Walking Together as People of the Cross

Dear friends in Christ,

In a time that feels heavy with uncertainty, grief, and division, I am especially grateful to
be part of a Lutheran community. Our tradition gives us deep resources—not only to
understand the world around us, but to act with hope, courage, and love in the midst of
trouble. We do not pretend that everything is fine. We do not shy away from pain.
Instead, we face reality honestly and cling to God’s promise of life and grace even when
the world feels broken.

Martin Luther once wrote, “A theologian of the cross calls the thing what it actually is.”
(Heidelberg Disputation, 1518)

A Theologian of the Cross does not look for God only in comfort, success, or strength.
Instead, they look to the places where Christ Himself chose to dwell—among the
hurting, the doubting, the weary, the forgotten, the vulnerable. We do not deny suffering
or try to explain it away. We see the truth of the world’s wounds clearly, and yet we trust
that God is present and already at work there.

This is not pessimism—it is Christian hope rooted in reality. We know that God meets us
in the truth, not in illusions or wishful thinking. The cross reminds us that God enters
suffering and transforms it—not by avoiding it, but by carrying it with us and for us.
Because Christ is with us, we have courage for the days ahead.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran pastor who resisted hatred and oppression in
his own difficult time, wrote:

“The church is the church only when it exists for others.”
—Letters and Papers from Prison

To be Lutheran in this moment is to be grounded in grace, honest about hardship, and
steadfast in caring for our neighbor. We are not a people who give up. We are not a
people who hide. We are a people shaped by the cross—marked by Jesus’ love, mercy,
and commitment to the least and the lost, and relying on the promise of the
Resurrection.

And so, together:
 We bear one another’s burdens.
 We pray and lament together.
 We listen deeply and speak truthfully.

 We show up for our neighbors, especially the vulnerable.
 We trust that God is at work in ways we cannot yet see.

In this season, let us continue to be the church for one another and for the world. Not
through our strength, but through Christ’s. Not by denying the pain of our time, but by
bringing it honestly before God and standing together in hope.

Jesus is with us. The cross stands steady. And love—Christ’s love through us—will not
fail.

In Christ’s peace and courage,

Pastor Amy