wfn.org | U.S. Lutheran-Episcopal service signals 'beginning of the journey'

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Note #6328 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

10-January-2000
01008

U.S. Lutheran-Episcopal service signals 'beginning of the journey'	

Full communion agreement consecrated on Epiphany

by Chris Herlinger
Ecumenical News International

WASHINGTON -- With pomp and ceremony, the Episcopal (Anglican) Church in the
United States and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) formally
inaugurated full communion between the two churches Jan. 6 with a liturgy
lasting almost three hours at the Washington National Cathedral.

	The Epiphany Day service, attended by 3,500 people, symbolized a new
relationship between two of the most prominent denominations in the US. The
5.2-million-member ELCA and the 2.5-million-member Episcopal Church now
fully recognize each other's members, ministries and sacraments, and can
exchange clergy.

	While the two denominations remain distinct, with their own traditions and
church structures, the agreement will help the churches with common mission
work and allow greater flexibility in staffing individual churches and
parishes, a particular need in urban and rural areas, many of which have
older congregations with declining numbers.

	More important though, according to church leaders, is what the agreement
means for the future of Christian unity in the U.S. and elsewhere. "We join
together in Jesus' name to share in his sacraments, in his ministry, and in
his mission, as one body in the power of one spirit," H. George Anderson,
Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, said as he greeted those at the service.
Present were prominent members of both churches, as well as a host of
Protestant, Roman Catholic and other church representatives.

	The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was officially represented by longtime
ecumenical officer the Rev. Lewis Lancaster.

	The U.S. agreement reflects good relationships between Lutherans and
Anglicans in many countries. Lutheran churches in Nordic and Baltic
countries already enjoy communion with the Anglican churches of the British
Isles.

	The new relationship between the two U.S. churches, spelled out in a shared
document, "Called to Common Mission (CCM)," does not represent a formal
merger of the two denominations, and the Jan. 6 service was careful to
include elements of both Anglican and Lutheran liturgical traditions.
Leaders of both denominations played prominent roles in the liturgy, with
Bishop Anderson presiding at the service and Frank Griswold, Presiding
Bishop of the Episcopal Church, serving as preacher.

	Griswold quoted generously from both the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (a
book of Anglican liturgy dating back to the 16th century) and from Martin
Luther, but said both denominations would have to learn to be reconciled to
each other. He compared the two churches to the wise men who left their
comfortable lives to follow a star and greet Jesus -- the event commemorated
on Epiphany.

	"If the church in its many parts is to be an active sign and minister of
reconciliation, it must live as a reconciled community; otherwise its
preaching will be in vain," Bishop Griswold said. "And so it is that we must
leave home and follow the star. To be sure there is room in our saddlebags
for the Augsburg Confession (a key 16th?century doctrinal statement for
Lutherans) and the Book of Common Prayer, but a great deal will have to be
left behind, particularly attitudes and self-perceptions which keep us from
joyfully welcoming one another as brothers and sisters in the communion of
the Holy Spirit, and opening ourselves to the gifts of grace and truth to be
found in one another's churches."

	Griswold said the formal declaration of full communion was "just a
beginning of the journey. Where we will be led God alone knows. The divine
imagination exceeds all our efforts to comprehend and contain it, and what
use God will ultimately make of our ecclesiastical arrangements or where
they will take us or (what they will) require of us in the days ahead, may
well surprise us all."

	Griswold's sermon echoed his remarks at a Jan. 5 news conference. Asked if
the agreement was a step towards the eventual merger of the two
denominations, he said it was not, but added that it should be seen as a
step in the larger movement towards Christian unity. Where that would
eventually take the churches was anyone's guess, he added.

	"God is a god of surprises," he told reporters. "And often our tidy little
plans get stretched and transformed into ways way past our imagining."

	Ishmael Noko, a leading Zimbabwean theologian and general secretary of the
Geneva-based Lutheran World Federation, told the congregation: "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 or commercial banks, communion agreements between churches
have their basis and their purpose beyond themselves.

	"Theologically speaking, unity in Christ is not a result of negotiations.
Rather, church negotiations are themselves a result of the gift of unity
given to us by God in Christ, challenging us daily to find appropriate and
visible expression of unity in worship and mission." Noko warmly welcomed
the U.S. agreement as "a positive contribution towards the search for peace
and unity among God's people for the sake of the world."

	Despite earlier rumors that members of Word Alone, a dissenting group of
Lutherans opposing the agreement, might try to disrupt the service, there
was no protest. But Word Alone representatives attended the service and the
news conference. They claim that aspects of the agreement -- such as the
acceptance of the "historic episcopate," an Anglican tradition that states
only bishops tracing their succession back to Jesus' apostles can ordain
priests and bishops- violate basic Lutheran traditions.

	In an interview with ENI, Word Alone spokesperson Christopher Hershman, an
ordained ELCA minister, said he was very concerned about what the service
symbolized, saying it appeared that the "ELCA has capitulated to the
Episcopalians."

	As one example, he said he was not happy to see the traditional "sprinkling
of water," a purification rite used in Anglican services. "Where does this
go? I don't know," Hershman told ENI. "Only the Lord knows. But I have real
concerns about where our leadership is taking us."

	Griswold said at the news conference that many hoped the agreement would
lead to "ever-widening and deepening relationships of shared life and
mission with other churches of the Reformation as well as with the Church of
Rome and the churches of the East.

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