# Der Lutheraner_St. Louis Missouri_1949 09 27_S325
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

325

the Lutheran Hour now offers them strengthens them in their struggle for the truth.

In a letter Dr. Maier writes: "These great expenses will amount to thousands of dollars monthly." But these are truly well-spent thousands of dollars!
J. T. M.

Mission Prayer by Ludwig Harms. Under this heading the "Kirchenblatt" of August 27 of this year prints the well-known, often-used mission prayer of Pastor Ludwig Harms. We pass it on here to our readers because even now in the autumn season many mission festivals are being held, for which the Harms prayer is a fine preparation.

Pastor Georg Ludwig Detlev Theodor Harms was born on May 5 in the year 1808 at Walsrode, Hanover. He died on November 5, 1865. In the year 1844 he became his father's assistant in Hermannsburg and after his death head pastor of the active congregation there. In the year 1849 Harms founded the "Ev.-Luth. Hermannsburger Missions-Verein," whose blessed activity continues down to the present day. The mission extended to Africa (Natal), India, Australia, and New Zealand. This past summer the Hermannsburg Mission observed the centennial of its founding. The mission prayer reads thus:

"O dear, faithful Savior Jesus Christ, we thank Thee that we are Christians; that we have Thy Church, Thy lovely dwelling, among us, the precious house in which all the children of God gather and which they call my dear Father's house. We thank Thee that we have Thy glorious altar among us, and Thy Baptism and Thy Supper, whereby children of God are born and children of God are fed and given drink unto everlasting life.

"Yea, Lord, Thou art our sun, for Thy Word enlightens us; Thou art our shield, for Thou protectest us against Satan. Thy grace is our life, for in Thee we have redemption through Thy blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Thou art our glory, for we glory in Thy blessed kingdom of heaven. But upon the poor heathen the sun of Thy Word does not shine. Darkness covers their land. Thy shield does not cover the poor heathen. Satan has his altars among them. The poor heathen do not know the sweet word grace. They have no Savior who forgives them their sins. The poor heathen know nothing of Thy glory, nothing of Thy blessed kingdom of heaven. There is no church there and no Father's house, no altar and no Baptism and no Supper.

"Lord Jesus, have mercy and make our hearts soft. Yea, we vow it to Thee: we rich people will bring our heavenly treasures of salvation to our poor brethren. We shall not become poorer by it! No, we shall become richer by it. Our treasures are the five loaves for the five thousand. And the givers were filled! And the receivers were filled! And more was left over than there had been at the beginning.

"Lord, bless us, that we keep what we vow: we will give, and the heathen shall receive, until all are filled, we and they. Amen."
J. T. M.

Something More about Bad Boll. We are glad that the readers of the "Lutheraner" have shown such great interest in the report about Bad Boll in the last number. We therefore bring something more about this very important conference.

Thus a pastor in Schleswig wrote us: "I have been asked by my provost to report on Bad Boll and the conference at the next conference of the provostship. I shall say that the Missourians appeared to me as men with firm ground under their feet and that in the discussion they stood like a rock in the sea" (underlined by the writer).

Chaplain and Mrs. H. Heuer with their children unpacking the gifts of love sent to them from America

Dr. H. K. C. Preus, professor of theology at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., who among other American Lutheran theologians attended the institute in Bad Boll and gave lectures, reports on it as follows, as the "Kirchenblatt" of September 3 of this year relates:

"Of what we are experiencing at Bad Boll, this is especially uplifting and at the same time humbling: whether in conversation or at the daily devotions, or wherever it may be, one notices in them such strength and joy of faith that one's heart grows warm. I am occupied with the thought of what a leaven such a faith must be for the German Church."

Memorial tablet of the castle where the Augsburg Confession was once read