LCMS Ministry to the Armed Forces – Third Quarter 2025 newsletter

Military slang, trauma — its effects and our response — and the succor only Christ can give, especially via pastoral care, are highlighted in this issue of So Help Me God, the newsletter of LCMS Ministry to the Armed Forces.

We have all faced trauma in our lives, but perhaps none so much as the military personnel who serve our country. LCMS Chaplain Steven Hokana knows this well and shares a personal encounter with loss in the line of duty.

But he also shares the hope we have in the only remedy for life’s losses and traumas: Jesus Christ and His saving work for us on the cross. When seeking peace, we are guided to the foot of the cross, and “we are extended confidence through the Holy Spirit that we are not abandoned. We rest in Him.”

Chaplain Hokana also gives insight and metaphor to the comfort of the Holy Spirit when “things go sideways” in life with the vocabulary of military parlance and the words of Scripture found in the books of John and 2 Corinthians.

The issue also includes reminders from Scripture and Luther’s works of how wielding the theology of the cross positively impacts Christians suffering through traumatic events.

Webpages and resources that can help individuals grow in Christ can also be found in this newsletter.

Download newsletter

LCMS Ministry to the Armed Forces

lcms.org/armedforces

Newsletter archives

Subscribe for email newsletters