1. We don't make Church "happen." Only Christ can do so. It's his happening.
  2. Even if the numbers are bad, the news about Jesus crucified for sinners and raised to new life hasn’t become any less good.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. It makes perfect sense that the day honoring Jesus' birth would be observed in a decidedly less than refined manner.
  6. Despite our best efforts to avoid him, King Jesus remains very much unavoidable.
  7. To trust in the Lord, the Messiah, the Deliverer, is our salvation and our only hope. Yet he does not trust us to have this “trust” on our own or of our own will.
  8. A.I. can’t make the proclamatory move that delivers God’s word in a way that is specifically for me.
  9. Take courage, you who were lost: Jesus comes to seek and save that which is lost. Ye sick, return to health: Christ comes to heal the contrite of heart with the balm of his mercy. Rejoice, all you who desire great things: the Son of God comes down to you that he may make you the co-heirs of his kingdom.
  10. Rejoice with Mary as she would rejoice with you. Be blessed, like her, with humility from God, so that you may serve joyfully and willingly wherever and in whatever role God has placed you.
  11. If Jesus shows up and you are a sinner, ‘tis more blessed to receive than to give