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  Yes to Bless or Christian Marriage for all?
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ContributorHomegrown Democrat 
Last EditedHomegrown Democrat  Jul 04, 2012 03:13pm
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CategoryBlog Entry
AuthorRt. Rev. Steven Andrew Miller
News DateThursday, June 28, 2012 08:00:00 PM UTC0:0
DescriptionI write to share my thoughts regarding Resolutions A049 “Authorize Liturgical Resources for Same-Gender Relationships” and A050 “Create a Task Force for the Study of Marriage” which will be considered at the 77th General Convention of the Episcopal Church that begins next week. I am in full support of the latter and opposed to the former. What follows is my reasoning for this position.

In the General Thanksgiving found on page 836 of the Book of Common Prayer, we thank God for “for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts and leading us to accomplishments that satisfy and delight us.” I believe the full inclusion of all persons in the life of the Church is such a task. My question is, “Do we love all the members of our Church enough to take the time to get this right or do we want to risk taking an action that will fall short?” I believe such an action will have the unexpected consequence of delaying the true full inclusion of all members of our church. It is easy to say, “Yes to Bless,” but might our yes have the unintended consequence of delaying what is the end goal for many, marriage equality.

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I am wondering if they best way forward would be the proposal and adoption of a substitute to Resolution A049 calling for the amendment of the Book of Common Prayer and the Constitution and Canons to allow for marriage between two persons regardless of sex while at the same time requiring that both parties be baptized, and removing any role of the civil authority. Those who wished to be civilly married could do so if they considered a civil marriage to be most advantageous for them but the Church would have no part of it. This proposal provides the additional advantage that those who could not be civilly married because state law forbids it or because to do so would cause economic hardship could be married in the Church.
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