The prophets of our day are the scientists. They see the climate changing. They tell of the waters rising. They report the population growth. They tell of the wars over water. The prophecies of the scientists are given in decades not minutes. They talk of events that will happen in twenty or thirty years. Their prophecies get very little attention from the people who are now making decisions. The CEO's who are focused on the bottom line today. The politicians who are focused on the next election. They may hear the prophecies but these prophecies are not as important to them as the decisions of today.
I suspect that the same reaction may have been given to the prophecies of Jeremiah. Jeremiah has some short term prophecies that are not very pretty. Jerusalem and the people are going to be sacked by the Babylonians, taken into captivity, the temple is going to be stripped of its treasures and all the "brightest and best" are going to be made slaves of the Babylonians.
Then Jeremiah says, "The Lord proclaimed: When Babylon's seventy years are up, I will come fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place (Jerusalem)" (Jeremiah 29:10) Judgment, punishment, pain and sorrow will last seventy years, but don't worry, at the end of seventy years, you will be brought back.
Who would find any comfort in that in our day and age? At my age the fact that in seventy years things will be better is not a good message for me. I will be dead. All the people who are taken into captivity now will be dead. That is why Jeremiah tells them they have to have their children marry, have babies, and make a living in Babylon so that there will be people to be brought back.
The people who hear and can accept Jeremiah's good news are people who are more concerned with their corporate identity, the existence of the people of God, the national concept, who care more about the survival of their group than about themselves. They have a very solid identity as a people. The individual is only a part of the whole. The way fans look at a college sports program. It is more about Kentucky basketball than about any individual player.
It seems to me that there is a small sense of corporate identity in our culture. We may care about our country, but I suspect that if you had told those people in the great depression that in seventy years the stock market would recover they would not have found that much good news. If we were to say that in seventy years we will have found a cure for cancer, I am not sure that that would bring joy to the cancer people now. I think our society has a lot more focus on the immediacy and the individual satisfaction than we have on our corporate survival and success. Pie in the sky bye and bye is not a big seller any more and I doubt if pie in the future (three generations) would be a big hit either.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Christmas sonnet, 2014
I put the Christmas poem of 2013 on this blog and forgot to put the Christmas poem for 2014
So better late than never.
THE CHRISTMAS SONNET, 2014
The paper's full of blood and guts.
The whole damn world's jut going nuts.
School children slaughtered at their desks.
A Sydney siege just turns grotesque.
Cheap gas gives auto sales a boost
As Putin's "bucks" tank through the roof.
But sales are said to still be good
So Santa's doing what he should.
There is a battle raging here.
It seems more vicious than past years.
Which Savior should we welcome here:
ISIS, Santa, Guns or Beer?
A messy baby in some straw
Contends that God has love for all.
So better late than never.
THE CHRISTMAS SONNET, 2014
The paper's full of blood and guts.
The whole damn world's jut going nuts.
School children slaughtered at their desks.
A Sydney siege just turns grotesque.
Cheap gas gives auto sales a boost
As Putin's "bucks" tank through the roof.
But sales are said to still be good
So Santa's doing what he should.
There is a battle raging here.
It seems more vicious than past years.
Which Savior should we welcome here:
ISIS, Santa, Guns or Beer?
A messy baby in some straw
Contends that God has love for all.
Passed By
When they went around the room in the parlor to introduce the members of the commission to ordain a young woman who had grown up in the church while I had served there, I introduced myself as the "has been." That always seems to get a laugh, but it is more true than joke.
The church, the culture, the religious landscape has passed me by and I do not know what is needed or what would be nourishment and blessing for a congregation. The little congregations I supply from time to time are not willing to make any changes and so what I give them they welcome, but it is not the "bread of life" that a congregation in a major urban area would like
That the worship has passed be by has been demonstrated to me very clearly in the last two sermons I have heard from two very high steeple churches in New York City. Both preachers were well known preachers and they gave very strong messages and were, of course, well delivered. I get that. They were very much like dramatic monologues, with all the gifts of good drama.
