1. We don't make Church "happen." Only Christ can do so. It's his happening.
  2. I hate to break it to you, but "are" is not an action verb. "Are" is a being verb.
  3. Even if the numbers are bad, the news about Jesus crucified for sinners and raised to new life hasn’t become any less good.
  4. There is a revival, no less real and even more definitive, taking place in every church, every weekend, where God’s people gather around his gifts.
  5. We too are God’s baptized, beloved, blood-bought believers. And no one can ever take that away from us.
  6. Hidden beneath the sinner is a glorious saint. Jesus has declared it to be so in your baptism.
  7. 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.
  8. Toy Story is indeed a Christmas story.
  9. That great truth of creedal Christianity – that God is man in Christ – is not set forth for our speculative enjoyment.
  10. Despite our best efforts to avoid him, King Jesus remains very much unavoidable.
  11. Rejoice with Mary as she would rejoice with you. Be blessed, like her, with humility from God, so that you may serve joyfully and willingly wherever and in whatever role God has placed you.
  12. 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.