1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Tim wanted everyone to know to the deepest part of their being that they were justified by Christ alone.
  4. This is the Christian word: grace. Such grace is found only with this Lamb who is also our Shepherd.
  5. Jesus cries on the cross for us. He suffers and cries and dies in our place. He is forsaken by his father so we don’t have to be.
  6. The drama of Scripture is about God renaming us by bringing us into his image-bearing family once again. And it would take “a name above all names” to accomplish it.
  7. This is an excerpt from part two of “On Any Given Sunday: The Story of Christ in the Divine Service” by Mike Berg (1517 Publishing, 2023).
  8. This is the prelude of Easter. Is a dead Jesus still resting in the tomb? No!
  9. What is undoubtedly true, however, is that St. Peter wasn’t left outside. He wasn’t left weeping. He was restored, as am I, as are you.
  10. We can’t predict the harvest. We can only sow.
  11. Unprompted, without any warning, for no reason at all, without any instigation say, "I love you." And that will wash over your parents like a beautiful absolution.
  12. To believe God is love and thus loves you is a miracle wrought by the Holy Spirit.