What struck me so strange was that both congregations broke out in applause after the pastor finished. Applause like it was a performance on a stage. Applause like going to a concert and hearing a singer perform. I was nurtured in the tradition that congregations were not supposed to even applaud the choir or the soloist. We even thought it was unseemly for people to say "amen" in our congregations to good point in a sermon.
What that suggested to me was that more and more the congregation does not see itself as part of the drama. That they do not understand that they are the Greek chorus and the whole worship is the play for the benefit of the world outside. The congregation has speaking parts, confession, hymns, prayers, affirmation of faith, and the choir and preacher have other parts. The very coming to worship is a part of the drama which is conducted for the purpose of giving God praise and for witnessing to the world.
The applause for the sermon is another step towards seeing the congregation as the audience and the preacher and choir as the actors on stage putting on a show for the crowd. It is not what I understood as worship. But as I said, I am a has been and the new reality in religious worship has passed me by.
The church, the culture, the religious landscape has passed me by and I do not know what is needed or what would be nourishment and blessing for a congregation. The little congregations I supply from time to time are not willing to make any changes and so what I give them they welcome, but it is not the "bread of life" that a congregation in a major urban area would like
That the worship has passed be by has been demonstrated to me very clearly in the last two sermons I have heard from two very high steeple churches in New York City. Both preachers were well known preachers and they gave very strong messages and were, of course, well delivered. I get that. They were very much like dramatic monologues, with all the gifts of good drama.
What struck me so strange was that both congregations broke out in applause after the pastor finished. Applause like it was a performance on a stage. Applause like going to a concert and hearing a singer perform. I was nurtured in the tradition that congregations were not supposed to even applaud the choir or the soloist. We even thought it was unseemly for people to say "amen" in our congregations to good point in a sermon.
What that suggested to me was that more and more the congregation does not see itself as part of the drama. That they do not understand that they are the Greek chorus and the whole worship is the play for the benefit of the world outside. The congregation has speaking parts, confession, hymns, prayers, affirmation of faith, and the choir and preacher have other parts. The very coming to worship is a part of the drama which is conducted for the purpose of giving God praise and for witnessing to the world.
The applause for the sermon is another step towards seeing the congregation as the audience and the preacher and choir as the actors on stage putting on a show for the crowd. It is not what I understood as worship. But as I said, I am a has been and the new reality in religious worship has passed me by.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Why Jesus always gets abused
THEY GROW UP SO QUICKLY
February 22, 2015
Brookston Presbyterian Church, Henderson, NC
Rick Brand, Supply
Boy, they sure grow up so quickly, don’t they? No sooner do you celebrate the first step they take, than they are asking for the keys to the car. The young grow up so quickly. It seems like only yesterday they were taking him down to the temple to be baptized. Life just goes by so quickly. We all get caught up in our own little worlds and the next thing you know you’re getting wedding invitations from the little girls who used to baby sit for you. Young people just seem to grow up so fast. Why, it doesn’t seem like more than just a couple of months ago that we were celebrating the birth of Jesus, and now look at him. Standing up there, making public speeches, just look at how he has grown, look at how poised he is. Listen to him speak, “ The Kingdom of God is at hand, Repent and believe.”
They grow up so quickly and they sure can come up with some really crazy ideas. Where in the world do they come up with all that radical stuff. Young people going off to war thinking they are going to fight to end all wars. Going to go fight to make the world safe for democracy. They are going to build a great new society. Young people claiming the They Shall Overcome. Going to build the peaceable kingdom right out there in Woodstock. They grow up so quickly and they come out with some really crazy ideas. Why look at Jesus, seems like just a few weeks ago we were celebrating his birth and now he is telling us that The Kingdom of God has arrived.
