wfn.org | ELCA Council Hears of 'Positive' ELCA-LCMS Conversation

[News News <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

November 19, 2002

ELCA COUNCIL HEARS OF 'POSITIVE' ELCA-LCMS CONVERSATION
02-270-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A Nov. 12 meeting in St. Louis of the Committee
on Lutheran Cooperation (CLC), in which leaders of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
(LCMS) met to discuss matters of mutual interest, had a "different tone"
and was "positive" compared to other recent meetings, said the Rev. Mark
S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, in a report here to the ELCA Church
Council.
     The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as
the legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies.
The council met here Nov. 15-17.  Assemblies are held every other year;
the next is Aug. 11-17, 2003, in Milwaukee.
     In recent years, the relationship between the two churches has
been uncertain, Hanson suggested. To illustrate, Hanson pointed to an
action of the 2000 LCMS convention, in which the convention declared
that it does not "consider them [the ELCA] to be an orthodox Lutheran
church body." The same convention also called for a review of
cooperative ministries in which both the LCMS and ELCA participate as
partners.
     Recent meetings between the leaders of the ELCA and LCMS, arranged
by the late Rev. A. L. Barry, who was LCMS president, and the Rev. H.
George Anderson, former ELCA presiding bishop, "were not particularly
productive," Hanson said.
     At the CLC meeting, the ELCA sexuality studies and possible
outcomes were discussed. LCMS officials expressed concern about the
studies and the possibility that the church may change its policies
regarding ordination, Hanson said.
     The 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, which met in Indianapolis,
asked the ELCA Division for Ministry and ELCA Division for Church in
Society to lead a comprehensive four-year study on homosexuality. The
assembly asked that the study address topics that include the possible
ordination of people who are gay and lesbian and living in committed
relationships, and the blessings of same-sex relationships.
     Current ELCA policy expects ordained ministers to refrain from
homosexual sexual relationships. There is no official policy on
blessings of same-sex relationships, though the ELCA Conference of
Bishops has advised the church that it does not approve of such
ceremonies.
     Other subjects discussed at the CLC meeting included cooperative
ministries of the two churches, such as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee
Services, Lutheran Disaster Response, Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran
Services in America; updates on activities within each church including
their financial situations, and issues related to the current ELCA
dialogues with Christians of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions,
said the Rev. Randall R. Lee, director, ELCA Department for Ecumenical
Affairs.
     "At our meeting a table was created to explore our common
convictions," Hanson told the council. "We are not ignoring our
differences, but we are tending to the relationship."  At the request of
the LCMS representatives, the meetings will take place every six months
instead of annually, Hanson reported.
     Hanson also addressed several other matters in his report to the
council:
     + He reported on an August meeting in New York which he arranged
with five Jewish rabbis in response to Jewish criticisms of his public
statements on current tensions in the Middle East.  He termed the
meeting "very productive," which "deepened understanding."  As a result,
a more formal dialogue of Lutherans and Jews may be constituted, he
said.  Hanson has criticized military actions against Palestinians by
the State of Israel and has criticized suicide bombings by Palestinian
extremists.
     + In response to recent concerns raised by some members of the
Division for Church in Society board, Hanson defended his public
statements on the situation between the governments of the United States
and Iraq.  "I take seriously that a pastor is called to speak publicly
as a public leader, " he said, adding that his comments are based in the
social policy statements of the ELCA.  Hanson -- and other church
leaders -- criticized talk by U.S. officials about a pre-emptive strike
against Iraq, which he said could not be justified under historic
principles of  "just war."  He called for stronger diplomatic efforts to
resolve the situation.
     + The presiding bishop said he is "delighted" that the United
States worked through the U.N. Security Council to adopt a unanimous
binding resolution that requires Iraq to cooperate with U.N. weapons
inspections, with a goal of getting rid of weapons of mass destruction.
"I trust our government will remain in partnership with the U.N.," he
said.
     + Hanson said he is "deeply dismayed" at the decline in giving to
the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, which may end the fiscal year as much as
$1 million behind its budget of $16.5 million.	The church has "great
resources and great wealth," he said.  "The resources are there but the
will is lacking" to give to the World Hunger Appeal, Hanson said.
-- -- --
     The ELCA Office of the Presiding Bishop maintains a site at
http://www.elca.org/ob/ on the ELCA Web site.

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