God makes us pure saints by planting us back in the earth we imagined we needed to escape.
Salvation is not merely to be put in “safety” but to be put into Christ.
Bringing your family to church to receive “the one thing needful” (Luke 10:42) in Word and Sacrament honors and pleases God.

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Polycarp’s faith, life, writings, and even his death revealed the fruit of faith and love grafted into his heart by Christ the Vine.
In the upside-down wisdom of God, the place of the cross becomes the place of life, absolution, and triumph.
Jesus is very difficult to bring down. That’s the power of it.
In grace, God chooses to love his people.
This is an excerpt from Ditching the Checklist: Assurance of Salvation for Evangelicals (and Other Sinners) by Mark Mattes (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 5-7.
In the liturgy, Christ is present, self-giving, and ever-addressing his people.
The addict’s condition speaks a hard truth: that we are all beggars before God, every one of us bent toward the grave.
There is no one — not now, not ever — who cannot be included in the family of God through the efficacy of Christ’s saving power.
"When God has his say, have confidence that his Word and sacraments bestow precisely what he says."
The gospel is best understood in terms of those two most important words: for you.
As you step into the days ahead, remember this: no matter how lost you may feel, you have a God who seeks you out, celebrates your return, and rejoices over you.
We now are the magi: we worship Christ because of who he is, but also because of what he has done for us and what he continues to do in his gift-giving to us.