This article is the first part of a two-part series. The second part will take a look at when pastors abuse their congregations.
The following entries are excerpts from Chad Bird’s new book, Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of the Psalms (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 311 and 335
Why did the church dedicate a day to St. Michael anyway? Who is he, and what does he do?

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We sinners share a common problem when it comes to Jesus’ parables. We read them with an eye to our own righteousness.
The Christian Church is one of the last refuges in modern American society where people who have perpetrated or suffered trauma and violence can gather together to receive the truth about themselves.
Proper preaching of good works is never for our encouragement.
Just when we think we had it all under control, Christ breaks into the midst of our futile efforts to save ourselves.
The idea is that Jesus has called His church to make disciples, and since the church doesn’t look much like the One they are following, the people need to be changed.
Ultimately, however, we find in the Heidelberg Disputation the root and core of Luther’s theology, which he would build and expound upon throughout his life.
For every child in a mother’s womb, the whole host of heaven and earth, indeed God himself, intercedes.
What do the events of good stories, like The Lord of the Rings teach us about the rise and fall of civilizations in our own world?
“My Old Man” is the story of a single father, a grossly flawed character, told through the eyes of his son who can’t help but love him.
You can see it far off, looming on the horizon, a thick fog menacing off the coast and swirling in the distance. You know the signs.
In Christ we are already dead to sin and the eternal consequences of sin. “There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,” writes Paul (Romans 8:1).
Yet, just as the Jews had two choices, true God or no God, the Christian has the same, true Jesus or no Jesus.