“Concerning the Church’s Role in Legal Marriage and Services of Christian Covenant”

Thank you to all of those who offered public or private support to me and/or this overture. I don't know where it is going, but I'm glad it has generated the discussion it has.

Statement Made Before the Committee on Civil Union and Marriage Issues on 10-01 “Concerning the Church’s Role in Legal Marriage and Services of Christian Covenant”—From the Presbytery of Lehigh.”

Grace to you all, and peace.

Thank you for allowing me to speak in support of Item 10-01. I have presented this overture many times, and usually the first response is a quizzical look. But I am grateful for the number of people who have come to appreciate the implications of separating the civil and religious responsibilities and functions in regard to marriage.

Our denomination stands at the edge of a precipice, not the first nor the last time. What is potentially tragic in this case is that this time the debate is not of our own hands. It is because we have to react to the growing number of states that have, or are considering, changing the definition of marriage.

I have no doubt that we would be discussing this if left to our own devices, and I support that discussion. But I also have no doubt that it would be framed in different ways. Perhaps just as conflicted, but different.

History has shown an ebb and flow to church-state relationship when it comes to marriage. I want to thank the Presbyterian Mission Agency for observing that Reformed churches in colonial America practiced separate civil and church recognitions of marriage, a practice that continues in many countries to this day.

Anyone who wishes to get legally married goes to the appropriate civil authority and abides by the laws of that jurisdiction. Then, those who wish to have their relationship blessed by God go to the church of their choice and a religious service takes place, perhaps the same day, perhaps later, perhaps even on a Sunday morning.

This overture calls for the Presbyterian Church to say “We are here for marriage not because the state of Michigan needs someone to preside, not because we have been authorized to be agents of the state, but because as Christians, finding God in all things means that sometimes we come to know a couple and see that God has truly blessed them in their love for one another and their love for the church.

The state decides what the state has to do, but church should only do what it has been called by God to do:we are called to bless what we are called to bless.

Some of you may wonder about “prohibiting” participation in a civil service, or other details.

I trust that God can work through you and this Assembly to find a balance, to build on what has started here.

And even more, I trust that God is offering us a better way:To be the church we were made to be, not to act for the civil authority as an agent of state, but to be ambassadors for Christ, called to celebrate the Gospel where we see it.