wfn.org | Lutherans and Episcopalians Celebrate New Relationship

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 9, 2001

LUTHERANS AND EPISCOPALIANS CELEBRATE NEW RELATIONSHIP
01-04-MR

     WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- In a "house of prayer for all people,"
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) celebrated its new
relationship of "full communion" with The Episcopal Church in a gala
worship service here at the Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 6 --
the day Christian churches around the world celebrate the Epiphany.
     After more than 30 years of conversation between Lutherans and
Episcopalians in the United States, about 3,500 members of the ELCA and
the Episcopal Church shared Holy Communion in the inaugural celebration
of full communion.
     "One of the gifts full communion brings is the opportunity to
discover gifts that each of the churches have, which can be used to
share with the other," said the Rev. H. George Anderson, ELCA presiding
bishop, at a press conference on Jan. 5.
     "In my view, [full communion] is one example of God's continued
gathering of God's people," Anderson said.
     The premise for the full communion relationship is contained in
"Called to Common Mission" (CCM), a document adopted by the 1999 ELCA
Churchwide Assembly and the 2000 General Convention of the Episcopal
Church.
     Full communion is not a merger of the two churches.  It commits
the churches to share locally and internationally in their mission and
to develop procedures whereby clergy in one church body may serve as
pastors in congregations of another church body.
     "Full communion is an organic relationship.  It is not a document
nor a set of legislative criteria.  Being in communion, which is a very
ancient principle, does not mean merging.  Being in communion means
respecting one another's traditions -- be they liturgical, linguistic,
cultural or theological -- but recognizing that there's a sufficient
commonality of faith so that those two entities can share life in Christ
to the full," the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, presiding bishop,
Episcopal Church, said at the press conference.
     The two-hour worship celebration marked the beginning of the new
relationship made official on Jan. 1.  The celebration began with music
and processions entering the incense-fragrant cathedral.
Representatives of ELCA synods and Episcopal dioceses formed one
procession.  Other processions included international ecumenical guests,
members of the churches' full communion dialogue and writing teams, and
staff from both churches.  The internationally known St. Olaf College
Choir, Northfield, Minn., performed.  St. Olaf is one of 28 colleges and
universities of the ELCA.
     Anderson presided over the Eucharist and Griswold preached.  Dr.
Addie J. Butler, ELCA vice president, Philadelphia, and the Rev.
Ernestina R. Campbell, an ordained Episcopal deacon from Trinity
Cathedral, Sacramento, Calif., served as assisting ministers.
     "As we are rooted and knit together by the Spirit in fellowship
and full communion, we are called to common mission; and the mission we
share is none other than the mission of Christ and the mission of
Christ's body, the Church," said Griswold.
     "While Lutherans and Anglicans and many other communities of
believers subsist within the Western tradition and have much of our
inheritance from the Church of Rome, we do not stand apart from the
ancient churches of the East from which so much of our life and
tradition have come, as the Feast of the Epiphany makes plain," Griswold
said.
     "It is, therefore, my prayer and earnest hope that full communion
between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal
Church of the United States will lead to ever-widening and deepening
relationships of shared life and mission with other churches of the
Reformation, as well as the Church of Rome and the churches of the
East," he said.
     "How right it is that as we come together to affirm our call to
common mission as two households of faith within one holy, catholic and
apostolic Church in full communion with one another, we do so within the
context of the Eucharist," said Griswold.
     "On this occasion the Eucharist, in conjunction with the renewal
of our baptismal identity is not an adjunct -- an appropriate ceremonial
addition to our call to common mission -- but rather, it is the ground
of the communion we share.  The Eucharist both summons us and sustains
us as we face the future in all its challenge and complexity, as well as
its possibility," he said.
     "Our formal declaration of full communion is just the beginning of
the journey," said Griswold.  "Where we will be led God alone knows."
     Griswold also presided over the renewal of baptismal vows, a
highlight of the service.  Anderson, Butler, Campbell and Griswold
gathered around a baptismal font, located at the center of the church,
to affirm the churches' mutual recognition of Baptism.
     The entire assembly was sprinkled with "baptismal water" as a sign
and reminder of each participant's Baptism.  Assistants at the baptismal
renewal included the Very Rev. Nathan D. Baxter, dean, Washington
National Cathedral; the Rt. Rev. Jane Holmes Dixon, bishop, Episcopal
Diocese of Washington; and the Rev. Theodore F. Schneider, bishop, ELCA
Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod.
     The liturgy blended resources from the Lutheran and Episcopal
churches, as well as new liturgical material commissioned for the
worship service.
     Vestments worn by ministers at the service represented the variety
of traditions from the two churches.
     The "Prayers of the People" were led in a variety of languages by
members of the Lutheran and Episcopal churches.  Ministers and the
congregation greeted one another with expressions of peace following the
prayers.
     An offering was collected to help support the ministries of the
Episcopal Relief and Development Fund; Lutheran Disaster Response, a
ministry of the ELCA and The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS); and
Lutheran World Relief, the overseas relief and development ministry of
the ELCA and LCMS.
     The ELCA, based in Chicago, is a 5.15 million member church with
about 11,000 congregations across the United States and Caribbean.
Congregations are organized into 65 synods, each headed by a bishop.
     The Episcopal Church, based in New York, has 2.4 million members
in some 7,500 congregations.  The church has 107 dioceses, each headed
by a bishop.
-- -- --
     Images from the Jan. 6 worship service are available at
http://www.elca.org/co/news/images.celebrate.html on the ELCA Web site.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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