LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 95

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ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN LUTHERAN CHURCH

PRESIDENT PREUS
DELEGATES TO THE LCMS ConveENTION:

The American Lutheran Church greets you. We
greet you as sisters and brothers in Christ, together
members of the body of Christ and members of one an-
other, partners in the Gospel, sharers of a rich, com-
mon Lutheran heritage.

We want you to know that the American Lutheran
Church proudly waves high the historic Lutheran ban-
ner that says “Grace Alone, Faith Alone, the Word
Alone.” It is by the grace of God alone that we are
joined with you and those millions of other Lutheran
Christians who have learned to express their faith in
the words of Luther’s Catechism. It is by Grace alone
that we can affirm: “I believe that God has created me
and all that exists; I believe that Jesus Christ, true God,
begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man,
born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord; I believe that I
cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus
Christ, my Lord, or come to Him. But the Holy Ghost
has called me through the Gospel.”

It is by faith alone that we assert that we know no
other Gospel than the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that we have no other good news than the good news
of God’s love poured out to a lost mankind through
the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We live and breathe and have our being under the au-
thority of the Word of God, the Scriptures. We believe
deep in our bones that Word from the Gospel of John
that says, “These are written that you may believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that
believing you may have life in His name.” We believe
that we share now with all believers in Christ in the
kingdom life won by Christ, and we look expectantly
to that day when Christ will return to consummate that
kingdom.

We know we share that faith, that heritage with you
in The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod. We believe
that God’s Word calls us in the ALC and LCMS to ex-
press together that unity of faith in our life and work
in church and community. It was with profound con-
viction of our unity in the Gospel and with great joy
that the American Lutheran Church a few years ago de-
clared pulpit and altar fellowship with The Lutheran
Church — Missouri Synod. We believe, as the words of
the Joint Declaration adopted by our conventions states,
“that we have discovered consensus in the preaching of
the Gospel in conformity with a pure understanding
of it, and in the administration of the sacraments in
accordance with the Divine Word.” We treasure this
altar and pulpit fellowship. We believe that consensus
continues to exist, and indeed has been deepened and
strengthened by our years of fellowship. We envision
an ever deepening, mutually enriching fellowship in the
days before us.

During the past weeks I have on many occasions
asked informal groups of ALC persons what the ALC

96

Dr. David Preus, President of the American Lutheran Church

should say to Missouri here today. Two words reoc-
curred. The first, uttered again and again and univer-
sally affirmed in the ALC, was: “Tell them that we
love them.” I want to speak that word to you today
because I believe it a genuine expression of the faithful
of the American Lutheran Church to you. I speak from
the heart of the ALC today in saying, “We love you.”

The second word reiterated is this: “Tell it like it is.”
We think it is important that you understand something
of our ALC history and feelings. We try to understand
you and why it is that you itch where you itch. We
hope you will try to understand us and our itches as
well.

Prior to the declaration of pulpit and altar fellow-
ship a widespread ALC conviction was that Missouri
did not seriously attempt to understand our history, our
understanding of how the Spirit of God has led us.
We felt the agenda always had to be Missouri’s agenda.
The theological questions for discussion always had to
be Missouri’s questions. We felt we were considered as
less than Lutheran if we did not adopt Missouri’s itches
and start scratching the same spots. We felt that you
expected us to appreciate your history but made little
effort to understand ours; that we were often treated
with suspicion rather than trust; and that there usually
was the assumption that Missouri had been led by the
Spirit of God while the ALC had not.

We have tried to understand this and place it in
proper perspective and not just be paranoid. We think
our histories are quite different, but equally “Lutheran.”
Missouri has been one body for 125 years. You have
been unique among Lutherans in the land in that you
have never given up your former synodical life in order
to find new life, under God, with fellow Lutheran Chris-
tians of comparable numerical size.

We are quite different.

The ALC consists of congregations who, 55 years
ago, were in eight different synods. We are accustomed
to putting together Lutherans with different histories,