Mark is the earliest of the gospel writers and Mark says what all the Gospel writers say, “Jesus came teaching and preaching that the Kingdom of God has arrived and the time is fulfilled.” In other words, all those promises about what will happen in the Day of the Lord, all those prophecies about what will take place when the Kingdom of God comes are now being fulfilled in his presence. Where did Jesus get those strange ideas?
August Wilson is a Pulitzer Prize winning play writer. He has a play called Seven Guitars and in that play, one of the main characters is named Hedley. Hedley starts talking about what he thinks will happen when the Kingdom of God comes. When the promised Kingdom comes, Hedley says, “I gonna be a big man.” Louise, his mother, snaps back, “”You ain’t gonna be nothing.” Hedley says, “The Bible say it all will come to straighten out in the end. Every abomination shall be brought low. Everything will fall to a new place. When I get my plantation I’m gonna walk around it. I am going to walk all the way round to see how big it is. I’m gonna be a big man on that day. That is the day I dress up and go walking through the town. That is the day my father forgive me. I tell you this as God is my witness on that great day when all the people are singing as I go by... and my plantation is full and ripe ... and my father is a strong memory... on that day... the white man not going to tell me what to do no more.” That is what Hedley thinks is supposed to happen when the Kingdom of God comes near.
The Bible says that when the Kingdom of God comes -- the lion will lie down with the lamb --- the desert will blossom like a rose-- righteousness will flow down like a might stream -- peace will flow like a river -- the knowledge of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas” If you want to reduce those visions to one word, the word is Gospel - the kingdom is good news. And Jesus is up there telling the crowd that the Good News is being fulfilled in his presence. Jesus is saying that all the promises about what will happen when the Kingdom of God comes are now being made good in his presence. They grow up so quickly and come up with such strange ideas.
Jesus began his public ministry by preaching in his home synagogues from the text of Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of the sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Then he closed the book and gave it back to the Priest and said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. “ Jesus says that he is doing all those good things. He is the anointed of the Lord.
That first sermon did not go very well. It did not end up with all of them standing around and congratulating him on his first sermon. Something in that sermon offended the congregation. The hometown folks were insulted mightily and rose up and ran him out of town. They tried to take him to a cliff and throw him over to kill him. Something very ugly, deep and bitter is going on here. Something there is that does not love the good news. Cause the same thing kept happening to Paul when he preached the Gospel. Whenever and wherever he went to declare that the Kingdom of God was fulfilled in the person, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul got beaten, arrested, and abused.
Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is being fulfilled now. Believe the good news, Repent. The time is now.” Paul says Jesus is the good news. In Jesus all the goodness and grace of God has been made visible, the fulfillment of all the promises of the Kingdom of God have been achieved in Him. And the results of their preaching is that they are bitterly resented and brutally attacked. What in the world is going on here? Jesus has some youthful ideas about the time being fulfilled, claims the Kingdom of God is at hand in his life! What is so dangerous about that? Why is that message so radical?
Because if it is true then most of the things we have been doing with our lives has been wrong. If Jesus is the one who makes the Kingdom of God real and present, then most of the goals and objectives we have invested our lives in, have been wasteful. If Jesus is the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God, then the Messiah is a suffering lover and not a royal monarch. If Jesus is the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God, then the Kingdom of God is open to “whosoever” will, and not just to the Jews. If Jesus is the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God, if He is the Kingdom made manifest, then we are called to repent, and we do not like being told we are wrong.
Why has the Oklahoma legislators talked about ending AP History courses in their high schools? Because the curriculum includes those events in American history that speak to the dark side of our history as well as to the glory. Because the course does not present the United States as the greatest and best nation in the world. The course not only talks about the tremendous fight for liberty in the American revolution, but it talks about the horrendous treatment of the Native American Indians and our lies and treaty violations. It talks about the economy if the south being built on slavery and the nasty Jim Crow laws. We don’t want to be called to repentance.
