Last month in Anaheim, Calif., the Episcopal General Convention declared gays and lesbians in committed relationships eligible for “any ordained ministry.” The move came despite Anglican world leaders’ calls for a clear moratorium on consecrating another gay bishop.
The divide in the Episcopal Church in the last few years has led to the formation of the more conservative Anglican Church in North America, which claims 100,000 members.
Headed into next week’s convention, ELCA leaders on both sides of the issue wonder if a similar split could be in store for them.
“I’m not going to predict that,” said Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, the national leader of the Chicago-based denomination. “I’m also not going to deny that I have concerns about the implications about whatever we do, for our life together coming out of it.”
Some of our largest congregations are already heading for the exits. Membership continues to drop at an accelerating rate. Benevolence income continues to drop at an accelerating rate. A large gathering of orthodox Lutherans is already scheduled for September.
Yes, the ELCA journey is so not like the one taking by TEC …
sigh … should have been “taken by TEC.” But I’m sure you mostly caught the intended irony and such aimed at our PB.
We’ll see, Brian. I must admit that I’m not very optimistic, given the voting trends at the regional synod level.
I grew up in Sioux Falls, SD, which is certainly Lutheran territory. The Lutherans (mostly of Norwegian descent and tending toward low church pietism) outnumbered all the other Protestants put together. Augustana College is located there, a fine school in many ways, but with a rather generic “mainline” Protestant flavor.
At one time I was hopeful that CCM (Called to Common Mission, the agreement between TEC and the ELCA) might actually help both denominations. I hoped that the Lutherans might hlep us Anglicans take doctrine more seriously, and that we might help the Lutherans realize that church government is NOT a matter of adiapohora or indifference. I hoped that maybe some Lutherans would even come to see that Article 7 of the great Augsburg Confession just isn’t true, i.e., that it’s an illusion to think that [b]”it’s sufficient”[/b] for maintianing the unity of the Church that the Gospel be truly preached and the Sacraments be duly administered.
Alas, it hasn’t turned out that way. Instead, both TEC and the ELCA are succombing to the deadly heresy of our time that’s so prevalent in the prevailing culture, the theological relativism and moral antinomianism that are just epidemic and pervasive in the USA.
And the ELCA has already lost many of its best and brightest theologians, biblical scholars, and leading orthdox pastors who were part of the “evangelical catholic” movement. I’m referring to the astonishing number of great orthodox Lutherans who’ve chosen to become Roman Catholics over the last two decades.
But I remain convinced that orthodox Lutherans and Anglicans have much that we can learn from each other. Indeed, I think we really need each other. And I continue to hope and dream that in the New Reformation that’s just getting started, we can indeed engage in “common mission” and achieve true intercommunion, upon a sound biblical, doctrinal, liturgical, and ecclesiological basis.
After all, the 1979 BCP and the 1978 LBW share the same Psalter (they borrowed ours) and many common features. And if the principle of “lex orandi, lex credendi” applies, we ought to be more unified than ever.
David Handy+