Stay in the Way!

n Acts 9, before they were ever called “Christians,” the earliest followers of Jesus were known as people of The Way. It wasn’t just a label—it was a lifestyle. The Way meant walking as Jesus walked: disrupting injustice, welcoming outsiders, feeding the hungry, healing the broken, and proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand.

At this year’s Lutheran Services in Iowa’s Lutheran Day on the Hill, we heard a stirring reminder from Rev. Senator Sarah Trone Garriott: sometimes being faithful means being a troublemaker. Not in the chaotic, divisive sense—but in the spirit of Jesus, who overturned tables in the temple (Matthew 21:12), broke Sabbath norms to heal the hurting (Luke 13:10–17), and refused to stay silent in the face of oppression. Holy trouble is what happens when love won’t back down.

Staying in the Way of Jesus means walking that same path—of bold compassion, public witness, and radical grace. It means loving your neighbor not just in word, but in policy and presence. As James writes, “faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (James 2:17). Lutheran theology reminds us that we are freed by grace, for service. As Luther said, “God does not need our good works—but our neighbor does.”

To be people of The Way in 2025 means showing up—for those pushed to the margins, for the vulnerable, for the ones our systems too often forget. It means writing to legislators, standing with refugees, marching for racial justice, advocating for mental health, protecting LGBTQIA+ youth, feeding the hungry, and speaking gospel truth with courage and compassion.

This is not always easy. The road is narrow (Matthew 7:14), and the resistance is real. But we are not alone on the journey. The risen Christ walks with us. The Spirit equips us. The cloud of witnesses surrounds us. And the promise holds: “Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

So, dear Church, stay in the way. Stay rooted in grace. Stay loud with love. Stay faithful to Jesus—not just in belief, but in action. Let’s be known as people who love boldly, speak truthfully, and disrupt injustice wherever we find it.

Let’s be the kind of troublemakers this world so desperately needs.

In Christ,

Pastor Minna Bothwell