Our Savior’s Lutheran Church,

Minneapolis, Minnesota

June 12-20, 1875

President Preus presented his report from which only the first and part of the second paragraphs are translated.

Grace and peace be to you abundantly in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord! Amen.

Esteemed assembly! In many respects the last year which we have gone through has been a year of tribulation. But our joy and our thanks to God must be the greater as we now gather from near and far so that through mutual deliberations on the one ground of truth, we can grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ, be encouraged and comforted to bear our cross patiently in Jesus’ name and be strengthened with fearlessness to go forward in our work and our struggle for the building up of our dear Lutheran Zion among us to the salvation of souls and the glory of God.

We certainly should take the apostle Paul’s admonition to heart, “Let us not be weary in well doing,” Galatians 6:9. We are persuaded by God that our synod’s battle and work is good and God-pleasing because it is grounded in the Word of God. But then we should not let our courage sink either and become weary if on the one hand we do not always see the fruits of the struggle and work which we could wish and on the other hand find misunderstanding, mockery and persecution from enemies within and outside the boundaries of the Lutheran Church, or, if in his wisdom God allots to us a special cross and tribulations in order to test our faith and our love. In these last respects the past synodical year has been a year of visitation for us. While the chastisement was only very slight for many of our congregations in the East, a large portion of them in the western states were visited by hail and grasshoppers, so that to a high degree they needed the help of their brethren with regard to both their bodily and spiritual necessities. That because of this, in many places the ability to provide adequate support for our synod’s purposes, both the regular and the special, suffered, is natural. However, I do believe that the general cry of “hard times” frightened and discouraged many people and kept them from providing the help, even if small, which they were able to provide, just as I will really not be mistaken in saying that many of us pastors thereby have felt themselves forsaken, so that they have allowed the proper instruction and encouragement to which the congregations in such times rightly could be needing, to be lacking.

President Preus goes on to report on the state of the synod.