1. This article is written by guest contributor, Christopher J. Richmann.
  2. Like the serpent on the pole, God still puts real-life things up for us to look to for salvation.
  3. Bathed in the waters of baptism, you are placed in God's path of totality, a path he won for each and every one of us.
  4. Don’t get in the habit (or, if you already do it, get out of the habit) of saying, “I could never talk about these things the way my pastor does.”
  5. The seemingly small, the particular, the previously overlooked, magnifies in importance.
  6. We can interpret "be the Church" as either law or gospel.
  7. Regularly reading and hearing God’s Word helps us to keep a song in our hearts.
  8. God gives his church a story that helps to make sense of this life.
  9. It would serve us well to embrace the beauty of our diversity within the unity of the body of Christ.
  10. If poetry elevates its subject, we could also say the reverse: the subject, in this case, the Most High God, elevates the language.
  11. We must also address the stigma surrounding addiction within so many churches.
  12. It is of the utmost importance that pastors teach their congregation that through faith in Jesus Christ, they are fortified against the machinations of the adversary.