Well then, setting aside various writings and analyses of the word “church,” we shall this time confine ourselves simply to the Children’s Creed, which says, “I believe in one holy Christian church, the communion of saints.” Here the creed clearly indicates what the church is, namely, a communion of saints, that is, a crowd assembly of people who are Christians and holy, which is called a Christian holy assembly, or church…. . Now there are many peoples in the world; the Christians, however, are a people with a special call and are therefore called not just ecclesia, “church,” or “people,” but sancta catholica Christiana, that is, “a Christian holy people” who believe in Christ. That is why they are called a Christian people and have the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies them daily, not only through the forgiveness of sin acquired for them by Christ (as the Antinomians foolishly believe), but also through the abolition, the purging, and the mortification of sins, on the basis of which they are called a holy people. Thus the “holy Christian church” is synonymous with a Christian and holy people or, as one is also wont to express it, with “holy Christendom,” or “whole Christendom.” The Old Testament uses the term “God’s people. (Luther’s Works, v.41, p.143-144)
Picture: In June of 2019, our congregation took a road trip to St. Louis. This year’s pictures are from a tour of Historic Trinity Evangelical Lutheran in the Soulard Market area. The first records of this congregation date to 1839 establishing it as the oldest Lutheran congregation west of the Mississippi. O.H. Walther was installed as her first pastor on June 9, 1839. The present structure is third church building and dates to 1864. There was a building restoration in 1980, but the pulpit, baptismal font, etc. still date from 1842. C.F.W. Walther was the congregation’s second pastor.