Of the Church’s Blessing

Last night the vestry of All Saints concurred unanimously with my decision to offer the rite of blessing the commitments of same sex partners. As you know at the recent General Convention of the Episcopal Church nearly 80% of both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies (clergy and lay)voted to provide rites for such blessings. Our bishop opposed the resolution, but because as he put it, “the church has spoken,” he has made the decision to allow rites of same sex blessings as a matter of pastoral care subject to his approval(approval based on the clergy’s recommendation). I applaud his honesty and his courage. I have supported this change in the church as a deputy to five General Conventions since 1991. These are not marriage rites, but rights of the blessing of commitment, the blessing of promises made to one another, promises to live faithfully with each other. Our policy for such blessings, as is the policy for weddings, is that these will be  pastoral responses to members of All Saints. We will not become a public “blessing of commitment chapel”, nor will we become a “wedding chapel.”

This decision by the Episcopal Church has not been made hastily to say the least. For over thirty years we as a church have been in prayerful and ardent and sometimes contentious conversation about this issue. Since 1976 when the American Psychiatric Association declared that homosexuality was not pathological, and that it is just the way some folks are made, then the church began its quest to deal with such new knowledge. The familiar passages in scripture in Leviticus and in Paul were excised by some to prove that such a predisposition was condemned. But there are also passages in scripture that condone slavery, bigamy, the subservience of women, prohibition of certain foods such as pork and shellfish…and of course there is plenty of scriptural warrant for violence as well. There is also scripture that speaks of peacemaking and loving and respecting one’s neighbor; of welcoming the stranger; plenty of warrant for gracious hospitality, and warrant for bearing justice and dignity to our world. Context and cultural norms have to be considered when interpreting scripture. The world has changed and continues to change. The point I’m making is that our vocation as post modern thinking Christians, when it comes to decisions in life, is to imaginatively engage scripture taking into account new knowledge and experience (What Richard Hooker called reason; I think of it as common sense); the trajectory of our tradition, tradition that is forever being reinvented, evolving, just as our interpretation of what God is saying to us is ever evolving. I’ll invoke yet again my 19th century friend S.T. Coleridge in his apology to the puritans of his day, that it is the imagination that gives life to scripture, not the reverse. In fact Coleridge, in fine Romantic fashion, equated the human imagination with the Holy Spirit. I believe the Spirit has led us well regarding the resolution of this issue.

I believe in reaching this decision the church has made a giant step not only towards maturity, but a new found relevancy. If we are not in the business of blessing love that is among us, and the love of our neighbor and the love of our world, then why should we exist? Perhaps another way to speak of blessing is that it is the act of bestowing dignity…. dignity that is empowering and life-giving. The glbt community has endured indignity and marginalization and scorn over centuries, even millennia, and now we have the privilege of offering them that which is the right of each and every one of God’s children: sacred dignity. I ask you sincerely as I asked the vestry last night to trust and support this decision. We will be a witness to God’s love for all of God’s people….that in God’s vision for our world there are no outcasts, that everyone stands in the light of dignity which is the very light of Christ alive among us. In moving forward in this way I believe we take a giant step towards bringing the kingdom of God ever nearer.

I invite your questions and comments on this matter. Please feel free to discuss this with me, Mary Robert, and the vestry. This is a new day in the life of the church, so there will be doubts and uncertainty, but we will handle this with solemnity, beauty, and good order, just as we do with our entire liturgical practice here. Finally let me say that I am so very proud to be the rector of a genuinely welcoming and inclusive church, a church that stands tall for what is just and right. I believe with all my heart we are doing right.