LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1967, Page 63

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THE DOCTRINAL ESSAY 63

Third, we must be ready to talk. People who are
not ready to talk to each other are not ready to grow
in Christ. Talking things over is a good cure for some
of the misdirected fears which have produced lack of
understanding among Christian people, some of whom
should have known better.

Fourth, we must be ready to grow. The Lord reigns,
and all things consist in Him. Since He rules in all, He
works in Lutheran hearts too as He does in the hearts
of other Christians throughout the world. His Spirit
will lead us to whatever course He wants His church
to take. Let us learn, pray, talk, and grow toward the
future.

Last of all, it is important that we look forward
rather than backward. Let us not forget the past with
its great men, when the foundations were laid. We
would do them the greatest disservice, however, if we
were not to build upon that foundation for our own
time and for future generations. The church must be
there today, meeting the world as it exists today. It is
the debt we owe to the past. There is unity in Christ. It
is solidly based in Scripture, and it must be taken seri-
ously as it was by the apostles.

Must Be Expressed

Unity in Christ must be expressed in the life of the
church. Luther said in his “Confession Concerning
Christ’s Supper” that he believed in one church, the
community of believers or Christians in the whole
world. In this Christian church is to be found forgive-
ness of sins, the Gospel, Baptism, the Lord’s body and
blood, and life eternal.

Let us remember it once and for all: there can be
no Christians who are not members of the body of
Christ. All are members one of another. In its unity
the church speaks the truth in love, overcoming the
divisiveness which is characteristic of the world rather
than of the church, thus keeping the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace.

While we cannot create church unity, we can destroy
it. Men can obscure Christ. Men have obscured Christ.
In repentance and in faith God’s power overrules pride.
We pray that He will give the church unity in the
power of His Spirit working through His Word. Let
the Spirit lead where He wills.

Holy

“I believe one holy, catholic, and apostolic church,”
Says the Nicene Creed, and so say we. It is our confes-
Sion, as it is of many others, both East and West, for
whom the three ecumenical creeds of Christendom help
to form the doctrinal basis of their witness to the world.

A large part of our world is skeptical today about
the claim of the church to be one, holy, catholic, and
apostolic. “Where is the oneness of the church?” asks
the world. The question is echoed by many within the
church. “Where is the holiness of the church?” asks
the world. This question of the man in the street is
echoed by the man in the pew.

Criticisms from Without

Criticisms from without, by people who have nothing
to do with the church and do not want to have anything
to do with the church, are coming thick and fast. Some
churchmen, like Fred Weber, editor of our own South
Wisconsin District’s edition of the Lutheran Witness,
have sought out modern pagans to see what they are
thinking and saying. It is apparent that their criticisms
are varied and manifold:

1. The church is too little concerned with the issues
people have to face from day to day.

2. The church is exclusive, like a social club con-
cerned about only its own members, isolated from the
hazards and the grind of life.

3. The church is negative, critical, long-faced, con-
tinually looking backward instead of forward. The mod-
ern pagan asks the question: “Is the religion of Jesus
Christ a furtive affair, prowling about in closets, prowly
and owly?”

4. The constant routine of services, upon which the
church appears to lay such emphasis, looks like a
grinding out of religion rather than having it or liv-
ing it.

5. The constant appeal of the church for funds and
the hierarchical control of those funds leads to the
question: What is the difference between religion by
force of arms and religion by force of money?

6. The church appears to be afraid. People of the
church are afraid to speak up regarding their convic-
tions and are afraid to speak to others about them. Its
members are almost afraid to speak to one another and
to sit across from one another, not to speak about talk-
ing to someone outside the church or sitting across from
someone who is different from the typical person usually
found in the church. “If your God is strong,” asks the
world, “why are you afraid? If you are so sure of God,
why are you so unsure of yourselves?”

7. Christians give the impression that they are al-
ways running each other down. The world comments,
“We thought your sins were supposed to be forgiven,
forgotten, and washed away. Doesn’t the forgiveness
of sins have any effect upon what you do or say?”

8. Your way of life, which you say is life eternal,
appears to be largely the maintenance of a certain
culture, with pet songs, pet sins, and pet phrases. “Have
you the courage,” asks the world, “to say what you
believe in words people can understand?”

9. The teaching of the church does not appear to
touch the lives of its own people, during the week,
between Sundays. “Why is it,” asks the world, “that
the ethics of business are so often superior to the ethics
you find within the church itself?”

Criticisms from Within

Criticisms similar to those from without can be heard
from within the church today. Often they come from the
opposite direction:

Far from it being too little concerned with the world,