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Lutherans ask forgiveness officially

STUTTGART, Germany

In what the Rev. Mark S. Hanson described as possibly the most significant legacy this assembly will leave,the Eleventh Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation in Stuttgart, Germany took the historic step of asking the Mennonites for forgiveness for past persecutions.

Delegates unanimously approved a statement July 22 calling Lutherans to express their regret and sorrow for past wrongdoings towards Anabaptists and asking for forgiveness.

In response, Danisa Ndlovu, president of the Mennonite World Confeence, in an emotion-filled address to the assembly, confessed that Mennonites were painfully aware of their own inadequacy. He said, "We cannot bring ourselves to this table with heads held high. We can only come bowed down in great humility and in the fear of the Lord. We cannot come to this point and fail to see our own sinfulness. We cannot come to this point without recognizing our own need for God’s grace and forgiveness."

Hanson said, "It is in our vulnerability to one another that God’s miraculous, transforming and reconciling presence is made visible in the world."

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