LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1965, Page 19

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CLOSING ADDRESS BY FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT R. P. WIEDERAENDERS

Surely I come quickly. Rev. 22:20

BELOVED OF Gop:

The simple words of our Savior, “As my Father
hath sent Me, even so send I you,” gave meaningful
direction to the convention. Even now, though the time
for adjournment has come, these words like a strong
hand refuse to let us go, because they are our identi-
fication, our credentials, our motivation and power for
carrying out our mission in life as individual Chris-
tians, as congregations, and as a Synod.

Because we are the “sent ones” of our Savior, our
moments have meaning and purpose. No matter who
we are or where we are, we have a message to proclaim,
the message that “God was in Christ reconciling the

Dr. Roland Wiederaenders was reelected full-time Vice-President.

world unto Himself’; we have a mission to fulfill, the
mission our Savior assigned when He said: “Ye shall
be witnesses unto Me”; we have a ministry to perform,
a ministry to open the eyes of men everywhere to see
Jesus as their Savior, to worship Him as their God,
and to serve Him alone as their Master.

To keep us mindful of the full impact of His “Even
so send I you” command, the Savior gives us a blessed
promise as we now leave the mountain-top experience

19

of this convention. This is His promise: “Surely I come
quickly.”

“Surely I come quickly.” This promise of our Savior
has a ring of urgency about it like unto a fire alarm,
a ring of urgency we dare not ignore.

During the convention we passed noble resolutions
on missions, church extension, and social action. We
adopted commendable goals in evangelism, recruitment,
stewardship, and parish education. We subscribed to
lofty principles and policies which reach far into the
future. But just how far does our future extend? Just
how much time have we to carry out our noble resolu-
tions, to attain our commendable goals, to live up to
our lofty principles and policies?

Lest we leave the convention with the comfortable
thought that we have plenty of time— plenty of time
to feel sorry for ourselves sitting in the shade of our
favorite juniper tree, plenty of time to give priority
consideration to our materialistic desires, plenty of time
to play with the Savior’s command: “Even so send
I you,” instead of carrying it out swiftly on feet made
nimble for joy — our Lord says: “Surely I come
quickly.”

And when our Lord says: “Surely I come quickly,”
let us as individuals, as congregations, and as a Synod,
realize that this is what He means. If you have a life
to live for Christ, live it now! If you have a ministry
to perform, perform it now! If you have a mission to
accomplish, accomplish it now! Now is the time for
individual Christians to live sanctified lives as faithful
stewards of God. Now is the time for Christian families
to give priority to seeking the kingdom of God, confi-
dent that God will not forsake them in temporal need.
Now is the time for congregations to reach out to
young and old in their communities with the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. Now is the time for congregations
banded together into Districts to seek out the multi-
tudes living in their geographic areas with Word and
sacraments. Now is the time for congregations united
in the Synod to use every method of communication to
encircle the world with the wondrous message:

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins,

And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

“Surely I come quickly.” News which reaches us
daily from all parts of the world testifies that we are
living in that moment of history concerning which it
is written in Scripture: “Ye shall hear of wars and
rumors of wars. ... Nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom. And there shall be
famines and pestilence and earthquakes. . . . Men’s
hearts [will be] failing them for fear” of things to
come. We are living at a time in history when the
sound of the last trumpet may be heard and the coming
of the Son of Man in all His glory may be witnessed
at any moment.