The editors of Gottesdienst are pleased to endorse incumbent Rev. Dr. Matthew Harrison for re-election as President of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

The usual suspects have already maligned us as being nothing more than a “Harrison-supporting interest group”, a slight which elicits a shrug, since the ‘interest’ of our ‘group’ is already a matter of clearly documented record throughout our 25+ years of publishing history: we are The Journal of Lutheran Liturgy. As it happens, this is precisely why we are compelled to repeat here what we have said before about President Harrison, and to provide our serious reasons for saying it, now that election day is nearly upon us.

Please consider:

President Harrison has not only proven himself a faithful and worthy leader of the Synod, but has demonstrated in numerous ways that he is a remarkable theologian, and we believe that this asset in particular is of great value in the carrying out of the duties of this office.

His threefold Witness—Mercy—Life Together emphases, with which most everyone is familiar, have served the Synod well. Under the Witness banner he has boldly encouraged unbending faithfulness to the doctrine of the Gospel and the whole counsel of God, under the Mercy banner he has shown a desire for us to have compassion on the poor and needy, and under Life Together, he has given us a hope and plan for a God-pleasing unity. He has ever sought to be a teaching president, and this, we believe, ought to be high on the list of qualifications for a Synod president.

Moreover he has behaved himself honorably, in the face of sometimes relentless pressure. Recently the Council of Presidents unanimously agreed with these sentiments, particularly in the matter of the handling of properties in Hong Kong (source: email to LCMS Pastors from the COP, May 3rd). We believe that Matthew Harrison is a churchman first of all, from which perspective he then seeks to carry out the bureaucratic duties set before him with the integrity required of him. This is exactly what we ought to desire in a Synodical president.

Given these perilous times in which godlessness increasingly infects our culture, and as Satan intensifies his attacks on the Holy Church, we are all the more eager to see the kind of clarity, conviction, and compassion that Matthew C. Harrison brings to the office of the presidency. He needs your vote, and so does the Lutheran Liturgy.