LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 93

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Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father
and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Brothers and sisters in Christ:

What a delightful evening this is for all of us! Of the
many things that we will remember of the 55th conven-
- tion of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, whether
“we are here as delegates or advisers or friends of the
Synod, among the most memorable will be this service
of worship and praise to the Lord of the church. What a
wonderful experience it is, not only to worship with such
- glorious singing and music, but also to realize who our
fellow-worshipers are—the representatives of more than
6,000 congregations throughout North America, served
the leaders of our Synod and its 38 Districts with
Word and Sacrament.

Of all things that we do together on this festive
‘occasion, none is more significant nor more important
han what we do together this evening, or, to be more
precise, than which God the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit does in and through us this evening as we lift high
His cross—in song, in Word, and in the body and blood

We can easily imagine what Peter must have felt on
he Mount of Transfiguration many years ago, when, in
the glory of that worshipful experience, he exclaimed,
‘Lord, it is really good to be here. Let’s build a tent and
itay awhile!”

But, alas, we cannot stay awhile, for as soon as
tomorrow morning arrives, the delegates of the Synod
Must. reassemble and begin to tackle the awesome
usiness of the Synod, representing as we do the
ircuits and the congregations of our Synod, who,
through our actions, hope to move forward with the
message of Jesus Christ into a darkling world.

We must transact the business of this church body.
ve: must reconsider together its task, its focus, and its
goals. What better words, my brothers and sisters, than
tose that have been chosen for the theme of this
avention, namely the words from St. Paul to the
lossians in Chapter 1, verse 28. “Him we proclaim,

93

CONVENTION SERMON

warning every man and teaching every man in all
wisdom, that we may present every man mature in
Christ.”

These words emphasize that our task as the church
of Jesus Christ is proclamation. You may say that it is
very obvious that the church proclaims. That is what
preachers do! They are proclaimers of the truth!

But think about it. It is not really that obvious in our
day that the church’s task is proclamation. There are
some church bodies, some gatherings of Christians, for
whom proclamation does not appear to be the overrid-
ing concern. And every once in a while, even in an
organization like ours, with its tremendous heritage of
500 years of Luther’s doctrine pure and with preaching
seen as a central task of the church—even we need to be
reminded, especially as we gather together to transact
business in 160-plus resolutions, that our essential task
is to proclaim Christ.

Sometimes we are tempted to think that our work is
to be carried out in some other way—through political
change, power voting, tightening up the structure, the
proper kind of communication, good stewardship, or
through the many other important things that we
consider and do together.

Surely no one would suggest that such things are
unimportant. But there is really one thing needful when
the church looks at itself and asks, “Lord, what would
You have us to do?”

Paul said it to the Colossians in one simple word, a
word he loved to use. He uses it again and again when he
talks about the task of the church. It is the word
“proclaim.”

In writing to the Colossians, he also used other
words to explain the proclamatory task of the church.
He reminds his readers, in the words of the Epistle read
by Dr. Lavalais just a few moments ago, that God had
made him a minister of the church on the church’s
behalf. In that work he sought “to make the Word of God
fully known.” He did not see that his task as apostle was
to change society. He did not think of himself primarily
as a teacher, or as an agent of social, political or cultural
change, and certainly not as a philosopher, moral
teacher, or advocate for the rights of mankind—as
important as those various activities might well be.

His task, he said simply in verse 25, was “to make the
Word of God fully known.” Proclaiming Jesus Christ is
the one essential task of the church, and therefore it is
ours, too!

Secondly, it is not just proclamation in general that
is our task. Let us understand that quite well. Some-
times, it does seem as though the church is content to
talk. And it doesn’t much matter what we talk about, so
long as we are proclaiming something!

We proclaim about peace, about the wisdom (or lack
of it) of nuclear freezes or unilateral or multilateral
disarmament or disinvestment in far-off countries. We
proclaim, we speak, we take positions.