1. All of Scripture, every last syllable of it, is meant to drive us to "consider Jesus," the One who comes to "make us right" by gifting us his righteousness.
  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. The law had to have its way with the expert to bring him around (and back) to Abraham's response.
  6. Maybe, just maybe, our goal for 2023 should not be to live more but to die more.
  7. 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.
  8. We will not become hopeless because the Lord is with us.
  9. The more awareness we have that we are weak and low and frail and incapable of doing this thing called life, the more perfectly we are positioned to meet the God of grace.
  10. You are the friend in low places. It’s only from this place that you are free to look outside yourself for the remedy to the issues that plague you and humanity.
  11. You’re not new because of what you do. You’re new and so you do new things, even in spite of yourself, because of your sinful nature.