UMC considers Full Communion with ELCA Saturday, Apr 26 2008 

UMC and ecumenical news , , J. Andrew Edwards 8:41 pm

Rachel Hagewood is doing a great job blogging from General Conference. She’s been sitting in on several different legislative committee meetings, which is very helpful for those of us who are only able to view the proceedings from the main floor as streamed online.

Yesterday she sat in on the Independent Commissions LC (which I discussed here), which (among other things) dealt with petitions 80142 and 81455. These petitions call for Full Communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The ELCA will vote on this next year at their Bienniel Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis. These two petitions present a historic ecumenical opportunity for the UMC. Given that an important part of our heritage is to be located in the Evangelical/Lutheran tradition (vis-à-vis both Jacob Albright and the Moravian/Pietist influence on the Wesleys), I tend to think that this is a no-brainer.

That said, I look forward to hearing any debate on this from the floor. Ecumenical progress must not be made willy-nilly. If the various church bodies are to keep true to their theological heritage, they must not compromise their identity. Although this polyphonic rant of Episcopalian complaints against the proposed ECUSA-UMC full communion initially broke my strangely-warmed-heart, I agree that such conversation needs to take place. Apostolic succession is indeed an important ecclesial issue that cannot be ignored.

To this end, I wish more and more ecumenical proceedings were published and made widely available. The bilateral dialogue groups have been discussing these issues for decades now, but very little of those discussions are made public. I can only guess that publication as traditionally practiced (i.e. through denominational publishing houses) requires a market…and there is (sadly) too small a market for ecumenical proceedings to be profitable. The web, however, is very inexpensive. If each bilateral dialogue group would post their proceedings on a website, the ecumenical movement could be much more successful. (ENI is a good resource, but it is hardly comprehensive.)

I’ve tried in the past to provide ecumenical news…I will attempt that more often here on my new blog.

 

 

UMC goes over the hill Wednesday, Apr 23 2008 

UMC and ecumenical news , J. Andrew Edwards 4:54 pm

UMC \Today the United Methodist Church turns 40 years old. When I told my wife this, she replied, “It’s only 40 years old?! Didn’t you just celebrate Charles Wesley’s 300th birthday?”

It can be surprising that the tradition of faith in which I find myself deeply and inexorably rooted is only 40 years old. It’s not much older than I am. But as I think of the ecumenical progress that occurred on this date 40 years ago, I can only hope that we will be celebrating younger and younger ecclesial “birthdays.”

On April 23, 1968, the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren united to form the United Methodist Church. Before that, in 1946, the EUB was formed by the communion of the Evangelical Alliance and the United Brethren in Christ. In 1939, the Methodist Church was (re)united by the communion of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Methodist Episcopal Church-comma-South, and the Methodist Protestant Church (the so-called “Uniting Conference”). The UBCs officially formed in 1800, the MEC in 1784 (the “Christmas Conference”), and the EA in 1800 (though it split in 1891, reuniting in 1922).

Thus our 40 years are a sign that the Body of Christ is coming together. If we work diligently enough (through the Spirit), perhaps we may get even younger!