Of sure we want a Savior, and like Hedley, we want the Kingdom of God to come and make us wonderful. We want a theology of glory. We want a kingdom of triumph and victory. We are not very interested in a theology of suffering and the cross. Who wants to go to a Heaven where everybody who wants to be there will be there? Who wants to go to a Heaven where repentant child abusers, racists, embezzlers, and who knows who else might be there? Have you ever talked to anyone who thought the grace of God in Jesus Christ might be large enough to allow Hitler to be forgiven? We want a Kingdom of God where we get what we think we deserve and have earned, and we think we deserve a lot.
The theologian Douglas John Hall suggests that one of the greatest problems with Christian communities in North American is precisely that people expect the church to be a place for good people, to be a place of harmony and peace. “Therefore people can only accept these church and retain their membership with them by suppressing the unwelcome reality that is nevertheless there in them, underneath the surface. They may confess, in a rote manner, their sins, but they do not expect sin actually to manifest itself openly, unguardedly, in their midst. Through an enormous effort of will, tens of thousands of middle-class people come together every Sunday, sit quietly listening to words that they either do not hear or comprehend only superficially, sing only familiar hymns so that the tunes block out any of the troubling lyrics, all while suppressing whatever honest questions, doubts, fears, or worries they may have carried with them into the worship. Dr. Hall says that if one tries to confess real sins in Church or welcome those who are acknowledges as real sinners, one can get attacked and abused like Jesus and Paul. We want a conquering triumphal Lord over all, and a kingdom of white washed saints.
From the beginning Mark and the Gospel writers want us to know is that the Kingdom of God as Jesus brings it is going to be a lot different than the Kingdom of God that we would like to see. We just do not want to see or live the truth that the kingdom of God comes through suffering love. We all have this amazing ability to refuse to see what we do not want to see. Jesus says the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and refuse to see the need to repent. The blindness, that willful and intentional blindness is in fact what we must confess and repent of to see and welcome the Gospel as God gives it in Jesus. Jesus says that the kingdom of God is fulfilled and come in his person, and there is that persistent and determined opposition to see that, of recognizing that, or accepting that because if we accepted that it would open us up to a confession that we have been headed in the wrong direction and we would need to change and repent.
But what does He know? He just a young man? How dare he come in here and tell us that he is the one who is empowered by the Spirit of God to bring the kingdom. He grew up around here? Where did he get so uppity? We have been taught a long time that when the Messiah comes, when the Kingdom of God comes, it will bring the restoration of the Glory of Solomon back. It will drive out the Romans, it will create a mighty people of God who will rule the world. And he thinks that the kingdom will care about the blind, the prisoners, the hungry and the lame?
They grow up so quickly and have such strange ideas. There is this Jesus, whom I swear, we just had the baby shower for a month or so ago, and now here he comes claiming that he is the fulfillment of the promises of the Kingdom of God. He is the God who comes into the world to redeem the world. If he is the Messiah, then it means that the Good News is that where there is pain, suffering, guilt, and regret, God is present and redeeming, that sacrifice and love are the weapons of God Kingdom, and not power and might and wealth. That the kingdom of God is made up mostly of all the people we have been trying most of all to avoid. If we refuse to welcome that word, we continue to deny the grace given in Jesus, continue to want to seek the Kingdom of God where the Messiah comes in power and might, wealth and prestige, where only “nice” people like us are a part of the Kingdom of God, where we can continue to believe that all is right with what we have done, then we will continue to see a world where kindness is crucified, where one group of self-righteous people behead other self-righteous people, where we keep dividing into warring sects, where the world is divided into the haves and the have nots, and the have nots are just collateral damage in the struggle for survival. Jesus says the Kingdom of God has come. The time is now. Repent,
Ah, these young kids. They grow up so quickly, and they have such strange ideas, but of course, they usually outgrow them when they get older. There is no need to take them seriously.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Limited imagination?
