1. Even though All Saints is a day for remembering the dead, it is not a day of mourning.
  2. This is an excerpt from the Sinner/Saint Advent Devotional (1517 Publishing, 2022). Now available for purchase!
  3. The one who embodies the dove, that is, the Holy Spirit will be mounted upon the staff of Calvary.
  4. The Trinity is a handy shorthand for all that God has done to justify sinners.
  5. After the big, splashy, exciting day of Pentecost in Acts 2, church life faded into the ordinary life of ragtag sinners encountering the God of the cross coming to them in seemingly unawesome ways. What can we learn from this?
  6. That on Pentecost God’s Spirit should function through a dozen seeming inebriates should be no surprise when this same God saves through the ignominy of the cross.
  7. Just as the disciples on the road to Emmaus recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread, so we, through the working of the Holy Spirit, recognize our Lord in the Word and Sacraments.
  8. Every part of Jesus’ encounter with Mary Magdalene in John 20 was incredibly intentional and personal for God to systematically redeem what was lost.
  9. Free-range Christ is fearful Christ because he is present, speaking, and I just crucified him.
  10. Sometimes loss is gain. Sometimes defeat is victory. Sometimes weakness is strength. Sometimes death is life. Sometimes, that is, when Christ is at the center, on his cross and not in his tomb.
  11. God has found a way to be God even for the likes of us. He has found a way to save sinners.
  12. The Messiah is exiled from God on the cross as Israel was. Forsaken as Israel was forsaken. Cast away from Yahweh as Israel was. Why?