"This is an invitation to work harder toward full communion," the Rt. Rev. Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop-elect, said after the Lutheran vote rejecting the Concordat of Agreement had been announced. While some sadness at the result was inevitable, he was not as surprised as he might have been. Recently, he said, "I was aware of concern; it seemed to be getting stronger."

Some Lutherans, he said, see the historic episcopate as "a diminution of the Reformation.

"The ELCA is a fairly recent merger of several strands, still finding itself as an ecclesial body," he said. "Some strands ... need more time to accept the episcopate."

Even though the resolution failed to reach the needed two-thirds majority, "there was a substantial majority in favor."

It is important to remember, Bishop Griswold said, that "nothing has been undone. The 1982 interim Eucharist sharing agreement is still in effect." On a personal level, positive relations with Lutheran clergy and bishops will continue.

"It's an invitation to work harder toward full communion. I think it will come. It is the nature of Christianity."

In Sewanee, Tenn., the Rev. Don Armentrout was "just getting over being angry." Prof. Armentrout is a Lutheran minister and professor of church history and historical theology at the University of the South. He expressed "deep, deep disappointment ... we Lutherans missed a wonderful opportunity to work together. This [the Concordat] was an easy request - neither [church] was asked to give up anything.

"I'm especially disappointed for the persons working 30 years. It hurts for them. I thought the Episcopalian vote was generous and gracious. We could at least have returned the favor.

"I hope we don't become the laughingstock of the ecumenical movement."

The Rev. Canon J. Robert Wright, professor of church history at General Theological Seminary and a principal author of the agreement, told The New York Times, "I think the ELCA has missed the most significant ecumenical opportunity of the 20th century."

The Rev. Canon Ernest Bennett of the Diocese of Central Florida said he felt like a groom jilted at the altar. "The bride didn't come down the aisle," he said. William Franklin, professor of modern Anglican studies at General Seminary, used the same metaphor. "The Episcopal Church has never done anything like this before - certainly not by such an overwhelming vote. We got jilted."

The Rev. Michael Rogness, professor of homiletics at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., quoted a passage in the Concordat that bothered delegates: "'We agree that the threefold ministry of bishops, presbyters and deacons ... will be the future pattern of the one ordained ministry'." That would go against statements of the 1991 Churchwide Assembly which decided that the office of pastor would be the sole ordained ministry.

Amid the sadness, no one saw the rejection of the Concordat as giving up on the close relationship enjoyed by the two churches. A North Dakota minister's comment seemed to sum up: "I speak against the Concordat," said the Rev. Philip M. Larsen of Hoople, "not against Episcopalians."

The Rt. Rev. Edward Jones, bishop of Indianapolis, co-chair of the Lutheran-Episcopalian Coordinating Committee, said "Life will go on in the local churches." The Rt. Rev. Allen Bartlett, Bishop of Pennsylvania, said present cooperation would continue.

The Episcopal ecumenical officer, the Rev. David Perry, saw the movement as "very much alive," given the "broad-based support in both churches."

And Prof. Armentrout was still optimistic. "There will be something in the future," he said. "God is moving the church toward some kind of unity."