LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Sheet 71

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We intend to be devoted to building community. God
ame to put us humans together. Build, strengthen,
encourage, love—these are Biblical charges to put our-
selves together. Yet we are flying apart in a frightening
way: Families, congregations, communities, church bod-
ies, and nations become critical, cantankerous, fault
finding, angry, and divisive. Who rallies the families to
new loyalty and life if not the churches? Who will stay
and pattle for community health when it is easier to run
away to new places of privilege if not the people of God?
We have the greatest opportunity of any people in the
land to show by our actions what it means to be a people
together. We in the ALC expect to work faithfully at
building community. That is where we are headed. We
ask you to join us.

We intend to be devoted to Lutheran cooperation. We
believe in the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. and its
potential for vital joint ministry. We believe there are
many more things the LCMS, LCA, and ALC can do
more effectively together. We believe that to be true of
the Lutheran World Federation as well. We intend to
expand the areas of Lutheran cooperation. That is where
we are headed. We ask you to join us.

We intend to be devoted to our Lutheran heritage. We
will not use that devotion as a defense mechanism to
fend off other Christians but as a genuine contribution to
catholic Christianity. We intend to live by the grace of
God. We intend to faithfully, joyfully bear witness to the
Gospel according to the Word of God as‘confessed in the
Ecumenical Creeds and the Lutheran Confessions. That
is where we are headed. We ask you to join us.

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE ALC 73

One final word. We welcome ongoing theological dis-
cussions with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
There are a few presuppositions with which we operate.
We want to be clear with you so that our discussions may
be fruitful.

We believe that God has blessed The American Lu-
theran Church with a deep and rich Evangelical Lu-
theran heritage. We believe ourselves as theologically
blessed and capable as any other American Lutheran
church. As a result we expect to contribute theologically
to you just as we expect you to contribute to us. We
expect you to listen and learn from us just as we expect
to listen and learn from you. We do not believe God has
uniquely cast any one church body ina teaching role. We
think it essential that we be teachers and learners
together.

We do not share identical histories. We do not, there-
fore, expect you to be agitated and distressed by all
matters that agitate and distress us in the ALC. Neither
do we expect you to demand that we match your concern
for some of the matters that agitate and distress you. We
will strive to respect your history without reliving it. We
ask you to do the same with us.

We look forward to fruitful theological discussions in
our churches.

The people of The American Lutheran Church unhes-
itatingly declare their love for the people of The Lu-
theran Church—Missouri Synod. We believe the future
of our two churches, as well as the LCA, is together. God
grant it may be so.

Dr. Davip PREUS

Address of the President of the Lutheran Church in America

Presipent Preus, BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CuristT:

I greet you with the words of the apostle Paul to the
Galatians:

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord

Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us

from the present evil age, according to the will of our God

and Father; to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

(Gal. 1:3-5 RSV)

Galatians occurs to me because persons from the
Missouri Synod have cited it so often in my hearing, and
with good effect, to emphasize the centrality of the
Gospel for Christian thought and life. The need for
clarity about a Christ-centered faith is as great today as
ever. The shifts in social and religious currents could
divert us.

Reviewing the recent experience of the church, the
chairman of the Central Committee of the World Council
of Churches drew a parallel with Christ’s ministry to the
disciples on the road to Emmaus. As Christ had joined
the disciples, the church in the nineteen-sixties had
attempted to walk with people. Although the church had
always been a pilgrim fellowship where Christ joined
people in the joys and sorrows of earthly life, the last
decade was marked by the church’s willingness to face

new issues and participate in new struggles. The change
that came in the nineteen-seventies has been like the
point in the conversation on the Emmaus road when
Christ, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things
concerning Himself.” There is an upsurge in interest in
the Scriptures and in relationship with God.

Of course the church had not given up the interpreta-
tion of Scripture in the earlier decade, nor should the
church give up its concern for the earthly welfare of
people in the present decade. There has been a shift in
emphasis, however, partly because a few were so en-
grossed by the current human crises as to find little time
for the ancient divine revelation, but more because many
were so limited by past experiences as to need far more
study of Scripture in order to perceive its meaning in
new circumstances.

It is sad to note how both activities have proved
divisive for the church. In the sixties some people with-
drew from the church because it was too radical, while
others withdrew because the church was not radical
enough. Some berated the church for not identifying
with the poor and oppressed, while others felt the church
was neglecting the needs of its own members. Some