3245 Central Ave. Memphis, TN 38111 (901) 323-8597 Fax: (901) 327-9032stjohnsmemphis.org
3245 Central Ave. Memphis, TN 38111 (901) 323-8597 Fax: (901) 327-9032stjohnsmemphis.org
What About Marriage?
Response to Actions of The Supreme Court and General Convention
July 6, 2015
The Rev. John W. Sewell, Rector, Saint John’s Episcopal Church, Memphis, Tennessee
Dearly beloved in Christ Jesus,
The Supreme Court of these United States has ruled on what constitutes marriage in this Republic. As the highest court in our land, it has the final say when it speaks in the majority. The legal question is settled. The high court has decreed that marriage is the right of all Americans, regardless of gender. This standardizes the legal definition of marriage for these United States, regardless of practices in any of the fifty states.
The General Convention of the Episcopal Church has just ended. The canons (laws) concerning marriage have been altered, striking any mention of specific gender, thus expanding the marriage rite to accommodate any combination of genders. Trial liturgies for same-sex marriage will be authorized. Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage in The Book of Common Prayer, page 423, will not be altered. No one will be forced to preside at same-sex marriage rites that accompany these changes.
Clarifying the civil or canon law will not end controversy,and emotional reactivity continues. People of good will, on both sides of this issue, simply do not agree. This issue, like many before, will lose its intensity in the future but not now in our time.
Those of you present at Saint John’s in 2003 will remember that I gave you my word on the Sunday after Labor Day. Neither I nor my staff would preside at same-sex blessings. I affirm to you my promise in 2015 as in 2003. I will keep my word to you.
On that same day in 2003, I stated that all people are welcome in this house of God: old/young, black/white, rich/poor and straight/gay. All the baptized, fellow members of Christ’s body are welcome at this our family table. The only “label” that matters at Saint John’s is baptism. So long as I am Rector, it shall remain so.
High anxiety produces reactivity and polarization. Already, I sense the outlines of the extremist positions.
On the one hand, I hear a tone of rising apprehension and alarm, going far beyond disagreement about what does and does not constitute marriage. I am sad to say this rising chorus includes some Christian voices. This response is tending toward a dangerous vilification of gay people. Let me remind you that the list of sinners Saint Paul cites in his letters to the communities of faith in his day was not limited to homosexuality.
I Corinthians 6: 9-10: "Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers— none of these will inherit the kingdom of God."
I simply point out, without further comment, that we are not free to pick and choose. There is plenty there to go around.
On the other hand, some of the “winners” of this campaign of the culture wars seem bent on revenge toward the “losers” of this round. I read in several places the proposal that any church who does not perform same-sex marriages should forfeit tax-exempt status. While unlikely, such a proposal shows strong hostility toward the Church. I must say that the malicious tone on the part of some in the household of faith contributes to this desire of others to punish those “hateful” Christians.
I do not believe that people of the same gender can be married. Marriage has a particular content in terms of gender. Civil unions, regularized by the state, recognize the relationship between consenting adults and extend protection for property, inheritance and the maintaining of a common life, free from interference. This is not the same thing as a sacrament, and there I am unprepared to go.
How then do we live?
- God is God.
- We are God’s children.
- We are admonished to love all people, especially those of the household of faith.
- All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
- It is by grace you are saved, not of yourselves, lest any should boast.
- I say to you and to us all, let us grow ourselves up and calm ourselves down.
- Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “Be not afraid."
We put SOULWorks in place to provide training, resources and community that aids in calming down and maturing in faith and also in soul. Pray for me, as I pray for you, that our courage fail not, and that as we grow in faith, we be found worthy on the great day of his coming.
I remain in hope, in spite of the facts.
The Rev. John W. Sewell, Rector