Ministering in the “middle of this cauldron of multicultural activity” that is Harvard Square, the Rev. Joseph Robinson, rector of Christ Church Cambridge in the Diocese of Massachusetts says he wants to be able to welcome everyone, including same-gender couples who want their relationships blessed.
“And what they’re asking of me is that it’s the same for everyone, that it’s done with intention, truthfulness and that it begins with the words ‘dearly beloved,'” Robinson told the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music Oct. 19 during a hearing here. “It needs to sound like something that’s recognizable.”
“Whatever we do, whatever we offer our people, let it be eloquent, let it be truthful, let it be prayer and let it be common because those are the things which are the strengths of our church,” Robinson added.
On one hand this is ipso facto contra-Biblical, forbidden throughout the entire Judaeo-Christian sacred tradition, heretical, and schismatic. On the other hand, if TEC’s leadership is serious about the stuff its spouting of course it ought to forget about this same-sex union liturgical rubbish and just do the BCP wedding ceremony with a few words changed. I say, put up or shut up.
As the Dutchess remarked: ‘Be what you would seem to be’ — or, if you’d like it put more simply —’ Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.’
I second 1. If they are going to do it then they should do it. And they should put it in the BCP making it official doctrine.
As one of our dear elderly parishioners said at Bible Study last Wednesday night: “Declaring something acceptable doesn’t make it right.”
Prophets can be found almost everywhere.
Put it in the BCP? How? On what grounds, since the BC{P still has a connection to the gospels, however tenuous for TEC, how can one alter the BCP and ignore this gospel thing? Larry
Larry- If they are consciously deciding to not follow fundamental Biblical teachings, they ought to make it official and obvious to everyone.
Oh, you’re right enough SP, but I guess what I was thinking was this, that what they have should longer be called the BCP since there is nothing in common about it. They can change it if they want, but they shouldn’t be permitted to call it the BCP. The BP maybe. After the gas company. Appropriate. Larry
#1, they’ve been doing “marriages” for years in DioMass using the prayer book service and simply changing the pronouns. I’m sure the SLM would be happy to provide a rubber stamp.
Larry, technically we do not have a Book of Common Prayer, what we really have and have had for some time is a book of common prayers, emphasis on the plural. The orriginal vision was that ‘the nation’ would be worshipping with the same words in both daily morning prayer as well as the Sunday Eucharist. While there are reasons for it, we now have 4 different Eucharistic prayers in Rite 2 and 2 in Rite 2… not exactly common prayer.