July 22, 2010

STUTTGART, Germany – In what the Rev. Mark S. Hanson described as possibly "the most significant legacy this assembly will leave," the Eleventh Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) here took the historic step of asking the Mennonites for forgiveness for past persecutions, according to a news release from Lutheran World Information (LWI). Delegates unanimously approved a statement July 22 calling Lutherans to express their regret and sorrow for past wrongdoings towards Anabaptists and asking for forgiveness, the release said.

Hanson is LWF president and presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He is chairing the LWF assembly being held here July 20-27. The LWF is 145 churches in 79 countries, representing 70.1 million people.

Hanson described the act of repentance and reconciliation as "communion building and communion defining."

"We will not just look back; we will also look together to God's promised future," he said.

Through the adoption of the statement, titled "Action on the Legacy of Lutheran Persecution of Anabaptists," Lutherans repent for violent persecution of Anabaptists and for the ways in which Lutheran reformers supported persecutions with theological arguments, the release said. The statement asks for forgiveness "from God and from our Mennonite sisters and brothers" for past wrongdoings and the ways in which Lutherans subsequently forgot or ignored this persecution and have continued to describe Anabaptists in misleading and damaging ways, LWI reported.

The ELCA Church Council adopted a similar statement on behalf of the ELCA in 2006.

The LWF statement was based on work done by the Lutheran-Mennonite International Study Commission, 2005-2009, which produced the report," Healing of Memories: Reconciling in Christ," which was approved by the LWF Council in 2009.

Several delegates spoke in favor of adopting the statement. Archbishop Nemuel Babba of The Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria told delegates he felt like crying as the full statement was read to the assembly. "‘Forgiveness' is a difficult word for everyone to pronounce," he said. "(But) today has marked a milestone for two groups coming together because of the word ‘forgiveness.'"

In introducing the vote, Hanson called on assembly delegates and others present in the plenary hall to indicate their endorsement of the statement by kneeling or standing in silence. In a watershed moment in the life of the LWF and Lutheran-Mennonite relations, the LWF president announced the statement unanimously endorsed "in a spirit of great humility," according to the LWI report.

Mennonite World Conference Responds to Lutheran Repentance

"Today, in this place, we together – Lutherans and Anabaptist Mennonites – are fulfilling the rule of Christ," said the Rev. Danisa Ndlovu, president of the Mennonite World Conference, in an emotion-filled address to the assembly.

He confessed that Mennonites were painfully aware of their own inadequacy. "We cannot bring ourselves to this table with heads held high. We can only come bowed down in great humility and in the fear of the Lord. We cannot come to this point and fail to see our own sinfulness. We cannot come to this point without recognizing our own need for God's grace and forgiveness," he said.

In a symbolic act of reconciliation and servanthood, Ndlovu presented Hanson with a wooden foot-washing tub, saying that it represented the Mennonites' commitment to a future "when the distinguishing mark of Lutheran and Anabaptist-Mennonite relationships is boundless love and unfailing service." Ndlovu described how, in some Anabaptist and Mennonite churches, the practice of foot-washing has long been maintained.

"It is in our vulnerability to one another that God's miraculous, transforming and reconciling presence is made visible in the world," he said.

Accepting the gift, Hanson said, "In this and so many other ways, we will continue to follow (the Mennonite) example, and in this most significant day in our life there may be no more public example of reconciliation."

In a solemn service of repentance, the LWF assembly, along with members of the Mennonite community, came together to reflect on the painful past that has caused divisions between Lutherans and Mennonites for hundreds of years, LWI reported. The order of service called worshippers to "remember how Anabaptist Christians knew suffering and persecution, and how some of the most honored Reformation leaders defended this persecution in the name of faithfulness."

The service included testimonies by Mennonites about the persecution and its legacies, including the impact on small communities, and the ways in which Lutheran leaders – sometimes against their own best insights – gave theological support to civil authorities who persecuted Anabaptists, the news release said.

Information about the LWF assembly is at http://www.lwf-assembly.org/, on the Web.

Follow news and commentary about the LWF assembly at http://sites.google.com/site/communiogarden/, and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Communio-Garden-EN/142406455776020, on the Web.

ELCA News Service