A Wedding Hymn
Hymn-writer Carolyn Winfrey Gillette is offering a wedding hymn -- using the tune of the Thanksgiving standard, "We Gather Together -- with permission for use by anyone who supports the work of the Covenant Network and the request that donations go to the Covenant Network. The hymn was commissioned for the wedding of Paul Tellstrom and Carl Whidden on September 7, 2014.
A Session's Discernment Process on Marriage
The Rev. Stephanie Anthony explains the discernment process leading to the unanimous Session decision that "at First Presbyterian Church of Hudson, Wisconsin requests for Session consideration of marriage will not be denied based upon sexual orientation."
Covenant Network Grateful for Supreme Court Decision
The Covenant Network is profoundly grateful for the decision of the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the Court proclaimed that states may not refuse to grant marriage licenses to couples of the same sex, and must recognize valid marriages contracted in other jurisdictions. The decision expands marriage equality nationwide and affirms the equal dignity of all persons, removing one form of legal discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Nacoochee Witness
When the Presbytery of Northeast Georgia met to consider Amendment 14-F, both the Pastor of Nacoochee Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Robert W. Prim, and Ruling Elder Theodore Brothers shared their testimony.Bob: "The Bible does give a clear sense about God’s purposes for marriage — God has given us marriage so that human beings might grow in self-giving love. In this way marriage is a beautiful metaphor for God’s relationship with Israel and Jesus’ relationship with the Church."Ted: "Now, I know that many of you believe that I chose to be gay. You are wrong. Being gay is something God chose for me when I was born. Being gay is how I was created. For me, to deny being gay would be to deny God. I cannot do that. Nor can I deny the love that I have for my husband, Mike."
Presbyterian parents on Amendment 14-F
Mike and Debbie Regele are among many evangelical Christians whose views on same-gender relationships have been challenged when one of their children came out to them as LGBT. Each of them prepared remarks for the meeting of the Presbytery of Los Ranchos considering the Marriage Amendment 14-F.Mike: "The question I want to address in a few brief comments is why I am on the affirming side."Debbie: "This is my story — but it is only one of many families’ in our presbytery who face this issue in a personal way. So I speak for them too — please prayerfully consider supporting this amendment."
Marriage: Why It Matters to the Church
Keynote Address by the Rev. Larry Owens at the Covenant Network Regional Conference at Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee, November 8, 2014: “Lord, we are forever asking you for many things, and what you are forever giving us instead…is the gift of one another.”
Is gender complementarity essential to Christian marriage?
An oft-cited reason claimed by opponents of same-gender marriage is the concept of “gender complementarity — the idea that men and women are different from one another in essential ways, and that Christian love depends on the pairing of just those differences.” Duke University Professor Mary McClintock Fulkerson critiques this idea in her essay from the Covenant Network’s 2006 publication, Frequently Asked Questions about Sexuality, the Bible & the Church: Plain Talk About Tough Issues.
A Funny Thing Happened
Laura Mariko Cheifetz on her own marriage: "I had become so accustomed to keeping this relationship under wraps in certain segments of the church. And I learned that being public meant something not just to us, but to other people. Neither of us missed the irony that our marriage happened in full view of another church and another state, instead of our own..."
"By the authority of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)"
Former Covenant Network Board member Kent Organ reflects on the joy of witnessing the wedding of Gerri Mead and Gail Russell at Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church, where he had served as Interim Pastor: ' Lincoln Park's current pastor, Beth Buckingham-Brown, said that this wedding was performed "by the authority of the State of Illinois." Just before that, her co-officiant, a longtime friend, supporter and adviser to Gail and Gerri -- as to many gay and lesbian couples in our denomination -- the Rev. Janie Spahr, declared, "By the authority of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)..." and we all erupted in enthusiastic and sustained applause.'
The Urgency of an Authoritative Interpretation on Marriage
By Tim Cahn: A new authoritative interpretation (“AI”) of the PCUSA Constitution is needed to ensure that teaching elders have discretion to officiate same-gender marriages in states where legal. Without a new AI, teaching elders who perform ecclesiastical marriage services for same-gender couples may continue to be vulnerable to disciplinary proceedings under the prevailing interpretations of the Book of Order. These disciplinary proceedings come at a high institutional and personal cost, including the hundreds of hours spent by many persons over several years to resolve these cases, the emotional toll on all parties concerned, and the often harsh public attention that such church trials can fix on the Church...
