1. Love is pointing to Jesus who said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
  2. Jesus not only healed her daughter, but he also gave himself to her. Wherever she went from then on, he was with her.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. We will not become hopeless because the Lord is with us.
  6. When and how did the church start this season of anticipation?
  7. While the world is full of horizons and endpoints, for Christians, there is always tomorrow, and there are people in that tomorrow waiting for us as we wait for them.
  8. We ache in eager anticipation as we see Christ in action and as we take in the snapshots of his life, death, and resurrection.
  9. Help comes for those who cannot help themselves. When we bottom-out and come to the end of ourselves, that is where hope springs.
  10. Our God is a living God and he listens to our cries for help.
  11. Through water, blood, and word, the Spirit never stops pointing us to Christ, and even more, giving us Christ.