'Think big for the gospel'

Lutheran, The, Aug 2001 by Pickrell, Chris

Don't let CCM splinter the ELCA

Jesus calls us to unity. Called to Common Mission, our full communion agreement with the Episcopal Church, has been hailed as a modern ecumenical step forward. We now have opportunities to share clergy in rural settings, urban areas, college campuses, the military, penal institutions, health-care facilities and other places.

WordAlone, a group opposed to CCM, has leveled serious accusations about the agreement. Are they true? My study convinces me they're not.

If there's one overriding argument by WordAlone, it's that CCM forces the ELCA to be part of the historic episcopate. The group says this grants bishops "new" and "special" powers and thus runs counter to Martin Luther's teachings about the priesthood of all believers. WordAlone's literature warns that CCM robs us of our Lutheran identity and forces us to "become

Episcopalian." CCM, WordAlone maintains, will affect "everything we do." None of this is so. Bernhard Lohse, professor of church history and

historical theology at Hamburg [Germany] University, in his 1980 book Martin Luther: An Introduction to His Life and Work (English translation, Fortress Press, 1986), wrote the following in his chapter "Luther's Attitude Toward the Office of the Bishop": "Although Luther clearly rejected the authority of the papacy, he never polemicized against the office of the bishops in the same way. Quite the contrary, scholars generally agree that Luther himself thought it important to preserve the episcopal structure of the church."

ELCA structure and governance remain unchanged under CCM. No ELCA or Episcopal clergy will ever need to be reordained. Present and future bishops will have no new powers. Absolutely no changes will be made in our parish worship, education or governance. At present when someone from a congregation is ordained, the synod bishop is there but may delegate the responsibility. In the future, the synod bishop will still be there-not to dispense special powers but as a sign of continuity and representation within the church.

Nor will CCM change our issues of leadership, biblical interpretation or gay and lesbian clergy. It leaves us free to continue wrestling with those matters.

But if our ELCA splits up over CCM, we will send an unfortunate message to Christendom-Lutherans still are an ethnically and geographically based denomination that focuses too much on inward issues. Let's think big for the gospel.

By: Chris Pickrell Pickrell is a member of Bethel Lutheran Church, Shoreline, Wash. He wrote a longer study for those who are interested. See http. As tn nL org/other/ pickrell.htmL

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