I am the oldest player on the court of the racquetball game. I am not fast, not quick, just there. One of the better players served me the ball once, and like a miracle, I hit a excellent kill shot. As he turned to take up the defensive position, he said, "I didn't see that coming." (He probably won't see another one like that for a very long time, either.)
"I did not see that coming." It was the same thing the family of the gun enthusiast said when the woman, who believed in carrying a loaded assault weapon with her to the grocery store, to the bank, with her all the time, loudly defending her so call 'right to bear arms" went home and shot her husband. "We knew they were having trouble. They had filled for divorce, but we did not think this could happen. We did not think she was that troubled."
That seems to be a very common reaction to the great tragedies in our society. We humans seem to be unable to imagine the ultimate worst happening. Many of us, we acknowledge that we are sinners, that we partly evil and partly good, that there is a kind of selfishness that pervades all of our actions. But we just are not willing to believe the worst.
Three mile island disaster happened, I am told, because the workers just could not believe what the instruments were telling them. Pearl Harbor happened because the look outs just could not believe what they were hearing on the radio. Twenty children and six adults were killed in Newtown two years ago because the doctors, the parent, the "system" just did not believe it had gotten that bad. They did not see that coming.
In a meeting with some other Democrats one of the professionals was telling us about what preparations needed to be made to make sure the election was fair and law abiding. Several of the members kept shaking their heads at what they were being told. They repeated over and over that they would have never thought of that kind of dirty trick. We concluded that we just did not have the kind of imagination that could think that way.
Perhaps one of the great powers of evil is the power to convince us that evil is not really that bad. Torture is really just "enhanced interrogation." Bernie Madoff got by with his scheme because nobody could really believe that he would cheat, steal, and embezzle that much from all those friends, Jewish charities, and widows. How could anybody be that evil? How can human beings slaughter rhinos for their horns when they are so rare? How can anybody be that evil? Ah, we have a tremendous failure of imagination. We refuse to believe humans are capable of that kind of evil. So we seldom see it coming.
"I did not see that coming." It was the same thing the family of the gun enthusiast said when the woman, who believed in carrying a loaded assault weapon with her to the grocery store, to the bank, with her all the time, loudly defending her so call 'right to bear arms" went home and shot her husband. "We knew they were having trouble. They had filled for divorce, but we did not think this could happen. We did not think she was that troubled."
That seems to be a very common reaction to the great tragedies in our society. We humans seem to be unable to imagine the ultimate worst happening. Many of us, we acknowledge that we are sinners, that we partly evil and partly good, that there is a kind of selfishness that pervades all of our actions. But we just are not willing to believe the worst.
Three mile island disaster happened, I am told, because the workers just could not believe what the instruments were telling them. Pearl Harbor happened because the look outs just could not believe what they were hearing on the radio. Twenty children and six adults were killed in Newtown two years ago because the doctors, the parent, the "system" just did not believe it had gotten that bad. They did not see that coming.
In a meeting with some other Democrats one of the professionals was telling us about what preparations needed to be made to make sure the election was fair and law abiding. Several of the members kept shaking their heads at what they were being told. They repeated over and over that they would have never thought of that kind of dirty trick. We concluded that we just did not have the kind of imagination that could think that way.
Perhaps one of the great powers of evil is the power to convince us that evil is not really that bad. Torture is really just "enhanced interrogation." Bernie Madoff got by with his scheme because nobody could really believe that he would cheat, steal, and embezzle that much from all those friends, Jewish charities, and widows. How could anybody be that evil? How can human beings slaughter rhinos for their horns when they are so rare? How can anybody be that evil? Ah, we have a tremendous failure of imagination. We refuse to believe humans are capable of that kind of evil. So we seldom see it coming.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Only One?
