"Two male priests [Rev Peter Cowell and Rev Dr David Lord who are pictured] exchanged vows and rings in a ceremony using one of the church's most traditional wedding rites - a decision seen as blasphemous by conservatives."
[Outrage over Britain's first gay wedding in a church.]
[For another article on this wedding, see here.]
This wedding may well be the final straw that further emboldens Archbishop Peter Akinola and other reactionary clergy within the Anglican communion to further become power brokers in the final fracture of that communion between what people mistakenly call the "liberals" and the "conservatives." Actually, the terms "liberal" and "conservative" have absolutely no meaning in this context!
The difference should be seen between those who see the move of the Holy Spirit in telling us that in Jesus there is nothing that is "unclean," as was finally clearly seen by the Apostle Peter when he was told by God: "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common [or impure or profane]." (Acts 10:15); what the Apostle Paul told the churches of Galatia and to the rest of us who presume to be Jesus' disciples: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)
Just because many clergy and their gullible followers may well have emotional/sexual issues, misread Scripture, miss the point of the Gospel message of grace, faith, love, peace, reconciliation, and inclusiveness, and miss the whole point of the Gospel of grace, faith, love, peace, reconciliation, and inclusiveness, doesn't mean that we are all to be bozos on that bus of intolerance!
God bless Rev. Martin Dudley, rector at the noted St. Bartholomew the Great in London, who courageously officiated at the wedding!
"The Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Orombi, said that the ceremony was blasphemous. He called on the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to take decisive action if the Anglican Church were not to 'disintegrate'. Archbishop Orombi added: 'What really shocks me is that this is happening in the Church of England that first brought the Gospel to us.'"
Notice the exquisite irony of Archbishop of Uganda's Henry Orombi's statement, in that he is elevating himself and his prejudices (that he shares with all too many Anglicans as well as other denominational, non-Anglican, leaders, clergy, and members) over the clear Gospel message. He doesn't see, or doesn't want to see, or is incapable of seeing, being blinded as he is by his homophobic prejudices, that what he calls "blasphemous" is "...happening in the Church of England that first brought the Gospel to us."
Since when is a lifelong commitment one makes to love and be faithful to another human being considered "blasphemous," or in any way "common," "impure," or "profane?"
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