To Hold Day of Fasting, Prayer, and Repentance for Response to 2020–22 COVID-19 Pandemic

WHEREAS, God commands, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Ex. 20:8); and

WHEREAS, Our Lord and Savior proclaims, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4); and

WHEREAS, The apostle Peter declares, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29); and

WHEREAS, The Scriptures admonish Christians to “consider how to stirup one another to love and good works,not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb. 10:24–25); and

WHEREAS, One’s Christian liberty should not be determined by someone else’s conscience (1 Cor. 10:29); and

WHEREAS, It is erroneous to teach that the Sacrament of the Altar is “a matter of liberty, not of necessity, and that it is enough if [Christians] simply believe. Thus, the great majority go so far that they become quite barbarous and ultimately despise both the Sacrament and God’s Word” (Large Catechism V 41 [Tappert]); and

WHEREAS, During the years 2020, 2021, and 2022, responses to the COVID-19 pandemic by congregations, pastors, Synod leadership, and affiliated educational institutions included the cancellation of communal, in-person worship services, the “online” administration of the Sacrament, the urging of experimental and controversially-sourced vaccinations, and the submission to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s vaccine mandate; and

WHEREAS, These responses inculcated in God’s flock and the world at-large the ideas that communal, in-person worship is non- essential, that worship of God should give way to earthly fear, and that public opinion or government demand can supersede the command of God; and

WHEREAS, These responses undoubtedly led to a burdening of Christian consciences and false accusations of not loving one’s neighbor as oneself; and

WHEREAS, The great societal distress over the COVID-19 pandemic ought to have finally compelled the Church to keep her doors open; therefore be it

Resolved, That the Synod appoint a Sunday as a day of fasting, prayer, and repentance, for the response to the COVID-19pandemic during the years 2020, 2021, and 2022, and encourage all Synod congregations, pastors, Synod leadership, and affiliated educational institutions to observe it.