When we talk about bettering ourselves, we need to realize that a theology of the cross does not militate against this endeavor but that it places it squarely in the horizontal realm.

God has closed the religious gym. We don't have to show up for church determined, this year, finally, to make a change for the better.

Looking back on the year, the narrative we’re fed is that we should be able to show how much we’ve grown, how much we’ve done, all the successes we’ve had, how improved we are.

Rather than making resolutions about how we’re going to accomplish great things in 2020, let's do something different: resolve how to do well at failure.

Christians are given a new name at baptism. We are given the Triune name of Father, Son, and Spirit.

The real power of his hymn comes from the fact that Bonhoeffer does not offer a rosy picture of life or any of the tropes so typical of cheap piety that tell us that everything is always right, that things happen for a reason, and that we should try to stay positive.

No matter how fast we run—the little Pharisee on our shoulder is still standing there, arms crossed, shaking his head, and telling us we could have done more. We could have done better.

Thanksgiving is a day set aside for tragi-comic sinners to come together and give thanks for the deliciousness of God's grace in the good news of Jesus Christ.

We long for the Great Thanksgiving that hasn’t happened yet.

Any day of thanksgiving is a confessional day—a day of expressing a short creed that sums up our entire existence: God gives, we receive. Thanksgiving as a day of confession becomes very obvious when we look at it from a Hebrew perspective.

Alright, it may not change your life, but we had fun doing this one. Troy is glad that he is not like Craig. Craig is glad that he isn't like Troy and the Pharisee is glad that he isn't like the tax collector. Join the boys as they talk about Thanksgiving and Luke 18:9-14.

To pray that God’s name is hallowed among us is to pray for the continual proclamation of the gospel in truth and purity that we would hear the word about Christ crucified for sinners.