Is Christianity a Western religion? Would you say that the Christian Church is waning? Watch this short video of Dr. Douglas Rutt from Concordia Theological Seminary as he addresses these questions.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).
What tremendous words of comfort these are as our nation, indeed, our world, faces the potential of an influenza pandemic. The psalmist continues, “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.”  Because of the tremendous love our Heavenly Father has for us, evidenced most fully in the life, death, and resurrection of His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the fears and insecurities that might otherwise overwhelm us give way to a sense of quiet peace and readiness to alleviate the suffering of our fellow human beings.

In the wake of this outbreak, reports are surfacing almost by the hour of school closings and church cancellations (including a very small number involving LCMS congregations) as well as restrictions on business and other forms of travel.  At the time of the writing of this memorandum, cases of swine flu have been confirmed in 10 states-a number that seems likely to grow.  And there has been a death on U.S. soil-a Mexican child seeking treatment in Texas.
Congregations, agencies, professional church workers, and lay leaders of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod are urged to remain alert regarding the status of the outbreak and to follow the guidelines provided by local, state, and federal public-health officials. In addition, disaster coordinators in each LCMS district have been provided with guidelines to assist congregations in dealing with a potential flu pandemic.  Further, LCMS World Relief and Human Care offers an assortment of resources-congregational planning procedures for a possible pandemic, a preparedness checklist, and links to information from the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization-at www.lcms.org/?15119.

Above all, in the midst of any potential or actual calamitous event, as Christians we cling to and communicate the comfort of our loving God, who says to us: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10).  So with the psalmist we boldly declare, “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46:11). God’s grace, mercy, and peace be with us all!

MEMORANDUM

To:                 The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
From:              Gerald B. Kieschnick, President
Subject:          Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Document
“Report and Recommendations on Ministry Policies”
Date:              February 22, 2009

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Grace and peace be with you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

It is with great disappointment and deep sadness that I share with The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod these brief comments on the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Task Force on Sexuality document “Gift and Trust” and the “Report and Recommendations on Ministry Policies.” The “Report and Recommendations” document recommends that the ELCA undertake a process that would result in the incorporation of “structured flexibility in decision making to allow, in appropriate situations, people in publicly accountable, monogamous, lifelong, same-gendered relationships to be approved for the rosters of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.” The two documents were released February 19 by an ELCA task force and are expected to be considered by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August.

If this recommendation should be adopted by the Churchwide Assembly, it would constitute a change in the ELCA’s present position, which precludes “practicing homosexuals” from being included on its rosters. More importantly, it would constitute a radical departure from the 2,000-year-long teaching of the Christian tradition that homosexual activity, whether inside or outside of a committed relationship, is contrary to Holy Scripture.

As the ELCA Task Force Report itself states, “This church [the ELCA] does not have biblical and theological consensus on this matter.” It therefore concludes that the ELCA “must seek a common way to live and serve in the midst of disagreements” such as “the understanding of the nature of sin,” “the interpretation of the Bible,” “how the Bible guides our lives,” and “the level of disagreement the ELCA can bear.”

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has repeatedly affirmed the biblical truth and historical understanding of the Christian church that the Bible condemns homosexual behavior as “intrinsically sinful” and is therefore contrary to the will of the Creator and constitutes sin against the commandments of God (Lev. 18:22, 24,20:13; 1 Cor. 6:9-20; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and Rom. 1:26, 27).

Our prayer in the LCMS is that our gracious God will penetrate the lives and hearts of the leaders and members of the ELCA in the coming months as they discuss, debate, and determine the outcome of the task force report and its recommendations.

In the meantime, it behooves us in the LCMS, in a spirit of sincere humility, love, care, and concern, to continue to endeavor faithfully to honor Resolution 3-21A of the 2001 Convention of our Synod that while “we cannot consider [the ELCA] to be an orthodox Lutheran church body . we of the LCMS recognize that many of our brothers and sisters of the ELCA remain faithful to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and we resolve to reach out to them in love and support .”

God’s grace, mercy, and peace be with us all.

Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick, President
The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod

“Transforming lives through Christ’s love …  in time … for eternity …” John 3:16-17

Who didn’t see this one coming?  Robert Epstein, in the December 4, 2008 edition of the L.A. Times writes that the only problem with same-sex marriage is that it is too limiting.  See the article here.  There are many other types of legitimate partnerships that could use legal validation, he says.  “Many?”  To his credit, he does mention such options as polgyny, polyandry, group marriage and temporary marriage.  But why stop there?

The third pillar of our seminary mission statement is that CTS exists to form servants in Jesus Christ who … care for all. Sinful humanity is radically self-centered.  But it was not always so.  In his pristine state, Adam understood the nature of love because he was in full communion with his Creator.  Only with self-serving disobedience did our race forget the essence of love.

By His incarnation, obedience, death, resurrection and ascension, Jesus Christ restores us to full communion with the Creator.  To be in God means, quite simply, to love.  Whom?  All people.  Even your enemies just as God in Christ loved His enemies and reconciled us to Himself.

But love is not merely an inner working of the heart.  Love always acts.  John 3:16 does not say that God so loved the world that He had nice warm emotions toward us.  Rather, it says that He gave His only-begotten Son.  Though the sacrifice of Christ to atone for sin was once-for-all, God is still giving His Son to mankind.  Only now, He is doing so by the working of the Holy Spirit through the Holy Church.

Christians help those who suffer.  We do not, like Buddhists, wish it away.  We work it away.  And when we cannot, we trust in the Creator to make us anew when the new creation is fully revealed.

It is our understanding of God’s mercy toward sinners that moves us to serve our neighbor in his physical and temporal needs.  We follow the example of our Lord Jesus, the apostles and all Christendom.  He has sent us first to proclaim the forgiveness of sins but also to heal.  For in the Kingdom of God, all things are renewed, soul and body.

It is precisely this understanding of God’s living mercy that has guided Concordia Theological Seminary – Fort Wayne to place so much emphasis upon our deaconess program.  Not to say that only professional church women can serve and help the neighbor.  But to invest our resources in godly women, and men, who will make the presence of Christ known, not in words only, but through their lives and deeds is our goal.  To the glory of God.