Wade Johnston, Life Under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis: MO, 2025.
This ancient “tale of two mothers” concerns far more than theological semantics—it is the difference between a God who sends and a God who comes.
This story points us from our unlikely heroes to the even more unlikely, and joyous, good news that Jesus’ birth for us was just as unlikely and unexpected.

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The Lord’s Prayer is liturgy and catechism, action and instruction, praxis and theology.
Prayer is not just about asking for things. It's about receiving what has already been given to us in Christ.
God cares about our real life where we actually are. He is present in the everyday.
Praying the Word of God back to God carries didactic import. It teaches us.
We number our days not according to our timeframe but according to God’s work and his rhythms.
Tim wanted everyone to know to the deepest part of their being that they were justified by Christ alone.
The Lord’s prayer is a prayer in perfect accord with the will of God, and Jesus gifts it to us to plagiarize at will.
Luther's emphasis on the need for sinners to have preachers who can provide them with the comfort and support they need for their faith in Jesus Christ and life is as relevant today as it was in his time.
Walther’s living legacy is his enduring teaching on how to distinguish the law and the gospel in the Church’s proclamation.
Sunday morning is about receiving, not giving.
How can we be sure that we are getting a “solid spiritual diet” and not a “milky” one?
As I look back, I choose to remember her as a soul redeemed by Christ.