Old age is the front line of life, moving into No Man's Land. No Man's Land is covered with mist. Beyond it is eternity.
For the past biennium, your Board, according to your action at the last convention of the Church, regardless of an accumulating deficit, has continued to minister to those moving into "No Man's Land."
It has not been a work of charity, it has been a work of love. When the Church ordained a man to the work of the ministry, she says: Separate yourself from the sources of worldly gain. Minister to us in spiritual things and we will minister to you in material things.
The Board therefore declares concerning its work: Justice demands it: Honor enforces it: Gratitude compels it: Self-respect requires it: Expediency suggests it: Sympathy directs it: Religion urges it: Obedience enjoins it: The Love of Christ constrains it: The Example of Jesus guides it.
The support of the ministers of the Gospel is not a matter left to the whims of men. It is according to the Divine order. Our names are all on the note and our Master is our endorser and we do not propose to let this note go to protest.
From the Report of the Board of Ministerial Pensions and Relief, Minutes of the Convention of the United Lutheran Church in America, 1940. Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Chicago, Illinois.
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