LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1973, Page 61

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

a

THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 61

Wuereas, By virtue of the fact of numerical strength
women could of themselves out-vote men assembled or just
even sway the balance of votes, thereby “usurping authority”
over the men; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod assembled in convention at
New Orleans be urged to rescind the resolution on woman
suffrage passed at Denver, and to pass a resolution to pro-
mote undertsanding of both man’s and woman’s Scriptural
position as regards church authority and family responsi-
bility.

Mr. CaLvaRY LUTHERAN CHURCH
New Westminster, B.C.

R. Hartman, President

Arthur H. Plitt, Secretary

2-42

To Return to Former Position
on Woman Suffrage

Whereas, We of the LCMS still confess to be Scriptural
and confessional, may we therefore submit to Scripture also
regarding woman suffrage (1 Cor. 14:13b-36), “As in all the
churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in
the churches... .” RSV; and

Wuereas, We must always be aware of Satan’s lure to
use the world to seduce the Christian to compromise our
Scriptural position with the mores of our society, today as
well as in the past, and must therefore respond to St. Paul's
appeal to the Roman Christians (Rom. 12:1-2), “I appeal to
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this
world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good
and acceptable and perfect”; and

Whereas, The Synod in the Denver convention, 1969, al-
lowed any congregation to adopt woman suffrage, which
has brought much confusion and disunity within our Synod:
therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod in convention in New Orleans
return to our previous Scriptural position regarding woman
suffrage.

Curist LUTHERAN CHURCH
Coos Bay, Oreg.

Ed Schwartz. President
Gary Tonn, Secretary

2-43A

To Extend Larger Role to Women
in Parish Life

Wuereas, Fuller participation by women in the delibera-
tive and administrative life of congregations has been al-
lowed for by the LCMS (Milwaukee convention, 9-22); and

Wuereas, Not all parishes in our District have taken full
advantage of this opportunity: be it therefore

Resolved, That our District encourage congregations
which have not yet done so to revise their constitutions so
as to extend to women, within the context of Holy Scripture,
the largest possible role in the voting and administrative life
of the congregation: and be it further

Resolved, That the District memorialize the Synod at its
1973 convention to inaugurate a similar policy throughout
Synod.

EncLIsH DIsTRICT
Robert L. Landeck, Secretary

Similar:

2-43B

Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Philadelphia, Pa.,
Frank Muhly, President; Suzanne G. Amt, Secretary.

2-43C

Hyde Park Lutheran Church, Chicago, Ill., William Gru-
now, President; Susan Shemitis, Secretary.

2-43D

Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Philadelphia, Pa.,
Frank Muhly, President; Suzanne G. Amt, Secretary.

2-43E and F

Hyde Park Lutheran Church, Chicago, Ill., William A.
Grunow, President.

2-44

Report on Women’s Services in Church

God’s word of judgment and grace always reaches peo-
ple in their own history. That axiom of the Christian faith
represents the burden of responsibility and the promise 0
opportunity for the community of God's people. Each gene-
ration of Christians must answer the word of God addressed
to them. That is why they penitently confess their sins of
failing to fear, love, and trust God as they recognize His
accusing word of Law. That is why they trust the grace of
pardon and reconciliation as they hear the resurrecting word
of the Gospel. Each generation is inescapably burdened with
this responsibility of deciding what God is saying to them
in their unique moment of history.

It is in this context of responsibility and promise that the
CMMC has tried to carry out the assignments given it by
two synodical conventions (Denver, 9-34 and, Milwaukee,
9-22).

Within the scope of this brief report it is impossible to
note everything that has contributed to the CMMC studies
and discussion. At best the report can describe certain broad
aras of concern revealed during the CMMC’s investigation,
together with some recommendations and tentative conclu-
sions, The recommendations are offered separately in a
series of overtures to the 1973 New Orleans convention for
consideration and action. The tentative conclusions and
broad areas of concern are indicated in this report with the
understanding that they be considered very general and in
need of further definition before positive action can be
taken. Their development will have to follow a schedule of
priorities still to be established by those who receive this
report. Some areas of concern may prove to be more urgent
than others. and some more capable of an immediate, or near
immediate implementation.

All decisions and actions undertaken by Christians are
made in the faithful relationship with God to which His
Spirit has called the church through the Gospel. Because
fallible people are involved the decisions and actions are al-
ways surrounded by elements of ambiguity and, therefore,
stand under the need of forgiveness. The CMMC’s work has
proceeded from this stance. The CMMC has also tried to let
its work be informed by those sources of wisdom tra-
ditionally available to God’s people. We have attempted to
find wisdom especially from the Scriptural and confessional
“Gospel of Baptism,” not only because Holy Baptism is in
time the first place the Gospel touches most lives but also
because this Sacrament may rightly be called the rite of
ordering the Christian's life into the church’s missionary
vocation of service to the world (Mission Affrmaton VI: The
Whole Church is Mission). In addition, the studies have
found wisdom in the richly varied history of the church, for
the church's history and tradition is an abiding testimony to
the promise of the Lord that His people will not be left to
shift for themselves like orphans, but will be taught by the
Holy Spirit. And finally, the CMMC has found wisdom in
the insights of thoughtful people pursuing scholarly in-
vestigations of human life in all disciplines of learning and
knowledge. Readers of this report are called upon to enter
into dialog with the work of the CMMC so that together we
may discover what it is that God wants to do to us and
through us at this decisive moment of the Gospel’s history.

The basic question before the CMMC was how to free
and enable Christian women to assume wider roles of
service in church and society. This is preeminently a prac-
tical question and not a theological one. Nevertheless, the
CMMC has remained sensitive to the fact that sound prac-
tice derives from sound theology. That, too, is why we have
used the “Gospel of Baptism” as a framework, realizing, of
course, that other evidences need to be examined.

Basically, the conclusion to which the CMMC came was