Director’s Letter
Bearers of His Name
Jesus Christ has rescued us from sin and death, and now we share that truth with others.
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die,” says Jesus. “Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26).
Yes, with Easter certainty and rejoicing, we believe it. Why? Because the Bible told us so. God’s Word conveyed the faith that saved us. St. Paul said, “I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you” (1 Cor. 11:23). In and through the Holy Scriptures, we were sought out and found by the beautiful and majestic divine Truth. Sin and death surrounded us, but the full and final answer to our enemy’s onslaughts will ever be this: Jesus Christ is risen today.
He lives, all glory to His name. And so do we. We are the bearers of His name, His light, His life, for “on the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ” (Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation, p. 17).
The contexts in which you and I have been called to show forth this Gospel are breathtakingly diverse, but the essence of a Christian missionary’s work abides within the unchanging pattern laid down by St. Paul: receive and deliver. Mercy is distributed from the abundance of God’s gifts to those who are suffering. Hymns and liturgies that have carried the good confession from one generation to the next are brought by translation into new cultures and languages. Well-formed candidates are examined, called and ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry in their native countries. Those studying in a foreign land are welcomed by its citizens; along the way, they happen to meet Jesus and His disciples — and the consequences are eternal.
What follows in this issue of Lutherans Engage the World are blessed glimpses of this resurrection and life. Alleluia! Christ is risen!
In Christ,
Rev. Kevin D. Robson
Chief Mission Officer, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
