EIR Newsletter

From the Officer for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations

Transfiguration and Transformation

I just returned from the wonderful and moving celebration of full communion between the Episcopal Church and the Northern and Southern Provinces of the Moravian Church. General Convention approved “Finding Our Delight in the Lord,” our agreement with the Moravians, in 2009. The 2010 Synods of the Moravian Church likewise approved the agreement, which called for an inaugural liturgy.

Over 500 people, including a brass ensemble and choirs from three local congregations, gathered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in historical Central Moravian Church, whose gaslights were lit and flickered through the evening service. Bishop Steven Miller of the diocese of Milwaukee, co-chair of the dialogue, preached the sermon using the propers for Mission from the Book of Common Prayer. While celebrating the steps toward more visible unity that Episcopalians and Moravians have taken, Bishop Miller also challenged us not to lose sight of the fact that this celebration is a beginning, not an end. Likening it to the disciples at the Transfiguration, he called on us not to build three booths, one for Episcopalians, one for Northern Province Moravians, and one for Southern Province Moravians – but rather to realize that we are called to be transfigured and transformed as we move forward in mission.

This liturgy is the formal beginning of this full communion partnership – as of February 10, 2011, the Episcopal Church and the Moravian Church in the Northern and Southern Provinces have interchageability of presbyters and bishops. A Coordinating Committee is in the process of being appointed to look at areas where we can collaborate in mission work, and we are also in conversation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America about synergies that can emerge from common full-communion relations.

Included in this month’s newsletter is some of the media coverage from the full communion celebration. More importantly, I encourage Episcopalians with Moravian congregations in your diocese to hold local celebrations commemorating this historic moment, as we begin to take steps to heal the scandal of our Christian divisions.

Sincerely, Tom Ferguson
Ecumenical and Interreligious Officer

Celebration of Full Communion between the Episcopal Church and the Northern and Southern Provinces of the Moravian Church

With an evening Eucharist on February 10 that blended elements of the liturgical and musical practices of both traditions, representatives of the Episcopal Church and the two provinces of the Moravian Church in North America formally inaugurated a full-communion relationship between the churches.

Clergy and laity play central roles in the governance of the two churches, although there are differences in the way each understands the orders of ordained ministry. While Episcopalians look upon deacons as ministers of word and service, Moravians understand deacons as ministers of word and sacrament, and the diaconate as a time of preparation for ordination as presbyter.

Moravian deacons normally are active in their order for three to five years before being consecrated presbyters. All Episcopal priests are first ordained as deacons as well, but there is no equivalent in the Moravian Church to the Episcopal Church's office of permanent or vocational deacon. Both churches have similar understandings of the office of presbyter/priest.

Bishops in the Moravian Church trace their succession back to their founding in 1457, while Episcopal bishops trace theirs through the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church of England.

Watch Video Here

WCC News

Apply Now: Stewards Programme 2011

Young Christians from around the world are invited to apply to the WCC Stewards Programme for one of two hands-on learning experiences at major ecumenical meetings in 2011, the WCC Central Committee meeting, February 8-24; and the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, May 12-26. Applicants must be between the ages of 18-30 years.

We Are Called to Be One in Faith and Action, Reports WCC General Secretary

“There is no theological reflection that does not take place in God’s vulnerable world and in the midst of the joy and suffering of ordinary people,” said the Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit in his report to the first meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee that he has addressed as general secretary.

EIR Updates

Amid Music and Prayer, Episcopalians, Moravians Inaugurate Full Communion

With an evening Eucharist on Feb. 10 that blended elements of the liturgical and musical practices of both traditions, representatives of the Episcopal Church and the two provinces of the Moravian Church in North America formally inaugurated a full-communion relationship between the denominations.

From Episcopal Café: Moravians and Episcopalians Celebrate Full Communion

Last night the inaugural service celebrating full communion between the Episcopal Church and the Northern and Southern Provinces of the Moravian Church in North America was held at Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori joined the Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Miller and the Rev. David Guthrie, the presidents of the two Moravian Provincial Elders' Conferences, to celebrate.

