LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 87

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CONVENTION SERMONS
1. Opening Convention Worship Celebration
ONE MESSAGE—CHRIST! HIS LOVE IS
HERE FOR YOU!
Text: 1 John 4:9-11
This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one
and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since
God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you, from God our Father
and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• It is by God’s grace that we receive what we do not deserve: forgiveness of sins, fullness of life here on earth,
and eternal salvation with God in heaven.
• It is by God’s mercy that we do not receive what we
do deserve: God’s wrath, displeasure, and eternal punishment.
• It is in God’s grace and mercy that we receive His peace,
the peace that passes all understanding, through Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Welcome to this 63rd Regular Convention of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod, held in the Texas District, which
last year celebrated its 100th anniversary as a district of the
LCMS. Houston is a special place of blessing to me. It is
the city of my birth, Baptism, confirmation, and ordination,
all at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, located a few short
miles directly south of this convention center. I pray that your
time here in Houston will be a blessing to you and through
you to many.
By now you may already have discovered that people in
Texas talk differently than other folks. For example, when
greeting another person, many in other parts of the United
States are accustomed to saying “Good morning!” Or, “How
are you today?” But in Texas, folks often greet each other, employing a little Texas drawl, with the words, “Whaddya’ say?”
That’s abbreviated Texan for “What do you say?” or “What’s
up?” or “How’s life?”
“Whaddya’ say?” That phrase is not only a Texas expression that you might hear during your days in Houston.
It is also a phrase that finds usage within the context of
many of life’s changing and challenging moments. “Whaddya’ say?”
It was Thursday, September 28, 2006. Two days earlier, I had experienced an unpleasant taxi ride in a
Chicago All Star cab, prompting me to reserve a return
trip to O’Hare airport with a different taxi company. But
that morning, for a reason unknown to me at the time, I
decided to cancel the new reservation and again called All
Star Cab Company for the trip. I casually asked the driver
how his life was going these days and was struck by his
reply: “Not so good since my brother died suddenly two
weeks ago.”
In the conversation that ensued, I learned that the driver, Brad, and his brother, Greg, had been baptized at
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St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Schaumburg, Illinois, but
had been inactive in the church since they were teens. He
asked, “Do you know anything about the Lutheran
Church?” I said, “A little.” After I tried to explain The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and the office of its
President to Brad, he said, “So you’re a pastor?” I said,
“Yes.” He then said, “Pastor, I haven’t been able to sleep
since Greg died, because I don’t know where he is. Can
you help?”
Whaddya’ say to a middle-aged man who lost his
brother from a heart attack, is scared stiff of death himself, is uncertain whether his brother is in heaven, and,
more to the point, whether he himself will someday be in
heaven? Whaddya’ say?
On Sunday, January 7, of this year, I was scheduled to
leave St. Louis for Dallas on a 5:25 p.m. American Airlines
flight for a week-long leadership conference with the LCMS
Council of Presidents. That afternoon I decided to fly standby
on an earlier flight in order to arrive in time for an informal
gathering that I otherwise would have missed. After everyone else had apparently boarded, the attendant called my
name and gave me a boarding pass for 10-B. After I had
taken my seat, a disheveled young lady approached, with a
boarding pass for 10-A. She was dressed in jeans and T-shirt,
hair in a frazzled pony tail, no makeup, appearing quite
shaken and upset.
After she buckled her seat belt, I asked if she was going
home to Dallas. She replied, “No, sir, I’m going to Iraq.” I then
noticed the U. S. Marine Corps logo on her T-shirt. I asked
how long she would be there. She answered, “Two years, sir.”
I inquired how long she had known she would be going. She
2007 Convention Proceedings