LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1986, Sheet 94

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92 BIBLE STUDY AND DEVOTIONAL ESSAYS

Why is the local congregation so special? Because its
people (members) were purchased and won by Christ and
it receives its power exclusively from the Word. St. Paul
says it so beautifully in his letter to the Eph. 2:19-22:

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners,

but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the house-

hold of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner-
stone.

We have been radically transformed and are no longer
foreign-trained immigrants laden with sin and its devas-
tating consequences, no longer rejected outcasts whose
speech and stench are abhorrent. But through our Lord
Jesus Christ and His sacrificial blood, we have become
fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s house-
hold.

With joy and jubilation we celebrated the rebirth of the
Statue of Liberty. But ours is a far greater liberty, as St.
Paul reminds us in Colossians 1:13~—14:

He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe

into the kingdom of His dear Son, by whom we are set free,

that is, our sins are forgiven.

One of Dr. C. F. W. Walther’s favorite passages was
from 1 Peter: 2:9--10:

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the
praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His mar-
velous light; who once were not a people, but are now the people
of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained
mercy.

Through Christ we are fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God, a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a very special people. You see,
God is at work in each individual, and jointly in the local
congregation.

With Christ our cornerstone, and built upon the foun-
dation of the apostles and prophets, we are individually
and as congregations of the Synod, part of a massive con-
struction project. This massive construction is the church,
the mighty temple of our Lord, God’s own habitation.

So you are somebody very special! And you are members
of very special congregations! The power, fuel, resources,
strength, yes, even the dynamite that we have for our work
is the Word of God.

Generation after generation we are filled with this
power of the Word in our worship, we speak of our faith
to others in our witness, we nurture the old and young
through various Christian educational programs, we hold
out hands of support and comfort to those in need and
provide whatever services within our congregations and in
Synod, which may be needed at various times and under
various circumstances.

Walther prepared a very helpful checklist of 66 rights
and duties of the local congregation. The original list ap-
pears in his book, The Proper Form of an Evangelical Lu-
theran Congregation, which was published in 1862. It is
available in Drickamer’s Walther on the Church, pp. 125—
54. This checklist is as valid today as it was at that time
and ought to be used annually by congregations to take
stock and to measure their spiritual life and work.

What does all this tell us?

First, that we in our congregations must be deeply in-

volved in the study and searching of God’s Word; we must
study the Lutheran confessional writings. We will then
continue to see that the answers for the questions of our
time are God’s own answers as our great confessors have
discovered them over the years through their own strug-
gles and study. This is what produces “scholarly theo-
logians” right in our own parishes.

Second, we must go to work in our local congregations
with renewed vigor and joy, knowing that we are doing
God’s will, in proclaiming the praises of Him who has called
us out of darkness into His marvelous light and giving aid
wherever it is needed.

Third, we must realize that we are a vital part of the
marvelous continuation of the church, that massive con-
struction program which goes on from generation to gen-
eration wherever we are located. This is expressed so
majestically in the Te Deum, (LW, p. 246) of which the
following lines are especially of significance:

To you all angels, all the pow’rs of heaven, cherubim and ser-
aphim, sing in endless praise: Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of
pow’ and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. The
glorious company of the apostles praise you. The noble fellow-
ship of prophets praise you. The white robed army of martyrs
praise you. Throughout the world the holy church acclaims
you.

In the name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Blessed Lord Jesus: Wherever Your Word is preached
and Your holy sacraments are administered, there You are
gathering Your church and congregation. There You are
building Your temple, a house of God, built with lively
stones fitly framed together, set upon the eternal foun-
dation. You have chosen the church, the bride, and placed
it where You have prepared a field white unto the harvest.

In the midst of the wheat there are also tares, as there
are wise virgins, so are there also foolish ones. Even open
enemies of Your Word sometimes stealthily creep in among
Your disciples.

Oh, preserve each one of us assembled here, not only
to belong to Your church outwardly but always to remain
committed to Your Word and service.

We pray that You would place us into the world as a
continued blessing, so that we may proclaim Your holy
Word in every circumstance where we may find ourselves
and that our lives may conform to the message we are
speaking.

Bless our congregations and all our people that together
in our Synod and especially at this convention we may
accomplish great things for You.

Pour out Your Holy Spirit generously upon all of us,
over pastors and listeners in all our churches, teachers and
students in all of our schools, parents and children in all
of our homes, so that as we call ourselves Yours here on
earth, we may also someday acknowledge You before the
face of Your Father in Heaven.

Hear us, Lord Jesus, for the sake of Your holy name.
Amen.

(Adapted from Walther’s Ansprachen u. Gebete, St.
Louis: CPH, 1889, pp. 86, 89.)

August R. Suelflow, D.D.