With pomp and ceremony on January 6, the Episcopal (Anglican) Church in the United States and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) formally inaugurated full communion between the two churches with a liturgy lasting almost three hours at the Washington National Cathedral.

The Epiphany Day service, attended by 3, 500 people, symbolized a new relationship between two of the most prominent denominations in the U.S.. The 5.2-million-member ELCA and the 2.5-million-member Episcopal Church now fully recognize each other's members, ministries and sacraments, and can exchange clergy.

While the two denominations remain distinct bodies with their own traditions and denominational structures, the agreement will help the churches with common mission work and allow greater flexibility in staffing individual churches and parishes. This is particularly needed in poor urban areas and in rural areas, many of which have older congregations with declining numbers.

More important though, according to church leaders, is what the agreement means for the future of Christian unity in the U.S. and elsewhere. "We join together in Jesus' name to share in his sacraments, in his ministry, and in his mission, as one body in the power of one spirit," H. George Anderson, Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, said as he greeted those at the service. Present were prominent members of both churches, as well as a host of Protestant, Roman Catholic and other church representatives.

The U.S. agreement reflects good relationships between Lutherans and Anglicans in many countries. Lutheran churches in Nordic and Baltic countries already enjoy communion with the Anglican churches of the British Isles.

The new relationship between the two U.S. churches, spelled out ...