It seems that today will not be a slow-Friday news day with respect to religious news.
From The Lead:
Britain's Quakers have agreed to carry out same-sex marriages on the same basis as marriages for opposite-sex couples.
Excellent news!
Read the lovely story at Ekklesia.
The Quakers agreed this morning that they would “treat same-sex committed relationships in the same way as opposite-sex marriages, reaffirming our central insight that marriage is the Lord's work and we are but witnesses”
They further declared that “the question of legal recognition by the state is secondary”.
....
Symon Hill, associate director of the thinktank Ekklesia, who is himself a Quaker, welcomed the decision.
He said “I trust this decision will inspire people of all faiths and none who are working for the inclusion of gay, lesbian and bisexual people”.
He added that “As with other churches, this has not been an easy process for Quakers. I hope that others will have the courage to follow this lead and speak up for the radical inclusivity of Christ. As Christians, we are called to stand with those on the margins who are denied equality”.
Amen, and amen, and amen!
Also from The Lead:
Marion Hatchett, a beloved professor of liturgics at Sewanee and a key figure in the development of the 1979 Prayer book and the 1982 Hymnal has some words of exhortation for the Episcopal Church.
From an quoting a speech he gave at General Seminary earlier this year:
"The American Church jumped way out ahead of the Church of England and other sister churches in a number of respects. One was in giving voice to priests and deacons and to laity (as well as bishops and secular government officials) in the governance of the national church and of dioceses and of parishes. The early American Church revised the Prayer Book in a way that went far beyond revisions necessitated by the new independence of the states."
Yes! And I hope and pray that we will not permit the Church of England or any other church in the Anglican Communion to deter us from doing right as we see right. If TEC is wrong, then I'd prefer to err on the side of inclusion.
H/T to Susan Russell, who has a picture of a lovely ship a-sailing at her blog.
Given how Quakers make decisions (by consensus) this means the overwhelming majority of British Quakers are for this (admittedly there are only about 25,000 British Quakers). I extracted the full minute from the Britain Yearly Meeting website.
ReplyDeleteMinute 25 Britain Yearly Meeting 31 July 2009
Further to minute 17, (attached) a session was held on Tuesday afternoon at which speakers shared personal experiences of the celebration and recognition of their committed relationships. These Friends had felt upheld by their meetings in these relationships but regretted that whereas there was a clear, visible path to celebration and recognition for opposite sex couples, the options available for couples of the same sex were not clear and could vary widely between meetings. Friends who feel theirs to be an ordinary and private rather than an exotic and public relationship have had to be visible pioneers to get their relationship acknowledged and recorded.
This open sharing of personal experience has moved us and added to our clear sense that, 22 years after the prospect was first raised at Meeting for Sufferings we are being led to treat same sex committed relationships in the same way as opposite sex marriages, reaffirming our central insight that marriage is the Lord’s work and we are but witnesses. The question of legal recognition by the state is secondary.
We therefore ask Meeting for Sufferings to take steps to put this leading into practice and to arrange for a draft revision of the relevant sections of Quaker faith and practice, so that same sex marriages can be prepared, celebrated, witnessed, recorded and reported to the state, as opposite sex marriages are. We also ask Meeting for Sufferings to engage with our governments to seek a change in the relevant laws so that same sex marriages notified in this way can be recognised as legally valid, without further process, in the same way as opposite sex marriages celebrated in our meetings. We will not at this time require our registering officers to act contrary to the law, but understand that the law does not preclude them from playing a central role in the celebration and recording of same sex marriages.
We have heard dissenting voices during the threshing process which has led to us this decision, and we have been reminded of the need for tenderness to those who are not with us who will find this change difficult. We also need to remember, including in our revision of Quaker faith and practice, those Friends who live singly, whether or not by choice.
We will need to explain our decision to other Christian bodies, other faith communities, and, indeed to other Yearly Meetings, and pray for a continuing loving dialogue, even with those who might disagree strongly with what we affirm as our discernment of God’s will for us at this time.
Following the decision, Martin Ward, clerk of Quakers Yearly Meeting said: “This minute is the result of a long period of consultation and what we call “threshing” in our local meetings, culminating in two gathered sessions of our Yearly Meeting. At these sessions, according to practice, we heard ministry arising out of silent worship which led us to discern the will of God for the Religious Society and record it in this minute.”
*****
Erp, thanks for the further information. I believe that this news will work to our benefit here in TEC. The Quakers did this in a gracious manner, as I believe our leaders did at GC09.
ReplyDeleteI get the feeling there were some upset Quakers which is unfortunate.
ReplyDeleteThe move is likely to be more influential on English churches and on English law dealing with civil partnership. In particular while legal weddings may be either religious or secular, legal partnership ceremonies must be non-religious. In other words a same-sex Quaker couple cannot have their partnership registered during a meeting for worship even though the same registering officer could register the partnership if the ceremony were completely non-religious and not held in the meeting house. This is going to be challenged.
Erp, I'm not surprised that some may have been upset.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the decision will have much more of an effect in England, partly because of the legal issues that will have to be worked through, but also because the Quakers will stand as a challenge to other Christian denominations. Their influence goes far beyond their small numbers.