1. He shows up when we are at our worst to usher us back to his side, lead us to repentance, rescue us, and reclaim us as his own.
  2. Sometimes, we get prayer dementia. We can’t remember what we were going to pray for, we can’t put the words together, and, frustrated, there is nothing we can do but sigh and groan.
  3. C.S. Lewis, Grief, and the Holiday Season
  4. The following poem was written by Tanner Olson to accompany 1517’s 2023 Advent Resources, The Clothing of the King. Advent begins this Sunday.
  5. We must also address the stigma surrounding addiction within so many churches.
  6. Lewis takes us to the planets to satisfy our cravings for spiritual adventure, which, as he says, “sends our imaginations off the Earth,” in the first place.
  7. God comes to us through the flesh and blood and spirit of Christ precisely where he promised to be manifest to us and for us.
  8. The Lord’s Prayer is liturgy and catechism, action and instruction, praxis and theology.
  9. Prayer is not just about asking for things. It's about receiving what has already been given to us in Christ.
  10. Praying the Word of God back to God carries didactic import. It teaches us.
  11. The Lord’s prayer is a prayer in perfect accord with the will of God, and Jesus gifts it to us to plagiarize at will.
  12. Jesus cries on the cross for us. He suffers and cries and dies in our place. He is forsaken by his father so we don’t have to be.