wfn.org | US Lutherans and Episcopalians Celebrate New Relationship

[FRANKI@elca.org]

Noko Commends the ELCA's Ecumenical Vision

WASHINGTON, D.C., USA/GENEVA, 11 January 2001 (ELCANEWS/*ENS/LWI) - In a
gala Epiphany Day service that blended liturgical elements from both
Lutheran and Anglican traditions, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) and the Episcopal Church of the United States celebrated a new
relationship of "full communion" at Washington's National Cathedral on
January 6.

The 3,500 people at the ceremony included representatives of the ELCA synods
and Episcopal dioceses, international ecumenical guests, members of the
churches' full communion dialogue and writing teams, and staff from both
churches. A choir of one of the ELCA colleges and universities, the
internationally renowned St. Olaf College Choir, performed at the service
which was led by Rev. H. George Anderson, Presiding Bishop of the ELCA.

Delivering the sermon at the celebration service, Most Rev. Frank T.
Griswold, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, said: "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."

"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," Griswold said.

After prayers spoken in several languages and led by those who represented
the wide diversity of both churches, Bishop Anderson presided at the
Eucharist.

Addressing the congregation at the service, Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko, General
Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) said the unity between the
ELCA and the Episcopal Church "cannot be seen apart from the unity of all
humankind." It is "a positive contribution towards the search for peace and
unity among God's people for the sake of the world."

"As the two churches now celebrate and seal a fellowship of full communion,
the full meaning of this event is a deeply spiritual one. Christian
communion in its genuine sense is always communion with Christ. Unlike
partnerships between airline companies, and/or commercial banks, communion
agreements between churches have their basis and their purpose beyond
themselves," Noko underscored.

Noko commended the ELCA for "making it part of its ecumenical vision to
boldly reach out simultaneously in several directions," an approach which he
said "is representative of the way the LWF, as a communion, has sought and
seeks to develop its ecumenical agenda on the global level, fully committed
to the belief that the ecumenical movement is indeed one."

The premise for the full communion relationship, a process of more than 30
years of conversation between Lutherans and Episcopalians, 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.
The new relationship was formalized on 1 January 2001.

Full communion is not a merger of the two churches. It commits them to share
locally and nationally in their mission and to develop procedures whereby
clergy in one church body may serve as pastors in congregations of another
church body.

One of the much-debated aspects of CCM has been the way it understands the
office of bishops in apostolic succession. Noko said the LWF, presently with
131 member churches in 72 countries worldwide, recognizes that many Lutheran
churches have not maintained bishops in succession and some do not formally
have a bishop's office, but a president. This being the reality in the
Lutheran communion, "the LWF does not on this ground question the legitimacy
of the church leadership in member churches," he said. Churches of the
Anglican Communion maintain the historic episcopate.

Acknowledging that there are many issues that require further exploration
between Anglicans and Lutherans, Noko said he was, nevertheless, convinced
that both church traditions have reached a point in life together where
these remaining issues can be more fruitfully addressed in communion than as
separated church families. He added that the secretariats of the Anglican
Consultative Council and LWF have agreed to initiate regular joint staff
meetings "to discuss relevant issues pertaining to our global relations."

At a news conference a day before the full communion celebration, Griswold
and Anderson cautioned that the agreement is only a step in a much longer
process. "Entering into full communion is a stage along the way that has
already been established," said Griswold, noting that "a great deal has been
done between our two churches both nationally and locally."

Anderson said "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."

The ELCA entered into full communion with three Reformed churches -- the
Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in America and the United
Church of Christ -- in 1997 and with the Moravian Church in America in 1999.
In 1997 it approved the Lutheran Roman-Catholic "Joint Declaration on the
Doctrine of Justification", which was signed in 1999 by representatives of
the LWF and the Vatican.

The ELCA, which joined the LWF in 1988, is based in Chicago, and has 5.15
million members in 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.

*ENS - Episcopal News Service

["Called to Common Mission" is available at
http://www.elca.org/ea/proposal/text.html and a document answering
frequently asked questions about it is available at
http://www.elca.org/ea/lep/CCMQ&A.html on the ELCA Web site.]

(The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is a global communion of 131 member
churches in 72 countries representing over 60 million of the world's 63.8
million Lutherans. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of
common interest such as ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission
and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the LWF.
Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions
or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an
article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgement.]

*       *       *
LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
PO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Editor's e-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org 
Tel: (41.22) 791.63.54
Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30
http://www.lutheranworld.org/