wfn.org | [ENS] Episcopal greetings bless ELCA Assembly and full-communion

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Monday, August 15, 2005

Episcopal greetings bless ELCA Assembly and full-communion partnerships

ENS 081505-1

[ELCA News/Joe Thoma] Officials of the Episcopal Church were among
representatives of five "full-communion" partners of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America who blessed the ELCA's 2005 Churchwide
Assembly
on August 11.

An Episcopal Church ecumenical officer earlier in the day offered
testimony
at a hearing leading to a shared-communion pact between Lutherans and
Methodists.

The churchwide assembly, the chief legislative authority of the ELCA,
met in
Orlando Aug. 8-14 at the World Center Marriott and Convention Center.
About
2,300 people participated, including 1,018 ELCA voting members. The
theme
for the biennial assembly was "Marked with the Cross of Christ Forever."

Dr. Thomas Ferguson, associate deputy for ecumenical and interfaith
relations for the Episcopal Church, brought greetings from Presiding
Bishop
Frank Griswold, and Episcopalians nationwide.

"One thing I've learned from my Moravian brothers and sisters and my
United
Methodist brothers and sisters is the significance of one's own
testimony,"
Dr. Ferguson said, drawing laughter and applause by adding that his
personal
testimony harks back to early childhood and the influence of two
"prominent
Lutheran theologians, Davey and Goliath -- the [Martin] Luther and
[Philip]
Melanchthon of my generation, Generation X."

He went on to give thanks for "the movement of the Spirit between our
two
communions. Our relationship is one driven by our mission together," he
said..

Ferguson also addressed current common struggles facing the two
denominations.

"We stand in solidarity as both our churches face difficult questions on
evangelism and matters of sexuality. Like you, we are not all of one
mind,"
he said. "But we seek to move ahead while maintaining the bonds of
affection
within our church" and the global Anglican Communion.

"We hold this relationship to be all the more important because of our
struggles," Ferguson said. "Know that we are praying for you."

He closed with a prayer for Lutherans assembled, calling on God to,
"Help
them listen to what you are saying, speak peace to your people and turn
their hearts to you. In their deliberations, may mercy and truth be
together, righteousness and peace visit each other so that truth might
spring up from the Earth in righteousness with God in heaven."

Full communion

For Episcopalians, the 1958 Lambeth Conference recommended "that where
between two Churches not of the same denominational or confessional
family,
there is unrestricted communio in sacris, including mutual recognition
and
acceptance of ministries, the appropriate term to use is 'full
communion,'
and that where varying degrees of relation other than 'full communion'
are
established by agreement between two such churches the appropriate term
is
'intercommunion.'

The Episcopal Church and the ELCA entered into a relationship of full
communion through an agreement titled "Called to Common Mission." The
Episcopal Church adopted the plan at its General Convention in Denver in
July, 2000.

The 1999 ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Denver also voted for full
communion
between the ELCA and The Episcopal Church.

For more information on full communion, see Episcopal documents at:
http://www.dfms.org/6947_9206_ENG_HTM.htm
http://www.dfms.org/6947_6995_ENG_HTM.htm?menu=menu6994

and Lutheran material at:
http://www.elca.org/dcm/worship/faq/full_communion/full_communion.html

Interim Eucharistic Sharing with UMC

By a vote of 877 to 60, the ELCA Churchwide Assembly also agreed to
begin an
"Interim Eucharistic Sharing" with the United Methodist Church. The
agreement had previously been approved by the Council of Bishops of the
United Methodist Church in April 2004, pending this decision by the
ELCA.

Bishop Christopher Epting, the Episcopal Church's Deputy for Ecumenical
and
Interfaith Relations, offered encouragement at an assembly hearing
before
the vote was called.

"We are in a bilateral conversation with the United Methodist Church and
we
will be going to our General Convention [Columbus, Ohio, in 2006] with a
similar proposal for interim eucharistic sharing," said Epting, a former
rector in Central Florida.

Bishop William Oden, ecumenical officer for the Council of Bishops and
Head
of Communion for the United Methodist Church, said his discussions with
the
Episcopal Church are "very similar" to those leading to the Lutheran/UMC
agreement, and to those that preceded the closer Episcopal/Lutheran full
communion. Those discussions primarily center on common standards for
preparation for ordained ministry, and differences in procedures for
selecting and consecrating bishops.

"What an historic moment this is for United Methodists and the ELCA,"
said
Oden as he greeted the assembly following the vote. "We have invited
each
other into each other's house."

The terms of the agreement foster "mutual prayer and mutual support,
study
together of the Holy Scriptures as well as the histories and theological
traditions of both churches, and joint programs of theological
discussion,
evangelical outreach, and social ministry endeavors," while encouraging
joint services of Holy Communion following guidelines established by
both
churches.

The agreement, which looks forward "to the future possibility of a
relationship of full communion," comes after nearly 30 years of
theological
dialogue between the two churches that had resulted in convergence in
matters relating to baptism and episcopacy (oversight). The agreement
also
recognizes the United Methodist Church "as a church in which the Gospel
is
preached and taught" and that "the basic teaching of each respective
church
is consonant with the Gospel."

Many in the assembly expressed support for the proposal, including the
Rev.
David Housholder, voting member, ELCA Pacifica Synod, who expressed his
hope
that "we can catch up with the grassroots" efforts of joint
Methodist-Lutheran work already existing.

The Rev. James Crumley, voting member, ELCA South Carolina Synod and
former
president of the Lutheran Church in America -- a predecessor church body
of
the ELCA -- asked "why this doesn't go further" to an immediate vote of
full
communion.

"You certainly capture the mind of the dialogue team," responded the
Rev.
Alan C. Bjornberg, bishop of the ELCA Rocky Mountain Synod, Denver, and
co-chair of the Methodist-Lutheran Dialogue, who went on to suggest that
a
time of interim sharing would provide an opportunity for "the whole
church
to discover what we have discovered" regarding convergence between the
two
churches.

For information on the Interim Eucharist Sharing agreement, see
http://www.ELCA.org/ecumenical/ecumenicaldialogue/unitedmethodist