Posted on 12/12/2012 10:27:36 PM PST by Cronos
Gay couples who seek spiritual affirmation of their relationships can now sanctify their unions with special blessings at South Florida's Episcopal churches.
Priests in the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida have been given permission to perform a distinct rite, different from the marriage between a man and a woman. Called "The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant," the ceremony, to be introduced this month, was approved by national convention delegates over the summer.
Lorraine Michels and Joan Van Ness were married in 2009 in Massachusetts, but decided to participate in a nine-couple blessing ceremony in April at All Saints Episcopal in Fort Lauderdale. They have been together since 1993.
"As a Catholic, I thought that once I left Catholicism, I'd never see the inside of a church again," said Michels, 66, a retired physical education teacher from New York. But Van Ness, 67, grew up Episcopalian and the church invited the couple to participate. Michels said the ceremony, attended by about 300 people, was moving and emotional.
"What was overwhelming was the love everyone who attended felt," Michels said. "It was one of the highlights of my life."
The Episcopal Church, the 14th-largest denomination in the U.S., is the largest denomination to approve a gay blessing ritual, but not the first. The United Church of Christ has approved since 2005.
To make sure parishioners understand the church's interpretation of gay relationships and the new national liturgy, some South Florida churches have been conducting information sessions. At St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Delray Beach, about 30 people have been attending the seven-week series, the Rev. Chip Stokes said.
"We lost some folks in earlier years, but support now has been very high," said Stokes, who has performed one blessing ceremony. "The culture has changed on this issue."
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.sun-sentinel.com ...
And the ECUSA with it....
I’ll ping this and the article below, tomorrow:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2968245/posts
Episcopalian Exodus Over Gay Issues continues
The ECUSA is blessing an abominable sin.
Cradle Episcopalians, me and my wife. We fled the church.
Sure. I bet all of the apostles were gay...not.
Does this mean that Modern Bride magazine will start having photos of men on its cover?
“Cradle Episcopalians, me and my wife. We fled the church.”
________________________________________________
As the senior warden of an Episcopal church founded in 1832, I left some years ago, as soon as the gays started taking over the whole diocese.
I’m sure it was horrible for you, like a Greek tragedy watching your home being infected by Schori and co
“Cradle Episcopalians, me and my wife. We fled the church.”
________________________________________________
It’s astonishing what the homo libertines were able to steal from us. They’ve destroyed the church. I wonder if they can do that to the nation as well?
” I wonder if they can do that to the nation as well?”
______________________________________________
Between the gays and the Communist, there is little hope
for America.
“I’m sure it was horrible for you, like a Greek tragedy watching your home being infected by Schori and co”
Well, you’re right Chronos. It was heartbreaking. We rallied the Bishop but the Council was packed with liberals. We lost one battle after another. Frayed tempers and arguments right there in the narthex. Lib churches wanting to break away too, insisting that they did not want to be associated with the conservatives. It was a slow train wreck and a horrible one.
We were lost, seeking from church to church for a year. Then we tried an evangelical church, almost by accident. Never intended to do that. We’ve never looked back...except for Holy Communion, Easter and Advent...and Pentacost...and...
Cradle Episcopalian, fled in 1997. Reasons: diocesan decision to be “welcoming” to homosexuals as marketing program to increase church membership, New Age practices such as worshipping the Labyrinth.
My parish has lost 2/3 of its members since 2002. Closed its Sunday school and children’s programs (no more families or children), typical attendance is a handful of homosexuals and aged members in wheelchairs with their caregivers.
quite frankly, why do you remain?
Gay couples who seek spiritual affirmation of their relationships can now sanctify their unions with special blessings at South Florida’s Episcopal churches.
These priests can not sanctify sin.
What these poeple are doing has no relation to Christianity nor the Word of God.
The culture has changed on this issue.”
But the Word of God has not...........
Drip, drip,drip, dripppppppp.......................
Greek tragedy is an understatement. The pain of leaving went on - and on - and on. My wife and I were pretty well out by the summer of 2001. Both airline pilots, we went back the first Sunday after 9/11 to say “we’re OK”. We still miss the ritual, the hymns, the closeness and welcoming openness of the congregations (especially around the holidays).
BTW: >> Lorraine Michels and Joan Van Ness << Despite the clear and stern condemnation of male homosexuality, you will be hard pressed to find any such prohibition of female homosexuality in the scriptures.
Queer Church Ping
There's one, Romans 1:26
"Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones."
[Inthaihill, this is an example of we were talking about:]
The Bible has little explicit to say about many of these sexual issues ---concubinage, fetishism, sadomasochism, lesbianism, birth control pills, pedophilia, masturbation, condoms, sterilization, man-woman anal sodomy, polygamy, transsexualism via hormones and surgery, contraception via hormones and surgery, BDSM and all its variations --- but that doesn't make our moral judgment against these things uncertain.
First, the Bible has plenty to say about real marriage, as intended from the beginning, and none of the above lines up with real marriage.
Second, there are decisive Natural Law arguments against the above practices. This involves reasoning about the purpose of things, and the Bible more than once urges us to use "right judgment" and "right reason."
Third, all of the above practices (with the possible exception of polygamy) have historically been proscribed as against God's law by the overwhelming majority of Jewish and Christian people though the centuries. That in itself is a good reason for us to make the same judgments. The alternative is to believe that God would let His people go astray on this for 20 or 30 centuries --- which He promised us He would not do.
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