wfn.org | Celebration honors Lutheran-Moravian history in the United States

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

'Full Communion' agreement will reverberate internationally

NORTH CAROLINA, United States of America/GENEVA, 24 February 2000 (lwi)-
Two parallel histories converged in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on 27
January 2000 when the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and
Moravian Church in America celebrated their new agreement, Following Our
Shepherd to Full Communion.

After six years of dialogue and study, two provinces of the Moravian
church passed the agreement in 1998 followed by the ELCA Churchwide
Assembly in August 1999. Full communion is not a plan to merge, rather
it commits the churches to the possibility of sharing in their mission
work locally and internationally and to procedures whereby clergy in one
church body, under certain circumstances, may serve as pastors in the
other church body.

According to a news release from the ELCA, the Rev. H. George Anderson,
presiding bishop of the ELCA, said that Lutheran history and Moravian
history have been on "parallel tracks" in the United States since
colonial times. "We celebrate a reunion of sorts," he told a luncheon
gathering at Salem College.

The Rev. Hans-Beat Motel, chair of the Unity Board, the governing body
of the world's 19 Moravian Provinces, came from Germany to participate
in the historic occasion. He said the Full Communion agreement reached
in the United States would reverberate internationally.

"The Moravian Church around the world is dealing with its "essentials",
said Motel. "Perhaps we can use Following Our Shepherd to Full Communion
as a starting point for our theological studies," he added. The
significance of such study is illustrated in the motto of the Moravian
Church: In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, freedom; and in all
things, love.

The day began with tours of Old Salem in the historic section of
Winston-Salem surrounding Salem College. Moravians settled in the area
in the late 1700s and founded Salem, which joined Winston in 1913 to
form Winston-Salem. Other activities included a panel discussion at the
Home Moravian Church, during which Lutheran and Moravian influences in
U. S. history were explored.

A so-called Moravian "lovefeast", a worship service that includes the
passing of rolls and coffee took place at the Home Moravian Church. The
Rev. Gerald R. Harris, pastor of Home Church, described the feast as "a
reminder of the social nature of the gospel and of the social being of
Jesus Christ."

During a light dinner following the lovefeast, the Rev. Darlis J. Swan,
associate director of the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, read a
statement from the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Dr.
Ishmael Noko.

In his message, Noko noted that the agreed document, Following our
Shepherd to Full Communion "confirms the common faith of Lutherans and
Moravians that the unity of the church is essentially a unity of
Christians in the body of the living Christ."

He expressed the hope that the ecumenical development by the two
churches would be a new landmark in the movement "toward the unity of
Christians for which Christ our Lord prayed. May we also see this event
as a fruit, which - with time - can be harvested by the Lutheran and
Moravian churches also in other parts of the world."

The LWF General Secretary pointed out that the Moravian Church in South
Africa is among the 128 member churches of the Federation, and described
this event as an expression of how close Lutherans and Moravians are in
the worldwide fellowship of churches of Christ.

The day of celebrations concluded with the Lord's Supper during a
service at Augsburg Lutheran Church. The leaders of the ELCA and the two
Moravian provinces verbalized the terms of the full communion agreement
while opening the formal worship service.

"We gather to recognize in one another the one, holy, catholic and
apostolic faith as it is expressed in Scriptures and confessed in the
Church's historic creeds," said the Rev. R. Burke Johnson, president of
the Provincial Elders Conference of the Moravian Church, Northern
Province, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

"We gather to recognize each other as churches in which the gospel is
rightly preached and the sacraments are rightly administered according
to the Word of God," said Anderson who is also a Vice President of the
LWF. "We gather to recognize our mutual ministry and to claim as valid
the proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the sacraments by
our ordained ministers," he added.

"We gather to strengthen one another in head and heart, to recognize our
mutual Baptism, and to encourage the sharing of the Lord's Supper among
our members. We gather to pledge ourselves to live under the gospel in
mutual affirmation and admonition, that respect and love for each other
may grow," said the Rev. Robert E. Sawyer, president of the Provincial
Elders' Conference of the Moravian Church, Southern Province,
Winston-Salem.

Anderson, who based the evening's sermon on a common Moravian theme, - -
Christ, the Good Shepherd said: "Jesus knows us, and yet he loves us. He
still lays down his life for us." He pointed out that there is a
wideness in God's mercy. "Continents of people were brought into the
widening circle" as Christians spread the gospel around the world, work
that Lutherans and Moravians have done and can do together.

Bishop Sawyer expressed much appreciation for Bishop Anderson's sermon,
adding: "To have a broad cross-section of people from different
traditions in what truly was a service of unity and glory was just a
rich experience for me."

Lutheran and Moravian congregations across the United States may be
planning similar worship celebrations based on Guidelines and Worship
Resources for the Celebration of Full Communion: Lutheran-Moravian, used
for the January service.

The Moravian Church -- or Unitas Fratrum -- was organized in Europe in
1457 and is considered the oldest of the Reformation churches. It traces
its origin to the teachings of the Czech reformer, John Hus, who
pre-dated the German reformer, Martin Luther, by about a century.

The ELCA, which joined the LWF in 1988, has 5.2 million members in the
United States and Caribbean. The Southern Province of the Moravian
Church is based in Winston-Salem. The province includes about 25,000
Moravians with congregations in three states in the southeastern United
States. The Northern Province includes about 30,000 Moravians in 14
states, the District of Columbia, and two provinces of Canada.

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing nearly 59.5 million of the world's 63.1 million Lutherans.
Its highest decision-making body is the Assembly held every six or seven
years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council,
which meets annually, and by its Executive Committee. The LWF
secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

*       *       *
Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/