Congregations: Consider using these words in the Prayer of the Church on or before July 14, as you pray together for the Synod convention (July 20–25).
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The Lutheran Witness — Interpreting the contemporary world from a Lutheran Christian perspective.
What about the Holy Spirit?
Great blessings come to us when we fully embrace a Lutheran understanding of who the Spirit is, how He works and where He can be found.
My duplicate is dead
As the family sat down to open Christmas presents, their 7-year-old son began to cry: “Mommy! Mommy! My duplicate is dead!” What could it mean?
Hot dish heaven
Lasagna and honey ham, lemon bars and snickerdoodles … There’s something heavenly about a potluck.
Theodore Naether: Planting the seeds of LCMS missions
The faithful labors of the LCMS’s first overseas missionary foreshadowed the tireless service and devotion to the Gospel that would characterize thousands of his successors.
When Jesus ruins Christmas
Up against the glorious reality of Christ’s Incarnation, the “holly jolly” fluff surrounding our cultural celebration of Christmas tends to lose its luster.
Joyfully witnessing
From the angels to the apostles to Lutherans among their neighbors today, the Church in heaven and on earth continues to bear joyful witness to Christ.
Mental health and pastoral ministry
The Holy Ministry does not bubble wrap pastors. In fact, it can compound mental health stressors in ways that many other vocations do not.
To number our days
“When I am at the bottom of my strength. When I am at the lowest of lows. When I am sinking in fear, that’s just where God’s grace meets me.”
A Lutheran view of Dave Ramsey
Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University offers a lot to shout joyfully about, including becoming debt-free. But how well does Ramsey’s program fit with Lutheran teaching?
The toxic and the true
At the dawn of creation, Adam was the first man to distort real, godly masculinity, and Eve was the first woman to be let down and left hurting by a man’s inability to understand and live out his manly calling. Thanks be to God, the story doesn’t end there.
Love for the least of these
Motivated by the conviction that human life begins at conception and their concern for embryos stuck in frozen limbo, LCMS “snowflake” families have become pioneers in embryo adoption.
Children’s children and the plans of God
From the beginning of the world, God has been creating and gathering for Himself a beloved people. In His wisdom, He designed parents to participate with Him in His creative powers and purposes, bringing forth generation after generation of children — and teaching them to know their God.
The Paschal Lamb and the Angel of Death
For Christians in the Early Church, cross and resurrection were not in opposition to each other. Their Easter worship services and sermons were a celebration of both at once.
Piety vs. Pietism
Though often used interchangeably, the theological terms “piety” and “Pietism” actually have very different meanings. Can you tell them apart?