I had a couple of conversations in Cambridge that illuminated the challenges of being a Christian minister in this rapidly changing world.
In the first, I spoke with an older Anglican priest (they’re thick on the ground in Cambridge) who indicated that he was uncomfortable with homosexual unions, but that he felt that he could “bless” them in good conscience. “Love is the standard I use,” he said. He went on to explain that with the steep decline in Christian observance in Britain, it never happens that a (heterosexual) couple comes to him intending to marry, having lived apart. That is, he said, all couples asking for marriage are already living together as if they were man and wife. He said, and I paraphrase, “What am I supposed to do?”
Now, it was my sense from our relatively brief conversation that Father N. had given up entirely on the Christian ideal of sexual relations and marriage. I found that profoundly depressing, to be honest, a total capitulation and accomodation to the post-Christian culture. What kind of witness is that to the truth of the Gospels? I know there are many, many people who wish to wave off the clear Scriptural teaching on marriage and sexuality, but you can no more do that than you can wave off the Bible’s teaching on how to treat the poor. When a priest of the church gives up like that, it’s a defeat.
On the other hand, I had to ask myself what I would do if I were a church vicar faced with a situation like that. I would hope I wouldn’t surrender, as Father N. had done, but what would be the correct pastoral response?
Great article. Excellent summary of one the conundrums facing Anglican parish leadership–shacking up before marriage and the subsequent appearance of irrelevance it creates concerning marriage.
Though I do wonder if the rest of the article could be discussed w/out the “yellfest” that happens in Anglican circles. It seems that no one is interested in the listening process anymore. We’ve heard each other out, now we’re going to go off in a corner and complain that the other side didn’t listen because they didn’t change.
What the older cleric said is a little revealing. When ECUSA parishes proudly proclaim they will do no straight marriages til gay ones are allowed, they never seem to see the pathetic humor involved. Is it actually keeping nice young straight Anglican couples…Apart?? All it means is they’ll shack up a little longer than perhaps originally planned before getting that piece of paper and the big cake. In that they have perfect *equality* with their same-sex couple counterparts; you’d think Susan Russell and Bishop Rivera of Olympia would be rejoicing. Why have any ECUSA weddings at all?
I don’t think there’s a big line to get Anglican sacraments, is there? Open communion, open marriage, indistinguishable from no communion & no marriage. It means so very much more to go the land office for a wedding. That carries with it a shred of dignity.