LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 307

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THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
WHEREAS, CPH in former days exclusively had men write
Portals of Prayer and other devotionals for the Synod; and
WHEREAS, CPH has in recent years changed that practice and
employed women to write Portals of Prayer and other devotionals
for use in congregations and homes; and
WHEREAS, This change in practice was done without any
explanation or defense from Holy Scripture, nor was the change
even acknowledged; and
WHEREAS, This change to having women write devotions for
congregational and home use violates St. Paul’s prohibition in Holy
Scripture in 1 Tim. 2:11–12 and 1 Cor. 14:33b–35; and
WHEREAS, The LCMS has thousands of ordained and welltrained pastors and male theologians who are capable of writing
devotions for every need; therefore be it
Resolved, That CPH cease to have women write devotions for
Portals of Prayer and other devotions, except for those specifically
intended for women and children; and be it further
Resolved, That CPH enlist the help of the district presidents of
the Synod by giving them the specifications for needed devotions
for Portals of Prayer and other devotionals; and be it further
Resolved, That the district presidents of the Synod work with the
circuit visitors of their district in assigning the writing of Portals of
Prayer devotions and other devotions for congregational and home
use to pastors and male theologians (i.e., male, theologically-trained
church workers) in their circuits; and be it finally
Resolved, That the pastors of our Synod be admonished to
recognize the writing of devotions as an important task of the
Seelsorger and these devotionals as a critical part of their people’s
devotional lives, so that they eagerly devote themselves to writing
quality devotions faithful to Holy Scripture, employing Law and
Gospel, and applicable to the lives of their people and assist CPH in
providing these devotionals to the people.
Trinity, Ottumwa, IA;
Circuit 8 (Mount Pleasant), Iowa East District
Ov. 5-35

To Foster Community in Truth, Love,
and Careful Conversation in Synod and Beyond,
Especially with Respect to Race/Ethnicity,
Economics, and Sex and Gender
WHEREAS, God calls us to take every thought captive to Christ
(2 Cor 10:5) and to seek all the truth (John 16:13) and the whole
counsel of God (Acts 20:27); and
WHEREAS, God calls us to harmony, including harmony in a
common “practical” mind about how we should live (1 Cor. 1:10;
Phil. 2:2; Rom. 12:16; 15:5), which should lead us to seek
consensus—but with room for an appropriate range of practices that
all embody biblical doctrine in different ways (Rom. 14:1f.); and
WHEREAS, The pervasive reality of error in human judgment plus
God’s commands not to confuse His doctrine with human tradition
(Matt. 15:19; Mark 7:1–13), not to surrender our freedom to human
“philosophizing” (Gal. 2:1–5; 5:1–15; Col. 2:8; cf. Smalcald
Articles XV), and not to “bite and devour each other” (Gal. 5:15
NIV) all raise strong cautions about charging in too quickly with
divisive and possibly mistaken “labels” and/or judgments of “false
doctrine”; and

307

WHEREAS, God also calls for us to participate in His love and
care for all people, even in instances where they are our enemies
and/or enemies of His own law and truth (Matt. 5:44–48; Rom. 5:8;
John 15:9–12); and
WHEREAS, Community is further built and sustained by such
love, which also transforms truth-seeking through gentleness,
respect, and mutual grace and burden-bearing (2 Tim. 2:25; Gal.
6:1; 1 Peter 3:15); and
WHEREAS, In contrast, we often do just the opposite as both
Church and World—and so thrust ourselves toward ever greater
polarization, fracture, disobedience, and enmity; and
WHEREAS, This is exacerbated by centering the exchange of
extreme and hostile views, especially on social media and the
internet, instead of fraternal, reasoned conversation, person to
person (Eph. 4:16); and
WHEREAS, Church and World especially continue to divide over
the appropriate response to LGBTQ+; male headship; ethnic and
racial identities; “diversity, equity, and inclusion”; poverty and
economics; and the nature and relation of justice, love,
reconciliation, and individual v. communal responsibility; and
WHEREAS, A collective search for all the truth on these matters
might benefit from considering a starting list of claims like the
following—which, note, yet do not constitute the agreed or settled
position even of the submitters:
1. Taking every thought captive to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5) should
leave no room for the Church to conform to any worldly
ideology, whether “Left,” “Right,” or any other.
2. Seeking and speaking all truth (John 16:13) and the whole
counsel of God (Acts 20:27) should rule out “one-sidedly”
attending only to partial truths, responding only to what is
false in a position without acknowledging what is true,
and/or responding only to “bad” versions of ideas or actions
when there is a true, biblical version—which should be
strongly advocated and pursued.
3. Discernment of the whole truth requires knowledge not
only of God’s Word but also complex historical realities
with subtle differences that call for different combinations
of the Word (1 Corinthians 8–10)—and thus also careful
thinking and distinctions, rather than “broadsides” that
paint with too wide a brush.
4. Discernment of the truth thus would include recognizing
the differences between identities or actions arising more
directly from the Fall (e.g., LGBTQ, Romans 1) and those
arising more directly from the nature and history God
Himself has given us (e.g., “ethnic” identities, Acts
17:26)—see further below.
5. The biblical norm of male and female, created for each
other in marriage (Genesis 1; Romans 1), halts any
celebratory “inclusion” of LGBTQ+ “identity,” “diversity,”
or actions. Yet the Bible also describes sex and gender
confusion as a real effect of the Fall and God’s curse (Rom.
1:24–27); this suggests that at least some same-sex
attraction (SSA) and gender dysphoria (GD) is not simply
self-chosen. Likewise, the Bible shows that God does not
simply “remove” the “law of sin in our members” even
from the saints (Romans 7), which suggests that SSA and
GD may not always be eliminable. Thus, along with the
“no” of the prohibitions, love calls also for the “yes” of
2023 Convention Workbook