This is an excerpt from the first chapter of Being Family by Scott Keith (1517 Publishing, 2026), pgs 1-6.
God has told us everything necessary for faith. However he has not told us everything there is to know.
Jesus didn’t enter the water because he was sinful; he entered the water because John was sinful, as are we all.

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Zipporah and Moses were bound by blood. More than that, God and Moses were bound by blood.
As we judge and demand payment from one another, we fashion a world not only skeptical of forgiveness, grace, and mercy... but downright opposed to it.
Bonhoeffer’s simple little book makes clear how privileged many of us are to enjoy the Communion of the Saints here on earth.
While faith forms the relationship with God and love the relationship with the neighbor, hope forms the Christian’s relationship with the future.
When we try to create meaning for our lives or transform Jesus into a mere example, the Holy Spirit comes to us, with a preacher in hand, ready to unleash a sermon like Louis Armstrong blasting out "When The Saints Go Marching In" on his trumpet.
Jesus’s followers aren’t ostriches who bury their heads in the sand. That’s not helpful or hopeful for anyone. Resting from life’s trials and troubles comes in the remembrance of the One who is with you in the middle of all of them.
When a manager faces imminent termination by his wealthy master for mishandling his wealth, what will he do? Where can he turn? In this challenging parable, Jesus teaches us that our salvation lies outside of ourselves and our works.
When we proclaim Jesus' death we are, at the same time, preaching that this cup from which we drink is the cup of salvation for all who believe and receive it.
War is a plague, but sometimes it needs to be fought to protect from greater plagues.
In our liquid world, strung out on the meth of evil, full of poor souls fighting to stay afloat, where are you, O God? Don't you care that we are perishing?
This love story goes on and on, from the beginning of time. Every retelling of this incredible story reveals a little more, exposing our inadequacy, producing more devotion, capturing unspoken emotion, inspiring us to a greater love.
Elisabeth Cruciger is the first female Lutheran hymn writer. In fact, her hymn was included in the very first evangelical hymnal, published in 1524. With her life and her hymn, she becomes a witness, an example, and a proclaimer of the gospel to us almost 500 years later.