Psalm 12, Part 2: The Saint Fails, The Word Purifies
By Steven Paulson
01/16/26
18mins

Psalm 12, Part 2: The Saint Fails, The Word Purifies

God makes us pure saints by planting us back in the earth we imagined we needed to escape.
Psalm 12, Part 1: Set in Salvation
Steven Paulson
Steven Paulson
01/15/26

Psalm 12, Part 1: Set in Salvation

Salvation is not merely to be put in “safety” but to be put into Christ.
Welcome to My House
1517 Guest Contributor
1517 Guest Contributor
01/14/26

Welcome to My House

Bringing your family to church to receive “the one thing needful” (Luke 10:42) in Word and Sacrament honors and pleases God.

All Articles

Chad Bird
Chad Bird
03/22/16

Putting a Gag Order on the Gospel

The first person who attempted to stop people from talking about Jesus was not a tyrant, a secular government, or a bully religious mob.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
03/03/16

Dirty Little Secrets

Your sins do not exist because He who called heaven and earth into existence, has called your sins out of existence. He who made everything from nothing unmakes your sins into nothing.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
03/01/16

New Life Begins in the Dark

We spend the first nine months of our lives in utter darkness. There are no tiny fluorescent bulbs beaming from the ceiling of the womb, no fetal flashlights, not even a pinprick of illumination.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
02/21/16

Our Precious Sins We Don't Want God to Forgive

We hang on to our sins not despite the fact that they hurt, but precisely because they do hurt. We need to hurt, to fret over them, to cry over them, to make amends over them, because by doing so, we will grease the wheels of God’s forgiveness.
Paul Dunk
Paul Dunk
02/10/16

Grace For Me: Justice for You

Grace is easier to tweet about than extend. When we are talking about my sin and the impact it has on others, I want grace.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
02/09/16

Fat Tuesday's Redemption

Warning, Remember, O man, that thou art dust… And lust, he mocks in mute self-condemnation.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
02/08/16

Hurts So Good: Our Dirty Little Secret on Ash Wednesday

What is really good for the soul is not so much confession as absolution. If confession is us telling the truth about ourselves to God, then absolution is God telling us a truer truth about ourselves.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
02/02/16

The Importance of Shutting Up

When God is at work, oftentimes the best activity is non-activity, the best speech is non-speech. Sometimes God wants us to shut up.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
01/23/16

The Religion of Regret

As with so many things, regret can begin as something natural, even beneficial, as you struggle to recover from a wound in your past. But over time, regret can devolve from a sadness to a sickness.
Bonnie Petroschuk
Bonnie Petroschuk
01/20/16

Let's Be Honest, It's Not About Us and Our Faithfulness

There are so many reasons why the Good News is such good news; but, for me, one near the top of the list is the relief of being able to tell the truth. It is so refreshing to be given permission to ‘call a spade a spade.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
01/05/16

Reconnecting Through My Father's Ghosts

I’m still piecing together fragments. I’ve spent my life collecting scraps of personal stories that will explain my father to me.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
01/02/16

Ill-Conceived: Pinpointing When Our Lives Went Wrong

What is it about David’s life, and this psalm, that make this so fitting a place to utter this dire pronouncement of humanity’s corruption?
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