WELCOME TO THE ANGLICAN LUTHERAN SOCIETY

The Anglican-Lutheran Society was founded in 1984 to promote a wider interest in and knowledge of the Anglican and Lutheran traditions, to develop opportunities for common worship, study, friendship, and witness, and to encourage prayer for the unity of the church, especially between Anglicans and Lutherans worldwide.

The Society's 2005 Conference was held in Tallinn, Estonia, September 9-13. The conference theme was "Living with Boundaries.

Along with about a dozen other Anglican-Lutheran Society conference attendees, we were staying at the Brigittine Convent in the easterly suburb of Pirita, which is named after the convent (Pirita is the Estonian version of St. Birgitta). The convent was originally built in 1407, and was one of the largest Brigittine convents until Russian Czar Ivan IV burned it in 1577. The new convent built in 2003 next to the ruins provides simple but modern and comfortable accommodations for guests.

The nuns were quite excited that weekend, because Father Philippe Jourdan was to be consecrated that Saturday as the first Roman Catholic Bishop in Estonia in 50 years. Many of the guests at the convent attended the consecration.

Since our conference was not due to start until Friday evening, after breakfast we headed to the medieval walled city of Tallinn for some sightseeing and shopping. On our way to the bus stop, we met a French couple who were staying at the convent. When we asked them if they were there for the bishop's consecration, they answered that yes, they were his parents! We enjoyed a pleasant drink with them at a cafe on the town square, and found that we could remember enough high school French to carry on an interesting conversation.

We returned to Pirita Friday afternoon for the beginning of the Anglican-Lutheran Society conference, meeting at the Pirita Top Spa Hotel, which was built as the 1980 Olympic yachting venue. Sadly, we were informed that Estonian Lutheran Archbishop Emeritus Jaan Kiivit, who was scheduled to be one of our speakers, had died one week earlier.

Our first speaker was Dr. Alar Laats, Rector of the Tallinn Theological Institute, who gave us an introduction to the history and culture of Estonia and the Church's role in it. Afterward, we had evening prayer, dinner, and socialized with our fellow attendees. 53 persons participated, including twenty-six from the United Kingdom, nine Estonians, seven Americans, six Germans, three Finns, one Swede, and one Irish. Eighteen of us were laypersons.

Saturday morning, a panel of four speakers from the Estonian Lutheran Church, the Church of Sweden, and the Church of England discussed Church-State Boundaries, followed by a panel of an Estonian television journalist and two professors discussing Personal Experiences of Change with the Shifting Boundaries from totalitarianism to independence and from state atheism to religious freedom in Estonia . Worship together preceded lunch and a trip into Tallinn, where we met Archbishop Andreas Poder of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, toured Tallinn with members of the Holy Ghost Lutheran congregation, and worshiped in the Plihavaimu (Holy Ghost) Lutheran Church, led by the pastor, Dean Gustav Piir, who also serves the British community as the Anglican Chaplain in Tallinn. Dinner of Estonian cuisine in the Beer House restaurant near the town square was followed by free time to explore Tallinn 's nightlife with some of our fellow conference attendees.

Sunday morning we all attended mass at the Toomkirik, the Lutheran Cathedral of St. Mary the Virgin. Worshiping in Estonian was a challenge: the service followed the familiar framework of the Eucharist, and many of the hymns and service music were familiar German tunes, but we could only guess what we were singing and praying, although we are sure that God understands Estonian.

Free time followed, during which Dr. John Arnold, Co-President of the Society, and I walked over to the nearby Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky to see part of the Eastern Orthodox service. Active church membership in the Estonian population is about 15% Lutheran and 14% Orthodox (split between Estonian Orthodox and Russian Orthodox), with very small numbers of other denominations.

Sunday evening's speaker was Rev. LoweII AImen, Secretary of the ELCA, who spoke on Accommodating Boundaries - the North American Experience of Cultural Difference. Afterward we had night prayers together, and again had an opportunity to socialize.

Monday started with Morning Prayer, followed by closing presentations on the conference theme by the Society's Co-Presidents. Dean Arnold spoke on Jesus' encounter with boundaries and Bishop Erik Vikstrom of Porvoo, Finland, completed the lecture series with a brief contribution stressing the wisdom necessary in crossing boundaries with the Gospel.

So that we could experience the Estonian church in rural setting, we took a bus trip to the parish at Juuru, a rural village one hour southeast of Tallinn, where the pastor and lay leaders helped us to understand what life was and is like in Estonia's countryside. We had lunch together in a restored thatch-roofed inn that is part of the local historical museum.

The final conference activities were an ecumenical communion service in the Brigittine convent chapel, and a concluding conference dinner.

The Anglican-Lutheran Society conferences offer a wonderful opportunity to meet new friends, learn about ecumenical contacts between the Lutheran and Anglican/Episcopalian churches, and learn about other religious traditions and cultures. The next international conference will be in 2007, in Dublin, Ireland.

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