Luther neither removed the Apocrypha from the Bible nor discouraged its use. Rather, he received and preserved the ancient distinction inherited from the fathers: the Apocrypha is valuable, edifying, and worthy of reading, but it is not Holy Scripture and therefore cannot serve as the foundation of Christian doctrine.
The confessors at Augsburg remind us that every generation of Christians is called to bear witness to the gospel amid the challenges and pressures of its own age. As they confessed Christ before emperors and kingdoms, so the Church continues to confess Him before the world today.
When Jesus washes you with baptismal water, you can rest assured that the Lion of Judah is on the move.

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The flower of youth, as lovely as it is, cannot withstand the hot winds of time. There is a beauty, however, that remains.
The word which typifies my understanding of what makes male friendships so central to the concept of masculinity is philia.
One thing is for certain: my day was heaven compared to his. My minor headaches nothing compared to whatever he was going through.
We can leave all the stuff of life behind, because our great treasure God flaunts before the world on Calvary.
A promise was made to my older brother roughly 50 years ago. He was just an infant and had no idea that this promise was being set upon him.
Being a Christian is hard because it’s easy.
There is no pain like the pain of being mistreated by those who, above all others, you expect to love you unconditionally.
What we see in the face of this God is not a loathing expression. We find the face of a compassionate man who knew all about shame himself.
I have my list. It may seem strange to you, but, when I think about my own death, I often think in terms of positive failures.
Faith does not require that we always Hoorah what the Lord does. God wants children, not brown-nosers.
He has wandered away into the darkness of his doubting, got lost in his grief, confused by the pains he’s suffered. It happens. Shepherds sometimes become lost sheep as well.
O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus he says to these bones. Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.