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LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 78

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

Today’s Business. In total, there are more than a thousand pages of
reading for you to digest, not including all of the other information
you may have received. But perhaps the most overlooked item was
found on pages 38–40 in your workbook: the list of the faithful
departed—pastors and teachers, professors and principals, and other
servants of Christ—whom the Lord has called unto Himself in the
last three years. These are our friends and colleagues, perhaps even
family members. This list of names and this brief remembrance serve
as a reminder of the important work that goes on outside of this
convention hall and takes place at the pulpit, font, and rail, in the
classrooms and youth rooms of our congregations, at the bedsides
and even at the gravesides. For the families of these loved ones,
their hope is not in resolutions and reports, but the certainty that
the dead in Christ will rise, that dry bones will once again have life.
Over the days of this convention, essayists have unpacked the theme
of “Baptized for This Moment” with myriad different applications.
But “Baptized for This Moment” also means “Baptized for the
Moment” yet to come, of the resurrection on the Last Day, that
great and glorious day! The message that we proclaim and the
hope that we have is that the Spirit, who called us to faith in the

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baptismal waters, will bring us life again when Christ returns in
glory. God’s Word to Ezekiel, indeed His Word to those who die
in faith, is the clear promise: “You shall live.”
Our hope of the resurrection is found in the Christ who was slain in
our place. This is the One who raised Jairus’s daughter, the widow
at Nain’s son, and Lazarus, but who also was numbered among
the dead. The means by which we become the restored New Israel
is the Lamb who was slain. Christ perished in our place and rose
again to be the firstborn of the dead and the source of life to all
who will believe and will rise again.
In the midst of all our work, it is good to take time to remember
the faithfulness to God shown to those who have died in the faith
and whose ranks we will one day join as we wait for the fulfillment
of God’s Word, “You shall live.” There are dozens of questions
to be considered by this convention, but for a few moments, we
consider that all-important question, “Can these bones live?” And
God’s resounding answer is “Yes! These bones shall live, and you
shall live also!”

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