LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1971, Page 69

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THE CONVENTION ESSAY 69

matriage (7:36-38). Other topics in dispute included
the status of slaves (7:17-24), the proper role of women
in the church (11:2-16), food laws (8:10), ecstatic
speaking in tongues (12:10 and 14:1-33), and even the
denial of the resurrection of the dead (ch. 15). It is
significant, I believe, that 19 centuries later four of these
same topics are centers of concern and dispute in the
church of our day.

The polarization in that day went from bad to worse
as Paul attempted to bring peace to the Corinthian
congregation. From his two letters we can reconstruct
the following probable sequence of events: Paul had
written a letter, now lost, which preceded our First
Corinthians (1 Cor.5:9). Then he wrote the letter we
call First Corinthians. He may have then sailed from
Ephesus to Corinth in an attempt to settle the matter
personally. While in Corinth on this visit, he ex-
perienced a most unpleasant situation in which many
showed disrepect for his apostolic office, even claiming
for themselves direct revelations from Christ. In grief
over the divided state of the congregation Paul re-
turned to Ephesus and there wrote another letter, now
also lost. This letter was a powerful reprimand as we
can tell from 2Cor.7:8, where Paul says his severe
letter made them sorry. But they needed Law, and
Paul spoke Law as Christ’s ambassador. Meanwhile
Titus, who probably had carried the severe letter, had
been working for peace in Corinth. Paul headed north
and met Titus in Macedonia. There he received the
good news that many now repented of their sin and
dissension and had extended an olive branch to Paul.
Then Paul wrote the letter we call Second Corinthians,
the letter of reconciliation, the reconciliation of man to
God and of man to man. Paul wrote it in preparation
for his third coming to them (2 Cor. 12:14). He sought
to complete the process of reconciliation reported by
Titus.

In the apostle’s conclusion he charged, “Examine
- yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your
faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus
Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail to meet the
test! .... What we pray for is your improvement” (2 Cor.
13:5 and 9). In that spirit let us these days in our
convention look at our age, our church, and the task
that faces our ambassadorship for Christ.

The year 1971 is not a good one. One commentator
recently wrote: “No one in his right mind would argue
that 1971— with its recession and its exhausting and
hateful war —is the best year this country has ever
seen. Given a choice, many Americans would put on
a blindfold and pick out of a hat another year in which
to live— any one of the past 500.” !

Alienation — the opposite of reconciliation — is a key
word in describing the modern scene. Only a few words
are necessary to remind us of the sad state of affairs.
The last calendar year saw in the U.S.A. almost 1,300
bombings, about twice the 1969 rate. Policemen are
being wantonly murdered in our large cities. Some
predict that gang warfare arising from traffic in nar-

cotics may eclipse even the violence of prohibition
days. Other forms of violence have grown apace
around the world. In many instances even high schools
and junior high schools have become centers of vio-
lence. In some ways we seem to be reverting to the
laws of the jungle.

On the educational scene 1971 has been a quieter
year on college campuses in America. This represents
a hopeful sign that young people are turning more to-
ward orderly processes to achieve their aims. But the
alienation is still there and is deep-rooted. Moreover,
much of the youth’s criticism of our American society
is justified. The National Commission on the Causes
and Prevention of Violence in its final report stated:
“Today’s intelligent, idealistic students see a nation
which has achieved the physical ability to provide food,
shelter and education for all, but has not yet devised
social institutions that do so. They see a society built
on the principle that all men are created equal, but
which has not yet assured equal opportunity in life.
They see a world of national states with the technical
brilliance to harness the ultimate energy, but without
the common sense to agree on methods of preventing
mutual destruction.” 2

We speak much of the generation gap — again with
overtones of alienation. The problem is a great one for
church and state. Margaret Mead in a recent study of
the generation gap has pointed out that our generation
and that of our children face problems no past pair
of generations has ever faced.’ Miss Mead describes
the older generation as those who still hold the seats
of power, and yet as those who grew up before World
War II we are “pioneers, immigrants in time who have
left behind our familiar worlds to live in a new age
under conditions that are different from any we have
known. Our thinking still binds us to the past — to
the world as it existed in our childhood and youth.
Born and bred before the electronic revolution, most
of us do not realize what it means.” On the other
side there is “the young generation . . . the articulate
young rebels all around the world who are lashing out
against the controls to which they are subjected. .. .
[They are] like the first generation born into a new
country. They are at home in this time. Satellites are
familiar in their skies. They have never known a time
when war did not threaten annihilation.”5 And so
we do not understand either the alienation or how
to cure it.

One could go on to talk of social alienation or com-
ment on the implications of the great abuse of drugs
and its tragic results. One could speak of the sheer
size and complexity of societal organizations which,
sociologists tell us, lead to estrangement in trade unions,
political parties, churches, and all other large-scale
organizations. The malady seems to be everywhere.

Perhaps all this is why a wave of nostalgia, of home-
sickness for the “good old days,” is sweeping the United
States. Old musical records, old radio programs, re-
prints of old Sears and Roebuck catalogs, even old