In fall of 2025, Faith received a processional crucifix as a memorial gift. This was a gift that was brought before and approved by both the board of elders and the board of directors. Some have raised the question as to whether the gift of a crucifix is appropriate in a Lutheran Church. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod has written saying that crucifixes are appropriate to have in Lutheran Churches.
Pastor Eichers wrote a newsletter article explaining some of the background and rationale for this change. See below:
In addition, in November, Pastor Eichers started publishing bulletin blurbs to help address FAQs about the processional cross. They are being aggregated here:
11/2 What is a crucifix? A crucifix is different than a cross in that it has a corpus, that is, a body, affixed to it. Crucifix literally means fixed to a cross. Paul wrote, “but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,” (1 Cor 1:23). One of the earliest depictions of Christ crucified was a graffiti made by a pagan in Rome of a donkey being crucified with the caption, “Alexamenos worships his God.” This was made to ridicule the Christian Alexamenos. The earliest record we have of a crucifix is from 590 A.D. made for a queen named Theodelinda. Crucifixes have been an important part of Christian piety and worship for much of the history of the Church.
11/9 How did we get this crucifix? John Jaeger donated this crucifix from memorial funds given in memory of his wife, Karen. This purchase was made with approval from both the Board of Elders and the Board of Directors. The crucifix itself was made from scratch from a workshop in Oklahoma and ordered from Stemper’s catalog which is a church supply store in Milwaukee which now owns Noelke’s downtown. We are thankful for this wonderful gift!