LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 2

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2

SYNOD REPORTS
•	“… receive our daily bread with thanksgiving” (Lord’s Prayer, Fourth
Petition)
•	“… and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it” (Jesus’
giving thanks is right in the Words of Institution!)
•	“I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son,
that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger” (Morning
Prayer)

This is but a small reflection of the topic of thankfulness in the
Bible. Thanksgiving is faith’s response to the Gospel. “Therefore, as
you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built
up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6–7, emphasis added).
The issue of thankfulness for the Gospel and the Word of God
was an extremely significant one for Martin Luther. In fact, he gave
an ominous warning about what happens where such thankfulness
wanes. Read Luther’s words below about Germany. Has it not come
true? Is this not happening in America now?
Let us remember our former misery, and the darkness in which we
dwelt. Germany, I am sure, has never before heard so much of God’s
Word as it is hearing today; certainly we read nothing of it in history.
If we let it just slip by without thanks and honor, I fear we shall suffer
a still more dreadful darkness and plague. O my beloved Germans, buy
while the market is at your door; gather in the harvest while there is
sunshine and fair weather; make use of God’s grace and Word while it is
there! For you should know that God’s Word and grace is like a passing
shower of rain, which does not return where it has once been. It has been
with the Jews, but when it’s gone, it’s gone, and now they have nothing.
Paul brought it to the Greeks; but again when it’s gone, it’s gone, and
now they have the Turk. Rome and the Latins also had it; but when it’s
gone, it’s gone, and now they have the pope. And you Germans need not
think that you will have it forever, for ingratitude and contempt will not
make it stay. Therefore, seize it and hold it fast, whoever can; for lazy
hands are bound to have a lean year. (WA 15:32; AE 45:352)

Is It Still Raining in Missouri?
This “passing rain shower” passage was intimately familiar to the
fathers of the Missouri Synod. Dr. Walther in fact notes it at the end
of his very first Synod sermon. Just before quoting Luther’s famous
passage, Dr. Walther preached:
Whether our synod may have friends or enemies, honor or shame,
decline or growth, peace or unrest, it doesn’t matter to us; if only she
preserves her jewel, pure doctrine and knowledge. But should she,
someday, become indifferent to that, should she lose it through indifference or sell it, as a traitor to the world or to a false church: Then may
she fail forever and the name “Missouri” rot as a name synonymous
with shame. But, so that this may never happen, let us, in conclusion,
hear with open hearts the well intentioned warning and prediction of our
German prophet, which he made way back in 1524. (Treasury of C. F.
W. Walther, vol. 7, p. 17)

As I consider my own life, along with that of our dear Synod, the
words of Jesus to the Church at Ephesus ring in my head: “I know
you are enduring patiently and bearing up for My name’s sake, and
you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have
abandoned the love you had at first” (Rev. 2:3–4). The intolerable
40-year decline of the Missouri Synod gives us tremendous concern. Growth is the Lord’s doing, to be sure (1 Cor. 3:5ff.). But it may
be impeded by ignorance of the Word or opposition to it; by laziness;
by strife, dissention, anger, envy; by sins unresolved, unrepented of,
and unforgiven; also by hurting church workers and congregations—
in short, a lot of the sinful activity and pain exacerbated by the average
LCMS convention year!
What’s the answer? The Small Catechism on Baptism points the
way, the only way:
•	“What benefits does Baptism give? It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who
believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.” Said Luther,

2013 Convention Workbook

“Baptism is a deluge of grace, just as the flood was a deluge of wrath”
(Erlangen ed., Op. Lat., 3:397).
•	“What does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the
Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned
and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily
emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” Said Luther, “What is so pious about having God’s Word and
Command if you don’t act accordingly?” (St. Louis ed., 10:2108).
•	“Where is this written? St. Paul writes in Romans chapter six: ‘We
were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order
that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the
Father, we too may live a new life’” (Rom. 6:4). Only in repentance
will God preserve the shower of His grace among us, a repentance
unto thanksgiving and thankful living. Luther wrote, “For our whole
life should be baptism … since we have been set free from all else and
given over to baptism alone, that is, to death and resurrection” (AE
36:70).

So “What Does This Mean” for the 2013 Convention?
Let’s die together in repentance, dear delegates. Let’s rise with
Christ to lead the Synod in humility and repentance (Phil. 2). It’s inevitable. We are sinners all (Rom. 3:23). We will sin against each other
“in, with, and under” (before, during, and after!) this convention. We
all love this church body and want to see her prosper and grow, but
we all have our ideas and viewpoints. And wonder of wonders, we
don’t always agree! As we prepare for the convention, I would ask
this of all of you:
•	First, repent. Confess your sins and receive absolution at church. Go
to private confession with your pastor if possible. If you are not reconciled with others around you, in your congregation, and especially
other delegates to the convention, “go” (Matt. 18) and be reconciled.
It is essential for us to “maintain the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of
peace” (Eph. 4:3).
•	Second, pray. Start praying now and daily! Add a petition for the convention, for repentance and humility in the face of the Word of God
for all participants:
◦	That we would all “tremble before the Word of God!” (Is. 66:5)
◦	For charity in matters not mandated by the Word of God (Rom.
14:13–19)
◦	For safety for all participants, and for edification for all, that we
all might grow in our desire and ability to witness, have mercy,
and live together in joy as the Missouri Synod
I find the litany very helpful to this end. It can be found in Lutheran
Service Book (p. 288) or The Lutheran Hymnal (p. 110).
•	Third, open the Scriptures. Check passages referenced in overtures. It
would be good for all delegates to have worked through all 13 letters of St. Paul (or significant sections of Scripture of their choosing!).
•	Fourth, read the Augsburg Confession and/or Luther’s Large
Catechism. Those with some zeal might like to read the Epitome of
the Formula of Concord and note how it resolved differences among
Lutherans in 1580. The issue in controversy is defined. Theses of
agreement on what is true and what is rejected follow. We are bound
to these documents as a church body–and each of us individually as
church workers and as individual congregations. If you have doubts
(we all struggle with this or that teaching, and through struggle are
confronted with God’s Word) about what the confession teaches,
keep struggling. If you simply reject what the church’s confession
teaches, you should not be a delegate. It’s that serious. And these
confessions will be referenced over and again. Let’s be ready to be
edified by serious study of Holy Baptism on the basis of the Holy
Scriptures. And for what? To be ever more grounded in our assurance
of salvation and strengthened for witness, mercy, and life together!
Luther, in his typical bombastic manner, urged that we pay attention
to God’s Word on Baptism, lest we miss the whole point and look at
it as a mere water, a view no different than a “cow or sow”!