Michael Root: 'The way our grandparents used to think of other church bodies has changed in the past 50 years."

The signal moment for an event reviewing a proposed agreement for full communion between the Episcopal and Lutheran denominations may have occurred eight hours into the recent event at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.

Seminary Professor Timothy Wengert, who teaches the Lutheran Confessions, had just asked how the proposal to come before the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Assembly next year "specifically deals with the emergency of the day." He was addressing an issue that seems to cross the minds of many seminarians and others. Namely, "Do we need this (agreement for full communion) to carry on our ministry? How critical is this proposed agreement between two church bodies who have their differences?" Historic differences include the role bishops play in the two church bodies and varying views on the matter of apostolic succession. Apostolic succession refers to an Episcopal/Anglican practice dating to the ancient church and also observed globally by some Lutherans, in which bishops already in the succession install new bishops through the laying on of hands.

"The way our grandparents used to think of other church bodies has changed in the past 50 years," responded Professor Michael Root of Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH, one of the Lutheran experts who was on a redrafting team to make changes in an original Concordat proposal. The changes led to a new proposal, "Called to Common Mission" (CCM), which ELCA Lutherans will consider in Denver, CO, next summer. The original Concordat proposal was rejected narrowly last year in Philadelphia.

"Our grandparents used to think of members of these other churches as heretics," Root said. "Today, most of us (Lutherans) believe that these other churches are really churches, and so I believe that for us to live out of fellowship with them in the hard sense is a modern scandal. That our church body would not be in communion with such a church is something I believe we will have to answer for on the last day…."

Earlier, Root, professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity and director of the Institute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg, France, had cited the Lutheran Confessions in supporting the cause of the CCM. Paragraph 13 of the Preface to the Augsburg Confession suggests that "we not omit doing anything to serve the cause of unity," he said. "The pursuit of unity is not optional…unless genuinely weighty reasons" preclude such pursuit. He said Article 14 of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession makes the case for modern day Lutherans to retain the historic episcopate in its original form by calling for the preservation of ecclesial polity in the pursuit of unity and a common ecclesial life. Root said, however, that by accepting the historic episcopate as a sign of the unity and continuity of the church, the CCM did not call upon the ELCA to affirm that the episcopate is "necessary for the unity of the church."

Root noted two other distinctions outlined in the CCM that call for departure from current Lutheran practices. Bishops will be required to preside at all ordinations. Current practice allows them to assign another pastor to preside. Also, if a bishop is installed to the office in one assignment, such an installation will not be repeated in future new assignments. Root noted that ecumenical openness was not without limits in the language of the Lutheran Confessions. "The reformers were not willing to deny the Gospel for unity," but he said nothing about the CCM constitutes such denial.

Canon Dr. John Robert Wright, recognized as the leading ecumenical theologian in the Episcopal Church, noted that the CCM's definition of the historic episcopate is "entirely adequate" and acceptable to the Episcopal Church. He said that while acceptance of the episcopate is essential to the reunion of all churches, its acceptance is not essential to salvation or recognizing the churchly character of all churches. He said the agreement also does not condemn the past of churches without the episcopate, and therefore the CCM acknowledges the validity of agreements with other churches with which the ELCA is already in fellowship.

"Lay people are already reconciled through their baptism," Wright said. "The historic evangelical episcopate can be accepted by Lutherans without contradicting the Lutheran Confessions, which are subject to the Gospel." Since 1968, Wright has taught at General Theological Seminary in New York, where he is professor of Ecclesiastical History. The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia has a covenant of partnership with General. Wright has been the most active Episcopal theologian in the Lutheran Episcopal Dialogue III. In his remarks, Canon Wright also noted that the history of laying on hands through history is "not proven" to be unbroken and that the practice speaks more to the continuity of the church's mission than it does "to pedigree."

Engaging the event on a different level, ELCA Bishop Steven Ullestad of the Northeastern Iowa Synod suggested that he sees the matter of union with Episcopal churches as a significant step to rediscovering fruitful relationships in modern society. "In a virtual age," Ullestad said, "near relationships don't make it."

Ullestad movingly described the "demise of rural community life, the loss of a culture within a culture" in Iowa farming towns reeling from depression and violence. In Clayton, a town without stoplights, he cited the stunning impact of half a dozen suicides and double-murders as corn and hog prices tumble. "Farmers are killing baby pigs because it costs them too much to bring them to market. Caregivers are exhausted and the rage is enormous." In a climate of "vacuous virtual relationships, churches must be radically counter-cultural to uplift relationships that are real. The opportunity we have with the Episcopal Church is an opportunity to recapture important relationships that transcend time and place and capture the witness-centered power of relationships." Ullestad said that you cannot "click on just the parts of the faith that suit you. In affirming a catholic (universal) faith, the church can witness to a culture that is dying in a virtual world of isolation."

In an interview, Ullestad, who currently chairs a committee to create Lutheran/Episcopal Educational Opportunities, said lay people "already are in full communion" with others. "They don't understand what is taking the church so long to catch up." He described situations whereby aunts and uncles can't serve as baptismal sponsors of a niece because they are not in the same church. In Iowa, some Episcopal and Lutheran congregations close to one another geographically cannot each afford a full-time pastor when they might support one together. Such divisions, he said, are artificial today. Acknowledging that he once opposed the Lutheran/Episcopal Concordat of Agreement, Ullestad said he had come to appreciate the way a revision team from both churches had listened to concerns and had enacted changes through the CCM process. "There comes a time when you acknowledge the care that went into such a process and decide to get on board," he said.

Other speakers included the Rev. Christopher Epting, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa; Dr. Peter Schmiechen, a pastor of the United Church of Christ who is president of Lancaster (PA) Theological Seminary, and the Rev. Dr. Sven-Erik Brodd (Church of Sweden), a professor and department head at Uppsala University in Sweden, who has published extensively on ecumenism. Dr. Brodd was a visiting theologian at the Seminary.

Epting, a member of the CCM redrafting team, said he appreciates the Lutheran contribution to wording in the CCM agreement regarding the historic episcopate. That wording calls for the episcopate to be evangelical and in service to the Gospel. "These are welcome words," he said. Epting also said during the day that he believes the ability of the two churches to hammer out an understanding will say much to society about Christian witness. "This understanding will empower both the two churches and member congregations to have a stronger voice with regard to critical issues in society, and that will make a difference to our people," Epting said.

Brodd traced the history of church practices from the Middle Ages as part of his response to the presenters. He said that in Europe the historic episcopate had remained a sign that the church was not surrendering to other political systems and bureaucracies, and that it had thus served to safeguard the faith. "It has been a gift of God to the church," he said.

Schmiechen referenced Ullestad's remarks on Iowa in giving two possible reactions. "One is that we stop wasting time dealing with a matter such as the historic episcopate and get on with working together to get justice for farmers and their families," Schmiechen said. "The other is that the crisis in Iowa is fundamentally a spiritual one. The renewal and healing of relationships involves us in proclaiming the cross and inviting people into relationships based on the grace of God, relationships that are inclusive. In some cases we won't agree, and we may not like each other, but Christ wills us to be together." He said these notions break with the definition of religion in America that says a religious grouping is made up of like-minded people. "Based on that kind of agreement, the church in America doesn't have a future," Schmiechen said, "because the number of people like me in this society is not great."

Schmiechen said the CCM reached a settlement based upon what is necessary and essential with a spirit of "let's find a negotiated settlement." He acknowledged the factors of individualism and functionalism in carrying out such an agreement. "In a spirit of individualism, people will say religion has to do with me. If you talk about religion, you have to talk with me." In such a climate, many individuals mistrust the church and its institutions. They resist hierarchy and centralization. In its most radical form, institutionalism acknowledges no authority apart from oneself. The practical side of functionalism acknowledges, on the other hand "that institutions do what I cannot do myself." In such matters, Schmiechen said, what is essential is "not which side you are on, or a polity question. What is essential is the Gospel."