Think of how strange it is to give your all to something while knowing the actual results don’t come from your effort, like gardening. Consider Philippians 2 and the confession’s positive account of sanctification, working out what God is already working in.

There’s a TV show about a grown man who spends hours each day dressed as a baby, sleeping in an adult-sized crib, a jarring picture of arrested development. Consider Hebrews’ rebuke of believers who should be teaching others by now but still need to be fed spiritual milk.

Paul writes to a church under real pressure, in a city devoted to the emperor cult and to the worship of Diana. He opens with a sweeping vision of salvation: planned by the Father, accomplished by the Son, and secured by the Spirit. Trace that Trinitarian shape of our eternal salvation against the Ephesian scene it was written into.

The history of Israel’s high priests is as mixed as the history of her kings, Aaron himself building the golden calf. Consider Hebrews’ argument for why Christ’s priesthood succeeds exactly where Aaron’s line, however faithful in flashes, ultimately failed.

How do you begin a five-day hike? The old proverb says a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and continues the same way. Consider the confession’s teaching on perseverance, that the faith and repentance which begin the Christian life have to continue it too.

Today is a baptismal service, and the joy of hearing God’s grace at work in these believers’ lives as they’re added to the visible church. Consider Paul’s call in Ephesians 4 to walk worthy of that calling by pursuing unity in the local church.

Luther was terrified of the judgment of God, and the more he studied the Psalms and Romans under his mentor’s orders to find peace, the worse his terror got. This continues the confession’s treatment of justification, working through the very texts that finally broke Luther’s terror into gospel joy.

If you had to pick one character trait to excel in this year in order to please God, what would it be? This new year opens with that question, working through 2 Corinthians 5 and the contrast between pride and humility as the trait worth pursuing.

Say the word Christmas and most of us think of Santa, stockings, reindeer, and a large family dinner. Consider the actual, humble circumstances of Christ’s birth in Luke 2, and how little it resembled anything we’d call festive.

Christmas is an occasion of great joy, and this carol service opens straight from the angel’s announcement in Luke 2. Consider why the birth of the Saviour is genuinely good news of great joy for all people.