Shuck and Jive


Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Marriage Is for Two People not Just A Man and A Woman


Baltimore Presbytery has submitted an overture to the General Assembly to change the Directory for Worship in the Book of Order.

Here is an article in the
Baltimore Sun.

This is the overture originally submitted by an individual to the Session of Govans Presbyterian Church. The Session approved the overture and sent it to presbytery. The presbytery approved the overture and now it will go to the General Assembly. One person making an overture starts the ball rolling.


What the directory says now:
W–4.9001 Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. Marriage is a civil contract between a woman and a man. For Christians marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship. In a service of Christian marriage a lifelong commitment is made by a woman and a man to each other, publicly witnessed and acknowledged by the community of faith.

What it would say if this is overture is adopted:
W–4.9001 Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. Marriage is a covenant between two people and according to the laws of the state also constitutes a civil contract. For Christians marriage is a covenant through which two people are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship. In a service of Christian marriage a lifelong commitment is made between two people, publicly witnessed and acknowledged by the community of faith.
Similar changes would be made in other sections of the Directory for Worship.

Commentary: It is good timing to present this overture to the General Assembly (and hopefully to the presbyteries). The whole nation is discussing marriage and it would be good for the church to debate this. This is idealistic legislation and probably won't make it out of committee, but even if it doesn't, to have the discussion on the table is a step toward justice.

4 comments:

  1. If a father wants to marry his daughter....or his son?

    Have a Happy Thanksgiving anyway.

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  2. A father already has civil legal rights in regard to blood relatives such as a daughter or son. My sister has specific legal rights granted to her in regards to her husband. As long as I remain in the United States (in Georgia in particular), I have no legal rights in regard to my partner. If I were to move to Canada, where I could obtain such rights, it would not be acknowledged by my church.

    That's wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A father and daughter are a man and a woman, so hey, that's a lot more similar to a straight marriage than a gay one. Same goes for polygamy, rape, and child abuse which are all usually (not always) heterosexual. And don't get me started about unplanned pregnancies.

    Hey John, on a lighter note, do you think some folk should get together and propose another amendment saying that we should allow marriage between any number of people? Then the Baltimore overture will look like the safe middle choice and all the moderates will flock to it :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jim...

    Hmmmm?


    Fly...

    Yup.


    Heather...

    That idea is almost crazy enough to do!

    ReplyDelete