The confessors at Augsburg remind us that every generation of Christians is called to bear witness to the gospel amid the challenges and pressures of its own age. As they confessed Christ before emperors and kingdoms, so the Church continues to confess Him before the world today.
When Jesus washes you with baptismal water, you can rest assured that the Lion of Judah is on the move.
The life we are trying to manage, improve, and secure is not something to be mastered. It is something to be surrendered. And this is where everything changes. Because in Christ, the approval we are seeking has already been spoken.

All Articles

Perhaps you’ve had a pastor or “Bible teacher” ask you these questions. If not, consider yourself blessed.
In an age when families are already fractured beyond comprehension, are we seriously going to separate parents from children in the one service in which God himself is present to unite us to himself and one another?
Every day for the baptized is a good day to die."
“In a culture that promotes self-interest, children in church learn that something much bigger and more important than themselves is going on in their midst."
Preaching is a dangerous and difficult task. Some occupations might involve more harrowing situations and circumstances but I will continue to contend that there’s not a more perilous or vulnerable position to be in than behind the pulpit.
Heaven is as near as the Word proclaimed from the mouth of the preacher into the ear and heart of the sinner. It is as near as the bread and wine in your mouth. For, you see, Word and sacrament are where Jesus is.
His clarity and fearlessness made him a favorite interview subject for the press in both great and small questions.
When God adds His promise to creation, we understand a greater reality than what we see: Light given; Light that sustains life; Light that will end up living in the midst of his people forever.
Instead of burning them up with unquenchable fire, He comes in solidarity, to be God with us and God for us. Jesus is baptized into our life, so that He could gift us His life.
While I was still an over-eager seminarian the professor warned me, “Mr. Riley, this is exciting stuff.
Babies need to be baptized for the same reason that all Christians need to be absolved: All of us are born into and contribute to this sin-wrecked show of a life.
I’m going to begin at the beginning. But which one? Birth? Kindergarten? My first drink? The first time I had sex?