c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ With a solemn, yet joyful worship service Sunday (Oct. 4), members of four Protestant traditions celebrated their entry into full communion, promising to live”day by day”into deeper commitment to one another.

Some 2,000 people jammed into the Gothic-style Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago for the gala worship bringing the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America and the United Church of Christ one step closer together in the long quest for Christian unity.

Each of the denominations had previously approved the bold”full communion”venture that will enable each to share ministers, sacraments and members and operate joint ministries without merging and while still retaining their individual denominational identities.

The 90-minute communion service, which was broadcast live with audio and photos over the Internet, melded elements of each tradition.

By agreement, wine, as opposed to grape juice, was used in the celebration of the Eucharist although grape juice is in use in some quarters of the traditions.

The service opened with a four-way processional leading to a central baptismal font _ the symbol of the basic sacrament of membership in each of the bodies. A common recitation of the Nicene Creed and a Renewal of Baptismal Vows also was a major symbol emphasizing the common beliefs each tradition holds.”Part of the meaning of this day has to do with the historical blindness of ourâÂ?¦traditions to one another,”the Rev. James Kenneth Echols, who preached the homily, told the worshippers.

The bedrock of full communion between the denominations is”A Formula of Agreement”hammered out over recent decades by theologians from each tradition.

During those years, said Echols _ the first African-American president of the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago _ God”opened the eyes of these Reformed and Lutheran theologians to see that the disagreements that divided were in fact differences that need not divide.” He suggested the title words from the popular”Godspell”song,”Day by Day,”become”our words of commitment.” The centerpiece of the service, Holy Communion, was presided over at a free-standing altar by the Rev. Cynthia McCall Campbell, president of McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. McCall, who wore a red chasuble, led the traditional Eucharistic prayer with a responsive sung prayer of thanksgiving.

In addition to choir presentations from each tradition, prayers were offered in several languages.

In the front rows of the massive chapel were ecumenical representatives, including those with whom the other bodies are in talks similar to those that led to the Lutheran-Reformed agreements, including officials from the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church _ Missouri Synod, the Moravian Church in America, the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in America and the Episcopal Church.

In one of the greatest setbacks to the full communion approach to ecumenical relations, the Lutherans a year ago narrowly defeated a proposal that the Episcopal Church had already approved. Lutheran leaders said they are working hard to resuscitate the proposal in the Lutheran camp and get it approved by the original 2000 target date.

A new draft of the Lutheran attempt to link with the Episcopalians is slated to go before the ELCA Church Council on Oct. 16.

The Rev. H. George Anderson, presiding bishop of the ELCA, like the other three denominational leaders, did not take a role in Sunday’s service, stepping back to make it a service for the people.

But Anderson, who insists that the full communion approach is the best ecumenical road for all denominations to take, said before the service,”This is only the beginning of an unfolding relationship.” He noted that part of the service, which he called a”celebration of a miracle milestone reached,”involved asking”God’s guidance for the road ahead.” The Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the Reformed Church in America, said modern ecumenical shifts among Catholics, evangelicals and mainstream Protestant bodies are occurring mostly because of the joint communion approach.”How else, other than joint ministries, do you put before the church the absolute scandal of division?”he asked.

The Rev. Daniel Martensen, the ELCA’s ecumenical officer, said local services across the nation are being planned for those who could not get to the Chicago celebration. He said Sunday’s liturgy, which was put together by a joint worship committee, can be used by the local churches in their celebrations.

DEA END EBRIGGS