December 21, 2004

HANOVER, Germany/GENEVA - In the context of ecumenical dialogue between the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches and the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), the bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Schaumburg-Lippe, Juergen Johannesdotter (Bueckeburg), Germany says baptism must be seen as the real sacrament of unity.

In an article in VELKD-Informationen (newsletter of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany - VELKD), Johannesdotter says baptism had not been an issue in the ecumenical dialogue for a long time. On the Eucharist, he points out that the dispute between the churches was nowhere more visible and tangible than over the Eucharist, which was seen as the sacrament of unity for all intent and purpose. Baptism, on the other hand, was recognized both in the Protestant and the Roman Catholic Church * despite all the other differences in sacramental doctrine. In baptism, the gift of the unity of the churches was already a reality, he stresses.

He calls for confidence building measures, saying churches are not divided by theologies but by mistrust. He writes, "Disappointed yearning for an ecumenical 'one-age' has rapidly evolved into equally unhelpful talk about an ecumenical 'ice age.'"

Johannesdotter is also concerned about the wrangling over a date for the next ecumenical Kirchentag (church convention), five years after the signing of the JDDJ by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Roman Catholic Church. This may lead to the perception "that the impatient yearning for visible progress in ecumenical relations has been succeeded by a backward movement motivated mainly by church politics," he argues. He notes that "a rather sober mood has taken the place of a euphoric sense of a new beginning," creating the possibility of seeing differences and division as a wound which cannot yet heal.

The VELKD brings together eight Evangelical Lutheran churches in Bavaria, Brunswick, Hanover, Mecklenburg, North Elbe, Saxony, Schaumburg-Lippe and Thuringia, representing around 10.4 million people.

The full text of the article by Bishop Juergen Johannesdotter is available on the VELKD Web site at http://www.velkd.de/.

Lutheran World Information