Photenhauer: The Church is a Preacheress!

It is true, the Gospel is, on the one hand, so easy that even Christians of stammering tongue readily and purely speak it. We see this daily in our Christian day schools, when our small school- children give fine and clear recountings of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, the preaching of the Gospel is so difficult that no child of the world, be he ever so learned, understands this art. In 1 Corinthians 2, the apostle Paul asserts that the Gospel is not a wisdom of this world, nor the wisdom of the big shots of this world. It is the hidden, secret wisdom of God, which God has ordained before the foundation of the world to our glory, and which none of the big shots of this world has acknowledged. Only the Holy Spirit can teach the preaching of the Gospel according to content and form. Now, since the Holy Spirit is only in the Church, only the Church is in a position to reveal to the world the great mystery of the Gospel. And so it is the case that when the Church does not preach the Gospel, the Gospel is generally not preached. Now, since the preaching of the Gospel is necessary for the salvation of people, and [since] without this preaching, Christ should have died in vain, so shall all members of the Church, young and old, great and small, rich and poor, dili- gently proclaim the Gospel. In this vocation, the Church shall thoroughly demonstrate that it rightly deserves the title “Preacheress.” “Zion, you preacheress [Predigerin], climb upon a high mountain! Jerusalem you preacheress [Predigerin], lift your voice with power; lift it up and do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah: Behold, there is your God!” The Church in the distress of the world may let go all sorts of praiseworthy work, but one thing it must never forget: the preaching of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Woe to the Church if, as a con- sequence of so many tasks and activities, it forgets its proper business or merely neglects it!

Our Synod, dear brothers, has now been a “preacheress” for over sixty years. It was above all through the blessed work and service of Dr. Walther that God made her a “preacheress” [Predigerin]. The Lord grant that it remain so in her high and lower schools, in her congregations, and in her missions!

So let us now confidently go to our work! We place over the order of business of all the days of this Synod “The preaching of the Gospel”—that is the proper business of the Missouri Synod.

May You, O God, be thanked and praised By people in good works;

The earth brings forth fruit and improves itself, Your Word is flourishing.

May the Father and the Son bless us, May God, the Holy Spirit, bless us,

To whom all the world gives honor, And who is held in the greatest awe,

And let us heartily say: Amen.

Pfotenhauer 1911 Synod Address, in At Home in The House of My Fathers, p. 748