The treasures of our Lutheran heritage are great and abundant, wide and deep. This marvelous confession of faith, drawn from the Sacred Scriptures contained in the Book of Concord, has been passed down to us by the faithful who have come before us. As a cherished heirloom is bequeathed down the generations, so too have we received this Confession of Christ and His redeeming work from our forefathers in the Faith. Each document in the Book of Concord, also called The Lutheran Confessions, addresses the theological controversies of their day, but are timeless in what they confess. We do not hold the Lutheran Confessions on par with Scripture;  we do not say that the Confessions are infallible, meaning unable to err or fail, but we do say that our confession has not erred or failed. 

In my short tenure as District President, I have installed two pastors. At each ordination and installation of a pastor, the Church insists that the men whom are ordained and installed to be the pastors in their midst affirm or reaffirm several things. In addition to confessing that the  Scriptures are the inspired, infallible Word of God, these questions are also asked of them:  

“Do you confess the Unaltered Augsburg Confession to be the true exposition of Holy Scripture and a correct exhibition of the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church? And do you confess that the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Small and Large Catechisms of Martin Luther, the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, and the Formula of Concord - as these are contained in the Book of Concord- are also in agreement with this one scriptural faith?” 

The answer that the Church insists from her pastors is simple but profound: “Yes, I make these Confessions my own because they are in accord with the Word of God.” 

We, as a confessional church body, also insist that congregations include these confessions in  their constitutions. Therefore, we are all on the same page and confessing the same thing. 

We do this for several reasons. 1) It protects the congregation. As a man is installed as the  pastor in that place, the congregation knows exactly what they are getting and can hold him  accountable to it. By that, I mean if the pastor is teaching or preaching anything outside of our  confession of faith, the congregation knows by what standard the pastor can be gently  corrected, 2) It protects the pastor. As the pastor is teaching and preaching, as he has vowed  to do at his installation, the congregation cannot object to his faithful preaching. If a  congregation is in error, the pastor corrects the congregation, again, in a spirit of gentleness on  the basis of the Word of God and the solid confession of the Book of Concord. 3) It protects  the Church at large. If we say that we are walking together in faith, then we need a confession  to proclaim together. Insisting that all members of the synod, which includes pastors and  congregations, make these confessions their own gives us unity. After all, that is what the word  concord means.  

The Book of Concord isn’t just a book for egg-headed clergy but is accessible to everyone.  Several circuits have regular Book of Concord Studies that include both laity, clergy, and even  some who are not LCMS. Everyone is welcome to study these Christian truths. These studies  are fantastic, and I encourage every circuit to engage in such regular study. The North Dakota  District may even help purchase Books of Concord for such studies. Not only that, but my  encouragement is also that every congregation has a regular Book of Concord study. If we are  going to walk together in the same confession, and if we are going to hold our pastors  accountable for these confessions, as many as possible ought to be familiar with them.  

Let us receive these confessions as the gift they are: the faithful proclamation of Christ. If your  only exposure to the Book of Concord is the Small Catechism, now is a great time to branch  out into the rest. I suggest beginning with the Augsburg Confession.  

Let us find concord in this confession, receiving this treasure as our heritage, rejoicing in its  Christ-centered proclamation.