On President Harrison

(Cross-posted at reviovine.com)

This morning, while reading the newly arrived Forum Letter, published by the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, I was happy that someone at ALPB sees LCMS President Rev. Matthew Harrison as not just  a bureaucrat, but as a pastor.

From April 2011 Omnium gatherum column on page 7:

Not everyone is a fan for LCMS President Matthew Harrison, but I have to say I was impressed at his invitation – even encouragement – that his church join him in praying the Litany daily during Lent. The season is “a time for serious repentance, a time to get on our knees,” President Harrison said, in a video on his very interesting blog (www.wmltblog.org/tag/lent)…The Presiding Bishop of the other large Lutheran church body in the United States hasn’t made any public suggestions about praying during Lent, though he did issue a message in February criticizinv a recent vote of the United States in the United Nations Security Council…A bishop is above all supposed to be a pastor (note: emphasis is mine). I guess the ELCA and ELCiC bishops just have a different view of the pastoral office than that of President Harrison, who isn’t even called a bishop except informally.

And that is what the LCMS has – a Synodical President who places a heavy emphasis on the pastoral duties of his office. While he is a politician and a bureaucrat (any elected official, even within the church, is a bureaucrat and a politician), his focus is on the mission of the church. And in this period where the church is facing Satan smacking us from all sides, it is wonderful to have a church leader who is focused on using his position to delivering the Gospel and proclaiming God’s love to the lost. All members of the LCMS should be proud to have him as our bishop.