“The fear of the Lord” is our heart’s awakening to and recognition of God’s outrageous goodness.
The women at the tomb were surprised by Easter. Amazed and filled with wonder at Jesus' Easter eucatastrophe. And so are we.
This is an excerpt from Chapter 6 in Sinner Saint: A Surprising Primer to the Christian Life (1517 Publishing, 2025). Sinner Saint is available today from 1517 Publishing.

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Advent is one big answer to the question of free will in matters of salvation. God is free. Our will is bound.
The restoration of everything that is and will be, was always meant to take place in a virgin’s belly, in a manger, at the cross.
Christmas wrecks all attempts to penetrate God's hiddenness and seek him out in Heaven. He comes to us clothed in our humanity.
It’s the shadow of death that causes mankind to sit in darkness.
This blog is a part of our Advent series on the hope we find in, through and given by Christ. Each week’s installment will look at hope from a different perspective with special emphasis on corresponding passages of Scripture.
He is and evermore shall be God With Us: though we await His second physical Advent, He is still fully human and fully present in His Word and Sacraments.
The age of grace has dawned, the time in which all things will be made new.
What Jesus says is simple, but the simplest things are difficult, and difficulty causes friction.
Lutheran pastors have at least three sermons in these three days. The calendar allows preachers to wed together some important themes this Christmas. The Magnificat (conception), the birth account from Matthew 1, and the fuller account of Christ’s birth from Luke 2 give clear shape to the proclamation for the Feast of the Nativity. The Epistle readings, however, should also be considered as the Holy Spirit’s interpretation of the nativity.
It is the day before Christmas Eve. The trappings have taken their toll. Despite your valiant attempts to hold the Advent line, members of your congregation (and perhaps you, too) have grown weary of the Christmas season. One of the primary culprits, of course, is the ubiquitous Christmas playlist.
This blog is a part of our Advent series on the hope we find in, through and given by Christ. Each week’s installment will look at hope from a different perspective with special emphasis on corresponding passages of Scripture.
It is the sort of joy that is brought about by the mutual consolation of the saints when they encourage one another through hard times.