’s story is the story of God’s great reversal.
St John of the Cross' feast day on December 14 commemorates the day of his death in 1591, at the height of the Catholic renewal movement that followed the Reformation.
Not only is Jesus the New David, He is also the New Temple—the House and Kingdom! This is the throne that is everlasting.
This is Christmas. It is Jesus becoming all sin from generation to generation.
It turns out the family trait of not being able to wait runs deep and wide in the family of God. We do foolish things while we wait for promises to be fulfilled.
It wasn’t a perfect image, but it was still there, even in its cartoonish movie magic distortion. It was an element of the Gospel right there in front of me.