In the military the “Change of Command” is a magnificent ceremony provoking reflection of where we have been and where we are going. Leaders change and institutions change. The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod has “changed commanders” as Synodical President-Elect, Pastor Matthew Harrison, assumed his responsibilities on September 1^st. The Installation Eucharist will be on September 11^th.

Harrison’s election was a surprise to many, including his supporters. Several factors seemed to play in his victory. Harrison aggressively sought the position; a great deal of money went into literature supporting his candidacy. (It seems that Lutherans no longer care that their pastors and bishops imitate American political candidates.) The very vocal purity cult of the LCMS supported him. There seems to be a clear transference of attitudes and sympathies from the secular political scene (e.g., Tea Party). Electoral delegates had spent two days reorganizing a Synod that continues down a path of demographic decline begun some 40 years ago; delegates have never had to face the facts so intensely.

The biggest factor may be simply the passing of generations. It’s now time for a new generation to take over. This will be the post New Orleans (1973) generation of pastors dominated by Robert Preus’ Fort Wayne graduates. It will be remembered that St. Louis had very few students in the post-Seminex years 1973-1988. The newly dominant pastors tend to be absolutely certain about their American version of 17^th century Orthodoxy, which they inaccurately equate with pure confessionalism. Most have an appreciation and a sense of catholic liturgy, albeit with some strange Missouri quirks. Most are skeptical of the ecumenical church, and see little to no benefit in ecumenism (seeing it as a threat to orthodoxy), and therefore tend to function in complete isolation. For years they have seen themselves as a forgotten and oppressed minority, going back to the 1950's when the “Springfield” Seminary was clearly No. 2. Ironically Kieschnick, whom Harrison displaced, was a Springfield graduate.

What of Bishop Harrison himself? He served twice as a parish pastor and that should be a great benefit to the synod. He has spent the past ten years in the synod’s department for relief and human care (from which he was able to project his image regularly). So he’s a bureaucrat but one who conducted himself well at the forefront of various disasters around the world. It is unfortunate that he lacks the experience of “episkope” (oversight) of being a district president or bishop. It would have given him opportunity to intimately experience a greater variety of pastoral backgrounds and approaches.

Harrison promises that he will conduct his office as a pastor and a theologian. That is certainly to be welcomed and we should take him at his word on that. It will be mighty difficult as he works his way through all the problems that accrued with our decline, now exacerbated by economic pressure. For example, there are an estimated 1,500 congregations no longer able to compensate a full-time pastor. That number may soon grow to 2,000. Not all seminary graduates can be placed immediately. Two seminaries may be too many; one may have to go.

Much in his favor, Harrison is promising to establish stronger ties to outside Lutherans, such as the various dissident groups arising from the ELCA and the various African bodies dissenting from the LWF. Such moves are surely good for Missouri even if they are only a nudge away from our recent isolation and motivated perhaps in part to our theological opposition to both the ELCA and LWF.

As pastor and theologian, Harrison promises to conduct a series of conferences to bring theological unity to the synod. He describes a ten year process. He has repeatedly promised that there will be no purge and no coercion. To what extent there is theological division in the synod is an open question. Kieschnick was right on this.

Division is a construct of a dysfunctional group that cannot accept that we are allowed diversity, within the boundaries of Scripture and Confessions. Those who believe that they alone hold positions of synodical purity do not have a constitutional right to demand that all others agree with them. Nor do they have a constitutional right to disrupt the synod. Presumably members of this group trust Harrison and he is therefore well positioned to convince them to desist. No greater gift could be given the synod than a resolution to this persistent nuisance. It has endured for at least 70 years through too many generations of pastors. May he bring it to an end once and for all.

We wish Bishop Harrison God’s blessings in his new vocation and pray that he will be a blessing to all.

A word about the departing bishop, Jerry Kieschnick. I regret his electoral defeat. It was not what he deserved. He did nothing wrong. He worked hard for the synod during his nine year stewardship. He brought much needed stability in beginning to curb the purity cult and its disruptive behavior. He engaged our declining resources directly and courageously. Like others before him Kieschnick did not campaign for re-election. In the end he worked hard to his own disadvantage by taking on the unpopular initiatives.

Soon the Kieschnick decade will be known for the LCMS taking a turn for a better way at the beginning of the 21^st century. Blessings to him and Terry for their bottomless charm and grace.