“We have to stand up for what is right.”
“We have to follow the truth of God.”
“We have to maintain unity.”
I imagine these might be just some of the thoughts around the room today – and how exactly we understand these things is likely to vary from one person to the next.
To be Anglican is to share a diversity of beliefs
As Christians, and indeed Anglicans, we are not, and never have been, a group of people in harmonious agreement. Throughout our history, there has always been wrestling with the sometimes-painful reality that people can have a very different understanding of God to ourselves.
My experiences in struggling to accept my sexuality
If I had been stood here a year or so ago, I probably would have said that standing up for what is right is more important than anything else. I would have told you about the deep hurt and pain I have experienced at being told that there is something wrong with me, that being attracted to women is a deep psychological flaw, and against God’s created order.
I would have spoken about my struggle to feel accepted for who I am and reconciling that with both my own faith, and that of the Church. I would have expressed my anger and frustration at the apparent need to keep parts of the Anglican communion on board at the cost of doing what is “right”.
Why we should allow equal marriage
I still do think that we should allow same-sex marriage in the church. I firmly do believe in my heart of hearts, that if Jesus was standing right here in this room today, he would be telling us to just get on with it.
“I firmly do believe in my heart of hearts, that if Jesus was standing right here in this room today, he would be telling us to just get on with it.”
But it seems to me now that this vote today means far greater than simply allowing same-sex couples to marry in church. This really isn’t about a side “winning or “triumphing” over the other. Rather, it is about committing to gracefully and bravely walking alongside each other, holding our different truths in tension, of reaching out to one another with compassion and love in all our dealings with one another and the wider world.
Unity in diversity
As we have come together throughout our Church’s discernment process these past few years, as new relationships have been formed and others strengthened: I have truly seen God and the Holy Spirit at work through all of this. I have learnt that unity in Christ isn’t about us all agreeing with one another.
“…unity in Christ isn’t about us all agreeing with one another…it is about grace”
Rather, unity, seems to me to be about learning to walk alongside each other, even in fear. It is about grace. It is about stepping outside of ourselves and valuing others, of seeing their truths, no matter how different they might be to our own – and joyfully recognising God in them.
What the church can offer to the world through this vote
I think we, the Scottish Episcopal Church have something rather special to offer to the world. We can offer generosity of heart to the other – even when that is towards those we vehemently disagree with.
I am truly proud to be a part of this small, but rather feisty outpost of the Anglican Communion, the Scottish Episcopal Church – and in our world of increasing fear, and prejudice against the other, it is now more than ever that we can be an example to the world of unity and love – God’s love through all our diversity.
I urge you to vote for this motion.