1. The list of things our kids need to know when they leave the house is much simpler than we might believe.
  2. In the face of abject evil, these two faithfully cling to the words and truths of he alone who is Good, Jehovah God.
  3. Just as the disciples on the road to Emmaus recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread, so we, through the working of the Holy Spirit, recognize our Lord in the Word and Sacraments.
  4. The point Luther made, again and again, was that distance between God and sinners is collapsed when the crucified Christ himself comes to sinners through a preacher.
  5. God’s gifts, in turn, conform our minds to the mind of Christ, and catechize our imagination in the image of God’s Son.
  6. Make no mistake, sinners are in fact being pursued by a most hideous beast called sin, death, and the devil, unleashed and striking continuously.
  7. Every part of Jesus’ encounter with Mary Magdalene in John 20 was incredibly intentional and personal for God to systematically redeem what was lost.
  8. History won’t judge us, Jesus will. We already have his judgment. He gave it to us from the cross, where he acquitted us with his death.
  9. Free-range Christ is fearful Christ because he is present, speaking, and I just crucified him.
  10. Sometimes loss is gain. Sometimes defeat is victory. Sometimes weakness is strength. Sometimes death is life. Sometimes, that is, when Christ is at the center, on his cross and not in his tomb.
  11. God has found a way to be God even for the likes of us. He has found a way to save sinners.
  12. The Messiah is exiled from God on the cross as Israel was. Forsaken as Israel was forsaken. Cast away from Yahweh as Israel was. Why?