Lutheran Witness: October 2019

In its October issue, The Lutheran Witness focuses on the saints, under the theme “The Communion of Saints, the Forgiveness of Sins.”

Contents

From the President: Singing the gospel

Features:

Called by the Gospel … Kept in the Faith: Luther’s View of the Saints — Robert Kolb

With My Lost Saints — Rachel Bomberger

Unsung Heroes of the Reformation — Cameron A. MacKenzie

On the Celebration of All Saints — D. Richard Stuckwisch

Life and Legacy of Chaplain Marcus E. Lohrann — Marcia Luecke

Departments:

world views: A monthly news column from Gene Edward Veith

searching scriptures: Lutherans and the Saints — Timothy Pauls

bene+diction: Holding Holy Ground — Rebekah Curtis

From the editor

Holy. Holy. Holy. That’s how the seraphim heralded the enthroned Yahweh in Isaiah 6. Three-times holy. Fully and wholly other. High and lifted up. Enthroned as king. Worthy of praise. So, too, we sing before the Lord’s Supper, where the Lord is present.

The sinner Isaiah cried out in woe, for he was unclean.

God is holy. People are unclean.

Yet Paul calls the people in Ephesus “saints” (Eph. 1:1). Sinners as saints. Who can make such a claim, and who could bring about such a change?

In Isaiah 52–53, the servant of Yahweh is high and lifted up. The servant bears our iniquities and our sorrows. His stripes heal us. The holy one died a sinner’s death, so that the unclean might be forgiven and given sainthood — holy in Him.

Baptized into Christ, we live as saints. And we thank God for the saints who surround us and precede us. The sinner-saints remind us that sin leads to woe, but God’s love in Christ calls us to be His own people, to be forgiven, and in Him holy.

Dear saints, in this issue you will meet saints whom the Lord of the church has given to us all, that we might praise Him once more for His grace and mercy. And when we thank Him for His grace, we rejoice that even sinners like you and me can be called saints. All because of Jesus.

In His mercy,

Kevin Armbrust
Interim Managing Editor, The Lutheran Witness