wfn.org | Episcopal Church approves full communion

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6112 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

with Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 
11-July-2000
00249

	Episcopal Church approves full communion 
with Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 

	by Jan Nunley
	Episcopal News Service

DENVER -- Once more, as at the 72nd General Convention of the Episcopal
Church [in 1997], the triumphant strains of Martin Luther's Reformation hymn
"A Mighty Fortress is Our God" followed a dramatic step toward closer
relations with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA).

	This time, the 73rd General Convention overwhelmingly passed an accord
spelled out in the document "Called to Common Mission," which commits the
two churches to a full sharing of mission and ministry.

	"Called to Common Mission" is a successor to the original Concordat of
Agreement to establish full communion between the two churches. The
Episcopal Church approved that document at its last General Convention in
1997, but the ELCA later narrowly turned it down.

	After a short period of testimonies in which no opposition was voiced, only
a handful of delegates opposed the resolution adopting "Called to Common
Mission."  To finalize the agreement, two enabling resolutions also were
required: suspending the Episcopal ordinal to enable Lutheran pastors to
function in Episcopal churches and the admission of Lutheran clergy
according to the Episcopal Church's constitution. Both passed with scant
opposition.

	The approval of "Called to Common Mission" completes more than 30 years of
discussion between the two denominations about mutual opportunities for
ministry.  "It is not a marriage or a merger of our two churches," advised
the Rev. Donald Brown, chair of the Committee on Ecumenical Relations. 
"Each church will retain its own liturgical, theological, and organizational
uniqueness and integrity.

	"We Episcopalians will still be inspired by the liturgical genius of
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, and Lutherans will still proudly claim the
theological insights of Martin Luther.  But most importantly and
significantly, both our churches will be living into the reality of Jesus'
prayer in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John that all his followers
might be one."

	The Rev. Jane Gould, Episcopal chaplain at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, has worked closely with ELCA chaplains for six years.  She said
that in her experience cooperation between the two denominations will not
result in "Lutherpalians or Episcorans," but in a deeper understanding of
what it is to be Episcopalian, Lutheran, "and even Christian."

	"We're going shopping"

	At a news conference following the vote, the Rev. Lowell Almen, ELCA
secretary, offered to take the Rev. David Perry, the Episcopal Church's
deputy for ecumenical relations, to the convention exhibit area to buy
matching stoles.  The gesture would commemorate the occasion, he said.

	"Today marks the beginning of a marvelous new future for both of our
churches," Almen exulted.  "David, we're going shopping."  He added that
there will be an inaugural event marking the agreement on the Feast of the
Epiphany, January 6, 2001.
 
	The agreement doesn't signify merger, according to representatives of both
churches. "I think we've moved in the ecumenical movement generally from a
concept of one giant ‘superchurch' to what we now call a ‘communion of
communions,'" explained Bishop Christopher Epting, a member of the
document's drafting team. "The great coming church of the future will always
have its own uniqueness.  There will be different ways in which individual
communions will exercise their worship and their common life.  But we really
are one church in the larger sense of that word."

	Nor do arrangements of communion that the ELCA and ECUSA have with other
churches automatically become reciprocal, said Almen, adding: "Ecumenism is
not a virus that's caught by contact."  Nevertheless, the decision has
worldwide implications, according to the Rev. Daniel Martensen, director of
the ELCA's ecumenical office. "I'm thoroughly convinced that the Anglican
Consultative Council and the Lutheran World Federation and other Christian
world communions will be watching very closely to see how it unfolds here in
North America," Martensen said.

	More visible cooperation between the partners is in the offing, according
to Almen.  "One of the obligations that we will have in our planting of new
congregations and parishes will be to engage in some coordinated planning,"
he observed.  "There will be no excuse whatsoever in the future for the
building of an ELCA congregation on one corner and a Presbyterian or
Episcopal congregation on the other corner."

	Chinnis calls for respect

	During the voting, Episcopal House of Deputies president Pam Chinnis
remained mindful of opponents to the plan.  She asked for the deputies to
refrain from "outbursts" on one side of the issue or another, recalling a
similar admonition by the Rev. John Coburn at the 1976 Convention vote on
the ordination of women. "Let's do respect the feelings of those around us,"
Chinnis said.

	Nevertheless, once the results were announced, the chaplain of the house
led deputies in prayer for "this gift of action" on full communion and for
"strengthening the patience and forbearance of those who experience a sense
of loss in this decision."  Representatives of the ELCA and the House of
Bishops Ecumenical Committee were invited to the dais to address the
House. 

	With the words of Luther's hymn helpfully projected on the convention hall
monitors, the Episcopalians and their Lutheran guests joined in song.

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