"Where ever the church is there will be care for the poor and the sick." Sasse

The church’s responsibilities and tasks are as much an enigma to the world as what the church is itself. The world can no more understand what the church’s tasks are than what the church is. Nothing is more unrewarding than explaining either one to unbelievers. The church’s claim that she has no other task than the preaching of the gospel and administering the sacraments is incomprehensible to unbelievers. Faced with the world’s bafflement at what she is, the church is frequently embarrassed and shrinks back from what appears to others as worthless. In spite of this, the church’s responsibility is the proclamation of the divine Word in a variety of ways. This is done in preaching and instruction, in the absolution of the sinner and the ordination to the office of preaching. All this comes to a pinnacle in Holy Baptism and the celebration of the Sacrament of the Altar. These tasks comprise the church’s obligations and can only be done by the church. Unless the church carries out these obligations, she is no longer the church. Proclamation of the Word and the administering of the Sacraments are essential functions of the church. It is unthinkable that the church would ever be without them and without them it is questionable that the church would any longer be the church. These functions are derived from the church’s essence. Necessary for Christian faith is the belief that Jesus Christ is himself active in the Sacraments. In Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar that which the church is comes to its most profound expression. Of course along with the basic and fundamental functions of Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar, which must remain preeminent and permanent, the church does other things, as for example in the area of administration according to its particular circumstances. On the other hand, these other functions such as developing congregational life and works of charity, are secondary and are dependent on the primary ones. These secondary functions will always have their place wherever the church is, but they do not constitute the church. Where ever the church is there will be care for the poor and the sick. But having said this, the church does not simply exist in the world for the sake of the poor and the sick. The outward form of the church is the congregation and its life. Activities which come along with the proclamation of the gospel will resemble what makes up society where the congregation is. The church takes on the color of her surroundings in how she conducts her business. In order to handle its affairs, the congregation will employ the methods commonly used in the business world. But regardless of the methods used by the congregation in administering those affairs which are connected with the proclamation of the word, the church is not an association for the advancement of society or an organization for its moral improvement. To be sure, the church as a living organism makes use of all its parts, but insists each part is not of the same value. Not only is Christ’s word preached in the Christian congregation, but according to Colossians 3:16, psalms and hymns are sung. The first belongs to the church’s essence and the second does not.

Hermann Sasse

From "Law and Gospel" (1936) translated by D.P. Scaer, to be published in "The Lonely Way" volume 3.