I would find it hard to believe that I am the only one. I found myself very sad and disappointed after the election of November 4. Not the results. Well, I was very disappointed in the results, but even more than that I looked back and looked across the country and was disappointed that most of the Democrats ran away from their principles. Democrats have often proclaimed that they have the best ideas. They have the ideas and programs that would help most people: minimum wage increase, equal pay for equal work, open voting, health care, immigration reform, wanting to acknowledge and respond to climate change, and the list could go one. But the Democratic candidates did not preach those issues. At least, not in North Carolina. When one looks at the President's record it is impressive: job growth for six years, inflation under control, wall street at all time high, profits meeting or exceeding the estimates, health care program working, deficit having the largest reduction in 8 years. But Kay Hagan let them make her votes with Obama a problem. Why she did not proudly say I voted with Obama because he has the best programs for people.
If Democrats had run on their principles and their accomplishments and lost then that would have been one thing, but the candidate in Kentucky would not eve admit to having voted for Obama in the 2012 election. The Democrats did not make the Republicans the ones responsible for the gridlock, did not hit them on their opposition to everything proposed, on their cuts to social programs, to their failure to support repairing of our infrastructure, refusal to give help to hurricane victims, their refusal to fund Veteran affairs at the level suggested by Obama. Did not focus on the dangerous growing gap between rich and the rest of us.
If we had run on these issues and lost, then swallowing the loss would have been a lot easier. But we ran away from all those. In NC all we hear about was the evil money from the Koch brothers.
If Democrats had run on their principles and their accomplishments and lost then that would have been one thing, but the candidate in Kentucky would not eve admit to having voted for Obama in the 2012 election. The Democrats did not make the Republicans the ones responsible for the gridlock, did not hit them on their opposition to everything proposed, on their cuts to social programs, to their failure to support repairing of our infrastructure, refusal to give help to hurricane victims, their refusal to fund Veteran affairs at the level suggested by Obama. Did not focus on the dangerous growing gap between rich and the rest of us.
If we had run on these issues and lost, then swallowing the loss would have been a lot easier. But we ran away from all those. In NC all we hear about was the evil money from the Koch brothers.
Friday, November 7, 2014
The Anatomy of Marriage!
The long standing tradition in the United States was that people would be married in a church. The minister always demanded that there be a marriage license before doing the service. Because a marriage in a church was a two part event. The two people getting married were, with the license from the state entering into a legal partnership contract. They were also receiving a blessing upon a promise, a vow they took to each other before God and witnesses. Those two parts: the legal contract and the blessing of the vow, were both done at the same time in the same service.
The legal contract opened up to that couple certain legal rights, privileges and obligations. The two became responsible for each other’s debts. They could buy property together. They became covered by state laws with regards to inheritances. They became defined as a legal entity and when companies offered health insurance for families they were both covered. Wherever there were limits and restriction put upon the population but exemptions were made for “family” they were included. This legal contract becomes the great issue when it comes to the question of divorce. The lawyers have to work to dissolve a past legal agreement.
The religious blessing upon the vow taken is the aspect of a marriage that is given by the religious ceremony. The service may have many different aspects. It may be done in many places now, but most religious service focus on the taking of the vows. “I.....(name).... promise, before God and these witnesses, to be thy loving and faithful..... (husband/wife) (and then follows lots of possible conditions) in sickness and in health, in plenty and in want, as long as we both shall live.”
This two level service has been the tradition in the United States for a very long time. It is not always this way in many other countries. In many other countries, couples have to go to the government and have the legal part done at the courthouse or judges chamber, and then if they would like to have the religious blessing upon a vow, they go to the church for a separate service. Our neighboring country Mexico has the two parts separated.
The recent decisions by many courts is that the state cannot prevent same sex people from the legal contract part of marriage. They are citizens who are entitled to the same legal rights and privileges as other citizens. They should be allowed to enter into the legal contract part of marriage. The religious claim that their relationship is sinful has no bearing on the their legal rights to enter into this legal agreement. The state does not prevent adulterers from getting the legal license to marry. The state does not prevent greedy people from getting legal papers to marry. The state does not prevent prideful people from getting legal linked. The sinful aspect of the applicants has no bearing on the states granting two same sex people from entering into this legal relationship that is called marriage.
