1959
To the Honorable Evangelical Lutheran Synod:
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear Fellow-servants of the Lord:
In Jesus’ Name we welcome you brother pastors and representatives of our congregations. May God strengthen and help us in our most important work. May we never forget our high calling and the great responsibility we have toward our Lord and Savior and toward His church of believers.
We pray our dear Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus, our Savior, to pour forth His grace upon us so that we may be filled with His Spirit and the true and fervent love and faithfulness to Him and His Holy Word. May He also fill our hearts with fervent love to our people, on whose behalf we shall meet in the coming days so that we shall be watchful and careful for their true welfare. We need the grace and mercy of God to keep us in His ways, lest by sin and unfaithfulness to His Word we bring down the judgment of God upon ourselves.
Our help is in the name of the Lord. Hence we flee to Him who is the God of all Grace for help and stand united in prayer before His throne of Mercy, beseeching Him to bless all our words and actions to the glory of His name and the salvation of blood-bought souls.
With the Psalmist we pray and confess:
“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul.
The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for evermore.” — Psalm 121.
M.E. Tweit