LUTHERAN IDENTITY

A Statement from The Office of the President
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
1333 South Kirkwood Road
St. Louis, Missouri 63122
United States of America

As many parishes take a little break from their busy schedules which usually go along with the fall and winter months, it is a good opportunity for our church workers to give special attention to assessing the progress of Sunday School, Bible Class and Confirmation programs. As I have mentioned previously, it is in the area of catechesis that the distinct Scriptural and confessional strengths of our church will be sustained and increased. This is where our Lutheran identity is both nurtured and strengthened. A top priority must be placed on our Sunday School, Bible Class and Confirmation instruction.

A couple of experiences recently reminded me again of the high priority which we must continue to place on Sunday School and Confirmation. First, I was recently able to page through a new book called Lutherans in Crisis: The Question of Identity in the American Republic (Fortress Press, 1993). It is a very good overview of the challenge Lutherans have faced in America to retain a clear Lutheran identity. I would like to share with you an insightful quotation from this book.

"The Lutheran church is defined by its particular confessional stance and liturgical life. If these are downplayed, ignored, or discarded, there is nothing left that is specifically Lutheran and anything is possible. If the Lutheran confessional and liturgical moorings disappear, then Lutherans can enter into communion with anyone, Lutherans can cease to be concerned about theological differences and engage in all kinds of social action, and Lutherans can use all sorts of devices and techniques to get people in the door. Yet, in that process, the Lutheran church will take on a new identity; it will be Lutheran in name only. History teaches us lessons....The Lutheran church, as a confessing movement in the church catholic, has an integrity of its own, and that integrity ought not to be compromised. The Lutheran church has a particular view of the Gospel, communicated through Word and Sacrament and expressed in the liturgy, and it must hold on to these things in order to be faithful to and maintain its identity. The Lutheran church is called to be what it is in America and not try to imitate someone else. The Lutheran church has a vital theological heritage to offer Americans, and the only way it can offer an effective witness in this land is to maintain the integrity of that heritage."

I think you can see how this relates to Sunday School, Bible Class and Confirmation instruction. We do not want simply to pass on some sort of ethnic heritage. No, rather we wish to pass on the pure Gospel and Sacraments which constitute the church. We wish to do so fully aware of and committed to our Lutheran doctrine and practices because they are what Scripture teaches us.

But this brings us to the second experience. While flying back to St. Louis from a recent meeting, I was sitting next to a man whose life was filled with sorrows and problems. He was, quite literally, a modern-day Job. Recognizing the cross on my luggage tag as the synodical logo, he told me he was a Missouri Synod Lutheran. He began to tell me all the problems he had experienced lately with his family. Only recently his wife had died and now he was dealing with the aftermath of the suicide of one of his children.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my New Testament. I began to read some key verses from the Scriptures which spoke to his concerns. Then he did something that really impressed me, and this is the point of this story. After I finished, he began to recite quite a number of Bible verses which were permanently fixed in his memory. He told me he had learned these verses during his Confirmation instruction. For all these years those verses had remained firmly planted in his memory. The Holy Spirit was able to draw upon that supply of Scripture to offer this man comfort and strength. As he was reciting these verses, I could not help but be impressed once again with the importance of memory work in our Sunday School and Confirmation programs. Learning passages from Scripture, memorizing the six chief parts of the catechism and their meanings, learning hymn verses, and memorizing the liturgy is vital and important. Education and thorough instruction in the Faith are the heart of our Synod's program for retaining a clear Scriptural and Confesional Lutheran identity.

From: The President's Newsletter, July 1993, p. 4