1. God comes to us through the flesh and blood and spirit of Christ precisely where he promised to be manifest to us and for us.
  2. This is an excerpt from “Finding God in the Darkness: Hopeful Reflections from the Pits of Depression, Despair, and Disappointment” by Bradley Gray (1517 Publishing, 2023).
  3. I’ve experienced firsthand the promise that God never leaves a congregation empty-handed.
  4. The only place to begin a discussion of human/creaturely identity is with our relationship to the God whose breath filled dust, brought us to life, sustains us and gives us a hopeful future.
  5. A pastor is sent to proclaim the unconditional grace of God, reminding us again and again that it is our Heavenly Father who reaches out to us in love through his Christ-won forgiveness, and not the other way around.
  6. We may not all be mass-murdering Nazis. But we all have the same root sin that causes the most egregious criminal activity on the face of the earth. We all have the desire to be our own God.
  7. God’s published will offers us anchorage, the anchorage of Jesus Christ, in the midst of chaos, reminding us that there is a greater purpose to our lives than the pursuit of worldly success or fleeting pleasures.
  8. It was meant to be Karlstadt’s moment to shine, but all anyone remembered was Luther.
  9. The Bible not only calls us to remember God’s past acts of deliverance; it also invites us to recognize that God in Christ is still in the business of delivering sinners from bondage.
  10. As Luther said, “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf of spring.”
  11. The Holy Spirit unleashes his power through us, his vines, and we then get to watch as his fruits blossom and ripen.