December. It’s hard to believe that we are approaching the end of one calendar year and the beginning of another. That with Advent upon us, we have embarked on another journey of faith through the church year.

For many of us, 2008 has provided a roller-coaster ride: the cost of gas has been up—way up! Our stock portfolios (and job prospects), down—way down.

As with last month, we are overflowing with feature stories, beginning with our Reformation cover story by Dr. Robert A. Kolb and Dr. Charles P. Arand.

As you can see from this contents page, we’re bursting at the seams this month—with stories about Katrina, the flooding this summer in the Midwest, and Mission Central, to name just a few.

Some days, it seems, our 24/7 news cycle brings us little but glum news. Fuel is at an all-time high. The stock market is in the doldrums (or worse). When will the housing market recover? For Christians, each day also seems to bring a new challenge to our faith. Among those challenges: differing assertions about the structure of marriage.

As with last month, we are overflowing with feature stories, beginning with our Reformation cover story by Dr. Robert A. Kolb and Dr. Charles P. Arand.

The month of May covers a lot of ground by closing the door on spring and opening the door to summer. In this issue of The Lutheran Witness, we also cover a lot of ground.

Many of us retain a Norman Rockwell-like image of smalltown America as a bulwark of wholesome values and the Christian faith, in our case, the Lutheran Christian faith.

This month our focus is twofold: (1) our Concordia University System and (2) the work of LCMS World Relief and Human Care here at home and abroad.

Because of Christ Jesus and what He did for us, God forgives our sins, which makes it not only our duty, but our privilege, to forgive and reconcile with those who sin against us. Read more in this issue of The Lutheran Witness

You have in your hands a very special issue of The Lutheran Witness. Its focus is on people and institutions of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a world that needs so very much to hear God’s Good News.

We all enjoy receiving cards and letters at Christmas. Whether from family far away or friends across town, they remind us of the relationships with which we have been blessed. Often, even in this aggressively secular age, those same cards and letters remind us of the great gift our heavenly Father gave us that first Christmas long ago in Bethlehem.