Ninety years ago today, Concordia Seminary dedicated its new campus located in Clayton, Missouri. The dedication event was attended by a reported 75,000 people. It was an amazing gathering of people who were excited about this new seminary campus which they prayed would continue to train young men to become pastors in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. A truly amazing video was made of that event. It was made in the age of black and white silent movies with just subtitles.
The video can be found on iTunes by clicking HERE. (iTunes is a little hard to figure out, so you may want to try this other option.)
You can also find this video on this blog site and you may find it easier to use: Back to Luther
By 1926, Concordia had already come a long way from opening the door (there was only one) of the Log Cabin College in Perry County in December of 1839. This logo was designed two years ago for the 175th anniversary of the opening of the Log Cabin College. We are now in the 177th year.
I would like to make a few editorial comments on this:
- The LCMS must have been enjoying a heightened level of enthusiasm in the 1920’s. I cannot imagine the LCMS getting 75,000 people together for any kind of event today. We have lost that enthusiasm. I wish that we would get it back.
- Along the same line of thought, I get the sense from this video that the people attending this event were proud to be Lutherans. Today, too many are even embarrassed to admit being Lutheran. We can be proud of our church’s history and boldly proclaim our Lutheranism.
- It will be over 90 degrees here today. As I look at this video and see all the men wearing suitcoats and women wearing dresses, I can only imagine the discomfort they must have been feeling if it was hot that day. Yet they were there.
- I love the hats.