Skip to Main Content
Women of the ELCA
  • Donate
  • Shop
  • Tools For Leaders
  • Publications
  • Daily Grace
  • Contact
  • Ministry & Action
    • Discipleship
    • Justice
      • Human Trafficking
      • Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
      • Racial Justice Advocacy
      • Racial Justice Advocacy Network resources
      • Domestic Violence
    • Membership
    • Stewardship
      • Thankofferings
      • Faithful Friends
      • Katie’s Fund
      • Gift Planning
    • Special Initiatives
      • Rachel’s Day
      • Raising Up Healthy Women & Girls
    • Scholarships
      • Lutheran laywomen
      • Lutheran Ordained Ministry
  • Resources
  • About
    • History
    • Executive Board
    • Staff
    • Get Involved
  • Events
  • Belong
  • Donate
  • Shop
  • Tools For Leaders
  • Publications
  • Daily Grace
  • Contact
« Back to All Daily Grace

Gritty realities of the world

4.2.2015
|
Daily Grace

To Luther, faithfulness is not the outworking of faith. Far from removing us from the ambiguities and complexities of life, faithfulness propels the baptized into them. One becomes a theologian of the cross not by speculation about life, but by living and dying in engagement with the gritty realities of the world. It is precisely in this engagement that the promise, the presence, and the power of the resurrection become most clear.

The faithful go where Jesus went before them, seeing those among whom they serve as beloved of God and worthy of hope. On their journeys, the faithful confront and challenge systems and institutions that hurt the many for the sake of the few, as Jesus did before them. Faithfulness under the cross is an adventure, not a sure and certain plan.

Luther came to reject the theology of glory and turned instead to what he termed theology of the cross. Rather than beginning with me and what I must do, the theology of the cross begins with: God’s faithfulness to all creation and God’s humbling of all human initiative before the cross. I do not accept Jesus as my personal Savior. Rather, in faith I risk trusting that through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God has already accepted me. I did nothing, and can do nothing, to merit God’s faithfulness to me. It is all a gift, free and undeserved.

Today we observe Maundy Thursday. This message was adapted from “Faithfulness Under the Cross” written by Gwen Sayler that first appeared in the March 2006 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine.

Share this post

Sign up for Daily Grace

Daily Grace is an on-the-go companion for your journey, offering a faith reflection every day. Encounter God’s extravagant, boundless and often surprising grace by signing up for a daily email message.

Back to home

8765 W. Higgins Rd.

Chicago IL 60631

800-638-3522

[email protected]

Stay In Touch

Sign up for the WELCA Newsletter

Explore WELCA
  • Ministry & Action
  • Daily Grace
  • Resource Library
  • Events
  • Blog
  • News
  • About WELCA
  • Tools For Leaders
  • Publications
  • Donate
  • Shop
  • Photos
Explore Publications

Bold Cafe

A Lutheran perspective for women of Christian faith or any woman who is interested in how faith relates to the issues facing women today.

Gather Magazine

A mix of articles, theological reflections, devotions and stories of comfort and challenge that help readers grow in faith.

Cafe Podcast

Subscribe to our podcast:

Click to subscribe

© Copyright 2025 Women of the ELCA. All Rights Reserved.
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
© Copyright 2025 Women of the ELCA. All Rights Reserved.