Now that the collapse of the Episcopal-Lutheran Concordat is behind us, and feelings have cooled, we must continue to think about it and ask some serious questions, as Fr. Webber already has [TLC, Sept. 14]. After all, paraphrasing Prof. J. Robert Wright of General Seminary, "it was the great ecumenical opportunity of the century."

When our General Convention approved the Concordat so easily [TLC, Aug. 3], most Episcopalians, we believe, were pleased. A short time later, when the Lutheran Churchwide Assembly turned it down [TLC, Sept. 7], many of us were disappointed, some hurt, some angered. So we said it had failed because the Lutherans don't like our idea of bishops.

It is rather like a disappointed young woman coming home from a party and saying nobody danced with her because she has red hair. Or a disappointed young man saying nobody would hire him because he comes from Podunk. It is always easy to blame our disappointments on factors beyond our personal control. In reality, we all know that plenty of redheads, both women and men, are considered very attractive. Plenty of people from unlikely towns or villages in fact rise to significant careers in various occupations and professions.

In the case of the Concordat, we blame our disappointment on Lutheran dislike of bishops, yet it has been no secret that the Episcopal Church has bishops. If most Lutherans were irreconcilably opposed to episcopacy, they could have said so many years ago. In fact, millions of Lutherans in the world belong to national churches having bishops. American Lutherans have adopted the word and part of the traditional role of bishops.

Are there not in reality quite a few things about the Episcopal Church today which would make another church hesitate to share our bed? Are not these matters that we should be reflecting on? And there really is a question about episcopacy. Are we using it to best advantage for the spread of the gospel?

In the New Testament, the apostles refused to be administrative officials but devoted themselves "to prayer and ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4). How big a place does this dedication have in our expectations for bishops? Of course the word means the written word of God in scripture, and the message of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. Do we allow, indeed do we demand, that these concerns be central in the lives of our bishops? Why shouldn't Lutherans or other Christians expect it of us?

We did not miss out on the Concordat because our ecumenical negotiators had not done an adequate job of presenting the case for bishops. No, they are not to blame. If anyone is to be blamed, it is the people of the Episcopal Church, both ordained and lay. We missed out because we have not made the Decade of Evangelism a reality. We missed out because we allowed the politicizing of sex to turn our attention away from the gospel. We missed out because we have allowed missionary work, at home and abroad, to sink out of sight. Other very serious shortcomings can be mentioned. The Lutherans and other Christians see these things. We should see them ourselves, and take action to correct them. If we love our church, we can demonstrate our love by supporting a spiritual housecleaning.