Living Theology in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod
Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America
Volume 4, Number 2
Pentecost 1999
Called To Common Mission
Steven
L. Ullestad
Thank you for the opportunity to be a
part of the ongoing conversation about the Lutheran-Episcopal Dialogue—a
dialogue in which we have been engaged for 30 years in the hope that we can
overcome 450 years of division.
My daughter ran on a 4 x 800 relay
team. In many ways, we are being asked
to run the final leg of a relay that began three decades ago. Another image comes to mind from
scripture. The mantle has been placed
on this generation to continue and complete the work of those who have gone
before us.
We live in a culture of “the now”—the
immediate—a culture which believes that unless I personally have been involved
and have personally gotten my way, that somehow I have been excluded or locked
out. This is a culture in which people
who are on the lesser side of a vote lament that they have not been heard or
respected. This presents a challenge to
all ecumenical conversations. By their
very nature, they are always dealing with issues that are greater than the
immediate and broader than any one individual experience.
In context of this culture, the church
has decided to continue in a dialogue that bridges the generations, that relies
on a democratic process of electing people to represent the church and asking
them to report back to the conventions and assemblies. Decade after decade these representatives
have reported and have received affirmations for this work by the democratic
process. The process itself is a
witness to the world that the work of the church is greater than any individual
or interest group, and is greater than any particular time, including the
immediate. The ministry of
reconciliation is in response to the reconciling power of Jesus Christ on the
cross—and sometimes that takes several generations and much conversation to
accomplish.
Specifically this day we turn to our
work with the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA)—Called
to Common Mission—a Lutheran Proposal for a Revision of the Concordat of
Agreement. This is a document in
progress. It has been modified already
on several occasions. It will come to
Churchwide Assembly (CWA) with recommended changes from Church Council. More changes will be proposed at the
CWA. There is no alternative to this
proposal because no other proposal is the result of 30 years of dialogues with
the ECUSA—tested by the democratic vote of the people.
The Mahtomedi Resolution (MR) is not
an alternative proposal for full communion.
It is a product of a couple hundred like-minded Lutherans gathering for
a couple of days in order to propose the rejection of CCM. The MR simply rejects CCM and invites
Episcopalian priests to uphold the Lutheran Confessions. This is not an alternative proposal to full
communion. In fact, adoption of the
Mahtomedi Resolution would place even the interim agreement with the Episcopal
Church (ECUSA) in jeopardy. To publicly
reject full communion on two occasions would send a clear message to the ECUSA
as well as other church bodies. Imagine
Methodists observing the vote after 30 years of dialogue in good trust—report
after report—vote after vote of affirmation.
The Methodists have bishops for life, bishops who are not elected by
pastors and congregations of their conference.
Methodists understand the role of the creeds differently from
Lutherans. Imagine what they will
observe if we say “no” to a church body like the ECUSA with whom we agree on
sacraments, agree on Word, agree on Creeds, agree on democratically elected
bishops and whose polity is consistent with our own Lutheran Confessions.
This proposal is important not only to
ELCA and ECUSA but to ELCA dialogues with other church bodies as well. These ecumenical considerations are but one
reason that I support CCM. I
also support CCM for Confessional and Missional reasons.
Confessional Reasons for Supporting CCM.
Augsburg Confession, Article V, On the
Office of Ministry, declares that the Word and Sacrament—the means by which God
creates saving faith—is given to the Church—not to congregations—not to pastors
or bishops—but to the Church. Other
church bodies see this differently. In
the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, the congregation transfers the Office of
Ministry to the pastor temporarily.
ELCA predecessor church bodies have rejected that understanding as does
the ELCA. We understand that the Office
of the Ministry is given to The Church.
At the other end of the spectrum is
the Roman Catholic tradition as well as others who state that the Office of
Ministry is given to Peter, who then hands it on in an unbroken apostolic
chain.
This Roman Catholic understanding is challenged
by both ELCA and ECUSA and is one of the most frequent misunderstandings or
misrepresentations of the ECUSA. The
ECUSA, as does the ELCA, understands that the Office of Ministry is instituted
by God and given to the whole Church, not to Peter.
It is upon the Confession of Peter,
not Peter the man, that Christ builds his Church. This is the Reformation principle for which Martin Luther was
exiled and Thomas Cramer, the English Reformer, was burned at the stake. Episcopalians understand that the ministry
of Christ is the ministry of the whole church—the ministry of the laity. Episcopalians believe that the foundational
order of ministry is in the ministry of the laity. ECUSA is a church of the Reformation. When they talk of Historic Succession or Historic Episcopate they
are not saying that it is historical—something that is a fact of historical
data—but instead is of historic importance.
Word and Sacrament are how saving faith is created. That ministry is handed on from one
generation to the next through the rite of ordination. The bishop, having been elected by the
church to represent the church, is the sign, though never a guarantee, that
this ministry is being entrusted from one generation to the next. This is historic. This is the position of both ECUSA and the Lutheran Confessions.
