wfn.org | Lutherans moving to revise Concorda

[ENS.parti@ecunet.org (ENS)]

November 13, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-1995
Lutherans moving to revise Concordat for full communion with
Episcopalians

by James Solheim
       (ENS) The top leadership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) has taken the first steps to revise the Concordat of
Agreement calling for full communion with the Episcopal Church.
       After a meeting with Presiding Bishop-elect Frank T. Griswold III
at the Episcopal Church Center in Chicago, ELCA Bishop H. George
Anderson met Oct. 2-7 with the Conference of Bishops. He sketched
proposals which could lead to "a revision of the Concordat in a few key
places" in time for the ELCA's 1999 Churchwide Assembly and the
Episcopal Church's General Convention in 2000.
       The bishops endorsed a proposal to ask Episcopalians--and
Lutherans who voted against the Concordat at their meeting in
Philadelphia last summer--to help in producing "a rewritten document,
including rationale, that includes the present outcomes of the Concordat,"
employing "clearer down-to-earth language."
       The revised Concordat Anderson anticipates would include a new
paragraph "with a strong, explicit, biblically based emphasis on the
priesthood of all believers and would clarify or modify the areas that
most troubled the assembly's voting members." Among the areas he said
need qualification or explanation he listed: the three-fold ministry of
deacons, priests and bishops as the "future pattern" in both churches; the
ordination of clergy by bishops; the "life service" of bishops; and the
number of bishops present at consecrations/installations in the two
churches.
       The Conference of Bishops "endorsed a suggestion that a
document proposing full communion with the Episcopal Church be
developed by a small writing group in dialogue with a larger review
panel."

Mixed reactions
       Several bishops made it clear that most of the Lutherans who
opposed the Concordat did so out of deep convictions. "We have to
acknowledge that opposition to the Concordat was grounded in defense of
the Gospel," said Bishop Curtis Miller of the Western Iowa Synod.
       "Our experience in Philadelphia was rare in that we debated and
discussed an issue for three days without an option for change," added
Bishop David W. Olson of the Minneapolis Area Synod. He noted that
the time line was "ambitious" in calling for action in two years. "Some
anxiety will be created by the pressurized time line. On the other hand,
the sooner we have something before folks the better." He concluded that
having options "will bring about new energy in the body of our church."
       "We want ELCA members to have the opportunity to review
whatever proposals are developed at synod assemblies in the spring of
1998," commented Bishop Robert Keller of the Eastern Washington-
Idaho Synod.
       "If we focus on our confessions and our self-understanding there
will be a benefit to all this," said Bishop Paul Blom of the Texas-
Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod. "Let the conversation be about mission,
witness and Gospel more than it is about polity and authority." 
       "The process we're discussing won't be perceived as running over
people," said Bishop Peter Strommen of Northeastern Minnesota Synod.
"The climate may be much better now."

Episcopal reactions
       Anderson said that his meeting with Griswold was crucial "to see
what possibilities he is willing to entertain as we proceed to develop the
revised text" of the Concordat. In the wake of the rejection of the
Concordat by the Lutherans in August, Griswold told the New York
Times that he was reluctant "to offer a new invitation without evidence
that the Lutherans would respond positively."
       At an interview during the New York meeting of the Executive
Council in early November, Griswold said that he "is heartened by the
urgency with which the ELCA is pursuing further refinements in the text
of the Concordat." At the same time, he cautioned that "any significant
revisions in the text could require another ratification by the General
Convention of the Episcopal Church at its next meeting in 2000 and
thereby put off a final vote until 2003."
       In clarifying the impact of revisions, the Rev. David Perry,
ecumenical officer for the Episcopal Church, said that if the content of
the constitutional resolutions are not altered then we can proceed to the
second vote in 2000." He pointed out that the Episcopal Church has
accepted Anderson's invitation to appoint three members of a drafting
committee which, it is hoped, will finish its work and have a new draft
ready for meetings of the ELCA synods next spring. And a group will be
appointed to promote study and reflection throughout both churches.
       "A proposal consistent with the Concordat of Agreement approved
by our General Convention is essential for us in order to insure that we
can move forward in the process," Browning said in a November 11
letter to Anderson. "I am convinced that we must find ways to know,
understand and appreciate one another and our partnerships together at
local levels everywhere," he wrote. "The Gospel imperative requires this
engagement of us all."

--James Solheim is director of news and information of the Episcopal
Church.