Christ Is Risen Indeed: Gearing Up for Another Convention

“Christ Is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!” In 2023, our convention theme was “We Preach Christ Crucified.” That was borne especially of the ever increasing assaults on religious freedom we had been experiencing at the hands of various levels of government. Come what may, like Jesus’ face set toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), we in the LCMS have our purpose; to preach Christ’s death for all and His wonderful Gospel, come what may.

This convention’s theme is the resurrection. “He was put to death for our sins and raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25, my translation). The resurrection is the absolution of the world (Rom. 4:19ff). The proclamation of that fact is our reason for existence. “Faith comes by hearing” (Rom. 10:17 NKJV)! This world continues, so long as God wills, for that message to be preached and to create faith for eternal life. We will not shut up. We will preach repentance and faith to all, no matter who, when or where. We will not be taken “captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8). We believe, and so we speak (2 Cor. 4:13).

LCMS conventions are remarkable events on many levels. I don’t know how many times delegates have approached me toward the end of the convention and said, “I was told these were horrible, but I gotta tell you, I’ve had an amazing time, and I can’t believe what our LCMS is doing all over the world.” Or, “Pastor, I was prepared to give up on the LCMS before I came this week. My mind has completely changed. I’m proud to be a member of our church body.” The LCMS went through terrible times, especially in the ’60s and ’70s, and our conventions reflected that. And it’s taken decades to move past the events of 1974 and the Seminex movement. My main goal as president all these years has been to finally move beyond the pain and confusion of those years past. And God has been merciful.

Are there problems and challenges? Yes. But if you’ve read 1 Corinthians, Galatians or the Book of Acts, you will notice that the church always has problems of doctrine and life, and always will. The pundits point out problems and allege that the swath of difficulties is out of control. The LCMS is large. With 5,800 congregations, 8,000 pastors and many institutions — every one a sinner or staffed by sinners — there is always something that can be addressed. In times of challenge, I always used to point out that no matter what I’ve had to deal with, J.A.O. Preus had it a hundred times worse in the ’70s. But then, Jack didn’t have the internet to magnify issues millions-fold. No one is above thoughtful critique. But you’ll be heartened by the faithfulness, unity and commitment to confessing the doctrine of the inerrant Scriptures that occurs at our conventions.

When people say to me, “I wouldn’t want your job!”, I say that well, frankly, I don’t feel much different than I did as a young pastor at St. Peter’s Lutheran in Westgate, Iowa. Town of 200, parish of 440, and a few thousand dairy cows. The voters’ assembly I deal with is a lot larger, but it’s all the same. You just can’t please everyone all the time. But you can be faithful.

The convention is a phenomenon. Many delegates have been to multiple conventions and love to reminisce, laugh and recount events of the past. Pastors meet old seminary mates, professors and friends whom they may not have seen in years. Laypeople who are local leaders get a taste of the culture of the LCMS. “You are all unique in the LCMS … just like everybody else.” The fact is, despite the hot issue here and there — this year it’s the nature of seminary education, and I have no doubt we’ll overwhelmingly affirm our residential routes and seminaries, while tweaking things so we can continue to be flexible when needed and not lose our longstanding best-in-class training of pastors — the convention will agree overwhelmingly on the vast majority of resolutions passed. In fact, most will be decided at 90%.

“Midwestern nice” generally prevails. In the first couple of days, things will move a bit cautiously. More time for debate will be allowed. But as the body realizes the pace has to pick up, it will gradually express a desire to move things along. I’ll soon urge floor committees to limit significantly the number of resolutions they put before the body so we can have some hope of deliberating important issues more thoroughly. Some will act to slow the process so the convention doesn’t get to decisions they might not like. Others — like myself — will encourage us to pick up the pace to get through the business. But the body will ultimately decide the tempo and when to speed up or slow down. Some issues will elicit passion. Characters will surface. Delegates will be hilarious at times without realizing it. Gifted humorists will break up the assembly. I’ll make mistakes chairing, and after a few such mistakes I’ll designate a peanut section to call me out when I screw up some parliamentary procedure.

Our Bylaws say conventions are to be inspiring. There will be great preaching, worship, choirs, musicians and learning, especially on the Gospel of the resurrection of Jesus. We will sin against each other, and we will forgive. And there will be plenty of recurrent humor.

The convention is king in the LCMS. We’ll direct, set goals and decide on priorities. It’s vital to realize the LCMS and its convention will not be exactly what any of us think they should be. But they will be what God gives us to be, together, despite our warts and sins and failings, so long as we stick to the Holy Scriptures and our Lutheran Book of Concord. And we will go forth, aggressive in our mission; diligent in supporting our congregations and schools, our pastors and teachers and workers; and doing all we can to uphold and encourage all our people to bear faithful witness to Jesus in home, family, neighborhood, church and world. “He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it” (1 Thess. 5:24). “Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!” Amen!

In Christ,

Pastor Matthew C. Harrison