Join Scott Graham, Lauren Honea and Gerrit Dawson for these 10 to 12-minute roundtable discussions of "Rich Wounds: The Countless Treasures of the Life, Death and Triumph of Jesus" by our friend David Mathis. It contains 30 pithy reflections on the person and work of Christ.

Our mission occurs when we launch people into what, for us, are the most remote areas. Our mission also involves each little decision we make during the day to do the right thing. We imitate what is good. We welcome others. We cultivate the fruit of the Spirit so that partaking of our lives tastes like the sweetness of love, joy, and peace. We understand that Church means all believers everywhere and Church means Team. Gaius and the bros tell us that such faithfulness results in resounding thanksgiving and praise to our God around the world. It all matters.

We do not want to be a fireplace with pretty flames but no heat. We want to show the world that we know we must love one another or die. We choose not despair. Not cynicism. Not hatred. But truth in love, and love in truth.

What would happen if you and I looked at each person we meet this week as if their names were engraved in the palms of Jesus? If we saw that there was room in the wounds of Jesus for the name of each one? That each has been created and called to be in the hands of Jesus? We would realize how Jesus speaks to his Church amidst all the thorny issues of the day and gives us an underlying, often uncomfortable but always redemptive word: receive him back, but no longer as a bondservant, but as a beloved brother. Apply that everywhere you look and see what happens.

Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. ​ He gets us unstuck. ​ The grace that is Jesus Christ appeared in the world once and for all time, interrupting the death march of humanity by his own living, dying, and rising. ​ Now, in this present, the event of Jesus calls us to a new life today, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and live in freedom with a new purpose.

Do you really want to go back to the ridiculous futile ways of your former ignorance? Do you still want to pick up dead things and see if you can poke them alive? Do you still want to fit in with a world captive and crushed under its defiant enthronement of self? Of course not! Keep believing and repenting and moving from the circle of sin to the circle of the gospel. More and more, deeper and deeper. The man for all men and women, boys and girls, Jesus, paid such a price to ransom you. Live in that freedom!

You may not see yourself as having much to offer the Lord in 2026. Perhaps you have fears, concerns, or hurts that feel beyond your ability to address. And you’re right. But under our Lord’s authority, He is able to make you a new creation. In fact, Christ’s love becomes the love we have for others.

Lord Jesus, on this Christmas Eve, we light candles in the darkness. We sing carols into the night. While chaos seems ever near, we draw upon the deep peace of your being gathered in Mary’s arms. You came through the barrier of our rebel humanity to be near us. Forgive us for all the times we have scampered away from you. For the ways we have sought life among dead things. For the doubts we raise that are really just willful refusal. Tonight, we would return to our heart of hearts and find you there. We would come to the manger, your first home with us, to receive your body and blood, and so be taken through to the everlasting

home that is you. Amen. 

We want to gaze upon Christ now so that when we meet face to face, we have been preparing. We gaze on him as we enter the stories of his interactions with us. In the Scriptures we discover there are endless treasures in Jesus to behold and adore. We look at Christ by looking at life and the world through the eyes of Christ. We engage the task of growing more like him, not in fear but in hope.