1. Ash Wednesday's purpose is not to motivate our resolve to redouble our efforts to do better.
  2. We too are God’s baptized, beloved, blood-bought believers. And no one can ever take that away from us.
  3. Hidden beneath the sinner is a glorious saint. Jesus has declared it to be so in your baptism.
  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. Toy Story is indeed a Christmas story.
  6. Despite our best efforts to avoid him, King Jesus remains very much unavoidable.
  7. When and how did the church start this season of anticipation?
  8. All our sin and shame is answered for in the death and resurrection of our Lord.
  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. Preachers and church workers must also hear the gospel preached to them.
  11. Through water, blood, and word, the Spirit never stops pointing us to Christ, and even more, giving us Christ.
  12. Even though All Saints is a day for remembering the dead, it is not a day of mourning.