In the Apology to the Augsburg
Confessions, Article 14, we Lutherans express our deep earnest desire to
maintain the ecclesiastical and canonical polity. This is the Lutheran way of describing what the Episcopal Church
calls the historic episcopate.
In the Treatise on Power and Primacy
of the Pope we read that the only thing that distinguishes bishops from the
rest of the presbyters or pastors is the bishop’s authority to ordain. There is one exception—one only. When bishops become an enemy of the Gospel
then the church reserves the authority to identify another pastor to ordain on
its behalf. In the 16th
century bishops had temporal/worldly as well as spiritual/churchly power. They had the power of the sword as well as
the power of the Church. They could
make and depose kings, imprison and murder reformers.
When the Bishop is an enemy of the
Gospel in this way—then and only then—the Church maintains the right to
identify another pastor or ordain on its behalf. Because the office belongs to the Church—not congregations, not
Pope, not pastors, this Reformation principle is embraced both by Lutherans and
Episcopalians. Within this context,
Article 7 of the Augsburg Confessions is written.
It is sufficient for the true unity of
the Church that the Gospel be preached [now watch here the Lutheran condition]
in conformity with a pure understanding of it [and that the sacraments be
administered] in accordance with the divine Word.
The Lutheran condition is the Lutheran
Confessions. That is why you will find
in CCM the Lutheran condition on the Episcopalians, namely the
Confessions. The ECUSA will invite us
in to evaluate the ministry of bishops to see if it is in service of the Gospel
and in keeping with the Gospel. And
before any ECUSA priest can serve in an ELCA ministry he or she must be
examined by an ELCA bishop and/or candidacy committee to make sure that their
faith is consistent with the Confessions.
And they must take installation vows to uphold the Confessions in their
preaching and teaching. These are the Lutheran conditions on the agreement.
And ECUSA makes these
concessions: They will suspend the
preface to the ordinal and welcome all ordained ministers as authentic
ministers of the Gospel without re-ordination, and ELCA bishops as ordained
ministers called to exercise the ministry of oversight, which is our Lutheran
understanding. Included in the
agreement is that the ELCA chooses to recapture the symbol of historic
succession by allowing international Lutheran bishops to fully participate in
the laying on of hands at the installation of the next presiding bishop. At Bishop Chilstrom’s installation, the
bishop of Sweden and other Lutheran bishops in historic succession were told
that they could look but not touch.
Next time, they too can lay on hands with the other Lutheran
bishops. We also agree that the ELCA
presiding bishop and two other bishops in historic succession will participate
in the installation of all future synod bishops, and synods bishops will
preside at all ordinations, in keeping with the confessional writings of
Article 14 and the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope.
In so doing, this agreement for full
communion creates an Evangelical and Historic Episcopate where the gifts of
both traditions are brought together to strengthen the ministry of Word and
Sacrament. It will be evangelical as
defined by the Lutheran Confessions; historic as defined by the Lutheran
Confessions and the practice of the ECUSA, with bishop as the symbol or sign,
by virtue of election by the church, of the relationship between pastor,
congregation and the whole church. This
holds great potential for all ecumenical dialogues.
In terms of the three-fold ordinations
that are part of the polity of the ECUSA, Episcopalians have agreed with us
that we have “locally adapted” (a technical term in the Episcopal Church) the
three-fold ordering; and therefore the ordination of deacons or bishops is not
required by the agreement.
What doors will be opened for mission
if CCM is adopted? Let me quote CCM,
Section 29, itself:
We do not know to what new, recovered
or continuing tasks of mission this Concordat will lead our churches, but we
given thanks to God for leading us to this point.
CCM is not a strategic plan for
mission. It is an agreement that allows
for mission planning to be done in new and exciting ways. Yes, we already do clothes closets, soup
kitchens and food banks together, but there is one ministry where the door is
not yet fully open. It is the one
ministry that creates saving faith—the ministry at the heart of the church’s
mission—the Ministry of Word and Sacrament.
If this passes, then the people of Clermont, Iowa, Centerville, Iowa and
Waverly, Iowa will have renewed opportunities for ministry.
There is also the possibility of new
areas of mission where we can pool our resources and our gifts to reach more
people. Talk with those Lutherans in
New England Synod where six states make up one synod but there are six Dioceses
of ECUSA in one state. Or West
Virginia, where one percent of the population are ELCA. Arkansas, less than one percent. Alaska, where the only hope to witness and
service is shared and cooperative ministry.
This agreement would open new doors so that the Gospel of Jesus Christ
may be proclaimed.
Thank you for the opportunity to
continue the conversation that has been handed to us from the generations, that
offers the gift of an evangelical and historic episcopate to each other and to
other dialogues, that is grounded in scripture and confessions, and which
brings renewed hope for the Mission of Jesus Christ. Thank you!
Bishop, Northeastern Iowa
Synod, ELCA