wfn.org | ELCA Presiding Bishop, LWF President Focuses on Ecumenism

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 21, 2005

ELCA Presiding Bishop, LWF President Focuses on Ecumenism
05-200-MRC

     SAO LEOPOLDO, Brazil (ELCA) -- Some people find it confusing
that Lutherans are involved in many different "full communion"
relationships, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson said in a panel discussion
on ecumenism here Oct. 13.  "I always say that's because our
confessions call us to seek deeper unity in the church but allow
greater flexibility when there is agreement on the gospel" with
other churches, he said.
     Hanson, president of the 66-million-member Lutheran World
Federation (LWF), Geneva, Switzerland, and presiding bishop of
the 4.9-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA), Chicago, examined some of the dimensions of ecumenism
with Brazilian church leaders during the Fourth Conference of
International Black Lutherans-USA (CIBL) here Oct. 11-17.
     In his opening comments Hanson offered "four lenses" through
which to look at ecumenism -- ecclesial, spiritual, missional and
wider ecumenism.
     "The ecclesial lens is really the prevailing lens of the
past 50 years that has defined our agreements in the gospel,"
said Hanson.  Through those agreements in the gospel "we begin to
address our differences in theology and in context.  This
ecclesial form of ecumenism has led to the establishment of
councils of churches, bilateral dialogues and now full-communion
agreements," he said.
     Full communion is not a plan to merge but allows churches to
share locally and internationally in their mission.  It also
makes it possible for clergy in one church to serve as pastors in
congregations of another church body, under certain
circumstances.	The ELCA shares full communion agreements with
The Episcopal Church, Moravian Church, Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ.
     "As Lutherans we are asking ourselves, 'Are we a reforming
movement within the Church catholic or are we Protestants
protesting?'  I think we always live in the tension of being a
reforming movement that also protests when we believe it is not
the gospel of Jesus Christ being proclaimed," Hanson said.
     Spiritual ecumenism is Christians coming together to read
Scripture, pray and live out their faith together in Christian
communities, Hanson said. "For instance, I think it's what we
hear when lay people say, 'Why can't we commune together?  We
believe in the same Jesus, why do leaders and theologians of
churches take so long to grant us the unity we already feel with
our neighbors as we are one in Christ and one in the Spirit?"
     A third lens is missional ecumenism, Hanson said.	"We seek
not only unity in Christ for the sake of the body of Christ but
for the sake of the proclaiming of the gospel to the world and
for the sake of being a part of God's mission in and for the life
of the world," he said.
     Hanson said he has observed a "convergence" among
conservative evangelicals and other faith groups in the United
States around three issues -- the ending of hunger, the reduction
of poverty and care for the creation.  "The convergence is
drawing conservative evangelicals together with Roman Catholic,
Orthodox, Lutheran and Protestants churches in some very
encouraging ways.  I also think that convergence is happening in
the world.  The concern here is that we not separate the diaconal
work of the Church, the prophetic engagement in the struggle for
justice and peace and the life of being the church of God in Word
and Sacrament, so that they become three distinct and not related
expressions of our unity.  And, that is a great challenge before
the ecumenical movement," he said.
     "The fourth lens is what I call wider ecumenism," said
Hanson.  "It is Christians engaged with persons of other faiths
in dialogue and in our common commitment to one shared creation
and humanity," he said.
     Hanson cited the need for deeper understanding of the three
Abrahamic faiths since coming out of a recent trip to the Middle
East, where he was challenged by the leaders of the Jordanian
society who are Muslims.  "Can we as Christians, Jews and Muslims
come to some common consensus out of our religious traditions,
both distinct and shared, of how we will live together in civil
society, how we will not be engaged in acts of violence and
conflict over and against each other, but share a common
commitment to peace that comes out of our shared and distinctive
religious traditions?"
     The Rev. Walter Altmann, pastor president, Igreja Evangelica
de Confissao Luterana no Brasil (Evangelical Church of the
Lutheran Confession in Brazil), Porto Alegre, Brazil; Dr. Rudolf
von Sinner, professor of systematic theology, Escola Superior de
Teologia; and the Rev. Luis Vergilio Batista da Roja, conference
bishop of the Methodist Church here, also participated in the
panel.
     "Can we Lutherans, and other Protestants, be an evangelical
alternative for (other people of faith) who have become
frustrated with their religious experiences, because some
promises of prosperity have not come true?" Altmann asked.  "We
have a biblical mandate for ecumenism.	With the growth of
evangelical churches, the question of unity is rising from
within," he said.
     According to Batista da Roja, "A current challenge to
ecumenism is that it moves from institutional ecclesial to a
political agenda.  In this context, considering Brazilian reality
and the Latin American context, I consider it essential that the
ecumenical agenda includes the recognition that slavery was a
crime against humanity.  This recognition is essential to build
new social relations, and this process must be formal because it
humanizes reality, contributed to the impoverishment of Africa,
and it is a basic issue of the church and, of course, of the
Protestant movement," he said.
     "The ecumenical movement is a movement of liberation, and it
can only be addressed by noble actions," Batista da Roja said.
     "The theological institute (here) prepares people to address
these issues of ecumenism," said von Sinner.  "The main polarity
in ecumenism is contextual reality -- be the Church in a
particular place in time and speaking coherently about Jesus
Christ together," he said.  "Ecumenism is linked to the world in
one sense, so whatever we do in practical terms has strong
implications to diaconia."
     Hanson also delivered a sermon based on the Gospel of
Matthew at the conference's opening worship.  While he spoke, his
sermon was translated into Portuguese.
     "The mighty winds of Hurricane Katrina not only brought
destruction to human lives and property, but also lifted up the
veil of an American people who so often want to keep those living
in poverty hidden," Hanson said in his sermon.	He expressed
concern that it would be easy for citizens of the United States
to raise "that veil to shroud those who live in poverty,
especially communities of color, rather than take it as a wake-up
call and challenge.  As American people seek to respond
compassionately to those who live in poverty throughout the
world.	We also have to address the issues of poverty in our own
land, not one over against the other but one in relationship with
the other.  This is a mandate of our faith" in "pursuit of
justice," he said.
     Participants of CIBL presented Hanson a plaque memorializing
the Rev. Will L. Herzfeld, presiding bishop of the Association of
Evangelical Lutheran Churches, a predecessor church body of the
ELCA, from 1984 to 1987.  Herzfeld was the first African American
to serve as presiding bishop of a Lutheran church, and a leader
in the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1960s, while pastor of a
Lutheran congregation in Tuscaloosa, Ala.  Herzfeld died in 2002.
Participants of CIBL requested that the plaque be displayed at
the ELCA churchwide office.  The Rev. James K. Echols, president,
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, presented the plaque to
Hanson.

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