Magyar Egyház, 1985 (64. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)

1985-07-01 / 4. szám

10. oldal

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

LUTHERAN-REFORMED DIALOGUE CALLS TO ACTION

The document “An Invitation to Action — The Lutheran-Reformed Dialogue, Round III, 1981-1983” with the subtitle “A Study of Ministry, Sacraments, and Recognition” declares to be a “Final Report” suggesting that after years of studies and carefully worded agreements an appropriate time has come that Reformed and Lutheran Churches in the U.S.A. “take positive action.” The two previous Rounds (I: 1962-66, II: 1972-74) had encouraged the two traditions “to recognize significant theological convergence and to participate in specific common activities.” The introductory remark to the present document states with regret that “our respective churches did not do so as early as 1966.”

Solid background for study and for the statements are given by re-printing not only reports and recommendations of Rounds I and II but also of statements on communion practices and liturgies as well as on “office and ordination” and “church and ministry” in the two traditions. Particularly important in our view is the addition of the history and full text of the Leuenberg Agreement (European Lutheran- Reformed Dialogue, 1973-1974 with worldwide distribution) which sets the U.S.A. dialogues into a broad context. This reflected in the “Common Statement” of our document: We celebrate and call attention to the full fellowship in sacraments and ministries already experienced in Europe for more than ten years under the Leuenberg Agreement.

Appealing is the clarity of the construction of the “Common” and “Joint” Statements. The first declares that the two churches are compelled to work together officially toward full communion in each other’s baptism, holy communion, and ministry. Our unity in Christ compels us to claim our strong affinities in doctrine and practice... We affirm that both of our traditions have done their theological reflection from the same foundations and used the same classical vocabulary: Christ alone,, faith alone, grace alone, Scripture alone.

The decisive part of the Common Statement is where it calls for positive action: From a common conviction of the urgency of God’s mission confronting identical social, political, and cultural problems which require the united proclamation, witness, and service of Christians the participating churches of the dialogue (members of the Caribbean and North American Area Council — CAN A AC — of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A.) are requested to recognize one another as churches in which the gospel is proclaimed and the sacraments administered according to the ordinance of Christ; to recognize as both valid and effective one another’s ordained ministries; to recognize one another’s celebrations of the Lord’s Supper as a means of grace; to move beyond purely administrative and intellectual action by (among others) supporting one another’s ministry, by common study at each judicatory level of the Holy Scriptures, the histories and traditions of each church, by joint celebrations of the Lord’s Supper among members of the various judicatories, by inviting the ordained pastors of each tradition to preach in congregations of the other tradition, by transmitting a copy of this report and attached papers to all persons participating in the official response to BEM. The Common Statement leaves the door open to further dialoguing by referring any unresolved theological issues,

such as the relationship between faith and ethics, and church and world, to a subsequent dialogue in the context of these new relationships.

Participants from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod submitted a minority report stating that since that church establishes altar and pulpit fellowship with other church bodies only after substantial agreement has been reached in all of the doctrine of Scripture, the LC-MS participants cannot at this time concur in the opinion of officially recognizing the Eucharists of those churches which affirm the Reformed Confessions, yet they wish to participate in future discussions with the view toward reaching a more complete agreement on the important doctrines of the Scripture.

The “Joint Statements” deal with Justification (“there are no substantive matters concerning justification”), the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper (“the Lutheran and Reformed families of churches have a fundamental consensus in the gospel and the sacraments which not only allows but also demands common participation in the Lord’s Supper... Reconciliation at the Lord’s Table also involves mutual recognition of our public ministries”), Ministry (“All ministry in the church derives from the ministry of its Lord and is also characterized by service .. . there are no substantive matters concerning ministry which should divide us”). The statements on the Lord’s Supper and on Ministry have copious footnotes!

As conclusion of the document the last two Appendices are A Statement of Lutherans to Lutherans Reflecting On This Dialogue and From the Reformed Delegation to the Reformed Family of Churches. The much longer Lutheran Statement gives an overview of both the history and the making of this dialogue sort of explaining why the Lutherans are so wholeheartedly party to the agreement (“We believe that Christ now calls us to common Eucharist and common mission. The commonality between churches which affirm and live under the Lutheran and Reformed Confessions has been identified in gospel, sacraments, and ministry... the time has then come, and the challenge before the churches is, to express this theological reality in eucharistic and pulpit hospitality and acts of common mission . . . this reconciling process [is] dynamic and moving toward God’s future.”) And a very strong final sentence: “We are convinced that the force of the Confessio Augustana lays the burden of proof on those who would resist unity when there is agreement in the gospel.”

The appeal of the Reformed Delegation expresses its hope that the Reformed family of churches will enter into an “experience of Reformed-Lutheran fellowship, mutual enrichment in the faith, and partnership in the church’s mission.” A far reaching recommendation is added: “Our churches might also consider adding the Augsburg Confession to our books of confessions as a recognition of the debt the Reformed tradition owes to the Lutheran one theologically.”

The document gives a full list of the participating churches of all the rounds of the dialogue with names of members of each delegation. There is also a brief historical description of the churches of Round III — four of each tradition.

Notes on the United Church of Christ are particularly useful because historically this church is rooted in both traditions (first merger producing the Evangelical and Reformed Church, then another merger with the Congrega