Finding Our Delight in the Lord

The original proposal for full communion between the Moravian Church and the Episcopal Church reads:

We seek this relationship of full communion so that our mission as Christ’s church will be more effectively fulfilled and each of our communions might be more complete because of the spiritual treasures of the other; and we do this for the sake of the world, “so that the world may believe."

News in the Field

At 50th Anniversary of Vatican Ecumenism, New Energy 'Needed'

Ecumenism, which seeks global church unity, is in need of new energy, top Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican leaders have said at commemorations to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of a Vatican group to help bring about Christian unity.

On June 5, 1960, the day of Pentecost, as part of preparations for the 1962 to 1965 second Vatican council, Pope John XXIII established a secretariat for promoting Christian unity. In 1988, John Paul II changed the name to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Anglican-Methodist International Commission for Unity in Mission issues communiqué

Meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, the members of the Anglican-Methodist International Commission for Unity in Mission (AMICUM) could not forget the courage, conviction, and determination of those who had fought against the sin of apartheid and had then set about a process of truth and reconciliation.

On a visit to Robben Island, where the members heard a commentary by a former political prisoner, the commission was left in no doubt of the need to be honest with each other if the painful divisions that deny the gospel call to unity are to be overcome.

Third Phase of Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue to Commence in May

The third phase of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) will commence in May when its new members will meet for the first time at the Monastery of Bose in northern Italy.

The eighteen members, including four women and four lay people, appointed to the commission will grapple with questions regarding the church as communion, local and universal, and how the church comes to discern right ethical teaching.

CWS News

Church World Service Calls out Dangers in 'Evisceration' of Global Assistance Budget

Global humanitarian agency Church World Service voiced grave concern today over proposed budget cuts under deliberation in the House of Representatives this week that "threaten to eviscerate" U.S. funding for humanitarian and poverty-focused global assistance. Those cuts would be the deepest to the international affairs budget since the end of World War II.

The proposed cuts include a 41 percent cut to Development Assistance, which includes funding for bi-lateral U.S. agriculture and food security assistance as well as other critical programs for children and adults struggling to overcome poverty.

2011 Conferences

Gathering Together: A Celebration of Full Communion

How will the full communion agreements of today affect the Church of the future? This two-day conference will bring together leading ecumenists from the Lutheran, Episcopal, UCC, Methodist, and Presbyterian traditions to discuss the current state of ecumenism and its future in the mainline churches. Gathering Together is hosted by Yale Divinity School’s Lutheran Studies Program and its Ecumenical Task Force.

When: March 25-26, 2011

Where: Yale Divinity School
409 Prospect St., New Haven, CT

Who:

Jane Fisler-Hoffman

Ecumenical representative, United Church of Christ

Mark Hanson

Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Gradye Parsons

Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Stephen Sidorak

Ecumenical Officer, United Methodist Church

J. Robert Wright

Professor of Ecclesiastical History,
General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church

For more information, please visit yalegatheringtogether.blogspot.com

NCC News

Women of Chile Will Lead the Prayers on World Day of Prayer, March 4

The World Day of Prayer, an ecumenical event conducted by Christian women around the world for more than a century, will highlight the women of Chile on March 4.

The 2011 theme of the annual event is "How Many Loaves Have You?" based on the Biblical story of Jesus' feeding of 5,000 persons in Mark 6:30-44.

A message from the U.S. World Day of Prayer office in New York says, "The women of Chile invite us to join them in an opening procession, carrying a 'panera,' the name Chileans give to their everyday bread basket." In addition to symbolizing the Biblical reference to the feeding of the 5,000, bread is a universal sign of hospitality."

Ecumenical Work Week Slated in the Gulf, July 31- August 6

The annual Ecumenical Work Week in New Orleans, originally sponsored by the National Council of Churches Special Commission on the Just Rebuilding of the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, will continue "until the work is done" under the leadership of the American Baptist Home Mission Societies. Plans are under way for a week of work and worship in New Orleans, July 31-August 6.

Resources following up on General Convention's ecumenical and inter-religious work

Next Steps in Full Communion with the Moravian Church: Read More »

An Overview of the Ecumenical Agreement with the Presbyterian Church, USA: Read More »

An Overview of the Interreligious Relations Statement of the Episcopal Church: Read More »