The “further up and further in” we go, the table keeps getting bigger, the guest list keeps getting longer, and the grace keeps on flowing.
Christianity does not locate freedom in radical autonomy. It does not tell either men or women that happiness consists in escaping obligations arising from relationships we did not entirely choose.
Jesus never promised me a World Series championship. He never promised that my children would always succeed or that life would go according to plan. He promised something better.

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This is an excerpt from Ditching the Checklist: Assurance of Salvation for Evangelicals (and Other Sinners) by Mark Mattes (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 5-7.
In the liturgy, Christ is present, self-giving, and ever-addressing his people.
There is no one — not now, not ever — who cannot be included in the family of God through the efficacy of Christ’s saving power.
As you step into the days ahead, remember this: no matter how lost you may feel, you have a God who seeks you out, celebrates your return, and rejoices over you.
This is the third article in a special three-part Advent series on how Jesus is our prophet, priest, and king.
Thanksgiving is never out of place for the Christian.
Show me a sinner, and I’ll write you a story of a God who saves them.
One Christ rules over all of it. He is the constant, the root that nourishes every estate and every vocation.
Mary looms large in our theology, our liturgy, our confessions and creeds.
Salvation doesn’t hang in the balance of a voting booth.
Jesus Christ is relentless. He does not give up. And with him comes the certainty of redemption.
Jesus came for little children, and that is what we are. We are children of God.