The eCrozier

I have received from a number of our clergy petitions for remarriage after divorce, for special permission around some particular issue relating to an upcoming marriage, and requests from clergy outside the Diocese of Georgia to preside at the sacrament of marriage somewhere in the confines of our diocese (usually on one of the islands, which is not surprising). Let me just say here that the system set up by Bishop Henry for granting petitions and requests for special permission around the sacrament of marriage is solid and will not change. His system followed precisely the canons of the Church and we will continue to do so.

I do, however, want to take some space here to focus not on the canons, but rather on the opportunity we have when we preside at the sacrament of marriage. We have the opportunity to be both a catechist and an evangelist. I hope we will make great use of that opportunity. Marriage in our culture, it seems, is an institution awaiting a truthful definition these days. Our theology of marriage as a Church has not been as clear and as strong as it should be. Nevertheless, you and I have the opportunity and the responsibility to preach and teach a sacramental theology of marriage grounded in our tradition as Anglicans.

Our marriage rite in the Book of Common Prayer differentiates our theology of marriage from traditional catholic and protestant ones. Catholics traditionally have focused on marriage primarily in procreative terms, that is, the purpose is first and foremost for child-bearing and child-raising. Protestant definitions historically have focused on marriage as a means for controlling and containing the lustful passions. Neither one of those is wrong, but they both fall short of completing our sacramental understanding.

We Anglicans, because of our strong incarnational theology, would also add that the sacrament of marriage is a method of discipleship, which is missional in nature. Like the other sacraments, marriage calls those in it to a vocation that leads, as it is intended, to sanctification. Put another way, the sacrament of marriage is supposed to be, to a great extent, a school for developing Christian virtues. By living in this sacrament, married persons learn the disciplines necessary for Christian living. They learn what it means to forgive and be forgiven. They learn the habit of self-sacrifice and service. They come to participate in what it means to give your life to someone else and not hoard your life for yourself, thus they learn stewardship. This list of virtue schooling could go on. Of course, single folk can also learn these virtues through other means because such virtue is not limited to the married life.

I hope each time we prepare people for this sacrament and when we preach on the occasion of a sacrament of marriage (and please do not fail to do so), we will fulfill our responsibility and take the opportunity to teach this sacramental theology. Yes, people will not always listen to us (they may be dreaming of the food and drink at the reception), but that is not an excuse to ignore the opportunity. We never know who is listening and whose life our teaching might change.

+Scott