Lutheran and Episcopal Churches Inaugurate Full Communion on January 6
Episcopal News Service. December 6, 2000 [2000-223]
John Brooks, Jan Nunley
(ENS/ELCA) The Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. (ECUSA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will inaugurate their new full communion relationship Jan. 6, 2001, in a service of Holy Eucharist at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The celebration will be jointly led by the presiding bishops of both churches: the ELCA's H. George Anderson and ECUSA's Frank T. Griswold.
The cathedral's official name is the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It is the seat of the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and of the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.
The basis for the full communion relationship is contained in "Called to Common Mission" (CCM), a document adopted by both churches. The ELCA adopted CCM at its Churchwide Assembly in 1999. The Episcopal Church adopted CCM at its General Convention this past summer. The ELCA and Episcopal Church agreed to implement the relationship January 1, 2001.
Under CCM, the churches agreed to cooperate in a variety of ministries, and it allows for sharing of clergy under certain circumstances. It is not a merger of the churches.
The celebration service is expected to be about 90 minutes in length and may draw as many as 3,600 people, the cathedral's seating capacity. The event will begin with singing and processions at 10:30 a.m., followed by the service at 11 a.m.
"Participants in the service have been carefully selected to represent the breadth of both our churches," said the Rev. David Perry, the Episcopal Church's deputy for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations. "Many of our ecumenical partners will be present, friends of both churches.
"For Episcopalians, this is really the first step forward in the realization of our unity in Christ," Perry added. "We haven't done anything like this before."
"With this worship event, this celebration of the fact of full communion, we bridge an ecumenical chasm between Anglicanism and Lutheranism," said the Rev. Daniel F. Martensen, director of the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs. "The bridge has been under construction for nearly four decades; it spans not only two U.S.A. communions, but also continents. Our engagement in common mission of proclamation, witness and service is now strengthened."
Anglican participants in the service will include the Rev. John Peterson, secretary general of the Anglican Communion; the Rev. David Hamid, director of ecumenical affairs and relations in the Anglican Communion Office; Canon Jim Rosenthal, director of communications for the Anglican Consultative Council; Archbishop Michael G. Peers, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada; the Rev. Alyson Barnett-Cowan, director of Faith, Worship and Ministry for the Anglican Church of Canada; and the Rev. James Cowan, Anglican Church of Canada co-chair of the Joint Working Group on full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
Lutheran participants in the service will include the Rev. Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF); the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary; the Rev. Theodore F. Schneider, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan Washington, D.C. Synod; the Rev. Michael L. Cooper-White, president of the ELCA's Gettysburg Theological Seminary; Kristen E. Kvam, chair of the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs advisory committee; Lily R. Wu, ELCA Church Council; and Jutta Anderson, wife of the presiding bishop.
The service will be broadcast with live audio and still photos from http://www.FaithAndValuesMedia.org on the Internet. There will be links to this site from the ELCA and Episcopal Church web sites.
Live video will be available via satellite for individuals with a satellite dish and for groups gathered at downlink sites. Satellite coordinates are C Band, Galaxy 11, transponder 8.
Anderson will preside over the Eucharistic liturgy. Griswold will preach and preside over the renewal of baptismal vows, which will be done early in the service.
"There is no more fitting way to launch our shared mission and ministry than by hearing Christ's promise and welcoming his presence in this Eucharistic service," Anderson said.
"The heart of our mission imperative comes from our grounding in the baptismal promises that we share," Griswold commented. "Born anew in the waters of baptism, we will discover God's mission unfolding in surprising and enriching ways."
The service will begin with a series of four processions. Representatives of synods and dioceses of both churches will form one procession. Other processions will include international ecumenical guests, members of the full communion dialogue and writing teams, and staff from both churches. Invited guests include a number of governmental leaders.
The internationally known St. Olaf College Choir will sing during the processions and during the service. The Minnesota college is one of 28 ELCA colleges and universities.
Dr. Addie J. Butler, ELCA vice president, Philadelphia, and the Rev. Ernestina R. Campbell, an ordained Episcopal deacon from Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento, Calif., will be assisting ministers for the service.
Organists will include Martin D. Jean, who teaches at the School of Music and the Institute of Sacred Music, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.; John Ferguson, professor of organ and church music at St. Olaf; Douglas Major, National Cathedral organist and choirmaster; and Bruce Neswick and Eric W. Suter, cathedral organists. Cathedral choirs will sing during the service.
Each church has a limited number of tickets for the public, available through the ELCA's Department for Ecumenical Affairs and the Episcopal Church's Office for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations.
The newly formed Lutheran-Episcopal Joint Coordinating Committee will gather on the Monday following the celebration to work out the details of the emerging relationship.
The ELCA, based in Chicago, is a 5.15-million member church with nearly 11,000 congregations across the United States and Caribbean. It is organized into 65 synods, each headed by a bishop. The Episcopal Church, based in New York, has 2.4 million members in some 7,400 congregations. The church has 107 dioceses, each headed by a bishop.
Information about the January 6 celebration in Washington, D.C., as well as the text of Called to Common Mission, is at http://www.elca.org/ea/ on the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs Web page.