Dead Men Walking

I am not much for throwing out Latin terms. Long ago I took Latin and was not very good at it, but sometimes an old term just needs to be used, and if we don't know it, we just need to. Sola Gratia is the name of a new series we are starting this week and will run for the next five weeks. Sola Gratia means grace alone. It was one of five solas that came out of the Protestant Reformation—like battle cries, or things we hold dear and must never forget, or we will lose something that must not be lost.

If you have been around here for a while, it will sound familiar to you, because it is one of our four core values—"Grace is Everything." It's not just a core value; it is, we might say, the core value which makes all our other values possible. Grace alone is what the gospel is all about. For the next five weeks we will look at the gospel and ask the question, "Why is grace everything?"

Sunday we will look at what we might call a biblical anthropology, or who we are as human beings before God—what is our essence as image bearers of God, and how has sin affected us. It is a bleak picture, and one in which, if we do not understand it, grace will just be something, not everything.

I hope you will join us Sunday!