SOUTHERN OHIO: Same-gender couples receive church's blessing
Episcopal News Service. April 13, 2010 [041310-03]
Pat McCaughan
For Lynn and Peg, exchanging vows April 11 during Sunday worship at Church of Our Saviour in Cincinnati in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio was a long time coming.
"It was humbling. It was breathtaking," recalled Peg, 51. "We felt honored and respected and so accepted by who is really our family now."
"We absolutely love our God and we love each other," added Lynn, also 51, during an April 12 telephone interview with the couple, who are both social workers and who asked that their last names be withheld.
After the ceremony, the congregation clapped and there were choruses of "it's about time," Lynn recalled.
The couple eagerly anticipated the ceremony after Bishop Thomas E. Breidenthal announced at the annual convention of the diocese in November that he intended to lift a pre-existing ban on the blessing of same-gender unions after Easter.
Breidenthal also announced formation of a task force of people with differing views about same-gender unions. The task force's role was to collaborate with him in development of a theological rationale, policy, trial liturgy and educational resources. Those materials were posted on the diocesan website last week.
For the Church of Our Saviour congregation, where the two women are "a wonderful presence and a blessing to the community" because of their active involvement and ministries, the blessing was a time of great joy and celebration, said the Rev. Paula Jackson, rector, who officiated at the Spanish-English bilingual service.
"It was an evangelical moment," she added. "There were definitely people here who came because they were friends of Lynn and Peg. They were deeply moved by the blessing. They are people who believe in God but who have been hurt by the church and who are not in church. But they were grateful that the Episcopal Church recognized and blessed godly unions."
Another couple, Michael Harbin, 56, and Warren MacPherson, 59, exchanged vows Saturday, April 10, at St. Stephen's Church in Columbus, said the Rev. George Glazier, who performed the ceremony, the first same-gender blessing in the diocese.
"Of course in the state of Ohio gay unions are not recognized as civil marriages so there was no recognition that way, but this was an acknowledgment of their relationship and a blessing of union," Glazier said. "It was a great celebration."
Glazier said that the church's community life has been impacted adversely "because we haven't until now been able to do this. We could welcome, we could include, but we couldn't bless," he said, adding that "gay people are in every level of leadership here in this parish and … for me personally this was one of the high points of my ministry."
Breidenthal said he decided to change the policy after General Convention 2009 adopted resolutions D025 and C056 which affirmed the openness of the ordination process to all baptized persons and development of liturgies for blessings of same-gender unions, respectively.
"I see any lifelong communion of two persons as a means of becoming holy," Breidenthal said during an April 13 telephone interview from his Cincinnati office. "It entails the disciplines of generosity, fidelity, accountability, sacrifice, that are at the heart of and are part of the way of the cross."
Same-gender couples are not able to marry legally in Ohio and Breidenthal said the new policy is not an attempt to circumvent the law.
He said he has received little negative feedback, despite disagreements in the wider church and Anglican Communion over issues of human sexuality.
"Many people simply need to hear that this is about raising the moral bar, not lowering it. Some applaud it; others dislike it," he said.
Breidenthal, a former General Theological Seminary professor and Princeton University dean of student life, has authored two books about same-gender unions, "Christian Households: the Sanctification of Nearness" (Cowley, 1997), and "Sacred Unions: A New Guide to Lifelong Commitment" (Cowley, 2006). He said he regrets any difficulties the policy change might cause within the larger church.
But he added: "I really cannot in good conscience fail to honor and support brother and sister Episcopalians who are in same-gender unions who are seeking in those unions to practice the love of God and the love of neighbor."
Diocesan communications officer Richelle Thompson said April 12 she believes the minimal response to the policy shift is a result of "the patient work of the task force and the bishop in developing a policy that permits but doesn't require same-gender blessings," she said.
"Congregations and individuals who are struggling with this issue have been sought out and encouraged to share their opinions and concerns," Thompson added. "I think people feel listened to and respected by the bishop, even if he doesn't agree with them."
Another same-gender blessing is planned for June, she said. Clergy performing same-gender blessings must receive the bishop's authorization 60 days prior to the ceremony. Those uncomfortable with blessing same-gender unions are not required to do so, she added.
Prior to pronouncing the blessing upon Peg and Lynn's union, the Rev. Paula Jackson told the congregation that "if Peg and Lynn desire to live together as faithful spouses, they must seek and serve Christ in each other, and form their family as a representation of the Body of Christ."
The blessing of unions, as other sacraments of the church are not meant only for personal sanctification, but "as a means of grace for the whole world … for transformation of the world," she said April 12. "If God is blessing your home and household, it is to become a center for grace and service to change the world around you. It begins at the moment of the offering and blessing, and people at Sunday's service could feel that."
The blessing was included within the context of regular worship, during the time reserved for prayers of the people with prayers offered for the couple, said Lynn and Peg, who attended counseling sessions with Jackson prior to Sunday's blessing.
"After we exchanged vows, we turned to our community and asked them to help us live a life of Christ and to help us be accountable and to help us help others that will come behind us, to be there for us," said Lynn.
"It was freedom and liberty through Christ," Peg added. "Freedom, that it's okay to love one another."