wfn.org | Maine parish symbol of Episcopal-Lutheran cooperation

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2000-155

Maine parish symbol of Episcopal-Lutheran cooperation

by Heidi Shott

     (ENS) Months before the presiding bishops of the Episcopal 
Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) 
exchanged chalices on July 12 in Denver to mark the passage of 
"Called to Common Mission," a small search committee at St. 
Peter's Church, Bridgton, Maine, was already planning to make 
history of its own.

     On Easter, the Rev. David Snyder, an ELCA pastor, celebrated 
his first Sunday as the part-time priest of St. Peter's, a small 
congregation of 40-some Episcopalians located in the Lakes Region 
of western Maine. 

     "It's a logical and comfortable step," said Snyder on the 
transition to serving an Episcopal congregation. "I've always 
been a big fan of the Book of Common Prayer in my personal 
devotions and have done work at the College of Preachers in 
Washington, D.C." In January 1999, after he finished a two-year 
assignment at an ELCA mission church over the border in New 
Hampshire, Snyder, his wife Susan and their four children began 
attending St. Peter's in Bridgton, where he occasionally preached 
during the interim period. "It was a natural choice for us to 
start attending St. Peter's," he said.

     Marcia Elliott, senior warden of St. Peter's, explained how 
members decided Snyder would be the best leader for them: "A 
sense comes over you that you belong together and there are 
wonderful things you can do. It is a joyful time at St. Peter's." 
While the parishioners knew that the "Called to Common Mission" 
agreement was in the offing, they didn't choose Snyder to make 
the church history books. Said Beatrice White, a member of the 
search committee, "We just think he's a spiritual man who will be 
able to lead us well."

Unique and significant

     The leadership of the ELCA New England Synod and the Diocese 
of Maine feel the same way. "This is very unique, very 
distinctive and very significant. It's cause for rejoicing among 
Lutherans, and, I think, among Episcopalians," said the Rev. Ron 
Jackson, associate to Bishop Robert Isaksen. "The sun is rising 
over Maine."

     Bishop Chilton R. Knudsen of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine 
explained, "The agreement will only have any meaning when it's 
lived in flesh and blood at the local level, where the people of 
God have the opportunity to live in the agreement. I rejoice and 
give thanks that the Holy Spirit seems to have chosen this corner 
of the world." She added, "I'm not surprised that it's happening 
here because we do things the way we think they ought to be done. 
It's part of our Yankee fair-mindedness." Knudsen said that she 
looks forward to exploring the possibilities of the agreement with 
the New England Synod's bishop-elect, Margaret Payson, was 
installed on September 17, in Worcester, Massachusetts. 

     That Snyder is the first Lutheran pastor to be called to an 
Episcopal church since CCM was approved at General Convention 
doesn't surprise him either. "An important theme to my ministry 
has been trying to dismantle artificial barriers that keep people 
apart," he said. That theme plays out in the rest of his career 
as well: Snyder serves as the executive director of the Portland 
Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, where bringing people of 
different faiths together is part of the job. Prior to moving to 
Fryeburg, Maine, Snyder was the senior pastor of Holy Trinity 
Lutheran in Newington, New Hampshire, for eight years.

Subtle differences

     Knudsen presided at a Celebration of New Ministry for St. 
Peter's and Snyder on August 25 at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic 
Church, across from the Bridgton United Methodist Church where 
St. Peter's usually meets. More than 170 people from as far away 
as Germany and from seven denominations broke into spontaneous 
applause when Knudsen presented Snyder to the congregation. "That 
I am a Lutheran, educated at a Baptist seminary, ministering to 
an Episcopal congregation that meets in a Methodist church, and 
that we are celebrating that ministry in a Catholic church is, 
well, really exciting," Snyder said.

     While Snyder is the first Lutheran pastor to serve an 
Episcopal congregation in Maine, the Rev. James Morgan, an 
Episcopal priest and retired military chaplain, has served 
Trinity Lutheran Church in the northern Maine town of Stockholm 
for four years. He serves there under an interim Eucharistic 1982 
agreement that allows for clergy-sharing in rural areas. 

     Other situations in which Lutherans and Episcopalians share 
clergy and congregations exist in Michigan and Kentucky as well.

     Since Easter, Snyder and the people of St. Peter's have been 
living with the subtle differences between Episcopal and Lutheran 
style and practice. At first they didn't know what to call him, 
since Lutheran ministers are known as pastors. Finally, they 
settled on 'Father Dave.' "I said, 'I'm a father, so I'd feel 
very comfortable if you call me that,'" Snyder said. Another 
parishioner recently approached him to remind him gently that, 
"we like to use the words in the book."

     Snyder came to Maine at age 12 when his father entered 
Bangor Theological Seminar. The Rev. Richard Snyder is now a 
retired United Church of Christ minister. Though Snyder 
eventually left Maine as a young adult, he said, "I've been 
coming back to Maine ever since. Being here at St. Peter's, 
Bridgton, is a joy. This congregation is a welcoming community 
that has great potential for expanding its ministry. It will be a 
challenge, but they are up for it and I am too. What we share in 
common is so much more important than the differences." 

--Heidi Shott is communications officer in the Diocese of Maine 
and editor of the diocesan newspaper, The Northeast.