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I love Sundays. My children love Sundays. In fact, they love them so much I’m sure they learned the days of the week so they could know when the next Sunday was coming. “What day is it daddy,” they’d ask. “What day comes after that.” They would keep asking until they knew just how many days there were left until the next Sunday. I might be stretching it a bit, but they may have learned to count for the same reason. Each week, our anticipation rises as we make ready our home for the covenant families who will share the Sabbath with us. Our kids start naming the families by their vans and cars as we pull in the parking lot at the building where we meet. I’m careful not to call it our church, because, we know it’s not; it’s just brick and mortar. We know the people are the church.

Hear the words of this preacher. In all thy preaching, preach grace. Preach grace; preach God’s glorious unmerited favor. Forget her not; neither decline from the words of God’s mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee from another gospel; love her and she shall keep thee from offering another Christ. Grace is the principal thing, therefore preach His undeserving love. And with all thy preaching, preach grace. Do you wish to glorify God? You can only do this by showing God as He is, not as sinful man wishes him to be. Don’t hide His glory behind a veil with the new definition of grace that seems to sooth men’s hearts when it is preached. It does nothing of the sort. This kind of “cheap grace” as Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it, is no grace at all.

The Lion is on the move in Myanmar. As the Son of God breathes on the snow-covered hills of what was once called Burma, we can now begin to see lush green meadows crowned with the flowers of faith. Shut off from the rest of the world for many years by a repressive military junta, the work our forefathers began has continued to grow beneath the fertile soils of persecution. Like the beleaguered soldiers of Valley Forge, they have survived the winter and they are ready for battle. With a little help from their friends across the sea, they will emerge victorious.