"We've been strange bedfellows for years ..." quipped the Rt. Rev. Alexander Stewart, retired Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, speaking of intercommunion between the Lutheran and Episcopal churches, " ... as 17th-century Archbishop Cranmer of Canterbury was married to a Lutheran who was never confirmed."

After 25 years of Lutheran/Episcopal dialogue, Episcopalians are rediscovering elements in the two traditions which indicate a close affinity. Both agree on central Christian teaching and emphasize the normative witness of holy scripture and continuity with apostolic faith and mission throughout the centuries. Also, both appreciate the Reformation as a renewal movement within the church catholic, not as a beginning of a new church. Lutherans and Episcopalians have high esteem for sacramental life and liturgical worship.

"What each of the churches must now ask, as it considers this Concordat," states the Lutheran Proposal for Revision, "is how it can receive the gift freely given the other for the good of Christ's church. Both the Anglican emphasis on the historic episcopate and an ordained ministry, and the Lutheran emphasis on a full understanding of the doctrine of faith, need to be appreciated as gifts, given by God with the intention that the gift be shared with one another, and in order that the good news of God in Christ may be more truly proclaimed by word and example."

Bishop Stewart offered an illustrative example of this relationship as building a duplex house. "The General Convention of the Episcopal Church made the down payment with its approval of the Concordat Agreement in July 1997," he said recently. "Hopefully, the Lutherans will, by the summer of 1999, consent, enabling us to have the closing. No mortgage! The immeasurable riches of Christ is the collateral."

Bishop Stewart's duplex analogy continues by highlighting what each tradition would retain of itself. "Perhaps the furniture and decorations might differ, with each having a mantle to display their historic treasures - the beer stein of Martin Luther next to a framed scroll of a Bach chorale, the wine glass of St. Augustine and a copy of the first prayer book in English, not Latin."

How can entering into a relationship of full communion enhance common Christian life and mission between Lutherans and Episcopalians?

Local congregations in Oxford, Mass., share camaraderie and worship preparing for the ratification of the Lutheran-Episcopal Concordat agreement to establish full communion between the Episcopal Church and the ELCA. The ELCA's Churchwide Assembly meets in 1999, and if the revised Concordat is approved, the Episcopal General Convention will take action on it in 2000.

The Rev. Paul Goranson, rector of Grace Episcopal Church and the Rev. Robert Moder, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, both appreciate the spirit of ecumenism their congregations share and experience zeal in working together. The congregations share liturgical celebrations throughout the year, such as Epiphany, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil and Ascension. During Lent, the churches combine weekly Lenten Eucharists and fellowship suppers. Alternating location each week, the clergy person of the host parish is the officiant of the ceremony, while the other assists. "In our joint celebrations of the Holy Communion at alternate churches, we consume the remaining elements (bread and wine) together in the service," Fr. Goranson said.

The Oxford ecumenical group of clergy and laity work together to provide a food shelter for the disadvantaged. Both congregations supported a blood drive for the president of the parish council at Zion, who underwent a bone marrow transplant.

Pastor Moder and Fr. Goranson meet regularly for study and mission outreach discussions. They also cover for one another in pastoral visits to the hospitals and other crisis situations.

As these congregations have done, so could the larger churches do, design a relationship that, like a duplex, is one building that houses two distinct entities.

Bishop Stewart noted that Archbishop Cranmer was the chief architect and framer of the prayer book liturgy in England.

"While Cranmer was visiting Germany to learn directly about the Reformation," Bishop Stewart said, "he met and married a beautiful woman. She was a Lutheran. Imagine that! A mixed marriage! And, to our knowledge, she was never confirmed in the Church of England. Undoubtedly, she received communion from him. So, from our earliest days, Lutherans and Anglicans have been bedfellows.

"So, if you scratch an Anglican deeply enough, you may find a Lutheran." o

Mary Bebe Miree Wirtz is a member of Grace Church, Oxford, Mass.