U.S. Workshop on Christian Unity Celebrates Lutheran Agreements

LOUISVILLE, Ky (ELCA) -- Tears of joy and tears of sadness were often the same tears the morning of May 17, as worshipers approached the altar of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, Ky. The Lutheran-Reformed celebration of the Lord's Supper was a symbol of unity and an illustration of separation for 300 Christian ecumenists.
About 40 Lutherans were among the participants at the annual National Workshop on Christian Unity (NWCU) May 15-18 at Louisville's Galt House Hotel. "Full communion" agreements and proposals of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) gained much attention during the workshop's plenary speeches, seminars, luncheons and ecumenical worship services.
"The 2000 NWCU was characterized by a strong emphasis on worship and a desire to communicate and implement the fruits of full-communion agreements already approved by the churches," said the Rev. Darlis J. Swan, associate director of the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, Chicago. "All three plenary speakers lifted up the importance of the spiritual nature of Christian unity through the use of personal narratives and illustrations," she said.

PLENARIES
The Rev. Leontine T.C. Kelly, a retired bishop of the United Methodist Church s California-Nevada Annual Conference, preached during the workshop s opening worship service at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption.
"You have come here to work together in sincerity and honesty in the midst of a deceptive world," said Kelly. "How will we tell this world about a God we have never seen? Through our love, only through our love," she said.
The Rev. Ofelia M. Ortega Su rez, principal, Evangelical Theological Seminary, Matanzas, Cuba, offered the workshop s keynote address on "Christians in Conflict." She said ecumenism is based on a "theology of relationships" or a "theology of the Holy Spirit."
Ortega cited several biblical examples of seemingly contradictory concepts working in unison, such as law and freedom. The Christian law to "love your neighbor as yourself" is not a restriction, she said.
Christians move toward unity in spite of seeming contradictions as "a sign of the Holy Spirit," said Ortega. "The church and ecumenism are alive and an integral part of the socialist society in Cuba" because God wants it so, she said.
Cubans are celebrating the Lutheran-Catholic "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification," which the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Vatican signed Oct. 31, 1999, in Augsburg, Germany. Ortega said, although the Lutheran community in Cuba is small, the churches have established a commission to study the declaration.
The Rev. Thomas L. Hoyt Jr., bishop of Louisiana and Mississippi for the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, gave the workshop's closing address. "It does little good to talk about unity of doctrine ... if there is not unity in spirit," he said.
Hoyt challenged the participants to remove the racial divides between Christian denominations in the United States. He applauded the United Methodist Church for sponsoring a service of confession at its Cleveland convention earlier in May to apologize for racism in the church and to apologize for not doing all that was possible to dismantle racism in the church and in society.
"The spirit has to be of head and heart. That is the key to where we have to be," said Hoyt. "Unity of the church and unity of humankind go together," he said. "Both are accomplished through the spirit of repentance."
"Those who repent receive what God has already given," said Hoyt. Forgiveness is difficult, "but I believe that is what we are called to do as ecumenists," he said. "We are striving to be what God wants us to be but are not yet."

SEMINARS
The Rev. Dagmar Heller and the Rev. William G. Rusch presented a seminar on "Convergence/Consensus on Baptism: The Ecumenical Implications." Heller is executive secretary, Faith and Order, World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland. Rusch is director, Faith and Order Commission, National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., New York, and former director of the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs.
"We tend to make the assumption that Baptism is a 'solved' issue, but there's convincing evidence out there that it isn't," said Rusch. "A great majority share a common understanding of Baptism as a sacrament," he said, a "bond of unity" that brings the baptized into the body of Christ.
Rusch said recent developments in ecumenical dialogues -- looking more for convergence than consensus -- will be helpful in discussing Baptism. Consensus is a special accord between communities, he said. "Convergence is a degree of consensus on our way to consensus."
Although Baptism is often not repeated if Christians change denominations, churches think differently about the nature and meaning of Baptism, said Heller. Some see the baptized as a passive recipient of God's grace -- allowing for infant Baptism, while others see the baptized making an active affirmation of Gods grace -- requiring a reasoned decision, she said.
Heller proposed churches find convergence around three basic and related elements of Baptism: the formation of Christian faith, "the water event" and life in the Christian community. Churches may disagree on the order in which believers experience these elements, she said, but they may easily discuss other aspects of Baptism if they recognize all three elements in the ways each other administer the sacrament.
Bishop William Boyd Grove, ecumenical officer, United Methodist Church s Council of Bishops, Albany, N.Y., and the Rev. Duane H. Larson, president, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, led a seminar on "Reception: Challenges and Opportunities." Wartburg is one of eight ELCA seminaries.
Reception -- the practical application of ecumenical agreements in the life of the churches -- will be different for "baby boomers" than for earlier and younger generations, said Larson. He looked at the sociological differences between "modern" and "post-modern" generations. Younger generations are much more accepting of seemingly contradictory views, he said.
On one hand, agreements made between church bodies are accepted by the "wider official audience" over a period of time, said Larson, and, on the other hand, relationships between individuals are sealed by the church bodies. "Reception happens ... unless one is hermetically sealed," he said.
"Ecumenical relations form a web," said Grove. "When there is an advance at any one point, the whole web lights up," he said. "Reception is out of the energy of the Holy Spirit," which lights up the web.
"When we are beyond our own families we're in better company," said Grove. ""That's not to slight our families," he said, but to note that, in a post-modern world, relationships are internalized and every ecumenical breakthrough is cause for celebration.
Grove and Larson used the Lutheran-Catholic "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification" as an example of how previous dialogues and Vatican II set the stage for this agreement and of how this agreement will effect future relationships among Christians.
Dr. Michael J. Root, professor of systematic theology, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio, discussed the ways ecumenical dialogues have addressed the nature of authority in the life of the church in a seminar, "Authority in Ecumenical Discussions," with the Rev. Ellen Wondra, associate professor of theological studies, Colgate Rochester Divinity School, Rochester, N.Y.
Root explored one aspect of the seminar during a luncheon presentation on "The Gift of Authority," a recent publication of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC). He agreed that authority was a gift of God to facilitate God's mission and that the chu