Looking around, we might think we have every reason to despair. It seems like the church is declining in numbers. Perhaps we only see gray hair in the pews on Sunday, and we’re unsure whether the church will be around to bury us. If we look beyond the church, we see the assaults of the culture on every side.
Like the children of Israel as they stood between the Red Sea and the rushing hordes of Egypt coming behind them, it’s tempting to despair.
But the church is not a community of despair. It is a community of hope. We do not place this hope in the power of a ruler or the strength of a man, but in the Man, Jesus Christ. The church of God is a community buoyed by hope, confident and certain that God — just as He did for Israel — will make a way for us.
And, in fact, He already has. Through His death and resurrection, Christ has conquered our foes. He has led us through the Red Sea and drowned the wicked foe in the waters of Holy Baptism. His promise to us is that just as He brought Israel to new life through water, so also will He do for us today.
The March issue of The Lutheran Witness is all about the hope we have in Christ. Whether it is the Rev. Dr. Adam Koontz’s remedies for quiet despair or the Rev. Dr. Jon Bruss’ study of hope in Scripture, you will find Christ at the center. Maybe you need the Rev. Dr. Lucas Woodford’s encouragement for those affected by “toxic” congregations or the joy of seeing confessional Lutheranism blossom around the world. But on every page of this issue, you will find hope in Christ.
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:3–5).
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Posted March 18, 2024
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