Part of a series on lessons from Christmas, opening with the Apostles' Creed and arguing from Jesus' full life story, including the calling of Matthew in Matthew 9 and his Ephraim retreat in John 11, that God is not transactional but is present in and has redeemed every stage and emotion of human life.

A post-Christmas message on God's commitment to flesh and body, using Jesus' healings in Matthew 9, Paul's teaching on the resurrected body in 1 Corinthians 15, and Job 19 to affirm that the body matters and will be redeemed.

An extended-Christmas message on how the incarnation reveals God's determination never to give up on humanity, tracing the recurring call to "be fruitful and multiply" from Eden through Noah, Abraham, and the Babylonian exile despite human fear and myopia.

A third-week Advent message on joy, drawing from the raising of Lazarus in John 11 and the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 to show that because Christ rose, death is undone and believers will share joyful reunions with their people in the life to come.

An Advent message on the resurrected Jesus in John 21, where he makes breakfast for his disciples on the beach and restores Peter, illustrating Jesus' deeply personal, reciprocal love and the hope of a world to come.

A guest speaker preaches the final core value, "life," from Romans 5:20-6:4 and Saul's conversion in Acts 9, on dying to sin and living a new life in Christ, sharing her own struggle with anger.

Concluding the core value of "lineage" from Romans 5 and the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians, arguing that believers inherit a life of love, joy, and peace through the faith handed down from Jesus through Paul, Augustine, and Luther.

Introducing the core value of "lineage" from Romans 5:12-21, contrasting Adam's sin with Christ's one act of righteousness and emphasizing how Jesus, rooted in real history, gives believers the capacity to reign in life.

Continuing the core value of "peace" from Romans 5, on rejoicing in suffering that produces endurance, character, and hope, alongside John the Baptist's counsel in Luke 3 to live justly within one's station rather than abusing power.

Beginning the core value of "peace" in the opening verses of Romans 5, that having been justified by faith we have peace with God, building on the previous weeks' study of story in Romans 4.