Madre's Missives

ELCA Council Recommends Interim Agreement With Methodists
05-073-JB

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) recommended that the 2005 ELCA Churchwide Assembly approve a relationship of Interim Sharing of the Eucharist between the ELCA and the United Methodist Church....
With an interim commitment, congregations and judicatories of both churches will be encouraged to study theological documents, participate jointly in Holy Communion and explore new opportunities for shared ministry. Eventually, the two churches hope to achieve a relationship of full communion, which allows for clergy of one church body to serve in congregations of the other church, and creates opportunities for joint ministry.  (http://www.elca.org/Scriptlib/CO/ELCA_News/encArticleList.asp?a=3053&p=2)

I must be missing some important point here. The ELCA practices open communion, which means that pretty much anyone can take the Lord's Supper at any ELCA church. It doesn't matter if a person is Lutheran, Catholic, Episcopalian, Baptist, Methodist, Moravian, Eastern Orthodox, Atheist, Buddhist, Jewish, etc. Anyone who wants to come, c'mon down!

So what's the point of making these "full communion" agreements with other denominations? If your church is in a full communion agreement with the ELCA, then you're EXTRA welcome there?

Is there really no significant difference between denominations that it's perfectly OK (and even good) to be able to walk into a supposedly Lutheran church and have the pastor("ette") actually be Presbyterian or United Church of Christ or something else?

I am listening to Losing My Religion/Shiny Happy People R.E.M. Release Date: 27 May, 1993