LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 76

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76 ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE LCA

for service. The needs outside in the world are great
enough to make us hope our differences inside the
church will not weaken our service to the needy.

In this time when tensions are increasing in the
world, and when our national life suffers from conflict,
we may hope that the church will not succumb to the
sins of its environment. We must pray and work for
the church to lead the way to civil righteousness and
to reconciliation.

A century ago, national tensions in the 1860s were
reflected in the splintering of Lutheranism in North
America. Near the dawn of the 20th century, the tide
turned. Many exaggerations in teaching and practice
were modified by new perspectives, and Lutheran unity
grew steadily. In part the 1960s brought to maturity
several trends in Lutheran unity. At the same time
this decade has brought national polarization and new
threats of division for the church.

In such a time you are to be commended for choosing
the convention theme, “The Edifying Word.” God’s
Word is the distinctive source of our life and the dis-
tinctive content of our communication. Through His
Word, God intends to edify, that is, build up His church,
not tear it apart. If our work is made of stubble, of
course, it can be burned, and we would be saved by
the skin of our teeth, as St.Paul said. Yet God still
shows us He is our gracious heavenly Father.

If we Lutherans disagree, we should be able to do
so as brothers, not as enemies nor as strangers. As part

of the same clan in the great family of God, we must
seek to live so close together that the devil and the
world may not come between us. Then if the vanities
of our own flesh are not to defeat us, we will need God’s
uncompromising Word.

My final greeting comes in the versicle that an-
ticipates God’s benediction, “Bless we the Lord,” to
which all could respond, “Thanks be to God.”

We thank God for what we already share: prayer
and Baptism and a confession of sin and a confession
of faith, the Ecumenical Creeds and the Lutheran Con-
fessions and the forgiveness of God, righteousness and
the power of the resurrection in Christ, and fresh op-
portunities to share our understanding of the Gospel
with other churches and even the world calling us to
strengthen our dedication and our mission. Thanks be
to God for all He has given and for hope in the Spirit
for what shall yet be.

Dr. Harms, I thank you for the privilege of address-
ing this convention. You have been an inspiration to
me as you have led The Lutheran. Church — Missouri
Synod with persevering faithfulness and as you have
joined in inter-Lutheran work with Christian conviction
and wisdom. I look forward to working with Dr. Preus,
who comes to his position from an experience familiar
to me in a theological school. I pledge my prayers for
God’s blessing upon you, upon him, upon your Synod,
and upon our cooperative work.

Dr. Ropert J. MARSHALL