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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So bondage meets freedom, and God becomes our Master through Christ.
Luther contends that even our best spiritual, theological, and moral efforts are insufficient to save us.
Rather than presenting Christ’s words as a rule or a threat, Luther reveals it to be the promise of God.
These teachings are the heart of the Reformation…If it is about you, it isn’t about Jesus.
This emphasis in Luther also applied to his understanding of the sacraments, and particularly comes out in his writings on the Lord’s Supper in his Large Catechism.
If this opening verse offers to us both door and doorkeeper, then the doorkeeper stands with the door held securely shut.
Desiderius Erasmus and many humanists had for a while held out hope for Luther’s call for reform and many of the reformers were themselves, to some degree, humanists.
The sight of indulgences being bought and sold is just not something I witness on a regular basis.
Standing before Jesus is one of the cultural groups that the Lord sought fit to eradicate for their wickedness to preserve the line that would eventually birth Jesus.
When the Holy Spirit is at work in the office of the holy ministry, the man is ridden by the Spirit and so his only concern is for preaching the Gospel, baptizing, absolving, and feeding sinners in the Name of Christ Jesus.
He’s the Grandpa who goes on and on about how delicious these mud pies are that we present to him. He laughs, honestly and sincerely, at our stupid jokes.
We were created by our heavenly Father to receive all things from Him as free gift.