The couple holds hands before the altar as a priest guides them through\u00a0their vows.<\/p>\n
\u201cI take you to have and to hold from this day forward, to love and to\u00a0cherish, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, as my\u00a0companion, lover and friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
The congregation responds: \u201cBlessed be God who appears to us in their love.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is the exchanging of rings, familiar scriptures, a kiss and a\u00a0blessing on the couple\u2019s \u201cacts of tenderness and intimacy.\u201d They may be\u00a0crowned or anointed before Holy Communion. The priest may lead them in a\u00a0procession around the altar, cover them with a veil or tie their hands with\u00a0a cord.<\/p>\n
This is not a wedding.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, \u201cA Rite for the Celebration of Commitment to a Life Together\u201d\u00a0features a barrage of symbols from centuries of marriage rites. This 1996\u00a0text is an American example of the same-sex union rites that are shaking\u00a0the 70-million-member Anglican Communion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis rite is clearly parasitic on marriage,\u201d said Edith Humphrey, a\u00a0Canadian Anglican who teaches at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. \u201cAt least\u00a0this American rite is in your face, so you know what is being communicated.\u00a0That kind of candor is refreshing. \u2026 This certainly looks like a marriage\u00a0rite.\u201d<\/p>\n
But most supporters say these rites merely bless existing same-sex\u00a0relationships. This distinction is crucial, according to Vancouver School\u00a0of Theology liturgist Richard Leggett.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite some similarities to the marriage rite, the underlying theology\u00a0and the distinctive liturgical elements define a covenant that is unique\u00a0and that poses no threat to marriage as the sacramental union of a\u00a0heterosexual couple,\u201d argued Leggett, commenting on a new Canadian rite.<\/p>\n
Instead, this gives \u201cliturgical expression to a new thing that God is doing\u00a0in our midst, life-long stable and covenanted relationships for gay and\u00a0lesbian disciples of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is fire behind these academic words. After decades of guerrilla\u00a0tactics, open Anglican warfare has erupted on three fronts.<\/p>\n
In Canada, Bishop Michael Ingham \u2014 after numerous delays \u2014 on May 23\u00a0issued a same-sex union rite for use in his Diocese of New Westminster.\u00a0Meanwhile, the Diocese of New Hampshire elected Father Gene Robinson as the\u00a0Episcopal Church\u2019s first openly gay bishop, guaranteeing pre-consecration\u00a0debates at the U.S. General Convention that begins July 30 in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n
That gathering also faces a California resolution seeking rites to express\u00a0the church\u2019s blessing on \u201call couples living in life-long committed\u00a0relationships of mutuality and fidelity outside the relationship of\u00a0marriage, which mediate the grace of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Oxford Bishop Richard Harries appointed Father Jeffrey John, a gay\u00a0theologian, as bishop of Reading. Nine evangelical bishops in England have\u00a0publicly vowed a fight. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams called for\u00a0dialogue, yet signaled he will not oppose John\u2019s appointment.<\/p>\n
What is at stake? Sixteen Third-World archbishops from Kenya, South India,\u00a0Uganda, the Philippines, Sudan, Tanzania and elsewhere responded to Ingham\u00a0by declaring a state of \u201csevered communion\u201d with his diocese.<\/p>\n
Archbishop Peter Akinola told the BBC that Nigeria \u2014 with 10 archbishops,\u00a081 bishops and 17.5 million Anglicans \u2014 would \u201csever relationships with\u00a0anybody, anywhere, anyone who strays over the boundaries\u201d of traditional\u00a0church doctrine. Robinson\u2019s election, he told the Guardian in Lagos, is \u201ca\u00a0Satanic attack on God\u2019s church.\u201d<\/p>\n
But there is more to this debate than sex, said Humphrey. The new Canadian\u00a0rite makes a crucial claim: \u201cAll human relationships have the potential to\u00a0be agents of God\u2019s purpose. Regardless of the specific characteristics of\u00a0the relationship, the act of blessing does not make the relationship more\u00a0holy but rather, in giving thanks to God and invoking God\u2019s holy name,\u00a0releases the relationship to realize its full potential as an expression of\u00a0God\u2019s love.\u201d<\/p>\n
This raises all kinds of questions about words such as \u201cfidelity,\u201d\u00a0\u201ccovenant,\u201d \u201csacrament\u201d and \u201cunion,\u201d she said. In a marriage rite, God and\u00a0the church create something new \u2014 a sacred union that changes the\u00a0relationship between the man and the woman. These new rites insist that the\u00a0church is merely \u201cblessing\u201d an existing same-sex relationship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole premise is different. The relationship is already holy. It is\u00a0already sacramental,\u201d she said. \u201cThe church is merely celebrating what the\u00a0couple is already doing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The couple holds hands before the altar as a priest guides them through\u00a0their vows. \u201cI take you to have and to hold from this day forward, to love and to\u00a0cherish, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, as my\u00a0companion, lover and friend.\u201d The congregation responds: \u201cBlessed be God who appears to us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[60,439,514,1540],"class_list":["post-1236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anglicans","tag-homosexuality","tag-liturgy","tag-marriage"],"yoast_head":"\n