In summary:
Canonical change is coming which will allow people of the same-sex to marry. It will involve the removal of the theological description of what marriage is from Canon 31 (this bit: “The Doctrine of this Church is that Marriage is a physical, spiritual and mystical union of one man and one woman created by their mutual consent of heart, mind and will thereto, and is a holy and lifelong estate instituted of God“). There will be a conscience clause which will mean no clergy have to marry anyone they don’t want to. It will take two readings of the new canon in 2016 and in 2017 for the new economy to come into place. For the record – I dissent completely from this decision.
We must be grateful for the gracious way the Primus, David Chillingworth, tried to give some space to those who would disagree with this new direction. Sadly, there was little sign of grace from the majority of Synod members towards the Biblical vision of marriage which perhaps a quarter of Synod subscribe to. I hoped there might be some compromise, but those who want change scented victory and they got it.
I’m doubtful that the vision of “visible unity with functional diversity” is now attainable. This was the most extreme outcome imaginable, but at least we now have clarity and we can begin to plan accordingly.
Though I know that the Episcopal Church in the USA and the Anglican Church of Canada will no doubt applaud this innovation, I’m most interested in hearing how Christians in the two thirds will respond. I have a feeling it might not be positive.