1. Even if the numbers are bad, the news about Jesus crucified for sinners and raised to new life hasn’t become any less good.
  2. 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.
  3. Ash Wednesday's purpose is not to motivate our resolve to redouble our efforts to do better.
  4. We too are God’s baptized, beloved, blood-bought believers. And no one can ever take that away from us.
  5. Hidden beneath the sinner is a glorious saint. Jesus has declared it to be so in your baptism.
  6. Even as he was dying, the heart of God poured itself out for the sake of sinners.
  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. Repentance is meaningless unless we are willing to acknowledge who we are: sinners needing mercy.
  9. Toy Story is indeed a Christmas story.
  10. Despite our best efforts to avoid him, King Jesus remains very much unavoidable.
  11. When and how did the church start this season of anticipation?
  12. All our sin and shame is answered for in the death and resurrection of our Lord.