The absolute highlight of the 2026 LCMS Convention, hands down, was the opening Divine Service on Saturday evening, featuring a children’s choir brought together from a dozen LCMS congregations by Rev. Sean Daenzer as part of the five-year “Sing, Pray, and Keep His Ways” project. Among the 55 young people who participated in the choir, nine of the boys also took part in acolyte training and assisted with the Divine Service in that capacity, whereas nine of the girls (including one of my own granddaughters) took part in altar guild training and assisted in that capacity. As I had opportunity – before, during, and after the Divine Service – to see the joy and delight on the faces of these young men and young ladies, I was so pleased and happy for them, and frankly encouraged for the future of the Church among us.
The joy I witnessed in the children’s choir, the acolyte corps, and the altar guild was something more than mere emotion. Those feelings of delight and happiness are great, but they come and go, and they do not sustain us over the long haul of the Christian life. What the young people participating in the “Sing, Pray, and Keep His Ways” project are receiving – and, in turn, confessing and exercising in service – is the true and lasting joy of faith in Christ Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead. And that gift of faith is obtained and sustained in us by the Lord Himself through the preaching, catechesis, and confession of His Word.
From early on, the Lutheran Church came to be known as the “Singing Church,” due in large part to the hymns of Martin Luther, Philipp Nicolai, Paul Gerhardt, Johann Heermann, along with many others, and the tremendous musical compositions and contributions of Johann Sebastian Bach. As I’ve mentioned in the past, Christopher Boyd Brown’s excellent book, Singing the Gospel: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation (Harvard University Press, 2005), demonstrates how significant Lutheran hymnody was to the catechesis and confession of the faith in the sixteenth century. And his main title says it all: The hymns of Luther and the Lutheran Reformation carry and convey the Gospel – to those who sing them, and to those for whom they are sung. Such was certainly the case with the thirteen choral pieces so beautifully sung by the Convention Children’s Choir, under the direction of Mr. Jonathan Busarow.
The acolyte and altar guild training that some of the choir children received, as well as their opportunity to serve in those ways in connection with the opening Divine Service, also contributed to the catechesis these young people received on this occasion. Learning the significance of the various ceremonies that serve and support the administration of the sacred things of Christ Jesus is instructive. And along with the joy on their faces, there was a readily evident seriousness in the way these young Christians carried out their responsibilities. Kudos to Rev. Daenzer for giving them this profound chance to learn and serve.
In observing these things this past Saturday evening, I was reminded of a couple striking passages from Dr. Luther, one from his noteworthy treatise, On the Councils and the Church (1539), and the other from the Large Catechism. In the first he contrasts the business of Church Councils in correcting heresies and false practices with the work of Christian schools in passing on the faith to the children. He writes that the schoolmasters along with the pastors should be the masters of ceremony, and that everyone else will learn from the students, “without any effort or difficulty,” when to doff their hats, bend their knees, fold their hands, and “what, when, and how to sing or pray in church,” as well as “what to sing by the bier or at the grave.” And “whatever other Christian discipline and gestures” the students may practice, “the common people will do afterward without instruction, moved by the living example” (Luther’s Works AE 41, 136-137). This very wisdom was exemplified in the conduct of the choir children.
The other passage is from Luther’s catechesis on the Lord’s Supper in the Large Catechism. As he brings his discussion to a close, he urges that God’s Word and faith are not only for the adults but especially for the children, who should be taught to know and love these things from their youth. “These goals and others cannot be reached unless we train the people who are to come after us and succeed us in our office and work. We should do this in order that they also may bring up their children successfully, so that God’s Word and the Christian Church may be preserved. Therefore, let every father of a family know that it is his duty, by God’s order and command, to teach these things to his children, or to have the children learn what they ought to know. Since the children are baptized and received into the Christian Church, they should also enjoy this communion of the Sacrament, in order that they may serve us and be useful to us. They must all certainly help us to believe, love, pray, and fight against the devil” (Large Catechism V.86-87). That poignant passage was running through my mind as I was privileged to administer the Blood of Christ to those choir children who are already communicant members of their LCMS congregations. Words cannot adequately express my joy in doing so!
For more information on the “Sing, Pray, and Keep His Ways” project, focusing especially on the choir, the acolyte corps, and the altar guild from this past weekend at the LCMS Convention in Phoenix, I call your attention to this article in the LCMS Reporter online: https://reporter.lcms.org/2026/behind-the-scenes-with-sing-pray-and-keep-his-ways-at-convention/
Choir member Lachlan Lee receives Holy Communion from the Rev. Dr. D. Richard Stuckwisch during the Synod Convention’s Opening Divine Service. (LCMS/Roy S. Askins)