1. I think the problem with the idea of eternity is that we do not have any direct experience of it, but we encounter enough of its possibility to be unsettling.
  2. The further up and further into the season of Epiphany we get, the bigger the grace of God in Christ is, the brighter the Light of Christ shines, and the more blessed we are in Jesus' epiphany for us.
  3. All of Scripture, every last syllable of it, is meant to drive us to "consider Jesus," the One who comes to "make us right" by gifting us his righteousness.
  4. Jesus not only healed her daughter, but he also gave himself to her. Wherever she went from then on, he was with her.
  5. We assert, we herald, the truth about God becoming King of the world in and through Jesus of Nazareth alone. It is our public announcement.
  6. The sign of the cross, according to the earliest centuries of Christians, is “the sign of the Lord,” and every baptized Christian was “marked” with it.
  7. The law had to have its way with the expert to bring him around (and back) to Abraham's response.
  8. Maybe, just maybe, our goal for 2023 should not be to live more but to die more.
  9. By his first Advent in the flesh, through his second Advent with bread and wine and water and Word, we await his third Advent at the end.
  10. We will not become hopeless because the Lord is with us.
  11. When the church is a political actor, the gospel doesn’t have the final word.