# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S84
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

confess that truth joyfully to the world right where we
are, in the place that the Lord has called us to serve.
The days of being joyfully Lutheran in only a few
cultural and linguistic groups are long in the past.
Today, being joyfully Lutheran includes many nations
around the world on many continents. Even here in the
US in our very own Synod, being joyfully Lutheran
includes the more and more diverse ethnicities and
cultures that make up the LCMS.
One of the most encouraging signs of being joyfully
Lutheran I’ve seen was in a young adult ministry group.
They had invited me to speak at their next conference.
I was simply assuming that it was going to be some
kind of a cutesy topic, as is usual for these type of
conferences. To my surprise, they wanted to know
more about the doctrine of their LCMS church and how
to navigate doctrinally with their friends from other
denominations.

My dear friends, that is what praying constantly for
being joyfully Lutheran is all about! Even the young
people of our church from many ethnic groups want to
know more about the pure gospel that our church
proclaims so that they can be faithful witnesses. And at
the Seminary, we cannot fulfill all the requests for good
Lutheran theological education from around the world,
from large church bodies that are in the millions, and
from small churches that have just a few hundred
members. It is tremendously challenging to fulfill all
these requests for Lutheran theological education from
around the world. That is being joyfully Lutheran.
Today, as we hear God’s Word from the apostle Paul
encouraging the youngest of the young to the oldest of
the old, from the east to the west, and the north to the
south, from sea to shining sea, all nations, let us “pray
without ceasing.” We are praying constantly for being
joyfully Lutheran because we have the purity of the
good news, which is in Christ, Jesus, our Lord.
In Jesus name, Amen!

1. Heiko A. Oberman, Luther Man Between God and the Devil (New
Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1989), 12.

84 | PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2019 (67TH) LCMS CONVENTION

Convention Sermons