Bible, Gender, Sexuality
One of the resources suggested for further reading in the study of “Christian Marriage in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)” prepared by the Office of Theology and Worship is a recent book by James V. Brownson, Bible, Gender, Sexuality: Reframing the Church’s Debate on Same-Sex Relationships, published by Eerdmans in 2013. Tricia Dykers Koenig reviews the content of Brownson's book and commends it as a valuable contribution to the church's ongoing conversation.
General Assembly Preview - Tricia Dykers Koenig
The Saturday morning plenary at the 2013 Covenant Conference, "Marriage Matters," included a look at the Covenant Network's work leading up to the 221st General Assembly (2014), to be held in Detroit June 14-21. With a focus on marriage equality, the CovNet Board is supporting both an authoritative interpretation of the current language of the Book of Order to clarify that officiating at a same-gender marriage is not an offense subjecting a minister to discipline, and an amendment to the Directory for Worship to make it more accurate now that marriage equality is spreading in the United States.
“Marriage Matters … Why?” - Brian D. Ellison
A Sermon on 1 Corinthians 7:1-11, 25-38 preached at the Covenant Network Conference, November 2, 2013: "It’s not that the text suggests something simple in the sense of something sentimental, that 'all you need is love.' No mention of love here in this chapter about marriage at all, in fact, not even from the man behind 1 Corinthians 13. No, the simple summary of Paul’s response to the swirling questions about marriage here, about celibacy and abstinence, about mutuality and submission, about complementarity and about sex, we might actually say, is: 'All you need … is God.'”
"A More Perfect Union" - Sharon K. Youngs
A Sermon on Ruth 1:1-22 preached at the Covenant Network Conference, November 1, 2013: "What is married? We say it all the time at weddings, we say it to partners getting ready to marry, we say it to couples working hard to stay married: At its core, marriage is not about passion or emotion or physical attraction. It is not about feelings. At its core, marriage is about covenant, commitment. It is about shared hopes and shared struggles and shared life. At its very best, marriage is an embodiment of God’s hesed – God's steadfast love and faithfulness."
"It's Time" - Amy Plantinga Pauw
An Address to the 2013 Covenant Conference, November 1, 2013: "... I want to linger for a little while on appeals to creation that have resulted in damaging views of marriage, because they have been so pervasive and influential in Christian tradition. I want to make clear at the outset that these views of marriage have been destructive for all people, not just LGBT folks. The movement for marriage equality is an opportunity for Christians to go back and articulate a better theology of marriage for everyone. Why should Christians support marriage equality? It’s time..."
Christian Marriage Study - 50-Minute Version
Some congregations are finding that the sessions of the six-week study on Christian marriage provided by the Office of Theology and Worship are difficult to complete in the usual time available on a Sunday morning. The Rev. Ken Cuthbertson has graciously shared his lesson plans (handouts included) for 50-minute classes. Download Ken's adaptation of the study.
A Confessional Affirmation on Christian Marriage
The Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Cuthbertson is a Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a scholar of church history and historical theology, and a spiritual director. He is a native of Kansas and a graduate of Sterling College, Gordon-Conwell Seminary, and the School of Religion at the University of Iowa. His new book, The Last Presbyterian?, is a historical-theological-spiritual memoir about the "psalm-singing, Sabbath-keeping" strain of old-time Scots-American Presbyterianism from which his family came, and includes reflections on how we might carry key elements of that faith heritage forward into an inclusive, emergent, and missional church for the 21st century. Ken and his spouse, Doug, live in New Mexico.Ken offers a draft of a confessionally-based statement about marriage for our day and time.
October 2012 GAPJC Decisions
Three decisions by the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission address the controversial issues of marriage, the property trust clause, and ordination standards.
Marriage and Covenant
Some reflections on the minority report submitted by three members of the Special Committee to Study Issues of Civil Union and Christian Marriage.