ST. PAUL, Minn. (ELCA) -- Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America made an impact on many different aspects of the National Workshop on Christian Unity. About 80 Lutherans were among the 500 people who came together here April 27-30.
Dr. Diane L. Jacobson, professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary in St. Paul, led two morning sessions of Bible study. She asked the participants to examine two sections of the Christian Bible for what they said about sacred space, sacred time, sacred people, sacred words and the responses of the people.
"Think about what we do in our congregations. We come together as God's people to hear God's word proclaimed and explained. We praise God for the gift of this word, answering with a loud 'Amen.' We set apart special, holy times to listen and to learn again and again," she said. "The challenge of ecumenical relations is to find ever new ways to transfer these unifying activities and categories of the sacred to our common work together."
Jesus warned his home congregation not to believe "that we are God's exclusive sacred people and that God's promise is our exclusive property," said Jacobson. "We believe that our job is to convince the world that we've got it right rather than share the good news of God's remarkable declaration of love and compassion for all the world. Setting free is God's work through Christ. Communicating that freedom in such a way that we share the gift rather than claim exclusive rights is our work."
In a seminar on the nature of the church, the Rev. William G. Rusch, an ELCA pastor and director of the Faith and Order Commission, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., said studying the various ways Christians organize themselves has become "a pivotal theme engaging the churches in their journey toward structural unity."
"It is easy to agree on what the church is and what the church is for," he said. "It is more difficult to describe who the church is."
Rusch said the NCC's Faith and Order Commission is working on a study, The Nature and Purpose of the Church, that should be completed in three or four years. He called it "a front-burner issue in the ecumenical movement."
Dr. Anant Rambachan, professor of Asian religions, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn., presented a seminar on confessing the Christian faith where the majority of people are not Christians and Christianity is not held in a position of privilege. Rambachan is a Hindu teaching at an ELCA college.
"The best witness for a Hindu is not the proclamation of the gospel but the witness of life," he said. "For Hindus the teacher is one who knows the traditions and lives a life grounded in God."
Jesus Christ is not the sole possession of Christians, said Rambachan. "The harmony of justice and life continues to make Jesus an attractive figure for Hindus." The quality of Jesus to shed materialism also has an impact on Hindus, he said.
The next National Workshop on Christian Unity will be held May 3-6,1999, in Rochester, N.Y. The Rev. Pamela S.H. Hunter, Peace Lutheran Church, Rochester, will work with its planners.
For information contact:
Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
