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. In the tumultuous sea of information, opinions, and ideologies that break over us each day, we hold fast to the anchor of our faith—Jesus, the true prophet.
  3. The gospel tells me that the revelation of weakness in myself, my husband, and my son is the occasion for the revelation of God’s strength.
  4. While we wait in tribulation for our white robes (or pants) to be washed in the blood of the Lamb, we confess to one another our seen and unseen stains.
  5. Grace comes for every foolish, self-absorbed sinner, for every “Nabal,” and announces that there is one who has already taken it upon himself to shoulder all of our wrongdoing, paying the price for it through the sacrifice of himself.
  6. As Luther said, “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf of spring.”
  7. Christ Jesus brings his word and presence to where you are and he is even willing to do so through the likes of your personally present pastor.
  8. The Parable of the Lost Sheep bursts through the confines of convention and demands that we embrace the messiness of life and the unpredictable ways in which God's grace and forgiveness operates.
  9. What I desperately needed was not to preach to myself, but to listen to a preacher—not to take myself in hand, but to be taken in the hands of the Almighty.
  10. God is the end of living, the destination, the point of it all.
  11. The Lord’s prayer is a prayer in perfect accord with the will of God, and Jesus gifts it to us to plagiarize at will.
  12. This is the Christian word: grace. Such grace is found only with this Lamb who is also our Shepherd.