Episcopal & Lutheran Women Join for Celebration

by Emily McDonald
Women in Chattanooga celebrated the Concordat of Agreement between the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in a special way.

On Feb. 18, Martin Luther Day, a service at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Chattanooga brought together women from Ascension, Resurrection and Trinity Lutheran churches with the Episcopal Church Women of St. Paul's. The Rev. Delores Donnelly, interim pastor at Trinity Lutheran, and the Rev. Sandra Wooley, a retired Episcopal priest, celebrated the Holy Eucharist and Donnelly spoke at a luncheon following the service.

The event was the first time Episcopal and Lutheran women in the Chattanooga area, and possibly in the diocese, shared a worship experience since the Concordat became effective Jan. 1, 2001.

The service was a wonderful example of ecumenism and showed "how important it is for people to come together," Donnelly said. "Our God is your God."

"I think it was a good learning experience for everybody to see how really similar our liturgy is and also see the nuances that are different," Wooley said.

During her talk Donnelly spoke of the Epiphany story of the Magi. "Did ecumenism begin then?" The Magi weren't Christian or Jewish but they came to worship a Jew.

"There is no doubt in my mind, with very creative people, new ways will be found to come together as God's people," she said.

Donnelly said she was asked to take an interim post in an Episcopal church near her home in Berkeley Lake, Ga. She also told the women she had conducted the burial service for the mother of U.S. Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia. Mrs. Nunn was a United Methodist and the service was held in a Baptist church.

The idea for the Chattanooga service came last spring when a group of St. Paul's women were returning from an ECW conference. "We were talking about how nice it was to have Lutheran women from Middle Tennessee there for the first time," said Josephine Bishop, a member of St. Catherine's Chapter at St. Paul's. They decided to try to get something going in Chattanooga.

Organizers expressed a desire for future cooperative ventures between Lutheran and Episcopal women. "I'd like to see us do something together, take on some project," Wooley said.

At the luncheon representatives of the three Lutheran churches talked about their church's history and ministries. Approximately 70 women attended the service and the luncheon.

Emily McDonald is South East Correspondent for The East Tennessee Episcopalian.