The Missouri Synod's Immaculate Conception

 

The Missouri Synod’s Immaculate Conception, 1847

Most people think the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod began in 1847, with Pastor CFW Walther as its leader.[1] They claim the noble Walther came to America to repristinate the country and rescue it from the loose doctrine of American Lutherans who were already established there. Some people are vaguely aware of a leader who was deposed for his adultery, but he was gone, serving a church in Illinois. Thus a great synod with a famous leader – The Great Walther – could only have been conceived without actual sin.

The gap between the Rogate Sunday sermon in 1839 and the founding of the Missouri Synod in 1847 is filled with a storm of confusion, accusations, and suppression of the truth. Walther himself did not want the early history of the synod told, and most were happy to write as little as possible.[2]

One story, difficult to hide, is the way Loehe sent men to America to establish schools and congregations for Lutherans. They founded the future Concordia Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana in 1844. The Loehe pastors gathered to form a synod and invited the Perrysville cult to join in the discussions. The initial conversations did not go well, but the two groups agreed a bit later and formed a synod. The credit should go to the Loehe pastors for the fellowship extended, but Loehe is not even mentioned in the official history quoted above. No one can say exactly why, but the mention of Loehe makes LCMS pastors angry and incoherent. Walther fought with him, but one test of Missouri loyalty is discounting Loehe.

Walther asked Loehe for the Ft. Wayne property – free – and continued financial support. Loehe agreed and continued the support.

http://www.projectwittenberg.org/etext/loehe/letter.txt

SYNOD'S LETTER TO PASTOR W. LOEHE IN NEUENDETTELSLAU (sic)

 Highly honored and dearly beloved brother in the Lord:

 Pastor D. Sihler has requested at this year's first synodical

 conference to call Pastor Oster as director and teacher at the

 Seminary in Fort Wayne. He based this request on his declining health

 and the fact that his own ever-growing congregation is making it

 impossible for him to expand the time and energy necessary for the

 seminary. We have come to the unanimous conclusion that we do not

 have the right to issue a call on behalf of the seminary, because it is a

 private institution, founded by the love of the German brothers.

 Consequently it was decided to ask you, beloved brother, and

 through you also the other participants of this work of love, whether

 you are willing to surrender the seminary to the Synod, formally and

 actually giving it under the Synod's free disposition, while

 nevertheless continuing with support in the forms of money, books,

 etc. in the usual loving manner, because the Synod--especially at this

 time of its organization--does not have the resources for the

 seminary's upkeep.

 In addition, it was agreed to ask you in a brotherly manner to

 forward to us the writings of Pastor Ostor (sic) thus enabling us to

 form our own opinion concerning his attitude, knowledge, spiritual

 gifts and qualifications for the proposed position.

 With the heartfelt request to include us and our work in your

 brotherly supplications, we command (sic) you to the Lord's mercy.

 Chicago, May 6 in the year of our Lord 1847.

 On behalf and in the name of the "German Evangelical--Lutheran

 Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States" at their first annual

 conference here.

 Signed respectfully and most humbly,

 C. Ferd. Wilh. Walther, President

 

No one can explain how Loehe’s generosity can be misconstrued. The mysterious break with Loehe suggests a future problem with Walther needing to be the whole show, the infallible leader who subordinated everything to his will.

Walther asked Bishop Stephan’s son to return from Germany and become a pastor.  As a leader, Walther talked young Stephan out of his land, yet the settlers never gave back the money, books, and possessions they stole from his father. In addition, Walther made a point of making fun of Stephan at the seminary and undermining him in his role as a pastor.

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[1] The LCMS official history on its website says as much – “The roots of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod trace back to 1847, when Saxon and other German immigrants established a new church body in America, seeking the freedom to practice and follow confessional Lutheranism.” https://www.lcms.org/about/lcms-history

[2] http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2016/01/walther-loehe-exchange-walther-wants.html

Military Gardening Group Convenes To Enjoy Cool Evening and Sassy

 Sassy had all her shots and remains in great health.

