LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 118

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118

OTHER PRESENTATIONS

A second word of encouragement is this: Let’s travel TOGETHER, and do so for as long and as well as we can!
(Without elaboration, let me say simply that this convention may have widened, rather than healed, the breach that
exists within our Synod.) Traveling together is one of our
most difficult challenges as we leave this assembly. But remember with me, if you will, the Nazareth Passover caravan travelling to and from Jerusalem. They were together
IN that caravan: women and children, old and young, rich
and poor, and their caravan traveled together with OTHER
caravans from other villages and other areas—all of them a
part of God’s chosen people. No, they were not the only caravan on the road, and they knew it. Without doubt there
was considerable diversity and disagreement within and
between those caravans, and part of what was done during
the journey was no doubt to discuss some of those things
that may have bothered one or the other of them. Lockstep
conformity was hardly expected, let alone possible in those
caravans, but they were united in their recognition and
worship of Jahweh and His love and in their common commitment to serve Him and to declare His praises to one another and before the nations as His chosen and elect people. One reads of no efforts to promote togetherness by
excluding outcasts, erecting barriers, condemning each
other, or advertising their differences with other caravans.
The journey itself was much too dangerous and the mission
much too great to allow such things to go on for very long.
Today, like those ancient caravans, we travel in difficult
times, but also with great opportunities and challenges for
us and the whole church. How wonderful that this convention has expressed its love and fellowship toward other
travelling caravans in other parts of the world. But so very
much more remains to be done within and between the
many caravans to accomplish our common mission of bringing Christ to the nations. Brothers and sisters, for the sake
of the church and its mission, we need to work as hard at
unity and love as we do at truth.
Third, let us travel together CONFESSIONALLY. We
hear that exhortation so often, it has become almost a
mantra for us. Groups within our travelling company believe themselves to be more confessional than others and
often criticize those who do not meet their definition. And
sometimes it seems that the Synod itself wants to deny the
confessional label to almost every other traveling company
that exists. To be sure we want to continue to learn from
and to confess our creeds and confessions as true expositions of the Scriptures and witnesses to the biblical Gospel

200l Convention Proceedings

of our Lord Jesus Christ. But sometimes what our fellowtravelers mean by “confessional” seems so very inadequate
when compared with the confessions themselves. Surely, to
be confessional is first and foremost to recognize the Gospel
of Jesus Christ as the center and heart of our faith and life.
It is also to understand that the church includes all of
Christ’s people, not just our own little caravan, and that
the church of our Lord is recognized by its proclamation
and use of God’s Word and Sacraments, not by our own purity of life or theological formulation. To be confessional is
to honor the pastoral office for its service to the Word, not
vice versa. To be confessional is to follow confessional ethics
in our dealings with one another. A confessional travelling
caravan does not simply possess the truth of the Gospel,
but is claimed and shaped and molded by that truth. Above
all, to travel confessionally is to live in our baptismal
covenant, as we recognize and confess our own daily sinfulness and are forgiven and healed again and again by the
precious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, my dear fellow travelers in the Missouri caravan, as
we return home to those in our home villages, we pray that
God’s Holy Spirit will enable our little company of travelers
and indeed all of God’s people to travel quickly, to travel together, and to travel confessionally as we seek to Tell the
Good News about Jesus. And as we go, like the caravan
travelers of old travelling to and from Jerusalem to celebrate the feast, may our Lord strengthen and comfort us as
we pray and sing the ancient, but ever new, Songs of Ascent (Psalms 121–134) as we travel:
• “I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my
help. My help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven
and earth.” Psalm 121
• “Our help is in the Name of the Lord, who made heaven
and earth.” Psalm 123
• “Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord. Lord, hear my
voice … If You O Lord should mark iniquities, Lord who
could stand? But there is forgiveness with You … I wait
for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word do I hope …
more than those who watch for the morning.” Psalm 130
• And again, in the words of Psalm 133 that express the joy
of travelling together as God’s people: “How very good
and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together
in unity!”
My beloved fellow-travelers, indeed it is. Indeed it is.
And now, we wait for the morning!
Ralph A. Bohlmann, President Emeritus