One great thing about our post-denominational age is that it has opened up opportunities to make common cause with other Lutherans who, despite their differences and eccentricities, can agree on some of the most important things.
Pride builds identities that leave no room for grace.
We can willingly admit the fact that we're just like tax collectors and thieves.

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The LORD vindicates His people in the midst of their misery and despair—for this He has come.
The image on Palm Sunday is about something so primordial, so powerful and ancient, so deep, that it would shatter any kind of limits. It would break through any attempt to restrain it.
All human wisdom, righteousness, and holiness are made futile in that which belongs to God’s kingdom.
The Exodus always remains a continual and present reality for the people of Israel—it is always on their mind. It was and remained the big salvific event of the Old Testament, yet at the same time it points forward to what God will yet/continue to do to save His people.
This living Word breaks and crushes. It comes down as crushing judgment on those who reject the Son. But it promises to heal and restore all those who fall on the Son broken, contrite, and in faith.
The Word of the Lord is sure. The enemy is defeated. Salvation is waiting for you.
God is often hidden in history, even as we make it now, but He is always manifest where He has promised to be.
The thrill of God’s grace fades and the slow march toward the cross dulls the heart. At such times, the former life beckons. Temptations to return grow strong. Which makes Lent such an important annual exercise.
In our preaching it is important to decide how to understand this. Are we going to preach the “now” or the “not yet”? As the people of Israel are living in their “now,” are they hearing the words of Isaiah as the “not yet” or, the “not yet of the not yet”?
This is a difficult time, but Ezekiel is giving great hope in our text for today. In spite of the circumstances, the Gospel predominates.
The vinedresser refused to give up on his unfruitful tree. He put himself between it and the judgment it deserved, serving as mediator and caretaker.
God is still faithful. There are still the covenantal promises. There is still the preservation of the Messianic line because He who promised, He who covenanted, must be faithful.