Later this month the Supreme Court of the United States may make a definitive ruling on what many call “marriage equality,” that is, whether same-sex couples will have the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexual couples in legal marriage. To me, this is a basic issue of justice and civil rights under our Constitution. Two people, provided they’ve reached the age of majority, should have the right to choose to whom they wish to be married. And I pray that’s how the Court will decide.
The Episcopal Church, however, has a different standard and set of expectations when a couple enters into “Christian Marriage” as this Church has received that sacrament in our tradition. So, in the Church we aren’t primarily discerning justice and civil rights, but the theology and doctrine of Christian Marriage. It’s one thing to support justice and civil rights for all, but it’s another thing to contemplate changing how the Church understands her sacramental theology. Of course, The Episcopal Church significantly changed its theology of marriage about 50 years ago when we allowed remarriage after divorce. This sacrament, which had been understood as life-long, was now not necessarily so. Since that time, a divorced person can remarry in the Church, provided the Diocesan Bishop grants the required petition. With divorce so prevalent these days, very few people question the wisdom of the Church’s action then. So, we’ve changed our sacramental theology rather recently. The question remains: should we change it again?
My hunch is that everyone in our Church has different standards for what they see as acceptable sexual behavior. For example, how about consensual premarital sex? Is it OK after one becomes an adult, but not before? How about once one is engaged, but before the wedding? What about retired couples who, because of social security and pension reasons, see marriage as out of the question? Is it OK for them? If we’re honest with ourselves, we didn’t answer all the above questions the same. Yet, the traditional answer for all of them is “no.” In other words, we each have our own line that can’t be crossed, but it’s our line, and not necessarily God’s line.
We’ve already declared that a priest of our Church can bless same-sex relationships in God’s name. I wholeheartedly support such blessings and I see such blessings as an analogous, yet distinct good, from the practice of Christian Marriage. It’s similar, but it’s not the same. An example of analogous, yet distinct goods is the orders of ministry within the Church (laity, bishop, priest, deacon). Each share vocational virtues, but each is still distinct, offering particular charisms for building up the whole Body of Christ.
About the same time that the Supreme Court issues its ruling, our Church’s General Convention will gather in Salt Lake City. There, we’ll prayerfully debate and then discern what we believe God is calling us to do in terms of same-sex marriage. I don’t perceive there’s a consensus in our Church for one particular way forward. There are strong convictions on all sides concerning this discernment. But, because we tend to resolve hard questions like this by majority vote, my guess is we’ll in some way resolve this question in such a manner…at least for the next three years.
+Scott
The Rt. Rev. Scott Anson Benhase was the tenth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia from 2010-2020. This website serves as an online archives for the weekly email reflections, the eCrozier, he wrote during his episcopacy.