LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 95

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net earth has 4.4 billion people, with nearly 3 billion
those not knowing Jesus Christ at all. What an
nished task is ours! How fantastic that this conven-
4 will be asking itself again and again how we, this
eband of 2.6 million people, can impact that world of
jllion people that does not know Christ’s “open
ret” for its salvation and redemption.
‘hat is not the only problem, of course. We are living
‘time of great uncertainty and change. We have been
g that to one another’s attention in many ways.
any years we have known, in the words of Bob
an, “For the times they are a changing.”
And, indeed, they are! This is a time of uncertainty, a
f doubt. It is a time when the world looks at many
e attractive “isms” that confront us every time we
1. around: naturalism, subjectivism, rationalism,
nticism. As you have suspected, I am reading from a
[tell you, it lists no less than 21 “isms”! There ought
ga word like “ism-itis,” to characterize the tendency
escribe these horrible times with such “isms.”
‘he sad thing is that they are all true of our age!
is nihilism and cynicism and materialism and
ologism. How do you like that one? That is the
that the most important question you can ask
ut anything is its usefulness. What can it do? What
it help to accomplish? Not a bad question, to besure,
far from basic. There are so many things all around
our world that make our task of proclaiming Him
the 3-billion non-Christians an almost impossible
t times, or so it seems.
look at our own church body with its many good
es and its many fine achievements. We look at the
gregations which we all serve and to which we
long. And we find such horrible statistics from time to
that we really don’t know what to do about it. For
ple, in 1981, 1,470 congregations of The Lutheran
trch—Missouri Synod reported that they had gained
members from the outside. It took two congrega-
on the average, to bring one new member into the
ily of Jesus Christ in the last year.
e have other disappointing statistics, for example,
children born 14 years ago who are coming into the
rch in confirmation ceremonies to repeat their
btismal vows in that way, number only 58 percent of
e baptized 14 years earlier. At one time, that

CONVENTION SERMON 95

statistic was as high as 93 percent in The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod.

I say these things not to shame us, and certainly not
to suggest for one moment that the recitation of our sins
is going to impel us to do anything for the Lord Jesus
Christ, but merely to say the obvious—that the times we
are living in are not only “a changing.” They are not
only filled with uncertainty and isms; but the times in
which we are living have extended their difficulties
right into the life of the church itself, including The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

But this convention has one opportunity above all
others. It is to say to itself through you, and through
those who have sent you and who will hear from you
when you return home, that we have rededicated our-
selves as a church to the one task that is most needful of
all—the task of proclaiming Him who offers us the hope
of glory through His blood.

What more fitting way could there be than to praise
and thank God in this 500th anniversary year of Dr.
Luther’s birth than to dedicate ourselves again to Jesus
Christ as the Center of all we do and to the disclosure of
God’s secret plan of redemption for the whole world.
More important than social, political, and cultural
change, this message brings the forgiveness of sin. It
brings it into your life, and into mine, and into the life of
this church body with all of its weaknesses and its
failures.

That message of Jesus Christ is a daily message of
“Son and daughter, be of good cheer. Your sins are
forgiven you.” In that message, there is meaning for our
lives that often seem to be pulled in every direction, and
so lacking in hope.

“There is hope, the hope even of glory,” Paul says to
the Colossians. Not only the hope of finding food and
sustenance, as important as that may be, but the hope of
glory itself! Life eternal with the God of gods and the
Lord of lords and the King of kings! And all through this
simple basic task as the lifelong commitment of each
and every Christian—the task of “Him We Proclaim.”

Let us say it together, my brothers and sisters, as our
pledge and commitment as the church of Jesus Christ:
HIM WE PROCLAIM. One more time. HIM WE
PROCLAIM. To that end, God help us. Amen.

Ralph A. Bohimann, President