LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2007, Page 110

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110

OTHER PRESENTATIONS

aftermath of the “Prussian union” of Reformed and Lutheran
churches, forced by the order of King Frederich Wilhelm III
in 1817, and after two decades of persecution, your forebears
in Christian faith fled Saxony. Under the leadership of Dr.
C. F. W. Walther, after overcoming incredible problems, both
internal and external—to borrow Dr. Nafzger’s expression—
together with pastors sent to America by Wilhelm Loehe
in Bavaria, these immigrant confessors of Christ formed
what eventually became known as The Lutheran Church—
Missouri Synod.
I would be hard pressed to name an exactly comparable
defining moment in the history of the predecessor bodies of
some of those now members of the AALC. And yet they, too,
know something of dispossession and the cost of confessing
Christ and the truth of His Scripture, His Gospel.
Having said that, however, as I asked our delegates before the concluding session of our convention, had we been
there under those conditions in Prussia, what would we
have done? Life is confession. The Christ we confess is not
simply one we remember or who is somehow present with
us but is none other than the one who bestows upon us His
very body and blood at His table. Nothing is more precious
than Jesus Christ and Him crucified for us!
Brothers and sisters, how are we being called upon to
confess Christ today? Or what manner of circumstances yet

2007 Convention Proceedings

unseen may come to us unexpectedly which will call upon
us to sacrifice and take our joy in confessing Him who is
the message we have to proclaim?
To my mind, the sustained desire to hold Christ’s doctrine and Christ’s mission together is what is most attractive and winsome about the life and witness of the Missouri
Synod. We must never separate doctrine and mission.
Allow me to repeat this, brothers and sisters. We must
never separate doctrine and mission.
The Christ who says, “Go, disciple the nations,” and the
Christ who commits to us His doctrine are one and the
same Christ and Lord. For He also says, “Observe all that I
have commanded you.” The RSV puts it rather lamely, I’m
afraid. For the verb is threi'n—keep, guard, never deny, neglect, compromise, or diminish it, but cherish the pure doctrine of Christ our message.
And wherever you go, with hearts ablaze, we want
to go with you!
May God continue to guide and direct you in convention.
And may the blessing of our one Lord Jesus Christ be upon
us that we may be a blessing to one another as together we
move “forward in ministry to the hearts and minds of people” and bring them the “One Message—Christ! His Love
Is Here for You!”
Thomas Aadland, Presiding Pastor