What Is Joy:Fully Lutheran?
Joy:fully Lutheran was the theme for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and will follow through to the next convention.
Here we take time to pause and reflect upon what it is to be Joy:Fully Lutheran. In this space, Northern Illinois District pastors will share what it means to them to be Joy:fully Lutheran.
By Pastor Ray Rohlfs, Christ Evangelical Lutheran, Orland Park
Our current LCMS convention theme—Joyfully Lutheran—has many of us reflecting. We are talking about more than smiles here, about joy in the soul, rooted in life with the living God, and about our life together as Lutheran Christians (1 Thess. 5:16-18).
At Christ Lutheran in Orland Park we value being fraternal/sororal with other Christians, but every Reformation Sunday we, as I like to say, “root for the home team.” Joyfully Lutheran. What is core to our joyful identity as Lutherans? Let me offer just two observations.
First, we are a/the denomination of grace. Years ago, I had the opportunity to serve on a panel discussion with a representative from Focus on the Family. Driving him back to the airport after the event, I asked him about his impression of Lutherans. Without hesitation, he responded that we truly preach the Gospel and view “grace as more than a word.” My heart warmed to hear that. Joyfully Lutheran. Through Luther, God worked to bring back to the Church the full message of grace in Jesus Christ. Pull up on your phone Romans 3:21-25a and Ephesians 2:8-10. This is no cheap grace (thank you, fellow Lutheran Dietrich Bonhoeffer), for the Savior bore our real sin to the cross, and the Spirit calls us in genuine repentance to receive cleansing in the blood and righteousness of Jesus.
Secondly, this grace sets us on a new course. Ephesians 2:10. Faithful pastoral forebear with Christ, Walt Ledogar, liked to say that we are “blessed to be a blessing.” My own pastoral values statement puts it this way “Graced and gracious.” For a church body that stresses God’s gracious work, we Lutherans like to do things—and well. I joke with our member Helen Duehr (“Do-er”) that she comes by her German surname honestly.
Let me illustrate. In most of our congregations, we Lutherans are blessed with many fine proofreaders. If you are a church secretary, you have experienced on Monday morning the truth that Lutherans value education and do it well. We thank our exacting educators, both parochial and public. Or some time ago, I arranged for a police escort through our fine OPPD to our cemetery for the procession of George Olmsted, a past Squad Nine Chicago Fire Department member. Before we left the church, I stopped to thank the officer and make sure he knew the way. He assured me that he knew the way to our “beautiful and well-kept cemetery.”
A couple of things on this: First, let’s leave perfection to the Lord, but let’s try to serve God with excellence. Second, we Lutherans often do our evangelism. We help our neighbor shovel, repair the car, or we drop off a meal. That’s great, but our Lord (Matthew 5:16) would have us make the connection with our Father who is in heaven. It may be true that we Lutherans lead in Gospel proclamation with our works, but we also need to give voice to the Gospel, to connect others with what moves us and makes us joyfully Lutheran: God’s Grace.