Director’s Letter
Bearing the Light of Christ in a Chaotic World
Christ’s mission — the Church’s mission — is filled with joy. Yet our life together is often exceedingly difficult. Ever since the fall of Adam, ours is a disordered, untidy, chaotic world. The challenges facing saints engaged in ministry and mercy — the hurdles standing before you, dear reader — are many and daunting. Today, most of Christ’s Body is not occupied in serene monasteries or hushed libraries.
Instead, we find ourselves walking into border towns filled with anxious people. We enter homes whose walls are covered with mold and whose occupants are filled with despair. In our pews, we look with compassion upon individuals and families struggling with separation, poverty, loneliness, addiction, illness and death. We march into refugee camps to deliver finite supplies, only to be faced with seemingly limitless human needs.
In every instance of such insufferable messiness, we strive to bring the brilliant, hopeful light of the Gospel of Christ to bear. We “dive in,” armed with full confidence that the powerful Word of God is ceaselessly robust and unbreakable, even under the harshest of conditions. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling” (Ps. 46:1–3).
The Gospel — through cross and resurrection, in its absolute forgiveness and the glorious promise of life everlasting to those who believe — is carried forth and given away in faith-borne words and works of mercy toward our neighbor. And it is this Gospel alone that produces lasting fruit. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (Is. 40:8). Thank you for helping to make it happen, under God’s grace.
In Christ,
Rev. Kevin D. Robson
Chief Mission Officer, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
