LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1965, Page 46

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46 DOCTRINAL-DEVOTIONAL ESSAYS.

mother of Christ. In His dying moment He left us
a model, He had a concern for her. He knew that she
would be entering the period of her aging decline. He
loved her for her own sake. Dare we do less than
follow in His steps?

Jesus was concerned about children. In Mark 10
and many other passages we see the interest of Christ
in the child. Shall the church do less than to say to
the neglected and forsaken children of our time, “We
love you for your own sake. We love you simply be-
cause you are God’s creatures. And we love you totally.
We will take care of the needs of your body. If you are
retarded, in love we will supply those things which the
Lord has not given you, a mind that can think. We
will give you our mind and let our mind think for you.
You, my little retarded child, will never be able to
work, but God gave me two hands, and these hands
will work for you and supply those things which you
need for your daily existence.” Does love not demand
that this is what the church should say, corporately and
individually?

Jesus was concerned about the sick and those broken
in body. In response to His love I will say to the sick,
“Come! For you I have a hospital. Let me bring you
the healing power of Christian love.” And in our
ecumenical age I am not afraid to put the name Lu-
theran on that hospital, because this Lutheran hos-
pital is the outgrowth of my faith. Here the total man
is considered. His body and his soul are my concern.
His total needs are the objective of the church, not just
the body wracked with pain, but the soul which has no
peace. I will minister to him in both. My loving Lord
is my Model, and He is the Model for the church that
calls itself Lutheran.

Jesus was concerned about the poor. In the poverty
program of a nation I, as a child of God, will say to
myself, “My loving Lord gave me a model to love the
poor, to share with them what God gave me.” By the
power of my faith this concern, this interest in the
underprivileged, is funneled into our local and national
relief programs, into our program for European Relief,
into our program for worldwide relief. Wherever the
needs of man come to my ears and eyes, there my hands
are activated by a faith that knows that truth always
has social implications.

Jesus was concerned about the downtrodden. I will
hear of the injustices in our age. I will see and witness
the injustices of man to man. My faith will compel me
to say, “Where those injustices exist, I have an obliga-
tion. God has given me a voice, and J shall speak out
against those injustices in human relationships.” In
some areas the church has been an ostrich. It has stuck
its head into the sand and said, “Leave us alone. We
have no problem. You are agitators. Just leave us
alone!” That is the trouble with the church of our time,
in some areas it has lost its voice for decades. It re-
fused to speak out, to call wrong patterns of life and
policies of procedure which oppressed people by their
rightful name: sin. Has the church not only lost its

voice but also its heart of love? Can we, without losing
face with God, continue to see men deprived, de-
graded, despoiled, and not be God’s voice of love? This
convention will have to answer for one segment of
Christianity, whether the loving Lord is still its Model.

Love Demands Sharing

Finally, love demands that we share with one an-
other what God has given to us. Let’s say it bluntly.
My pocketbook belongs to God simply because my
heart belongs to God. Where true love for Christ
is found, there the funds will not be lacking to build
Christ’s kingdom. To whom did the purse in the hand
of the widow in the Gospel belong? She gave her all
only because her heart belonged to God. This needs
emphasis today. God asks for nothing that is not
already His. If He has man’s heart, He will also have
man’s hand, a hand that shares. All of us together, as
God’s redeemed children, share the bounties of God
in the boundless opportunities of a sin-stricken and
poverty-stricken world. Wherever the Gospel has made
its impact there this sharing comes through. May
I give you one example?

Almost a year ago it was my great privilege, wholly
undeserved, to be the traveling companion of one of
our veteran missionaries, Dr. Meinert Grumm of India,
on a pastoral visitation to Nigeria, West Africa. On one
Sunday morning we were in the Ogoja Province and
were invited by Missionary Walter Rasch to accompany
him to one of his chapels. We went. We saw. We were
conquered. There were about six bamboo poles stuck
into the ground. A few more poles formed the roof. On
the roof was nothing but elephant grass and palm
leaves. We were amazed. This should be the house
of God? Upon entering we knew it was. The roof
came down very low, and in order to get into the chapel
one had to get on his knees to crawl under the thatch
roof. I said to my friend Meinie, “Shouldn’t we build
all churches in America like this, with a door only three
feet high, so that people would have to get on their
knees when they get in here?” It was humbling.

Then we looked for the pews. There were none.
Just big bamboo poles 2% inches in diameter. Have
you ever sat on a bamboo pole for 45 minutes? With
its discomfort? No altar, no chair, no nothing — just
two men up front, Wallie Rasch, the preacher, and
a young 17-year-old lad as interpreter. Only 17 years
old, but he spoke seven languages or dialects. As
Wallie began to preach, two sentences at a time, this
teen-ager gave it back to the natives in their own
tongue. The sermon didn’t last as long as this one this
morning. It was over in a short time.

Then came the offering. The pastor told the inter-
preter, “Take my hymnbook.” He took the little hymnal
and went from row to row, down the line of bamboo
poles, where some 40 people and Meinie and I were
sitting, gathering the coins of the congregation. When
he had finished he brought the hymnal with the coins
on it and laid the offering at Wallie’s feet. Wallie
looked down and then said to the boy, “Tell the people