The Crossings Blog

Co-missioners, With three days left before Christmas dawns, we send another batch of observations from our editor. Our thanks to God for all who read this, and for everyone who makes our work at Crossings possible. And a note that Crossings will not send out a Thursday Theology next week as the editor and team will be taking …

Co-missioners, Today you’re getting a piece by the late Ed Schroeder that hasn’t been generally available until now. You won’t find it in our library. We understand that it surfaced from the files of the Rev. Ron Neustadt, one of Ed’s dear friends. Three days ago it landed in our editor’s lap. He promptly dropped what he was …

Co-missioners, Today Steve Hitchcock helps us remember our late brother, the Rev. Art Simon, an LCMS pastor who founded Bread for the World. In doing so, he led innumerable Christians, including many at Crossings, to think more broadly and vigorously about their vocation as baptized people. Steve, who knew Art well, will discuss this. He’ll also leave you …

Co-missioners, Our editor chips in again this week. Two reminders before he lets the chips fly: First, registration is open for the Crossings seminar at the end of January. Scholarship help is available if needed. Don’t hesitate to ask. The topic: “Delivering God’s Goods.” Speakers include Fred Niedner, Robin Lutjohann, Nathan Hall, Chris Repp; Ruth Hanusa preaching at …

Co-missioners, Today is the fourth Thursday in November. For readers who aren’t American, we mention that this is Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. It was established as a national observance in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln. The Civil War was raging at the time; bodies were still being buried at Gettysburg. Lincoln issued his thanksgiving proclamation on October …

Co-missioners, We’re not surprised that last week’s post prompted a couple of quick rejoinders from readers steeped in Lutheran confessional theology. The post’s author, Ron Roschke, is steeped in this theology too. You’ll discover this in today’s second part of his reflection on Romans Disarmed, the book he invites us to consider. We thank him heartily for prompting …

Co-missioners, We are “justified by faith.” What does this mean? The classic Lutheran answer to this Luther-style question is up for grabs these days in mainline Protestant circles. This includes much of the ELCA, where the term “justice” is replacing “justification” as the focus of teaching and proclamation. This shift is due in part to New Testament scholars …

Co-missioners, Tuesday was Reformation Day on the Lutheran church calendar. Today we send you the first of three posts that will either echo its themes or address them directly. They’ll also point you to a pair of new and useful additions to your reading lists. Speaking of lists, here’s an item for the one labeled “To Do.” Our …

Co-missioners, We send you a reflection from our editor today. We add a reminder about the Crossings Seminar at the end of January. The topic is preaching, or to put this more sharply, about delivering the goods that God in Christ wants people to use and enjoy. Registration is now open. See the Crossings website. We hope you’ll …

Co-missioners, Our gift today is a text study that was supposed to reach you two Sundays ago. It didn’t. It couldn’t. We sent you news on Tuesday of Lori Cornell’s battle with cancer. Lori had been editing our text studies for over twenty years. She had begun her usual work on the one below a few weeks ago …