The Military Gardening Group met yesterday for pour-over coffee with cane sugar, pour-over with whipped cream and Ghiardelli chocolate, and pour-over with sugar, chocolate, and whipped cream. Tis a fussy group.

They arrived with 25 bags of shredded cyprus wood mulch, which will protect and feed the roses through the autumn and winter.

Mrs. Ichabod joined Ranger Bob, PFC, and me to enjoy the cool breezes, hummingbirds, and yellow jackets. Bob gets rather excited when he spots a nest, because they love him as much he loathes them.

The shy roses were starting to bloom, three Veterans Honor and two purple roses. More are sending up their new shoots for additional buds and blooms.

Sassy sat in the garden facing us. Her opening is to bark orders at Bob until he has given her Milk Bones and fiber crackers. Sometimes he starts with a tirade about her being spoiled, overfed, and "nothing but a chow hound," a term used for Army recruits who specialize in eating food. She grins during the speech because it always ends with food - and everyone cheering Bob for being so tough.

I told a Sassy story while she was facing us. At the end, Bob said, "Look at Sassy's face!" She was beaming about her many virtues being described and praised. Often, after a morning walk, Mrs. I says, "Any new Sassy stories?" Sassy listens as I tell how she teases Pat and Bob about kissing one, or the other, or both. Sassy clearly loves to play pranks and get laughs.

After the audience and food, Sassy walked beyond the driveway to guard us and keep an eye on the children playing in the street. She is always alert for danger and anything new or unusual.

Our vet tech neighbors drove by to ask about us taking on their pine needles. We have been doing that for years. Their kids and friends bring them over in the fall. I cut roses for people, pointing out that each snip means more roses will bloom faster, with the energy no longer going to the current flowers.

Like the cardboard, newsprint, leaves, and wood mulch, nothing remains of the pine needles except the biological replacements as they are broken down. The soil is noticeably higher than it was 10 years ago. The garden often feels like a big soft mattress, because the organic matter holds on to so much moisture.

Leander Keyser on the Price of Our Apostasy

Lutheran Library Publishing Ministry

And that is the trouble with many people of our own country; they have forsaken God and His way of righteousness; they have been untrue to His Word, and have proudly proclaimed that human reason, and science, and philosophy are their sufficient guide. Who will deny that we have been conspicuously guilty of such departures? We have wanted to be in the fashion with certain other nations, which thought they had reached that degree of scholarship and power when they could dispense with God and His special revelation.

If we persist in this course, I fear God will presently give us up to our own devices. He will say: “You think you know better than I, as I have revealed the way of righteousness in my Word; so go to, and see what you can do without Me.” That would be the worst judgment God could visit upon us — simply to let us go our own willful way. Every time in the history of the world a nation has been given up to its own devices, it has rushed headlong to ruin. 

From: Keyser, Leander. In The Apostles’ Footsteps: Sermons on the Epistle Lessons for the Church Year. The Lutheran Literary Board: 1920.

Keyser, Leander Sylvester

(March 13, 1856–October 18, 1937). Leading theol. in The General* Syn. of the Ev. Luth. Ch. in the USA; b. Tuscarawas Co., Ohio; educ. Wittenberg Coll. (Sem.), Springfield, Ohio (see Hamma Divinity School). Pastor La Grange, Indiana, 1879–81; Elkhart, Indiana, 1883–89; Springfield, Ohio, 1889–95; Atchison, Kansas, 1897–1903; Dover, Ohio, 1903–11. Prof. systematic theol. Hamma Divinity School 1911. Works include A System of Natural Theism; A System of Christian Evidence; In the Redeemer's Footsteps; In the Apostles' Footsteps; Contending for the Faith; The Problem of Origins; Our Bird Comrades. Source - LCMS Cyclopedia