Genesis makes the point twice in one sentence: the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and did what he had promised. The name carries the warmth —…
Proverbs 17:1 — better a dry crust with peace than a house full of feasting with strife. Wisdom literature as a compass rather than a theory.
Proverbs 3:1-4 on binding love and faithfulness around your neck, in a service given over to letting go — marriage, children, work, debt, health.
Proverbs 1 opening the new year, on Scripture as God's wise reprover — reproof being an uncomfortable theme for the first Sunday of January, and chosen anyway.
Isaiah 11 and a shoot coming up from the stump of Jesse: what grows back after everything visible has been cut down.
Jesus leaves after John is imprisoned, and Pastor Adam refuses the obvious reading: this is strategic withdrawal, into border country Isaiah called deep darkness. God does some of his best…