1. False holiness is always a possession and achievement of the individual in isolation from the good of others. And so it isn’t holiness at all.
  2. For Luther, those who refuse Christ as a curse want their sin removed not in Christ but in themselves.
  3. God is mercy. He was mercy then. He’s mercy now. God showed them His glory, if only a reflection, in the face of Moses.
  4. The firestorm of the Reformation which turned Europe upside-down was not Luther’s doing. It was the Word, and the Spirit working through it.
  5. I finally watched the film “Encanto” with my kids. I had heard many people say the subtext of this movie was deeper than most. So, we snuggled up on the couch and watched it to see what everyone was talking about.
  6. The world we inhabit is wrong in so many ways, and a holistic approach to this “wrongness” traces its cause both to sin itself and to the effects of sin.
  7. Our only claim to fame is that we have been claimed by a God who is consistently drawn to losers!
  8. Faith should later again flow forth from our heart’s depths to our neighbor freely and unhindered in good works; not that we wish to rest our salvation in them; for God will not have that, but wishes the conscience to rest in himself alone.
  9. Christ has received the mark of law that we might be marked with the gospel, with the sign of his holy cross on our heads and hearts as redeemed children of God.
  10. Moses was sent to keep the house in order, but this Child is sent to bring the house home, and you are part of that house, the household of God.
  11. Getting ready for Christ’s coming is a practice in humility.