"Walking Together Sunday" - The Concept

In this month of September, congregations in the WELS were encouraged to pick a Sunday and celebrate “Walking Together Sunday,” aka “Synod Sunday.” This encouragement came mainly through the office of the Ministry of Christian Giving, though it was also featured in one of the biweekly “Together” e-mails that go out from our president. Packets of information were mailed to my congregation (and I assume every congregation), and resources were made available online for all pastors to use at their discretion. These resources included a Bible study, a one-time Order of Service with special readings to use in place of the regular Lectionary on that day, and also a complete sermon based on Revelation 14:6. Another option suggested in the materials was “to do a shortened regular service and end with a Walking Together emphasis that includes showing the video, praying the Prayer of the Church, singing a hymn, and referring members to the special offering opportunity highlighted in the brochure.”

I am fully in favor of promoting the work of our synod, and if a pastor chooses to take a Sunday and have a special emphasis on the synod that day, I have no problem with it. I don’t do it at my congregation, but that is my preference. I don’t see the wisdom in setting aside the Lectionary for this. The Lectionary has a balanced emphasis, which includes missions and the Church. Picking a random Sunday in September because there is a general “Pentecost theme of preaching the gospel across the world” seems to miss the point of the Lectionary.

Instead, at my congregation we promote the work of our synod by regularly praying for our missionaries, pastors, teachers and synodical leaders, and by sending in a generous percentage of our offerings to support the synod’s work, including special offerings like the “Jubilee” offering last year. I try to keep my members informed of the work that is being done and of special needs that arise, but I have found that the less I try to “sell” the work of the synod, the more interested they are in supporting it. People can recognize an advertisement when they see it, and frankly, they are tired of being the targets of mass marketing campaigns in our advertisement-laden culture.

Don’t get me wrong. Talking about the Lord’s work and the Lord’s kingdom and our place in it is not “advertising” per se. As a world missionary, I was asked to visit congregations and talk about our mission and the work the Lord was accomplishing there. I would encourage people to support our synod so that these missions could continue.

But even when a congregation asked, I would decline doing a slide show in the middle of the Divine Service, insisting instead on doing such presentations before or after the service, or at another time. And my “missionary” sermon was always a Law/Gospel, text-based sermon, with a few examples of how the Word and Sacraments were producing fruit in the foreign country to which I had been sent.

I recall once, after such a service, the pastor reprimanded me rather sternly, saying, “They can hear all that Law and Gospel stuff from me anytime. You were supposed to tell them what mission work is like in foreign countries. That’s what they came to church to hear about today.”

My mistake.

In any case, I’m not bashing the concept of a special “Missions” Sunday or of a “Walking Together Sunday.” Even if it wouldn’t be my preference, I can see it being a positive thing, depending on how it’s carried out. As I’ve said before, I think President Schroeder is doing an excellent job at promoting confessional Lutheran doctrine and practice in our synod, and I don’t fault him in the least for encouraging congregations to celebrate a WT Sunday.

Although I wasn’t planning on using them, I did peruse the resources being offered to our congregations this year. (I mean, a lot of time and money went into preparing, sending out and promoting them.) I found them to be – less than helpful. They may well be promoting our synodical “Walking Together,” but if we mean to be “walking together” as a confessional Lutheran synod, we can put forth better materials than these.

I won’t comment on the Bible study materials. They weren’t bad. In the next two posts, I’ll comment on the Order of Service and the Sermon that were provided.