Response of EKD Council Chairman, Revd Dr Nikolaus Schneider, to remarks of The Most Revd Justin Welby on "Sailing in Uncharted Waters" (Meissen Delegation visit at Leicester –23 to 26 May 2013)

Archbishop, dear brother in Christ, Justin,

For us, as representatives of the Evangelical Church in Germany, it is a great joy and a particular honour, so soon after your enthronement, to have this opportunity to be here in England as a delegation and to get to know you personally. Many thanks for making this possible.

For more than twenty years our churches have been linked in ever closer community through the Meissen Declaration. We are well on our way to full visible unity.

I don't wish to lose much time reflecting on all that we have already achieved together. We had a good opportunity to do so in October 2011 during the visit of the delegation of the Church of England on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of Meissen which we solemnly celebrated at Dresden and at Meissen. I recall the divine service on that occasion in the Church of Our Lady (the Frauenkirche) at Dresden, with the sermon of Archbishop John Sentamu, where we celebrated the Eucharist jointly with one-thousand worshippers.

I recall as well, the festivities last year marking the Golden Jubilee of the re-dedication of Coventry Cathedral, when several delegations of the Evangelical Church in Germany travelled to England. We celebrated together but also joined in sad commemoration on the tragic histories of England and Germany.

As the participants in the Meissen Process frequently remind us, our fathers and grandfathers faced each other in arms to fight one another. Today, we celebrate together in divine service and encounters in churches and cathedrals which we once set out to destroy. Today, we live consciously aware of being in need for the forgiveness for our sins and - on this basis - can jointly undertake new steps.

For this, the Meissen Process is an important framework, offering every opportunity and possibility for an organically growing union and for understanding among peoples.

Dear Brother Justin, I would like to use this opportunity to mention a few points which strike us in our work within the Evangelical Church in Germany as particularly important at this time. You will see at how many points our churches face similar questions.

Let me begin with Europe. The engagement of churches for Europe is a mutual obligation and an increasingly significant topic for the future. Out of a sense of Christian responsibility we want to strengthen a Europe of solidarity and social justice and - at the same time - not lose sight of the cultural importance of Europe. We are aware that, whether in England or in Germany, there are a good many Europe-sceptics today. As seen from the vantage point of the church, we do, however, think that it is not by stressing that / which divides / but to rather emphasize what we hold in common concerning Europe which bodes well for the future of this continent.

And it is for this reason that arrangements are being jointly made for a major congress on questions concerning Europe by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the German Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference (DBK), as well as the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE).

The aim of this conference is to issue a joint ecumenical statement on the state of Europe. The EKD already addressed this matter last year with the publication of "For a Common Future in a United Europe - A Statement by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD)on Strengthening European Cohesion."

Alongside matters European, many questions concerning developments in Germany itself also preoccupy us: Most important: Preparations for the 2017 Reformation Jubilee:

We are very happy that the joint Meissen Commission adopted the annual themes of the EKD Reformation decade. Last year the annual theme of "Reformation and Music" was the focal point of the commission sessions in Eisenach. This year - here, and today in Leicester - the theme of "Reformation and Tolerance" acquires a clearly delineated focus at moving ecumenical encounters.

In Germany, we are embarked on a path of many stages on the way to Wittenberg. It was from Wittenberg that the Reformation emanated and it is to this place that we, in this day and age, now want to retrace our steps by stages.

The Evangelical Church in Germany, together with the German Protestant Kirchentag is embarked on preparing for a festive 2017 "Kirchentag" in Berlin, culminating in a large concluding service of worship at Wittenberg. Our plans are for a "World Exhibition of Protestantism", and we invite all ecumenical partners worldwide to the conceptual preparation of this exhibition. We anticipate a programme of events of festival character for a symbolic 95 days of the summer in 2017. The actual Reformation Day itself (31st of October) is to be a public holiday throughout Germany and we want to mark it in the form of an Act of State at Wittenberg as well as with many celebrations of the church throughout Germany and worldwide.

In preparation for this jubilee we are already embarked on many joint steps with our ecumenical partners. In October 2013 an International Ecumenical Conference is to be held at Zurich, to which the Evangelical Church in Germany and the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches are jointly invited. We feel very honoured that Rowan Williams has already confirmed his attendance and we expect more participants from the Church of England.

Also, in preparation for 2017, there are currently many exchanges with the Roman Catholic Church. At my meeting with Pope Francis on the 8th of April in Rome we spoke on this theme and other theological questions of our time. But it is not only on matters theological that there are exchanges with the Roman Catholic Church. Also on questions concerning the execution of very concrete projects, such as, for example, the presentation of a joint exhibit by the Vatican and the EKD concerning Luther and his time.

Aside from Europe and the Reformation Jubilee, I would like to raise a third topical issue which concerns us within the EKD. We are currently witnessing a debate of previously unheard dimension on the relevance of churches and other religious communities for civil society.

The understanding we have concerning the very existence and role or influence of churches within society is, and not least also in Germany, being questioned quite critically. We see this, for example, in terms of religious education in public schools which is being increasingly challenged.

We experience this concerning the employment law affecting the church's dealings with the 1.2 million employees of ecclesiastical and the church's benevolent institutions. As well, we witness it amid discussions on financial contributions to the churches to which the state is committed by law.

And we see it on the issue of church tax (Kirchensteuer) and the protection of religious holidays.

On all these topics, which I only mention in brief, a significant societal discourse has come about in recent years, which increasingly calls into question the assumptions held since 1918 and certainly those underpinning the churches as they came to be post-1945. Amid all the words of praise and appreciation heard daily concerning the work of the churches and their benevolent institutions, the overall societal climate in which we live and work has undergone change which increasingly gives rise to a sense of concern or even anxiety. At the same time, we remain confident that we are well positioned as we move forward and aim for transparency and public understanding on matters we hold to be important.

In conclusion I want to look ahead at the further development of the Meissen Process, to aim, so to speak, at the "uncharted waters" in which, in our view, we now navigate: What does Meissen signify for us?

Allow me to put it this way. The past decades of the Meissen Process have sent at least three shining or illuminating signals which can help orient us in our further joint venture of sailing in "uncharted waters":

1. The signal of visible unity of our two churches - even when not as yet fulfilled / and even when not all theological and particularly historic-dogmatic differences of ecclesiastical understanding have been resolved. But we will go on working on our reciprocal understanding of differences and come closer together as we do so. Thus, Meissen is a signal and living example in terms of many other ecumenical relations.
2. There has been transmitted the Signal of Change through Friendship - through personal and individual encounter. The many Meissen partnership arrangements on local and regional levels, which form the backbone of the Meissen process, contribute opportunities for the people of England and of Germany to meet time and again, the better to know each other. Prejudices are surmounted, how we see the other is corrected, cordial friendships have and continue to come into being. We jointly celebrate the Eucharist - how powerful this signal is can be felt whenever we hold a Meissen Service of Worship at major church gatherings like the Kirchentag. There are very few celebrations of the Eucharist that are similarly moving.
3. Finally, Meissen sends the Signal of Identity Awareness and Self Confidence of Christian Life in a United Europe. In that we jointly work on pressing all-European questions, we strengthen the role and influence of the Christian Churches in Europe. It is not our aim to restrict ourselves to religious sensibility, but it is our goal to honour our public obligation as churches in Europe and throughout the world on the foundations of our Christian faith and with a sense of strong Christian self-confidence.

We have been sent by God into this world to shape and sustain His creation. And in doing so, we ask for God's blessing in our joint pursuit.

I thank you.