A gay couple’s church blessing has been blocked because the ceremony “looked too much like a wedding”.
Paul Sewell, 41, and Andy Nicholson, 42 from Metheringham had planned a civil ceremony and then wanted a blessing in their local church in Dunston.
But the service was cancelled after a small service of friendship prayers grew to a 150-guest celebration.
The Bishop of Lincoln, The Right Reverend John Saxbee, said a parish church was not an appropriate venue.
Congratulations to the good vicar and to Bishop Saxbee for having the courage to say “No!” Would that ALL CofE clergy would do the same.
Prayers and 150 guests too much like a wedding?
And the ceremony (civil or ‘blessing’ seems unclear) called off? Perhaps Sir Ian MacKellan can give us more insight as he speaks for the “silent” VGR at his “exclusion” from Lambeth – per “a site with homosexual tendencies – (http://www.towleroad.com/2008/03/ian-mckellen-to.html).
The sideshow will undoubtedly be more interesting and productive than the “real” thing. One may hope the attending bishops get a real eyeful and earful of what ECUSA/TEC/GCC intends.
McKellen is an atheist. What strange bedfellows The Great Cause has made. Or maybe not. Unbelief is systemic in its own way just as much as true faith in Christ and his Word is. Just follow the trajectory of ‘sexual hermeneutics’ and see where it leads.
The bishop said: “The assumption behind those prayers is that they are just that – prayers. They are not a wedding or a blessing, they are prayers.
“Therefore they would take place in the context where probably just with family or a couple of friends being there in somebody’s house or in my chapel or somewhere – not usually in a parish church with 150 people present.”
Ah, so it’s all about venue – not whether two men should form a homosexual relationship in the first place. Do not, however, doubt for a moment that Bishop Saxby supports gay relationships – he is head of the strongly pro-gay ‘Modern Church Peoples Union’. I don’t think he differs at all in this regard from the Bishop of Salisbury who attended a big celebration when one his canons married his boyfriend.
A marriage is a contract recognized by the State……in this case, the United Kingdom. It really is a civil union…….which DOES NOT have to be recognized by the Church…….regardless of denomination. In this case, both the vicar and the bishop were correct in their handling of the request.