As you read this, Lutherans and Roman Catholics are making history. Or, you might say, unmaking it.

This weekend, official representatives of the two Christian churches, meeting in Augsburg, Germany, will sign a document bringing them closer together than these churches have ever been. The agreement goes far to repair almost five hundred years of sorry history.

During too much of that long era, the two churches hurled insults at one another. Starting with Martin Luther’s nailing of his 95 proposals for reform to the door of a  German church in 1517, and continuing till recent decades, Lutherans and Catholics have hardly acted toward one another with the love that Jesus said would mark his followers.

So this weekend marks the beginning of a new era for two faith communities numbering over 500 million Catholics and some sixty million Lutherans worldwide. Though many issues remain to be resolved and they have not yet progressed to sharing the Eucharist, these huge groups have taken the first step toward unity.

The new agreement centers on the theological issue called justification. This question asks, in the words of Catholic and Lutheran leaders, “how humans are set right with God.”  Until now, the two churches condemned one another’s views about the way this happens. Now, however, these different approaches are agreed not to be “church dividing.”

Here’s how the churches explain the differences: “Roman Catholics hold that good works contribute to growth in grace and that a reward in heaven is promised to these works. Lutherans emphasize that justification is complete in Christ’s saving work and that Christian living is a sign of unmerited justification.”

Most of us non-theologians will wonder what difference this reunion of churches will make to our spirituality. Many Americans have already decided that theological disputes between churches are irrelevant. As Lutheran Pastor Richard Koenig told me, “Some people will say you are kicking down an open door.”

Is there any reason to believe that making peace between two large groups of Christians can affect the spiritual outlook or practice of ordinary people?

I put this question to Krister Stendahl, retired Lutheran bishop of Stockholm. Bishop Stendahl finds spiritual values in “two different ways of speaking about the same thing.”  Lutherans have traditionally stressed the continuing sinfulness of those who have been redeemed, while Catholics tend to emphasize the possibility of the perfect life by recognizing saints.

“There are days when we need to hear one emphasis, and other days when we need to hear the other,” he concludes.

For me and, I suspect, for other people who cherish the spiritual life, peaceful and loving relationships among individual persons and whole communities of people around the world hold great importance. When we hear about disputes being settled, it  buoys up our spirit and give us hope.

After all, the spiritual life is not something purely interior. The spirit finds expression in everything that is human. When brothers and sisters who have been at odds find common ground, then we ought to be glad and celebrate their good fortune and our own.

Wherever it happens – among Palestinians and Israelis, Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, Kosovars and Serbs – peace and reconciliation between warring communities can have a profound impact on our heart and soul.

Any agreement like this one, says Pastor Koenig, “has to be hailed as a victory in this hateful world.”  Of Lutherans, he says: “We used to look with fear and loathing at the Catholic Church.” That they no longer do surely does deserve celebration.

My hope is that the events at Augsburg this weekend will be, not the last step, but the first of a series that will eventually bring the two churches into full communion. That result is one that many spiritual people have been praying for during much of this past century.

Then members of these two churches will have removed a great scandal, namely their divisions. The prayer of Jesus, “that all may be one,” will then become a reality and these Christians will come closer to the ideal posed by their Lord. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

If this happens spiritual seekers at large can take on new hope.

Richard Griffin