The Lutheran Witness

The earth is full of Your creatures. … when You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When You send forth Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the ground. — Psalm 104:24, 29–30

Faithful Lutherans, both past and present, have rightly denounced the many sins that debase human life: abortion, sexual and domestic abuse, assisted suicide, human trafficking. Find Christian responses to five lies about life common in our culture at the link in the replies.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved. — Ephesians 2:4–5

The person who is spiritually dead in sins cannot by his own strength make or apply himself to acquire spiritual and heavenly righteousness and life. — Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration II 11

The Christian faith is not just something that happened to ancient Israel, the medieval church or early American settlers. It is something happening to us now. Personal commemorations connect our individual faith stories to the story of the whole church. (Link in replies)

This is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. — 1 John 5:11–12

Our plight requires much more than self-revelation, self-consciousness or self-determination to go a different route. It requires a resurrection. (Link in replies)

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. — Genesis 2:7

What are the stewardship principles for bodily care that God reveals to us in His Word and as He continuously opens knowledge of creation to His children? Find out in this article from LCMS Worker Wellness. thelc.ms/3NMFyVc

The April issue of The Lutheran Witness explores the Christian life on earth and eternal life in Christ. Link in the replies.

God’s people can be described as a garden, or a field, or a vineyard, for the Garden was their first home, and it will be their final home, the eternal Promised Land to which the Root and Branch of Jesse is leading them. (Link in replies.)

On Yahweh’s mountain, Jesus makes a feast for all peoples, swallows up the covering cast over all the nations, swallows up death for all humanity, wipes away tears from all faces, and puts an end to all the kingdoms that strive against His kingdom. thelc.ms/4tgCxM8

The prophets in the Old Testament speak of a special day that the Lord calls His very own, a day unlike any other that God’s people across the ages have aptly called “the day of the Lord.” thelc.ms/3Pzv8c9

Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us His body and blood to eat and to drink for our forgiveness, life and salvation. What was given on Maundy Thursday to the apostles, and to us in the Lord’s Supper, He also mysteriously gives to the saints who came long before. thelc.ms/4byATPW

David’s experience led him to pen Psalm 41 to speak about the pain of being betrayed by a close friend. His anguish, however, was only a shadow of the sorrow Jesus would feel over a betrayal that would lead to His horrible death on the cross. thelc.ms/40Z7Lew