1. Advent is something of a liturgical speed bump that slows us down lest we rush to Christmas but forget that the baby born in Bethlehem will return with glory and power to judge the living and the dead.
  2. The relationship between faith and prayer or belief and worship is mutual. Faith produces prayer and prayer expresses faith.
  3. Christian hope means always hope in God and hope in Christ simultaneously without distinction.
  4. We give thanks to the Lord for His victory over death and the grave both for those who are now with Him in glory and for ourselves even as we press forward in faithfulness awaiting the Day when our eyes will see Him.
  5. Whether you are a Christian or not, you cannot escape the significance of the Reformation. It is an important chapter in western history; yes, in world history.
  6. It is in the midst of a world marked by empty and deceptive hopes that have broken hearts and lives that we are sent to deliver the promise of a future that has as its last chapter the resurrection of the body to eternal life with the Lamb who was slain but is alive forevermore.
  7. Christmas wrecks all attempts to penetrate God's hiddenness and seek him out in Heaven. He comes to us clothed in our humanity.
  8. We expect that if it is God’s word, it must have fallen out of the sky on golden plates.
  9. The miracle of Pentecost is not obvious; it is the miracle of faith created through the preaching of the word of the cross.
  10. In the face of all the misunderstandings on the part of the world and all the errors which have arisen within Christendom, let us make this point absolutely clear: the task of the church in the world consists uniquely and alone in the preaching of the Word of God and in administering the Sacrament.