LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 122

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

124

understandings to serve a larger constituency through
the deployment of Christ Seminary—Seminex faculty
and through the generous involvement in the Com-
mission on a New Lutheran Church. We are about one
percent of the total membership of that new Lutheran
church, and yet in the Commission on a New Lutheran
Church we have been 11 percent with voice and vote.
God has steadily stretched our minds and our hearts to
think world, to recognize the needs of many oppressed
and hungry people in so many countries, and to ac-
knowledge a great number of people as brothers and
sisters who bear the name of Christ and to whom Christ
has given the task of being in mission.

Iam convinced, on the basis of our brief history, that,
if it were necessary, we could exist and grow as church.
But God’s promises constantly encourage strong
churches, that great resources might forever flow into
mission and a greater coordination may accompany
that mission. Estimates of the coming century indicate
a constant, perhaps growing, poverty and hunger,
increasing oppression and inhumanity, and wider
divisions among and between people. A unity of pur-
pose, cooperative endeavors between churches, mergers
to gear up in strength become essential for the to-
morrows ahead. Our future—and your future—are
interwoven with the will of our Lord Jesus Christ. So,

5. Greetings of the Latvian Ev.

Dear President of the Synod, Officers of the Church, and
Members of the Convention:

I am bringing you most cordial greetings and best
wishes from the smallest and newest Lutheran Church
here—from the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Although we are the newest Lutheran Church in
America, we are a branch of one of the oldest Lutheran
churches. Our church was organized in 1524 by one of
Martin Luther’s students who came from Wittenberg to
preach the Reformation in Riga. Through the long years
of our existence, we became the national church and
spiritual guardian of the Latvian people. We also re-
mained one of the few faithful keepers of the Lutheran
tradition.

Our church in the United States came into existence
after the war, when those of our people who could leave
Latvia came here to start a new life. Because of language
and cultural differences, as well as our past experiences,
our people could not find a “home-away-from-home” in
the local churches. Individual Latvian congregations
were organized, which later united into a church. Al-
though we have different historical backgrounds and
traditions, we have the same Lutheran heritage and
share the same legacy of Martin Luther.

Keeping our identity and preserving our old and rich
Lutheran heritage were not the only purposes to or-
ganize our church. When Soviet occupying powers up-
rooted and exiled all Latvian landowners to make room

OTHER PRESENTATIONS

separately in the sense of our yesterdays and yet
together in the sense of God’s tomorrow, you and we
work for Christ and his church.

During this 20th century God nudged Lutheran
churches in the United States to emphasize their unity
through five separate mergers (1917, 1918, 1930, 1960,
1962). And in similar fashion He pushed Lutherans in
the United States to be involved in the formation of the
Lutheran World Federation and in the National
Lutheran Council and its successor agency, Lutheran
Council in the U.S.A., to establish conciliar arrange.
ments for the sake of the mission. And today three
bodies stand on the threshold of the next merger of this
century. We anticipate God’s blessing and your good.
wishes.

That same God may nudge your church and our
emerging church early in the next century to move
toward unity. The work of the church and the need of the
world demand that unity. So today we use this privilege
to greet you as fellow workers in the kingdom of Christ,
and we wish you God’s richest and abundant blessing
on this convention and pray that someday an extended.
unity will be developed for which the coming mer,
may simply be a vanguard. God be with you day by day:

William Kohn, D. D.

Lutheran Church in America

for collective farms, and when countless citizens, in-:
cluding pastors and church workers, were sent to Si:
beria, nobody in the free world paid any attention At:
times our church became the only voice to call attentio:
to this tragedy and organize help. After all these yearg i.
this mission still exists for us. -
To do our work more efficiently in the future, our
church has asked the Latvian Lutheran congregations
who have joined the local synods and have dual mem-
bership to transfer their membership now to us.
With my greetings I also add a kind request to yo
remember in your prayers our people in Latvia whose.
lives are trimmed to a bare minimum, where church
are converted into warehouses, museums, and con
halls, and where teaching of religion to children is
forbidden by the state law. Remember them!
Martin Luther, in one of his table talks, said that
builds His church with both hands. With His ri
hand, He gives His church peace, prosperity, an
success. Where He builds with His left hand, the chur
suffers hardships, and even defeat. Your Internation
Center and this convention clearly indicate that God is
building your church with His right hand. Butif you feel.
the touch of His left hand, do not be saddened by it. We
have all felt it at times, but must count it a blessing. =
I would also like to mention one of our problems,
which is the training of our future pastors. As we hav!
no seminary of our own, we are using the hospitality.of