letters

Christian Century, Oct 10, 2001

ELCA and ecumenism

WHEN JEAN Caffey Lyles writes that "Lutheran Presiding Bishop-elect Mark S. Hanson will receive the historic episcopate at his October installation, she makes the common mistake of confusing the historic episcopate with the historic succession ("ELCA tinkers with ecumenism," Sept. 12-19). The historic succession is a part of the historic episcopate, not the whole; the terms are not interchangeable. A person is ordained into the historic episcopate, but does not "receive" it. What Hanson will receive is installation in the historic succession, according to a minimalist interpretation of it. Nor can the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America receive the historic episcopate through its full-communion agreement with the Episcopal Church. Neither Lutheran nor Episcopal ecumenists have yet demonstrated how the historic episcopate can be received by a nonepiscopal church with a single-order ministry.

Caffey notes the recent approval of a full-communion agreement between Anglicans and Lutherans in Canada--a goal reached "with far less agonizing than their U.S. counterparts"--but she does not mention the reason for the difference: the Canadian agreement does not require the transmittal of the historic episcopate from Anglicans to Lutherans or the subsequent ordination of Lutheran pastors in the historic succession. In this respect, it follows the example of the Porvoo Common Statement and Declaration, the full-communion agreement proposed for British and Irish Anglican churches and the Nordic and Baltic Lutheran churches in 1992.

John D. Garber
St. Mark's Episcopal Church,
Moscow, Iowa

UMC megachurch ...

I THANK John Dart for including the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in a sidebar to "`Closeknit' Megachurches" (Sept. 12-19). Just a couple of notes of clarification: the church is the second largest in our denomination based upon worship attendance, but not membership. In addition, we in the United Methodist Church separate children from adults in membership numbers; Dart's numbers combine both children and adults.

Finally, Dart noted that "Hamilton Disagrees" that part of the success in building this very big church is due to its location in the suburbs. Actually, I agree that the demographics of our community have played an important role in the church's growth. My point was that demographics can provide the potential for rapid growth but do not guarantee this kind of growth. The ten churches that started in our area but eventually closed were cited as an illustration of this.

What is interesting about the Church of the Resurrection story is that we were one of only a handful of new church starts in the community that have aimed to offer more traditional worship as opposed to more contemporary or "Willow" type services. In this case, the choice to go more traditional has drawn thousands of worshipers, while the nondenominational and conservative churches with more contemporary forms of worship have faltered.

Adam Hamilton
United Methodist Church of the
Resurrection,
Leawood, Kan.

Moral choices ...

WILLIAM H. Willimon describes a family that felt blessed by the birth of a Down's Syndrome son ("Worldmakers," Aug. 29-Sept. 5). One can admire the parents' positive attitude but still challenge their belief that they were fulfilling the will of God.

The child had a respiratory problem which, uncorrected, could have proven fatal. The family's response was, "If this condition can be corrected, then we want it corrected." So what we have here is a "mixed" willing--part God, part parents. On the surface God is regarded as having given them a Down's Syndrome child with a possibly fatal flaw; the family wishes to modify this gift from God.

This, of course, is the family's own moral choice. It may be admired. However, if it is also a choice made on behalf of the larger community, one that involves extended community or larger governmental care for extended periods, our response may be mixed.

I foresee a time when medical decisions that directly or indirectly obligate the larger community will require some warrant from that community.

Clark N. Ross
Wilmette, Ill.

William H. Willimon makes a compelling case for the need to "renarrate" people's lives in the light of the gospel message. However, his apparent rejection of other narratives should make us wary. We must exercise caution, for these narratives are also necessary to understand the human condition in all its complexity and fullness. His seeming distaste for psychological narratives in particular is disturbing. It is erroneous and dangerous to assert that "psychological problems" exist because "that's the only kind of problem we're still allowed to have." Contemporary psychology helps eradicate naive beliefs concerning the health and well-being of many persons who, in a purely Christian narrative, risk being labeled as "possessed" or somehow lacking in sufficient faith to live healthily in the world.

There is no question that the narrative of Jesus and the Gospels is needed; however, to reject other narratives, such as the psychological, takes us backward, not forward, in our walk with Christ. Perhaps the answer is a fusion of these (sometimes competing) narratives to reach a meta-narrative that ignores neither Christ nor the help for suffering and oppressed persons offered by other narratives.