To Reach Out With Love
A Statement from Pastor David Benke

I am writing to state in the most emphatic terms as a Pastor and leader that the Christian witness provided by Lutherans in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in the New York Metropolitan area will continue to be performed, in our churches, schools and agencies, according to the highest Biblical principles.

• We will therefore continue, in the words of Jesus, to Love our neighbors as ourselves, remembering the great parable of the Good Samaritan. The bounds of race, class and religion can and must be crossed for the sake of the neighbor.
• We will refrain from unnecessary, uncharitable and inaccurate characterizations of other religions or faiths, behaving as we bear witness to hope, as the Bible tells us, with "gentleness and respect." (I Peter 3)
• We will continue to provide quality Christian education in our Missouri Synod Lutheran schools along with our partners in the Lutheran Schools Association to all students, regardless of race, creed, religion or country of origin.
• Within the great diversity of peoples in New York, we will in a positive way continue to promote tolerance and inclusivity in our parishes and classrooms. We understand that God's successful mission was the reconciliation of the whole world in Christ (II Corinthians 5).
• We will continue with great fervor and joy to bring God's healing and comfort to all human beings following the events of September 11, 2001, through Lutheran Disaster Response of New York with all the resources given to us according to the needs presented, without prejudice.

I publicly deplore the poorly chosen, divisive, uncharitable, inaccurate and unnecessary statements of the few in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod recently publicized.Those words should not and cannot be taken as the direction of the many. In the context of a community that has been torn in events unparalleled in violence and terror in the United States on its own soil, those statements are uncaring. They are unchristian. They are totally inappropriate. They are not what we are about. They are not what we stand for.

In the Atlantic District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod we stand by the simple truth that ours is the God of love.  God's incredible, eternal self-giving love for the whole world compels us to walk and work here and now in New York with the same divine spirit of hopeful giving love. In our baptisms, we have by God's grace put on Christ. In the spirit of Christ, the doors of our churches, schools, parish halls, and institutions are open to all. It shall remain so. We shall not be deterred .

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