The public blessing of same-sex relationships, civil partnerships and equal marriage can be celebrated in churches now, without waiting for the House of Bishops to approve services. We can pursue this goal ahead of the equally important ultimate goal of changing the Marriage Canons to allow equal marriage in church.
Some months ago I came across Sam Howson’s YouTube videos and his response to the news about Mike Pilavachi and his abusive activities in the Soul Survivor ministry. Sam’s latest video, Frankly Gay, is an interview with Robert Thompson, vicar of the parish of St Mary with All Souls Kilburn and St James West Hampstead, member of General Synod and a comrade in the business of campaigning for a transformed Church of England in which the Archbishops’ promise of radical new Christian inclusion means exactly that for LGBTQIA+ people – radical equality in marriage and in ministry.
At the moment there is a significant body of conservative and primarily evangelical movements, churches and individuals, members of General Synod, who are blocking progress towards marriage revision. My impression, after three weeks spent visiting almost every church in one area of London, is that significant movement towards a much more open and welcoming attitude to LGBTQIA+ people is occurring within some of the charismatic evangelical groups. Catholic, inclusive, progressive congregations, on the other hand, continue to be reluctant to commit themselves publicly and visibly towards full equality and inclusion for LGBQTI+ people.
The contemporary attitude of the Church of England to sexual intimacy and pleasure is totally absurd. It is time for all groups pursuing equality, integrity and a healthy Christian sexual culture to major on a campaign to review with the greatest urgency the liturgical and legal, Biblical and theological teachings and traditions of the Church of England in relation to sex and intimacy.
The nineteen organisations and networks listed on this blog share, in my mind, a common interest, purpose and vision. They/We, are working towards the formulation of an answer to the existential question that haunts me – What kind of God do we believe in? A common, shared vision emerges from the statements of each group – one people in Christ, in creation, in shared experience and the pursuit of love, truth and justice, a vision that understands the universal, cosmic essence of the sacred, holy, divine presence in creation and in all of life and every human body, heart and soul.
We, diverse members of the human race, are one body, and the groups within the Christian Church that identify as progressive and inclusive, OneBodyOneFaith, Together, Equal, Changing Attitude England, Inclusive Evangelicals, Open Table Network and LGB Christians, Modern Church, Inclusive Church, Student Christian Movement, WATCH, Sea of Faith and Progressive Christianity Movement,
need to address the challenges presented by this year’s attacks on our identities and freedoms – and reform our relationships to create a unified working Body.
I visit churches in the hope of finding inspiration and wisdom, of finding something, anything, that communicates the essence of Christian love, truth and faith as I have experienced and known it through earlier periods of my life. There have been notably few places where love, God’s unconditional, infinite, intimate love, is the first truth the church wants to communicate.
Many in the Church of England are involved with movements and campaigns for justice and equality: for women, LGBTQIA+ people, black and ethnic minority people, those living in poverty, the abused, those denigrated and despised as unwelcome and unwanted immigrants. All these campaigns and movements are transforming our moral universe despite the resistance of many in the Church. Progress towards creating a healthy Church, working towards the full equality of all creation, rooted in the Jesus essence of life in all its fullness is the vision of the progressive, spiritual, prophetic, evolutionary movements working constructively together.
A YouGov poll, commissioned by the Ozanne Foundation shows that a majority of members of the Church of England now support equal marriage for lesbian and gay couples despite the Church of England’s refusal to allow equal marriage or blessings in church. Changing Attitude England has been campaigning for the full equality of LGBTQIA+ people in the Church of England since 1995. The findings of the YouGov poll brings greater urgency to the need for equal marriage and ministry in the Church of England after more than four decades of exploration and study.
