Lutheran Witness: April 2019

In its April Lent/Easter issue, The Lutheran Witness turns its attention to the cross of Christ.

Contents

From the President: Ashes to ashes, dust to dust

Features:

The stone rejected — David P. Scaer

With His wounds — Gerard J. Stanley Sr.

Eyes of love — Kelly Schumacher

The defense attorney and the storyteller — Michael Zeigler

The body of Christ — Jacob Corzine

Do we worship the same God? — Hans Fiene

Departments:

world views: A monthly news column from Gene Edward Veith

searching scriptures: Christ alone — Matthew Richard

bene+diction: My duplicate is dead — Cheryl Magness

From the editor

Christ alone. It seems so simple, so elementary, so “duh.” Every Christian — certainly every Lutheran — knows and believes that, don’t they? Why would we devote an entire issue of The Lutheran Witness to such a basic tenet of Christian belief?

And yet … how often do we forget?

Flip through the latest religion and spirituality bestsellers, and you may begin to wonder. Christianity these days seems to be less about Jesus and more about learning to “wash your face” and “makeover” your money. More about loving “everybody, always” (and with your
own truest “love language”), becoming “shameless” and “unlocking your most courageous self.”

Read the Bible, though, and everything snaps back into focus: Christianity is about “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).

That’s it.

More than just the main point of biblical Christianity, the death and resurrection of Christ is the main point of everything. Jesus’ crucifixion is the event around which every moment in history
turns, the act of love at the very center of the universe. Without Christ crucified, there is no point.

In light of this glorious reality, it seems more than fitting that “Christ Alone” would be the overarching theme of our 2019 Lent/Easter
issue. You’ll find the cross of Christ at the center of every issue of The Lutheran Witness, of course — but this month, it’s impossible to miss.

Rachel Bomberger
Managing Editor, The Lutheran Witness