Committee Reviews Lutheran Relations with Other U.S. Churches

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The irony of the "full communion" proposal the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has made with The Episcopal Church is that Episcopalians look forward very much to receiving the gifts of Lutherans who oppose the proposal, said the Rev. Duane H. Larson. Larson chaired the annual meeting of the advisory committee of the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs here Oct. 22 which outlined the church's relations with other Christians and other faith groups in the United States.
Some within the ELCA have opposed the Lutheran proposal, "Called to Common Mission" (CCM), because it will incorporate the "historic episcopate" into the ELCA. In the Episcopal Church the historic episcopate is a succession of bishops -- a sign of unity back to the earliest days of the Christian church.
The ELCA Churchwide Assembly approved CCM by a 27-vote margin in August. The Episcopal General Convention will vote on it in 2000.
Lutherans who opposed the proposal said it takes emphasis away from "the priesthood of all believers" and places it on bishops. Episcopalians have a similar emphasis on "the ministry of the baptized."
"Communion is not being of a unified or a unitary sense, but it's a community of differences," said Larson, president of Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa. "All the shared perceptions coming together around our central conviction in the lordship of Christ will show that there is a wonderful reality, a transcending reality greater than any of us can imagine by ourselves, into which God is calling us."
"We are challenged to take action in living into full communion with other churches which will move us on to terrain yet unexplored," said the Rev. Daniel F. Martensen, director of the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs. The ELCA is now in full communion with four U.S. church bodies: the Moravian Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ.
The Rev. Darlis J. Swan, associate director of the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, outlined the work of coordinating committees as they pursue the opportunities of full communion, and she discussed the reception of ecumenical agreements into the life of the church.
The advisory committee has taken the initiative to go beyond trying to interpret ecumenical texts and "look down the road even 10 or 20 years as to what reception might mean," said Larson. "It's an advisory committee giving counsel on how we can live into our various agreements."
Swan talked about the delegation of ELCA members who will attend the signing of the "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification" between the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches Oct. 31 in Augsburg, Germany. The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, will be one of the 10 signers.
The Rev. Randall R. Lee, the department's associate for bilateral relations and dialogue, reported on the status of talks between the ELCA and other church bodies -- the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Mennonites, Orthodox Churches, Roman Catholic Church and United Methodist Church.
The Rev. Franklin E. Sherman, associate for interfaith relations, described several events and projects exploring better relations among Christians, Jews, Muslims and people of other world religions. He discussed plans for Dr. Kristen Kvam, Kansas City, Mo., and him to represent the ELCA at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Capetown, South Africa, Dec. 1-8.
The committee voted to express its gratitude to the ELCA Church Council for adopting "Guidelines for Lutheran-Jewish Relations" in 1998. The committee asked the council to encourage the use of the guidelines throughout the church by such means as developing accompanying study materials.
"The advisory committee has found its voice," said Larson. "There has been perhaps a popular misperception that this advisory committee is merely a place of imprimatur for decisions that have already been made with respect to this church's ecumenical directions."
Larson said the committee members expressed viewpoints heard around the ELCA. "This has meant good dialogue. It has meant healthy advice," he said. "It has done so with humor, with mutual respect, and, therefore, serves this particular department and our presiding bishop very well."

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