c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Delegates from a deeply divided Evangelical Lutheran Church in America gather next week in Denver to make what denomination leaders call”an enormously momentous decision”on a proposal establishing closer ties with the Episcopal Church.

For Lutherans, who pride themselves on their theological seriousness, the issue of”full communion”and the accompanying _ seemingly arcane _ subjects of apostolic succession and the historic episcopate, the issue has been fought with the same kind of intensity and passion Southern Baptists bring to debates on women or Methodists and Presbyterians to same-sex marriages.

At stake, say leaders of the 5.4 million-member denomination, is the church’s future role in the Christian world community.

Lutherans and Episcopalians have been engaged in theological talks aimed at closer unity since 1983. In 1991, theologians and church leaders presented”The Concordat of Agreement,”a proposal for full communion between the two denominations that would open the way for the exchange of clergy and other cooperative ministries.

In 1997, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church approved the Concordat but just weeks later, delegates to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly failed _ by six votes _ to muster the two-thirds vote necessary to win approval.

An embarrassed church leadership scrambled to repair the damage to the church’s ecumenical posture and its relationship with the stung and hurt 3.2 million-member Episcopal Church. A team of theologians and church officials, headed by the Rev. Martin Marty _ perhaps the best-known and most respected Lutheran in the country _ was put together to revise the Concordat in an effort to meet the objections of critics.

It is that revision,”Called to Common Mission,”that will be before the 1,039 voting members at the Aug. 16-22 Churchwide Assembly _ the denomination’s highest decision-making body.

At the heart of the Lutheran division is the concept of the apostolic succession and the relationship of the”historic episcopate”to that idea. Both Lutherans and Episcopalians believe in the idea of the apostolic succession _ that both churches are part of an ongoing”faithful proclamation of Christ.” But Episcopalians bring to their understanding of apostolic succession the notion of the historic episcopate _ an unbroken succession of bishops as a necessary sign of unity that stretches back to the earliest days of the Christian church.

If the ELCA adopts the full communion proposal it would mean the Lutherans would incorporate the historic episcopate, through the future ordination of bishops and pastors, into its life.

Critics of the unity proposal, most of them centered in the Midwest where notions of congregational autonomy and suspicion of hierarchy run strong, argue that for Episcopalians,”clergy are sacramental mediators between Christ and believers.””For Lutherans, the church has only one priest, Jesus Christ himself,”says James Torgerson, editor of the Lutheran Commentator, an independent publication that has been a leader in the effort to defeat the full communion proposal.”He (Jesus) does not need sacramental bishops who alone can ordain, or sacramental priests who make communion happen.” Lutheran leaders, however, reject such criticism.”They (Episcopalians) have only asked us to embrace it (the historic episcopate) as a sign of the continuity of the gospel through the leadership of our bishops and as one of the one of the many ways that the Spirit leads the church,”said the Rev. Herbert Chilstrom, former presiding bishop of the denomination.”That is fully in keeping with what other Lutherans around the world have been doing for many generations.” A group of five top denominational leaders, in a statement on the question issued in July, argued rejection would place barriers between the ELCA and”not only the Episcopal Church but also the churches of the Anglican communion throughout the world.”Other Lutheran church bodies will welcome the ELCA’s assuming its rightful place among those churches whose ministerial structure reflect the historic apostolic mission of the gospel,”it said.

Relations with the Episcopalians, however, is not the only ecumenical issue that will be before the delegates. They will also be asked to approve a full communion proposal with the Moravian Church in America, a denomination organized in 1457 by followers of Czech reformer Jan Hus.

Other issues before the assembly include a proposed statement on economic justice calling on church members to work for a”sufficient, sustainable livelihood for all”and a report on the denomination’s activities in regard to homosexuality.

DEA END ANDERSON