The Last Sunday of Pentecost, Proper 29C, Nov. 21, 2004 From today’s Epistle: "Through Christ God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross." I spent most of last week in ecumenical discussions, and I come back more hopeful than I went. Our churches are making an effective witness to reconciliation in Jesus Christ.

Last week I attended three meetings: the national Moravian Episcopal dialogue, the NC Episcopal Lutheran Moravian (ELM) planning meeting, and the NC Episcopal United Methodist dialogue. I’ve been going to ecumenical meetings for at least the last 40 years. My goal is to help Christians make an effective witness to reconciliation in Jesus Christ. After 10 years of work in NC and nationally Moravian Episcopal dialogue is close to making a recommendation that if approved by both churches will establish full communion by 2009. Both the Episcopal and Moravian churches established full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1999 and the ELM meeting planned a series of meetings and services to celebrate five years in this relationship. The Methodist dialog may bring us to full communion by 2012, and we are working toward realizing that relationship.

Full communion means that churches recognize in each other all the essentials of the Christian faith and agree to share together in reconciled diversity Christ’s ministry of reconciliation in the world.

We’re not looking for a Sears Roebuck K Mart type merger. We’ve tried that and found it so difficult we’re looking for a different model. The United Methodist Church was formed by a merger of three churches in 1939 and added another in 1968, the United Church of Christ joined two denominations in 1957, the northern and southern Presbyterians merged in 1983, three Lutheran churches merged in 1987. Even within denominational families with shared history the process was very difficult. Rather than merger, the churches are working now on establishing full communion.

Churches in full communion with each other remain independent and self-governing, and agree to share Christ’s ministry of reconciliation in the world. We read the Bible together, agreeing where we can and disagreeing where we must. We confess a common faith in the creeds; we share in Christ’s sacraments, and we share a commonly recognized and authorized ministry.

The ministry we all share is the ministry of Christ Jesus, shared throughout his spiritual body by all who claim him as Savior and Lord.

Baptism is the fundamental ordination. When we are baptized we make, or our sponsors made in our name some fundamental statements of belief and promises of future behavior. We renounce evil and claim Christ, and after we are baptized celebrant and people together give the charge (p 308):

"We receive you into the household of God. Confess the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share with us in his eternal priesthood."

Our common ministry is one of confession, proclamation, and offering. St.

Francis is supposed to have said, "Preach Christ always; if necessary use words." In all we say and all we do we all witness to the presence and power of Christ in our lives and in the world. The church has from time to time authorized certain people to act within and for the church. In

1982 the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches approved a consensus document, "Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry," and that document has been widely accepted. It forms the basis of our full communion agreements with the ELCA and the Moravian Church, and influenced the Windsor Report.

Our common ministry is to "confess the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share in his eternal priesthood." The church has organized the common ministry in three ways and assigned three orders to them: The first ministry is service to world and church, a common ministry led by deacons. Ordered or ordained people are first set apart as deacons. The second ministry is in the local church, and some deacons are called to this ministry as priests or presbyters. And a third is in relation to a number of churches, a ministry of connection and oversight, and to this ministry we call bishops. Every church organizes these in ways that reflect the needs over time in that church.

Part of my work has been to study what others do and why, learn how effective these patterns of organization are in the life of the church, and find ways to increase our common effectiveness. The church is the body of Christ, of which all baptized people are members, locally organized to help us carry on his ministry.

"Through Christ God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross." "We receive you into the household of God. Confess the faith of Christ crucified, proclaim his resurrection, and share with us in his eternal priesthood."