This is an excerpt from Chapter 6 in Sinner Saint: A Surprising Primer to the Christian Life (1517 Publishing, 2025). Sinner Saint is available today from 1517 Publishing.
On its journey from Byzantium to Constantinople to Istanbul, this special place helps us understand the broader arc of Christian history, which goes on until Christ's return.
We needn’t fear statistics and studies as palm readings into a certain future. God is God, and his Spirit is alive through his Word.

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His resurrection reveals that Jonah, and all of us, even the evilest people, are salvageable, even from suicide, in Jesus' death and resurrection.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus establishes a whole new standard for what it means to live as one of His people.
It is time to move on from the basics, says the Apostle. It is time to sink your teeth into some theological meat and understand He is working in those baptized into Christ.
Obviously, the choice is very black and white: good or evil; life or death; blessings or curses...Unfortunately, the actions of the people will speak louder than their words.
It would do us well to expand what we mean when we say catechesis and consequently broaden the reach of theological education into daily life.
The followers of Jesus have a function to perform. When they do not perform it—that is, when they are not being themselves—the world suffers.
Paul says Christian faith means confessing Jesus is Lord, beginning at the Cross, and owning the historical fact that God raised Him from the dead.
There are good, God-pleasing reasons to attend a Divine Service, but worship attendance can also be an action by which we try to earn or deserve the favor and love of God. This is an ongoing struggle in every worshiping community.
We can rejoice in our own need and the gift we receive through baptism given by the same one by whom John desired to be baptized.
In our search for absolution, human beings leave no stone unturned. We’re desperate to have our uneasy consciences soothed.
We live in the strength of our baptism again and again and again, returning to it every day according to God's promise. 
The gospel is the good news that in Christ we have been given the very righteousness of Christ himself. This means that everything God commands of us is given to us in Christ as a gift.