What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • The Affirmation of a Transgender Person

    There’s yet more debate online about people calling for a special service to be approved by the Church of England in order to recognise and support someone following their transition from one gender to another.

    I happen to think that it would be an interesting thing for the Church of England to consider. However, we’re lucky in Scotland that we’ve already agreed a form of service that could be used as an affirmation for transgender people.

    Here are some of the prayers:

    THE LAYING ON OF HANDS
    The president says
    God of mercy and love,
    new birth by water and the Spirit is your gift,
    a gift none can take away;
    grant that your servants may grow
    into the fullness of the stature of Christ.
    Fill them with the joy of your presence.
    Increase in them the fruit of your Spirit:
    the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the spirit of love, patience and gentleness,
    the spirit of wonder and true holiness.
    The president lays hands on the candidate in silence, and then says
    Come, Creator Spirit,
    rekindle in N. your gifts of grace,
    to love and serve as a disciple of Christ.
    Amen.

    Renew her/his life in Christ
    and bring to completion all that your calling has begun.
    Amen.

    Either continuing the laying on of hands, or anointing the candidate
    with the Oil of Chrism, the president says:

    Empower your disciple, N.,
    to bring life to the world.
    Amen.

    At the conclusion of the laying on of hands
    the president says
    Living God, sustain all your people
    to be hope and strength to the world;
    through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
    to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
    be honour and glory, now and for ever.
    Amen

    The congregation share communion.

    The president addresses the congregation:

    The light of Christ is within you. Shine as a light in the world.
    As the seed grows secretly in the earth,
    As the yeast rises in the dough,
    May the power of God be at work in us.
    Like a city on a hill,
    Like a lamp in the darkness,
    May we witness to the glory of the kingdom.

    It seems to me that as we’ve already agreed these prayers, there’s going to be no fuss about it at all in Scotland whereas there might be in Englandshire. I’d be very happy to conduct this service for anyone who has completed their gender transition and who wants to express their faith publicly in their new identity.

    The great news is that the service is available to cis people at moments when they want to express publicly the renewal of their faith too. Indeed, some of these prayers were used at a particular point in my own life when I came into ministry in St Mary’s nine years ago. We don’t discriminate and so this service is available for all God’s children whether they are trans or not.

    The service can be found online here:
    http://www.scotland.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/affirmation-of-holy-baptism-2006.pdf

    , ,

4 responses to “Equal Marriage – Prop 8 Ruling in California”

  1. Cal Avatar
    Cal

    “Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee, neither hath he been displeased.
    And surely the Future shall be better for thee than the Past,
    And in the end shall thy Lord be bounteous to thee and thou be satisfied.”

    Little by little.

    Reply
  2. Amelia Hagen Avatar
    Amelia Hagen

    Yes, little by little. Taking the long view is frustrating, but in the end that is the view that God must surely take.

    Reply
  3. Some Thoughts on the Prop 8 Ruling – An Exercise in the Fundamentals of Orthodoxy

    […] Holdsworth has a good response for an Anglican revisionist this side of the Pond which gets down to the core of the argument. […]

    Reply
  4. David | Dah•veed Avatar
    David | Dah•veed

    May we join the celebration?

    Mexico court upholds gay marriage law
    Thu, Aug 5 2010
    MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s supreme court on Thursday upheld a landmark law that allows gay marriage in the capital city, bucking a challenge raised by the conservative government of President Felipe Calderon.
    This year, Mexico City became the first capital in mainly Catholic Latin America to pass a law allowing gay couples the same marriage and adoption rights as heterosexuals.
    But Calderon’s government and his right-wing National Action Party, or PAN, argued the law was unconstitutional on grounds it would be destructive to families. The powerful Catholic hierarchy in Mexico calls gay marriage immoral.
    While the supreme court decided gay marriage was constitutional, it will review the adoption clause on Monday.
    “Those of us who are in favor of this (law) are in favor of diversity and tolerance,” Supreme Court Justice Arturo Zaldivar said during the court’s deliberations.
    “Our constitution does not establish a concept of marriage,” he said.
    Since the law was passed, more than 300 same-sex couples have tied the knot, the majority of them men.
    Activists see the law as part of a sea change in attitudes on homosexuality in much of traditionally macho Latin America.
    With some 20 million residents, the Mexico City metropolitan area is one of the world’s largest cities.
    (Reporting by Miguel Angel Guitierrez; writing by Mica Rosenberg; editing by Missy Ryan and Jerry Norton)

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • Anglican Covenant Session

    Primus: my task is to be the person who helps SEC to relate to central bodies of the Anglican Communion. Task is to set out the context in which the SEC looks at the Covenant. Does not think in itself that it is unreasonable to have a document setting out what our commnunion is. As…

  • Home Mission Committee

    Faye Lamont introduces bookmarks which the committee has produced. They have prayers on them.

  • Church for All Group

    Annalu Waller – talks about remit of working group to expore issues of inclusion and accessibility within the SEC. Notes we are called to go out and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. She cringes about this language – but that is for another time. Why do we exlude large parts…

  • Committee for Relations with People of Other Faiths

    John Conway – reports on audit of interfaith activity. Committee were heartened by number of those who responded. Extent of interfaith engagement varies extraordinarily across Scotland. (Apparently some people responded as though questions were about inter-church activity). Festival of Spirituality has a lot of support from Piskies. This year’s theme is Faith, Hope and Reality.…