Faith communities are certainly entitled to have their own opinion on whether or not they will grant to the same sex couple the religious blessing on the vow that they grant to heterosexual couples. There is no legal requirement that a church hold a service of witness to the taking of the vow or no legal requirement for the church to bless that union. This religious dimension of the wedding is separate and apart from the legal aspect. The churches that have decided to bless the union have probably moved in that direction because they believe that all of us are sinful people and that the sinful nature of the applicants should have no bearing on the blessing of a vow of love. Those churches that have agreed to have wedding services for same sex couples have decided that they will not have a different set of standards for one sin than for the other sins. We are all sinners who live by grace and these sinners, like all sinners, need all the grace from others that they can get. The keeping of this promise to love and be faithful is not easy to keep. Look at the heterosexual divorce rate. Those who are willing to make this vow, either just the legal contract or the contract and the religious part, need all the help they can get to keep it.
The long standing tradition in the United States was that people would be married in a church. The minister always demanded that there be a marriage license before doing the service. Because a marriage in a church was a two part event. The two people getting married were, with the license from the state entering into a legal partnership contract. They were also receiving a blessing upon a promise, a vow they took to each other before God and witnesses. Those two parts: the legal contract and the blessing of the vow, were both done at the same time in the same service.
The legal contract opened up to that couple certain legal rights, privileges and obligations. The two became responsible for each other’s debts. They could buy property together. They became covered by state laws with regards to inheritances. They became defined as a legal entity and when companies offered health insurance for families they were both covered. Wherever there were limits and restriction put upon the population but exemptions were made for “family” they were included. This legal contract becomes the great issue when it comes to the question of divorce. The lawyers have to work to dissolve a past legal agreement.
The religious blessing upon the vow taken is the aspect of a marriage that is given by the religious ceremony. The service may have many different aspects. It may be done in many places now, but most religious service focus on the taking of the vows. “I.....(name).... promise, before God and these witnesses, to be thy loving and faithful..... (husband/wife) (and then follows lots of possible conditions) in sickness and in health, in plenty and in want, as long as we both shall live.”
This two level service has been the tradition in the United States for a very long time. It is not always this way in many other countries. In many other countries, couples have to go to the government and have the legal part done at the courthouse or judges chamber, and then if they would like to have the religious blessing upon a vow, they go to the church for a separate service. Our neighboring country Mexico has the two parts separated.
The recent decisions by many courts is that the state cannot prevent same sex people from the legal contract part of marriage. They are citizens who are entitled to the same legal rights and privileges as other citizens. They should be allowed to enter into the legal contract part of marriage. The religious claim that their relationship is sinful has no bearing on the their legal rights to enter into this legal agreement. The state does not prevent adulterers from getting the legal license to marry. The state does not prevent greedy people from getting legal papers to marry. The state does not prevent prideful people from getting legal linked. The sinful aspect of the applicants has no bearing on the states granting two same sex people from entering into this legal relationship that is called marriage.
Faith communities are certainly entitled to have their own opinion on whether or not they will grant to the same sex couple the religious blessing on the vow that they grant to heterosexual couples. There is no legal requirement that a church hold a service of witness to the taking of the vow or no legal requirement for the church to bless that union. This religious dimension of the wedding is separate and apart from the legal aspect. The churches that have decided to bless the union have probably moved in that direction because they believe that all of us are sinful people and that the sinful nature of the applicants should have no bearing on the blessing of a vow of love. Those churches that have agreed to have wedding services for same sex couples have decided that they will not have a different set of standards for one sin than for the other sins. We are all sinners who live by grace and these sinners, like all sinners, need all the grace from others that they can get. The keeping of this promise to love and be faithful is not easy to keep. Look at the heterosexual divorce rate. Those who are willing to make this vow, either just the legal contract or the contract and the religious part, need all the help they can get to keep it.
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