The other cheek has transcribed some key speeches from the Church of England synod (church parliament)t debate on same sex blessings. This is part two. part one is here.
The Synod passed a motion supporting the prayers for same-sex and other couples the bishops have proposed. the motion is here. Highlights of the prayers, and why they resemble marriage iare here.
Ed Shaw
Ed Shaw a celibate same-sex attracted evangelical gives a view of how a negotiated settlement might allow evangelicals to live in a future Church of England. He is speaking to an amendment moved by gay campaigner Jayne Ozone which would have bought proposals for same-sex marriage to the next session of synod in July this year.
Ed Shaw Bristol two six one.
Before I turned to this amendment, can I just put on the record, because I think it probably needs to be at this stage, that singleness does not equal loneliness. It’s a comment has been made a number of times and I think it’s really important [to correct it.]
Turning to the amendments.
I am one of a number of people who are opposed to equal marriage, who are wanting to sit down and draw up united proposals that will allow for its introduction alongside imaginative new structures that will permanently protect our different consciences.
And I think it’s now in this stage of the synod debate that we need to start that conversation, soon.
As one of the team behind the pastoral principles as part of the pastoral advisory group, I think that conversation would be a better way of embedding the pastoral principles in our life together, locally and nationally, than the proposals the house of bishops have brought us.
I supported Jayne’s two other amendments. [One would have removed the apology from the motion because it did not include same-sex marriage that the LGBT groups were campaigning for, and a second calling for synod feedback. Both failed.]
I wish I could support this. But this motion does not include a call for the negotiated settlement that we do need, now, to protect the consciences and rights of people that believe fundamentally irreconcilable things.
Jayne, I look forward to the day when you can get married in your local Anglican Church, according to your conscience.
But according to my conscience, and afraid that will have to be in a different part of the Church of England to me.
I’m looking forward to the day when we can discuss, we can debate equal marriage in this chamber, recognising our arithmetic irreconcilable differences, and thinking through and building the structures that will allow us somehow to stay united while preserving people’s individual precious consciences. So though I would love to support this amendment, until it goes further, I cannot.
Jayne Ozanne
Jayne Ozanne, possibly the chief campaigner for same-sex marriage in the Church of England, introduced an amendment to bring proposals for equal marriage in the July session of Synod. Her amendment was lost.
Jayne Ozanne, Oxford 380, I would like to get married one day. It’s been a long journey. 20 years of conversion therapy do leave their mark. And like many survivors, I can still find intimacy challenging, but I love, I yearn to love and be loved.
And there’s a wonderful woman I longed to ask a dear friend who I fear is blissfully unaware. However, if she is watching, I am free on Tuesday, Valentines’ day.
And if I do finally find the courage to ask her, and if she does say yes, but it would be inconceivable for me not to be married in church, to make our vows before God, each other, and who knows, maybe even some of you. Hopes and dreams, we all have them. Which is why I’ve tabled this amendment.
Synod, we know we are divided. We have always been divided, and we always will be divided. We also know that there is a significantly larger group of Anglicans in England, 46%, according to YouGov, who want to be able to celebrate same-sex marriages in their churches than those who don’t, 36%.
But both groups exist. And the fundamental question is whether we will recognise both these groups and make room for one another, respecting the Anglican moral tradition of conscience.
It seems to me, deeply inconsistent, that whilst the Archbishop of Canterbury has recognised at Lambeth that there is a plurality of views on sexuality held with deep theological integrity across the communion, the Church of England does not.
So why is this? I believe it’s because we’ve not settled the crucial question as to whether people like me, who by our nature and birth are, just like the Gentiles were in Acts, different, can have sex. Or our sexual relationships sinful? Or do we, like Peter, accept God’s command not to call anything impure that God has made clean?
Refusing to answer this has led to an unholy fudge, one where LGBT people are left again to carry the load.
We must settle how we accommodate our differences. And that’s why I’m asking for proposals to be brought in July so that we can just side as a synod on a process bringing forward equal marriage.
Because for many of us here, and those in the churches we represent, we believe gay marriage is something to be celebrated. We must decide whether the Church of England will extend its tent to embrace this view or whether this Synod will continue to hold us to ransom and condemn us as unChristian.
