1. What we discover in O’Connor’s stories and Martin Luther’s theology is that God’s grace is elusive because the human heart is resistant to it.
  2. We can’t predict the harvest. We can only sow.
  3. Nothing moves or drives Paul more than preaching about “Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).
  4. We don't make Church "happen." Only Christ can do so. It's his happening.
  5. This is the message of Lent. We are not called to sacrifice for Jesus in order to earn our salvation. Rather, we are called to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.
  6. As disciples of Jesus, our righteousness cannot be performed before others, because our righteousness was already performed by Jesus.
  7. 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.
  8. Ash Wednesday's purpose is not to motivate our resolve to redouble our efforts to do better.
  9. Reading includes, on some level, striving. Hearing, on the other hand, remains passive.
  10. Jesus stands before the disciples as the bridge between heaven and earth, and between Old Testament and New Testament.
  11. Zephaniah has given us something more visceral to help us understand the love of God: the sound of salvation.
  12. This week we will take a closer look at God's love in Scripture.