That resolution called “Ecumenical Statement with the Episcopal Church on Adopting an Agreement” may be viewed in its entirety on the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Web site (www.pcusa.org). At present, this resolution, with its agreements, has received 137 votes for it, and 10 against.
The search for more concrete union is said have begun with a famous sermon preached in Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, which pled for the development of a church “truly catholic, truly reformed, and truly evangelical.” That was nearly fifty years ago, and I remember it well. Actually movements towards union or unity began back in the 1920s. From this groundbreaking sermon came at least two groups that worked for the unity of Christ’s church. One was the Consultation on Church Union (COCU), which got off to a strong start with several American denominations having constructive conversations about both corporate union, and a growth in unity. A successor organization call Churches Uniting in Christ sought some of the same unity with ten denominations in the discussion.
Those were the days, for sure.
In the 1960s I prepared a sermon, “The Unity of Christ’s Church,” which took some themes from Eugene Blake. This was not a popular sermon, as the churches where I preached it were located in a kind of Presbyterian Belt in the deep south. I was on a roll. I had high hopes. Many of my friends were clergy of denominations other than mine, and many of us shared a vision of a united and effective church. We did not hope for a New Rome. Our hopes were more modest. Could we not come to some agreements on the issues of sacraments, ordination, and mission?
Readers of the Outlook who are in their seventies, as I am, may recall heady days when church unions of all kinds were making news. The Lutherans, inheritors of various national traditions relating to their origins in various European countries, formed the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America from bodies that bore such confusing names as the Lutheran Church in America, and the American Lutheran Church. Wesleyan denominations formed the United Methodist Church out of bodies that had Episcopal and non-episcopal forms of government. The uniting of parts of the larger Presbyterian family began in the late fifties with the United Presbyterian Church in North America joining hands with the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. (commonly called “the Northern Presbyterian Church”). The Presbyterian Church, U. S., did not make it into this union until 1983. Great inspiration was received from the establishment of the Church of South India, which combined elements of the Anglican, Methodist, and Presbyterian systems.
This was a time of divisions, also. Lutherans had hoped to have a common liturgy and hymnal with the more liberal bodies cooperating with the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. Ultimately, this venture failed, even though the hymnals of either denomination resemble one another! The P. C. A. and E. P. C. made their exits during the 70s leaving the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that made up our new denomination labeled as “liberal.”
But the conversations continued in this time of flux. A tiny corner of the conversation was an ongoing and modest discussion with the Episcopal Church about some kind of mutual recognition of ministries and a hope that the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist might be sacraments of unity rather than division.
I shared this hope, and supported all efforts to have the mutual recognition of ministries, since many smaller congregations might be well served by a person of a different community of faith.
Part of this thinking went back to my childhood on a somewhat isolated sea island community where Presbyterians and Episcopalians (the white ones, anyway) shared in some worship activities, mainly due to the scarcity in the World War II era of clergy. There was a period when St. James’ Episcopal Church and James Island Presbyterian Church shared Sunday School activities and attended one another’s worship. As a small boy, I recall that the main distinction between the churches was atmosphere. Presbyterians seemed to be monochrome and severely simple in their services. Episcopalians were decked out in lovely colors, and the minister could take a note and chant, much to my delight.
This era is not a fruitful one for church hatchet burying. Both the Episcopal and Presbyterian Churches are struggling as denominations. Episcopal churches in some cases have left the main body, taking their own bishops with them, and aligning themselves with church bodies in Africa. Presbyterians may self-destruct over issues of sexuality, as loads of time in some meetings is taken up with issues relating to same sex unions, and the right of same-sex preference persons to seek ordination.
Against this somber background, when energy that once had been used in conversing about possible new understandings of baptism, Eucharist and ministry (Remember the Lima documents?) are now spent building fences around Presbyterian tables and Episcopal altars. Today, it is not “us against them,” but “us against us.”
That being the case, is there any reason that the list of goals making the rounds of the presbyteries will be anything more than a respectful nod, without any action? The document calls for experiments in common worship, some limited types of Eucharistic sharing (but not common celebrations) and any kinds of mission as can be agreed upon. In the cases of both denominations, the issue of common celebration of the Lord’s Supper rests on the base of our divergent polity. In our communion, “oversight” or episcope is exercised by elders gathered in “courts” of regular gradation. True to their name, Episcopalians have a different take on governance. Governance is ultimately done by bishops (in cooperation with clergy and lay people) who have had Episcopal hands laid on them, and thus by those in physical Apostolic Sucession from the original apostles. Not all Episcopalians hold a hard and fast rule on this, however, as they have an agreement that allows for recognition of Lutheran pastors who may not have been ordained by bishops.
To add to some confusion, we Presbyterians are in a special relationship with the ELCA, which allows a person like me not only to preach the Word in Lutheran pulpits, but to be recognized as a Eucharistic celebrant. I have profited by this understanding, and have celebrated by myself or with a Lutheran pastor, the Holy Communion in four places.
What will happen to this document? Download it from the General Assembly Web site or contact your local presbytery to get a copy. In my presbytery, it passed easily. I believe that this is so since West Virginia is a kindly and accommodating place, and saw nothing ulterior in a plan whereby Presbyterians and Episcopalians share in the Lord’s Supper or encourage some mutual recognition of ministers.
I wait eagerly the response to this effort by the next General Convention of the Episcopal Church. Will our Anglican-based friends in faith see this effort as wise, since there are so many other important issues before that great and sometimes struggling, church?
My prediction is that the Episcopal Church will welcome this set of agreements, but that denomination may be hard pressed to affirm it strongly.
Will fruit be borne out of these affirmations? It will depend on the zeal of the pastoral leadership and of the congregation and its governing bodies. The two congregations that now exist in cooperative form show some promise. In fact, the one in Cincinnati has existed for fifty years.
The question remains whether Presbyterians or Episcopalians cannot only cooperate in ministries, but whether each can live with altered understandings of episcope, that is, governance or oversight.
Lawton W. Posey is a retired PC(USA) minister who attends St John’s Episcopal Church in Charleston, W.Va, with his wife Bridget, who was active in the Roman Catholic Church for more than fifty years.
