DATE: Tuesday, August 19, 1997              TAG: 9708190253

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   73 lines

LUTHERANS REJECT EPISCOPALIANS, MOVE CLOSER TO PRESBYTERIANS

Lutherans meeting in Philadelphia on Monday narrowly rejected a potentially historic agreement with the Episcopal Church, while moving closer to Presbyterians and other denominations.

It was mixed news for the cause of Christian unity, but the defeat of the Episcopal-Lutheran agreement surprised many who saw the movement gaining momentum. Episcopalians had approved the agreement in their national meeting last month.

``I am so disheartened,'' said the Rev. Judith Cobb, associate pastor of First Lutheran Church in Norfolk and a voting delegate, about the Episcopal issue. ``It was obviously very close, just six votes. We had worked on that for so long.''

Delegates to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's national assembly did vote 839-193 Monday to enter into full communion with the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ and the Reformed Church in America.

Affecting about 10 million Christian Americans - and perhaps 20,000 in Hampton Roads - the agreement bridges centuries-old divisions and means those churches can share communion and clergy.

``Today's vote marks the decisive milestone in our journey toward unity, and signals the beginning of a new chapter in the history of these churches of the 16th-century Reformation,'' said a statement released by the heads of the four churches.

But the similar proposal to establish closer ties with the Episcopal Church fell six votes short of the two-thirds majority required for passage. The vote was 684-351.

``I am terribly disappointed and sad, as I know many of my Lutheran brothers and sisters are,'' said the Rt. Rev. Frank Vest of Norfolk, the Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Southern Virginia. ``We will keep working and praying together for the visible unity that our Lord Jesus Christ calls us to.''

Cobb and her husband, James, the principal pastor of First Lutheran, are deeply involved in ecumenism, the name given to the effort to reunite Christian denominations. The Rev. James Cobb has long represented Lutherans on a leading ecumenical commission.

The Virginia delegation to the Lutheran assembly voted for all the ecumenical agreements.

Judith Cobb said it was clear that the Episcopal agreement failed because many of the old-line Lutherans from the Midwest still balk at the more formal and powerful hierarchy of the Episcopal Church. Lutheranism is more congregation-based.

``There was a sense that there was fear in the vote, a fear of losing what is Lutheran,'' she said. ``It's cultural, it's part of their history.''

Cobb said she fears it could take several years to bring the proposed agreement before Lutherans again.

Lutherans are wary of Episcopal belief in the principle of apostolic succession, that Christian ministry directed by bishops can be traced back to the original apostles. That gives too much authority to the hierarchy, critics say.

``Every fiber of my being shouts out, cries no,'' Connie McCallister of Pennsylvania said during Monday's debate.

``This is a matter of conscience for those of us who oppose this,'' said another critic, the Rev. Tony Stoutenburg. ``This really does come down to an understanding of what constitutes the church.''

Others, however, said the theological differences should not continue to separate the churches.

``Our people realize those differences exist, but they don't believe they are - in official language - church-dividing, or in unofficial language, a big deal,'' said Michael Rogness, a professor at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn.

The vote on the Lutheran-Episcopal agreement had personal meaning for the Cobbs and Vest. Anticipating approval, Vest had already made plans to participate in Judith Cobb's formal ordination next month at First Lutheran.

``I asked him what he'd do if it didn't pass,'' Judith Cobb said. ``He said, `I suppose I'd be there as a guest.' '' MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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