Lectionary: Series A (8)
  1. The brief introduction to the letter stands in marked contrast to the spanking the saints of Corinth will get through the balance of the letter.
  2. As you look to the water of your own baptism, consider not that the water is wet, but, rather, that it is rich with the Word and promise of God for one reason only: Because Jesus is in that water.
  3. “Where are God’s promises? Where does God work? Where are you?” and the answer is ever in Christ.
  4. It is in the gritty that the Lord Jesus reveals Himself; always in the low, the palpable, the material, the immanent, inviting you to guide your own sermon for this Sunday after Christmas in the direction of delivering the grit.
  5. When God is truly present among us, how can we not, in turn, respond with love for Him?
  6. Knowing the coming Judge as the one who endured for me changes the waiting of endurance into, indeed, a “we can hardly stand the wait.”
  7. This text invites you and your people to see in the Christ not only the welcome but the inspiration to welcome the other, indeed the enemy, not simply to put up with, but to love.
  8. The Christ of Romans 13:8-14 is the one who is returning to fulfill our salvation even as we wait, living with one another in Christian love.