LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 57

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57

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Dear Co-worKERSs IN CHRIST:

Jesus Christ is Lord. Have you ever really stopped to
think what this means? In our confirmation classes we
learned to say, sometimes rather glibly, that “Jesus
Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity,
and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord.”
But what does this really mean? It means that He totally
owns us, possesses us, and lives within us. In our day we
hear a great deal about demons and demon possession.
We also hear of people who believe that they have
received special gifts of the Holy Spirit and are possessed
by Him. But when we say that Jesus Christ is Lord, we
are saying that the Greatest of all, to whom all power in
heaven and earth has been given, possesses us. We are
saying that He, “at whose name every knee shall bow, of
things in heaven and things on earth and things under
the earth,” is our personal Lord.

Paul, in speaking of his relationship with Christ, sees
himself as a bond-servant, a slave. He says that for him
“to live is Christ.” In fact, it is no longer he who “lives
but Christ, who lives in him.” He can speak of his sins
and cry out in his anguish, “O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me?” But on the other hand he can say,
“J thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” To say that
Jesus Christ is Lord is to say that He is able to redeem
us, to deliver us, that His death and His resurrection are
all-sufficient for us and that therefore we are His serv-
ants, His slaves, His possession, His own peculiar people,
who belong to Him as His possession because He has
redeemed them. This is the all-encompassing faith which
enfolds us from the hour of our baptism through all of
life, through death itself, and into all eternity. Paul has
another way of saying it. He says that “we put on
Christ,” that we are “in Christ.” All of this and much
more is involved when we say that Jesus Christ is Lord.

And in that spirit let us begin this convention. We, as
the redeemed children of God, washed in the blood of
Jesus Christ and made heirs of eternal life by Him, are
gathered together as part of the church of which He is
the Head, in order to deliberate about the work that has
been done by His grace and Spirit through our church
and to plan how we in the years that lie ahead may serve
Him ever more faithfully, confess Him ever more sin-
cerely, live for Him and bring His name to all the world
in order that “at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow
and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”

It may sound odd that words like this can be spoken
at a church convention which opens with so many doubts
and fears, so many tensions and frustrations, so much
anger and hostility in the hearts of so many people. And
yet it is because He is Lord that we can always approach
Him, knowing that He loves us, that He has redeemed
us, that He forgives, that He gives us peace, that He
pours out His Spirit upon us, that He gives us His very
body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, that He adopts us as
His own in baptism, and therefore we are worth some-
thing. We may take issue with each other, we may call

down the ridicule of the world upon one another, but
Christ Jesus is our Lord and has made us His own, and
therefore we are precious in His sight and thus should be
precious in the sight of one another. Thus we begin, live,
and die under His Lordship.

As your President, after giving all glory and thanks
to our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, I first
want to thank all the members of the Synod for all they
have done during the past biennium to help in furthering
the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our lay people,
pastors, and teachers have continued to respond to the
call of the Gospel with their gifts, their prayers, their
sons and daughters, their lives of dedicated service to our
heavenly Father, and their faithful witness to the Gospel.

Lalso want to take this opportunity to thank the Vice-
Presidents of the Synod for their dedicated service. Doc-
tor E. C. Weber has been my devoted right arm, and I
want to thank him publicly and warmly. All of the Vice-
Presidents have been very helpful, have carried out their
assignments faithfully, and represented the Synod in
many different ways. They are all worthy of our thanks.
Doctor Bernthal has been particularly helpful in recent
months in the important work that our Synod, through
the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A., has been involved in
in the resettlement of Vietnamese and Cambodian refu-
gees. He has served our Synod and the cause of humani-
tarianism with dedication and sincerity. Special mention
should be made of the sainted Doctor W. Harry Krieger,
our Fifth Vice-President, whom the Lord called home
during this biennium. He was a true man of God, and his
services will be long remembered.

A special word of thanks is due to our tireless secre-
tary, Doctor Herbert Mueller, who has been a constant
inspiration to all who know him as a man of great
integrity and Christian dedication. ;

Doctor Milton Carpenter, our synodical Treasurer,
has given freely of his time under very difficult circum-
stances, and often under unjustified personal attacks, to
render significant service on a full-time basis in a posi-
tion which pays no salary.

Likewise I would like to give a special word of com-
mendation to the Board of Directors of the Synod and its
administrative officer, Mr. John Schuelke. These men
gave unstintingly and generously of their time in the
very difficult months of 1974. The entire story can never
be told of the efforts these men made to bring about
reconciliation and to keep the Synod moving. During the
dark and tragic days of early 1974 they literally held the
Synod together and kept the sister churches in our
treasured fellowship. They have also helped to coordinate
the work of the various boards and auxiliaries in an area
in which they should be given authority commensurate
with the responsibilities laid upon them. I wish you
would all read carefully pages 144 to 148 of the Conven-
tion Workbook to get a little idea of the efforts of the
Board of Directors to deal with our problems in a loving
and evangelical way.

To all members of all boards, commissions, and com-