1. The post-Reformation observance of Lent is both commemorative and penitential
  2. That’s where a true encounter with God leaves you. Unable to point the finger at anyone else, all you can do is fall on your face, confess your sin, be absolved, and join the angels in singing, “Holy, holy, holy.”
  3. Jesus’ death was a direct fulfillment of the will of His Father as promised in the Scriptures.
  4. God has given us a way out of our plight of “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” It is the way of the cross.
  5. Thankfully, our heavenly Father sent a Champion into the game to take our place. What we failed to do, He accomplished.
  6. He loved me, to be sure, but in a very nondescript, emotionally detached way, which is the way my grandfather loved him.