To those who’ve told me they need more time, I would say, who pays the price for your delay? We’ve had years looking at this, and we deserve an answer. Goodness. Even if we do agree to equal marriage in the summer, it will take at least another five years for equal marriage to become a reality. So sadly, probably not in time for me to be married in church. However, I will hold tight to the hope that it might. For with God, all things are possible, including the fact that the woman I love might just, I hope, say yes.
Sophie Clarke
Sophie Clarke, a lay delegate from London, told the Synod how she is waiting to be married to have sex. She spoke in favour of the only amendment that passed. It requires the Bishops to make no change to the Doctrine of the Church. (But the Bishops maintain that adding the blessing prayers do not do that.)
Sophie Clark, London 354. Thank you, Chair, for calling me. This is the first time I’ve spoken in synod.
I want to speak in favour of this amendment.
I’m 27. I’m engaged. I’m ready to get married in two months’ time, and I’m absolutely delighted. He’s actually currently up in the gallery and has been for the last few days. So if that’s not true love, I don’t know what it is.
I and my fiance have never had sex.
We are convinced, in accordance with scripture, that the doctrine of this church is that God’s calling for us and for everyone seeking to follow Jesus is to live this way. That sex is to happen only within the lifelong union of holy matrimony.
I am devastated at the possibility that my leaders and shepherds of this church might not be telling me that our decision to wait, to deny ourselves in order to follow Christ, is unnecessary. And is unimportant. And is a matter on which we can simply agree to disagree.
I am disappointed that people I trust to disciple me do not endorse this amendment and, by doing so, are not encouraging me to follow Jesus and His distinct countercultural call to holiness.
The bishops write on page eight of the response. “For many years the church has taught that the only rightful place for sexual activity is marriage. The reality within which the church now lives is that couples inhabit their relationships differently.”
I find these words so depressing and distressing. The bishops have made it clear in their response to LLF that the reality of couples having sex outside of marriage is now given, rather than one they challenge with Jesus’s call to the world to repent and believe.
I am so concerned that in seeking to change one thing, the bishops are actually changing a second thing as well. Sex is for marriage.
Some here, myself included, believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. Others believe in the possibility of same-sex marriage. But surely what most of us do agree on in this room is that sex is, and should be, within marriage.
I believe that Jesus tells the world a better story about sexuality, relationships, and marriage, a story that is for our good and flourishing.
We need to make a choice synod. Does the church still have a better story to tell? Does it believe in its doctrine?
The world says that I’m strange. That I’m not living life to the full, that I’m less human because I’m not yet sexually active.
Do you think the same? I am one of the youngest members here. And I am trying to live live out Jesus’s better story. I am living in accordance with the church’s doctrine.
There are hundreds at my church, gay, straight, single and in relationships, striving faithfully to do the same. Please, please do not make life harder for us.
I urge synod to tell a better story for our church. I urge synod to not allow these unintended consequences. Sex is for marriage, and I urge synod to support this amendment.
Archbishop Samy Fawzy
Samy Fawzy, Bishop of Egypt and Archbishop of Alexandria, spoke first in the debate on the substantive motion (which passed.) he urged the Church of England not to abandon its leadership of the Anglican communion.
… I speak as a global south primate [head of a national church]. We in the global south sign the declaration of faith, which contains the following.
“In our day, we thank God for those who have stood firm against teachings and practices that depart from the Orthodox and historic Anglican heritage from our forebears.
We affirmed that resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference as a teaching on marriage and sexuality of the Anglican Communion.”
One of the clauses of this initially states, “this conference cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same-sex unions, nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions.”
This is our clear view of the GSFA [Global South Fellowship of Anglicans] This is how we understand the Scripture tradition and reason of the Anglican Church.
Jesus said, of the help of the Holy Spirit, “whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
The Holy Spirit reminds us of Jesus’ teaching.
I cannot imagine that today we can understand Jesus’ teaching better than the apostles or the early church. In our understanding of [inaudible] sexuality, there is a red line. we will never cross.
Crossing this line of blessing same-sex unions will alienate 75% of the Anglican Communion and endanger the ecumenical and interfaith dialogue.
This shift in practice will lead eventually to impaired and broken communion.
We inherited the traditional orthodox faith of the Church of England.
So please, please do not surrender your unique position as the mother church of the Anglican Communion. It is your choice.
Thank you for listening.