From
Living Theology in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church In America
Volume 1, Number 3
Easter 1996
Ecumenism
Nicholas
J. Zook
The Ecumenical proposal receiving the least debate and
attention leading up to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in 1997 is the lifting of
the 16th century condemnations exchanged by Lutherans and Catholics on the
article of Justification.
There are several reasons for this:
·
The
implications of this proposal will not involve any significant changes in
either our internal structure and life as the ELCA or in our relationships to
other church bodies.
·
The
action called for is endorsement of conclusions reached by studies begun in
1980 by the Joint Ecumenical Commission in Germany and in 1985 by the US
dialogue team on the article of Justification.
·
The
proposal is a small step in practical unity. We simply agree to not condemn
each other today for church teachings and practices that are no longer
definitive of our ecclesial realities. The Church can change in 450 years.
Nevertheless, this proposal carries
ramifications for our self identity as Lutherans that may well outstrip any
other actions we take on ecumenical fellowship in 1997. The Lutheran Church
owes its existence to the historic division made with the Roman Catholic Church
in the 16th century. That division still forms a central part of our understanding
of what it means to be Lutheran.
It is incorrectly assumed by many that
to be Lutheran is not to be catholic. Things many Lutherans don’t do because
they are considered too Catholic include making the sign of the cross, calling
the worship service a Mass, going to confession before Holy Communion, giving
up meat on Friday or observing fasts of any sort, honoring the Virgin Mary,
remembering the saints. When these are opposed merely because they seem too
Catholic it is not unlike the parable of the Pharisee and publican: “I thank
thee, Lord, that I am not like that sinner.”
Never mind that Martin Luther
instructed making the sign of the cross in the Small Catechism as a remembrance of Baptism, that he referred to
the liturgy as the Mass, advocated penance as the third (now forgotten)
sacrament, wrote of the veneration of the Virgin and the importance of saints
as examples for our lives.
Our positive identity as Lutherans has
often been buried in this opposition to Catholicism. We forget the Lutheran recovery
of the gospel of Christ as the experience of a gracious God and our existence
as a reform movement within the Church catholic.
Such a positive identity is strongly
present in the Augsburg Confession. The first three articles of the Augsburg
Confession articulate common Christian ground: the Trinity, the doctrine of
original sin, Jesus Christ as the Son of God. It is the fourth article that is
the unique Lutheran proposal: that we are all justified by faith as an act of
God’s grace and not by merit or works. This article is our principle of
existence and our gift to the whole Church--given not to divide the Church, but
to define how the gospel must be rightly proclaimed.
In the Metropolitan Chicago Synod we have tried to contribute to an atmosphere
where we can all build a positive relationship with Catholics from a basis of a
strong positive Lutheran identity. Such a positive relationship has been
established and is now in its seventh year. Following the dialogue agreements
on the article of Justification, the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and the
MCS entered into a covenant relationship on the eve of Pentecost in 1989 (the
first of its kind in the ELCA). The covenant relationship called for positive
growth in areas of church and witness where no division now exists: prayer,
scriptural study, work together for peace and justice in the Chicagoland
community, pastoral work in common matters of pastoral care, joint programs at
all levels of the Synod and Archdiocese and the development of individual
congregational covenants of ministry and fellowship.
Last identified, there are over 60
Catholic and Lutheran congregations in active shared programs of prayer, study,
social ministry and parish projects. The Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women and the Metropolitan Chicago
Synodical Women’s Organization have established a close working covenant that
has included annual joint retreats and service projects over the past seven
years. Two elementary schools, Lutheran and Catholic, have entered into a covenant
relationship. A program for marriage preparation to be offered by the
Archdiocese and Synod is being developed for Lutheran/Catholic couples. In this
covenant relationship Lutherans and Catholics in Metropolitan Chicago have
experienced a different way to be Lutheran and Catholic--a reassessment of
their historic identity.
To now take the step of acknowledging
that the chief article of Justification no longer divides us from the Catholic
Church--that the Catholic Church has incorporated this principle into its
gospel proclamation over the last 450 years--and to hear that the Catholics no
longer see themselves separated from us by this article of Lutheran identity,
will have tremendous implications for the future life and identity of the ELCA.
We are not anti-Catholics. We are
members of the Church catholic, reformers who can now celebrate an achievement
made for the sake of the gospel of Christ. We can be Lutheran, not in
opposition to Rome, but by an understanding of what we bring as gift to the witness
of the One Church of Jesus Christ.
And if we are no longer divided by our
chief reason for our separate existence from the Catholic Church, where will
this small step of lifting mutual condemnations lead us? A study made in 1985
by the Roman Catholic/Lutheran Joint Commission entitled “Facing Unity”
proposes models and stages in a future fellowship between our churches that
could include full eucharistic sharing, mutual recognition of clergy and
reconciliation in the gospel. This may well lead us to a new reformation cry:
“Together we stand.”
Nicholas J. Zook
Pastor of Concordia, Chicago
Co-Chair, Lutheran/Catholic Covenant
Commission