What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Equal Marriage – Questions people haven’t thought of #1

    Here’s one for church folk and any passing ethicist.

    Suppose a couple get a civil partnership and they then have a service of blessing in an Episcopal Church – rings, promises, nuptial mass, the whole enchilada, with lovely prayers drawn from the Scottish Episcopal marriage liturgy. (As happens).

    Supposing that is all done with and then suddenly the government come along and offer to make those who have civil partnerships married at the stroke of a pen.

    What is the moral difference between that and a straight couple getting married in church?

    [My interest in this question is to see whether the answers divide between people who say, “There’s no difference, therefore same-sex couples don’t need marriage” and those who say, “There’s no difference, so we should stop shilly-shallying about and wed same-sex couples on the same basis as every else.”]

    Furthermore, might couples expect to go through another ceremony to mark this change of status or not?

    ,

2 responses to “Cedric’s Sermon – 22 January”

  1. Rosemary Hannah Avatar
    Rosemary Hannah

    Laughed a lot – thought it was bang on.

    I will say it again, though – in my experience no church ever grows unless it is offering a really good quality of worship and has an involved and welcoming congregation.

    Similarly, any church which cannot offer these is a disaster waiting to happen.

    But every shrinking church is not a church without these things, though too many are.

    Learning to look out, to ask ‘How can we serve others by offering what they truly need?’ is a good place to start. Asking: ‘What if God wanting here?’ is indispensable.

    Reply
  2. Rosie Bates Avatar
    Rosie Bates

    Thank you so much Canon Cedric. Must admit to a touch of the spiritual glums last Sunday re the history of my personal stance in the Diocese of Oxford. Now you have me laughing all the way to the ‘bank of grace’ and the hope that lies within us.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.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

Previous Posts

  • Arrrgh

    Oh dear. I fell over in the street again. “Arrrgh” was the cry as my feet slipped on a thick layer of black ice in the middle of Stirling. It would appear that this came from window cleaners’ water. No bones broken, but a sore back. I was picked up by young people and traffic…

  • Quote

    Like this quote – which has appeared somewhere o­n the Ship of Fools website:”We should give up the foolish task of trying to be saints and get o­n with the more important task of trying to be human” ? Dietrich BonhoefferQuite so, Bonhoeffer. More or less what I took 1000 more words to say in…

  • 29 February 2004 Sermon for Lent 1 – Temptation

    How often we ask God for things that cannot be given. This morning, we read the story of Jesus going into the wilderness and being tempted by the devil. The standard way of preaching about this is to speak about our own temptation and our own wilderness moments. We liken ourselves to Jesus ? ?Oh…

  • Five Sundays in February

    There are five Sundays in February this year. This only happens every 28 years, I think.