January 3, 2019
Dear Members of St. Matthew’s,
Tina Couch and Jennifer Staples, who are faithful and active members of St.
Matthew’s and are confirmed in the Episcopal Church, have come to me and asked to hold their wedding service in our sanctuary, surrounded by their family and friends.
Although I as rector, am permitted to make the decision to allow this ceremony, I have asked the vestry to help me with it. The vestry and I discussed this request at the last vestry meeting, and the vestry decided that, prior to the vote, which will occur at the vestry meeting on January 13, 2019, the vestry wanted to invite any parish member who felt the need to be heard to reach out with their support, concern or other comments.
As many of you are aware, in 1976, General Convention passed a resolution affirming that LGBTQ persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the church. Since that time, the membership of the Episcopal Church has been in prayer and dialogue about how the church may offer full inclusion for LGBTQ persons in the church. Over the years, this has included baptism, confirmation, burials, serving in all lay ministries of the church, and being considered for ordination to the diaconate, the priesthood and the episcopacy.
In July of 2012, the Episcopal Church voted for a trial period where the Church would offer a commitment blessing for same sex couples wishing to take vows of life-long commitment. Shortly after the Supreme Court declared same sex marriage legal in all 50 states, the Episcopal Church voted to allow trial use of services to bless the marriage of same-sex couples. As part of the resolution, diocesan bishops would decide whether they would permit the rite in their diocese. Bishop Rob sent out a letter immediately after General Convention affirming his support of this resolution. That left the decision for each individual church in the diocese up to the rector. As I mentioned above, I announced that I would not make this decision alone but would ask the vestry to help me make the decision for St. Matthew’s.
Therefore, on behalf of the vestry, I am sending this note to encourage you to let vestry members know how you feel.
I know this is a hard topic for some of our members - both those who support the idea and those who do not. The beauty of the Episcopal church is that we can respect differences in theology and tradition and yet come together on those doctrines on which we agree. This was true when churches were desegregated, when women were allowed to serve on the vestry, when the church changed the Book of Common Prayer, and when the church voted that women could be ordained in all orders.
There has been a lot written on this topic over many years, and I am going to suggest two sources for those who struggle with the decisions of the Episcopal Church.
1.
The first reference is the Episcopal Church site:
2.
The most thorough discussion I have found is from Bishop Matt Gunter, Bishop of the Diocese of Fond du Lac. Bishop Gunter started out as opposed, and in his first blog, explains where he believes the Episcopal Church have made some missteps, but he continued to reflect, pray and study, and he determined that he could see the sacred and holy in the Church performing this rite. He shares his journey and his thoughts in a series of 19 blogs which can be found at the link below:
I hope you find these resources helpful. Again, I encourage you to talk to or email your vestry members and me and let us know your thoughts. The contact information for all of us is included below.
On behalf of the vestry, I want to thank you for trusting the guidance and judgment of your elected vestry members as they help with this important community decision.
Please pray for me, for the vestry, for Tina and Jenn, and for our parish as we discern where God is leading us in this.
In Christ,
Liz+
(The Rev. Canon) Elizabeth Hendrick
To contact a vestry member by email, please click here:
