Shepherd’s Speak
As we bask in the joyous glow of Easter Resurrection through the months of April and May, I look forward to the festival of Ascension on May 14th. It is so easy to look past this historic day since spring has so many activities to occupy our time. The Ascension of our Lord is the capstone of the 40 days after Jesus’ resurrection. On that day, Jesus left the Apostles with a promising word that He would be with them always, just in a different way than previously. He is with us in His Word, the same Word that is preached, taught, and administered today. God the Father received Jesus’ return to heaven where He sits at the Father’s right hand. That is the hand of authority and power. Jesus cannot be overcome; He cannot be subject to death or defeat. He is Christus Victus, the victorious Christ whom we worship and adore.
On Ascension Day, we not only celebrate His victory, but we also celebrate the victory He has given us in the regenerative waters of baptism. Because of Jesus’ victory, nothing can thwart Him and His mission. You are of His mission. He came to you when you did not deserve it. He brought to you His forgiving and lifegiving blood of redemption. He adopted you into His family; you are His child by grace. Jesus has calmed His Father’s wrath and stilled the storm. He overcame Satan so that Satan has no claim on you. Jesus carries all authority in heaven and on earth. This authority is your certainty that eternal life and blessed bliss are yours without doubt.
Ascension Day is a wonderful day for us to gather around His Throne of Grace and bask in Easter joy. May will also be a time of the year that the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod prepares for this summer’s convention. Floor committees will have received hundreds of overtures to be presented to the assembly for adoption as resolutions. I will be chairing Floor Committee 5, Commission on Theology and Church Relations. This floor committee has the absolute pleasure of recognizing Church Bodies from around the world who have demonstrated a faithful commitment to the Word of God and the Lutheran Confessions. Each of those overtures, when passed, are followed by singing the Doxology (“Praise God from whom all blessings flow”). Floor Committee 5 also must work with overtures on doctrinal questions and practices. These are the overtures for which I ask your help. While you won’t be sitting with the floor committee working through the issues, you can join me by lifting me and the entire floor committee through prayer. We will be meeting the weekend of May 29-June 1. Pray that we may address each overture with the authority of the Word of God. It is all too easy to get sidetracked with overtures. Please support us with ardent prayer that we remain faithful to God’s Word and its correct exposition, the Lutheran Confessions. With these treasures as our overarching guide, we will bring worthy documents to the convention for ratification.
We are a blessed Church Body. Thousands of Lutherans around the world desire fellowship with us because we have remained faithful. God is adding to the Kingdom souls who are finding comfort in the pure Gospel. It is vital we remain the teachers of this Truth and carriers of the Gospel through which the Holy Spirit seeks and saves the lost, while feeding the found. I repeat, we are a blessed Church Body as long as we remain faithful to the Scriptures given us through the Holy Spirit’s infallible inspiration of the Apostles and the Prophets. Conventions can be arduous and time consuming. But, when the fruit born from it is a stronger proclamation of the Holy Truth, it is all worth it. To join with me by praying those days the floor committee meets is an exercise in the authority we celebrate on Ascension Day. It is the Lord’s church; He purchased her with His precious blood. He promised His presence with her always, even in floor committee meetings and conventions. God watch over this dear Synod and bless our gatherings with much prayer.
—Pastor Saunders