Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays
Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays
Strangers to Sisters - Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library: Essays
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So will we cling fast <strong>to</strong> the Lord more zealously and call<br />
upon his help since we know that the evil foe will do<br />
everything possible in order <strong>to</strong> demolish our church and <strong>to</strong><br />
deprive us of the Word of truth. But if we thus lift up our<br />
eyes un<strong>to</strong> the hills from whence help shall come <strong>to</strong> us, then<br />
our meeting here shall not be in vain. Then the Lord<br />
himself shall be with us and bless our decisions, let our<br />
work prosper, and preserve us in unity of the Spirit on the<br />
ground of truth because he has promised that the way of the<br />
righteous shall prosper. Let it be so, O God, for your<br />
mercy’s sake in Christ Jesus! Amen. 28<br />
Among the pas<strong>to</strong>rs and theologians of the Old Norwegian synod, there is also a<br />
healthy spiritual desire <strong>to</strong> remove façade and get <strong>to</strong> the truth, <strong>to</strong> look past the physical and<br />
temporal <strong>to</strong> the spiritual and eternal. Only when one not only confesses properly but lives<br />
that confession, then, and only then, does true faith find expression. Koren, in his last<br />
synodical address, commented,<br />
No, if we are Christians in the Scriptural sense, it is<br />
because we have actually come <strong>to</strong> Christ and <strong>to</strong> faith in<br />
him; from this again it follows that we will gladly help <strong>to</strong><br />
draw others also <strong>to</strong> Him and <strong>to</strong> faith in him, in order that<br />
both we, ourselves and others with us may be enabled <strong>to</strong><br />
abide with Him. This demands all our effort and all our<br />
attention. If this is not the purpose, then all our institutions<br />
and our churches, with what belongs <strong>to</strong> them, are<br />
meaningless or even worse - False pretenses; for we say<br />
this is what we want.<br />
However, nothing is easier and more frequent in occurrence<br />
than that we sink in<strong>to</strong> a careless habit which forgets the aim<br />
and lets itself be satisfied with the mere form. If we do this,<br />
the reason is that we have not considered seriously, much<br />
less, realized, what the Word of God is. If we try <strong>to</strong> explain<br />
what it really is, we shall find ourselves over whelmed by<br />
the thought of its greatness. For the Word of God must be<br />
the expression or revelation of the thoughts of God and of<br />
28 Herman Amberg Preus. Presidential address given <strong>to</strong> the 20 th regular convention of the Norwegian<br />
Synod, Minneapolis, MN, June 18-25, 1884.<br />
http://www.evangelicallutheransynod.org/publications/essays/hapreus-18a/15.html. (Accessed June 19,<br />
2008).<br />
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