What is in Kelvin's Head?

A wee homily for Derek and Nelson

15/08/2014

Derek and Nelson – you have come here to St Mary’s today to declare your love for one another and so that we can share your joy and give thanks with you.

Today is a feast day in the church. It is the Feast of St Mary – and here we all are in a church dedicated to her, St Mary’s Cathedral. And on a feast day we share in joy….and in thanksgiving.

Now, on this day the church remembers different events that happened in the Mary’s life. We remember her at the beginning of Jesus’s life sharing the joy of his birth and we remember her at the end of his life sharing her sorrows with others. And on this day, you’ve chosen a gospel reading all about another event in her life. You’ve chosen the reading about the wedding at Cana of Galilee.

As we’ve just heard, Mary was the guest at a wedding and at a given point in the proceedings, she nudged her son and declared that there needed to be more wine and that he should do something about it.

And sure enough, water was brought out and it was changed into wine and the party went on. No doubt there was joy, and considerable thanksgiving.

Looking around at all of you gathered here, I don’t know whether you believe in miracles or what you make of stories like that. I also don’t know how you all feel today – beyond being sure that you come here with a sense of joy and of thanksgiving and of love for Derek and Nelson. My guess is that many of you are sitting here surprised to find yourselves here – still surprised that such a ceremony like this is possible.

The truth is, for a lot of us who grew up as gay people, this was completely outside our expectations. We never expected to be able to celebrate a partnership in this way. It just wasn’t conceivable.

Yet here we all are.

I don’t know whether you believe in miracles. But for some of us here today, we have watched things change over the last few years. They have changed in ways that once we could never have believed. Those of us who are gay have watched water change into wine in front of our very eyes. And we have begun to drink. And the wine tastes absolutely wonderful.

Joy. And thanksgiving. And wonder.

Those are the things we celebrate here today.

Mary clearly wanted all the cups at the feast to be full, absolutely full to the brim. And running over.

And so it shall be.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen

gay couple, LGBT, wedding homily

10 responses to “It was 30 years ago today…”

Meg Rosenfeld

11/11/2022

Alas, I can’t remember exactly when it became possible for women to be come priests in the
Episcopal Church of the United States of America, but I remember very well the first ones in our parish church in Los Gatos, California and, later, in Santa Rosa. It was a very triumphant time!

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1. Sr Alison Joy Whybrow
  
  12/11/2022
  
  The Canon in the American Episcopal Church passed in 1976 and went into effect on January 1st 1977.
  Sr Alison Joy OSB
  
  Reply
  1. Mg Rosenfeld
    
    12/11/2022
    
    Thanks! I hope to remember those dates now.
    
    Reply
2. Tim Chesterton
  
  14/11/2022
  
  In Canada women began to be ordained as deacons in 1969 and as priests in 1976.
  
  Reply
Peggy Brewer

11/11/2022

Heartfelt testament concerning the importance/necessity of inclusion as our Lord Jesus Christ commanded!

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Bob King

12/11/2022

I remember the day so
well !
I was at Salisbury and Wells Theological College, preparing to leave to be Ordained in Hereford Cathedral, preparing for the closure of the College and praying with passion and fear that the vote in Synod would be YES 🙏🙏
All three things happened as we know, joy and sadness mingled down.

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Helen King

12/11/2022

Yes, all of this, especially “There were cruelties along the way. There was a great deal of abuse along the way”

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1. Anne
  
  18/11/2022
  
  And, sadly, there still is.
  
  Reply
John N Wall

12/11/2022

The first women ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church were the “Philadelphia Eleven,” ordained on July 29, 1974, by three bishops who claimed that “obedience to the Spirit” justified their action. After a second ordination of women, all their ordinations were deemed by the national church to be “irregular but valid.” As a previous correspondent noted, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church officially authorized the ordination of women to the priesthood, a decision that went into effect on the first of January in 1977.

Back to Glossary

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Keith Battarbee

13/11/2022

On the opposite side to the still continuing antipathies in some (diminishing) quarters to women priests : my wife, who is a priest, was driving today when we got stuck waiting our turn to join the main flow of cars. A driver in the main queue – eastern European, almost certainly – spotted my wife’s collar, crossed himself; and when we didn’t get the message, grinned broadly, crossed himself again, and waved us energetically into the traffic flow in front of him.

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