An Excerpt from Untamed Prayers: Psalm 123 and Psalm 136
By Chad Bird
09/30/25
8mins

An Excerpt from Untamed Prayers: Psalm 123 and Psalm 136

The following entries are excerpts from Chad Bird’s new book, Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of the Psalms (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 311 and 335
St. Michael, Defender of God’s People
Amy Mantravadi
Amy Mantravadi
09/29/25

St. Michael, Defender of God’s People

Why did the church dedicate a day to St. Michael anyway? Who is he, and what does he do?
Yardwork and the Antichrist
1517 Guest Contributor
1517 Guest Contributor
09/26/25

Yardwork and the Antichrist

The Antichrist offers another continual presence. It is every whisper that tempts us toward autonomy, that tells us to carry it alone, that insists suffering is meaningless.

All Articles

Chad Bird
Chad Bird
02/11/20

Weaponizing Our Virtues

Virtue, like all good things, can easily be weaponized. And not only can, but constantly is. Indeed, I would argue that, for churchgoing, rule-following, tradition-honoring, morality-applauding people, virtue often becomes the cancer that we deem a badge of honor.
Bruce Hillman
Bruce Hillman
02/10/20

The Baptism that Swallowed the Rocks

The Church gathers around the Word and Sacrament in order to receive Christ and each other.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
02/10/20

The God of Suicides and Evil People

His resurrection reveals that Jonah, and all of us, even the evilest people, are salvageable, even from suicide, in Jesus' death and resurrection.
Peter Nafzger
Peter Nafzger
02/10/20

Gospel: Matthew 5:21-37 (Epiphany 6: Series A)

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus establishes a whole new standard for what it means to live as one of His people.
Caleb Keith
Caleb Keith
02/06/20

The Need to Recapture Catechesis

It would do us well to expand what we mean when we say catechesis and consequently broaden the reach of theological education into daily life.
David Rufner
David Rufner
02/05/20

An American Myth Meets the Gospel of Jesus

This is our frontier religion: God is waiting to shower blessings upon us if only we will unlock those blessings with the right kind of works, and a sufficient quantity of the same.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
02/03/20

When Sin Cuts Us Down

The easiest way for us to contend with our sin is to become an agent of sin. We slice and cut others to pieces for all the world to see.
Peter Nafzger
Peter Nafzger
02/03/20

Gospel: Matthew 5:13-20 (Epiphany 5: Series A)

The followers of Jesus have a function to perform. When they do not perform it—that is, when they are not being themselves—the world suffers.
Pete Lange
Pete Lange
01/29/20

The Gospel is a Noun

It’s a delivery of historical facts that tells us who Jesus is and what he has done for us through his dying on the cross and his rising from the grave.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
01/28/20

Baptism Gives Us Everything

We live in the strength of our baptism again and again and again, returning to it every day according to God's promise. 
Ryan Couch
Ryan Couch
01/28/20

You Aren’t Jesus and You Don’t Need to Be

The gospel is the good news that in Christ we have been given the very righteousness of Christ himself. This means that everything God commands of us is given to us in Christ as a gift.
Philip Bartelt
Philip Bartelt
01/27/20

Pelagius and Pelagianism

Pelagius maintained an orthodox appearance while rejecting original sin and the distinction between law and gospel.
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