Five prayers for Ukraine
Christians from around the world gathered online today to pray…
Editorial: In 2024, we won’t be silent
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‘Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
We offer those words, penned by David in Psalm 30, as encouragement at the end of a year that was filled with sadness — conflicts in Ukraine, Israel and India to name a few. We lamented declines in attendance, churches closing their doors and a shortage of preachers. We said goodbye to giants of the faith, including Howard and Jane Norton.
The Christian Chronicle’s Oklahoma staff. Top row: Steward-ship officer Alan Phillips, president and CEO Erik Tryggestad, accountant Louise Beyer, editor-in-chief Bobby Ross Jr., lead administrative assistant Lynda Sheehan, donor relations officer Melinda Wilson and advertising manager Christi Roméo. Bottom row: Special projects director Sawmi Sektak, emotional support specialist Gandalf, associate editor Audrey Jackson and student worker Daniela Neves.
But this year also taught us how God can turn mourning into dancing, as David writes later in that Psalm. We saw churches reach out in love to refugees from Afghanistan and a Russian Christian helping her brothers and sisters from Ukraine as they settled in Houston.
On college campuses we saw evidence of a new revival among young believers. We cheered as scores of student athletes gave their lives to Christ in baptism at Faulkner University in Alabama.
We marveled at the hundreds of youths who gathered on a weekend to test their Bible knowledge — and the thousands more who gathered on Easter weekend for Lads to Leaders and Leadership Training for Christ conventions.
We thanked our Heavenly Father for the incredible growth of our faith on the African continent — and for a renewed emphasis on discipleship that will help these new believers plant churches that plant churches.
And the Rangers won the World Series. One of us was particularly happy about that.
As David concludes Psalm 30, he lets us know that he intends to let the world know that the Lord has transformed tragedy into victory:
“You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.”
May we not be silent in 2024.
May we testify — from our mountaintops and our valleys — that we serve a risen Savior, and he’s in the world today. We see his hand of mercy. We hear his voice of cheer.
He lives. — Erik Tryggestad, for the Editorial Board
