Gay Marriage and Lay Presidency in the Church of England
How different Anglican groups find ways to antagonize each other!
In the Church of England, internecine debates are raging about the (inevitable) move towards solemnizing and blessing same-sex marriages. The COE already allows clergy to offer blessings for same-sex unions, but is now moving forward to something closer to same-sex weddings. According to the Guardian:
Special church services to bless same-sex couples have inched closer after the Church of England’s ruling body backed a proposal by bishops that could see a three-year trial starting in 2025. The General Synod, meeting in York, voted by 216 to 191 to back the move, which is the latest incremental step in the C of E’s long journey towards welcoming the civil marriages of same-sex couples.
Though as my friend Ian Paul points out: “The proposal from the bishops, as yet incomplete, is that a blessing will be offered to people, not a relationship.”
In other COE news, there is a move in some quarters to practice Lay Presidency, i.e., allowing lay people to lead or preside at the Lord’s Supper/Eucharist.
At a recent meeting of Anglican conservatives, seven men were commissioned for “teaching the scriptures regularly within the congregations where they lead and will preside at informal church family meals, at which bread is broken and the death of the Lord Jesus is remembered.”
So what do Same-Sex blessings have to do with Lay Presidency?
Well, you have to remember that for Anglican evangelicals, same-sex marriage is a line in the sand and a symbol of everything they resent in the COE hierarchy.
And, you have to remember, that for Anglican liturgical liberals, lay presidency is a line in the sand and a symbol of everything they resent in the evangelical laity.
To be sadly cynical, Same-Sex Marriage and Lay Presidency is how Anglicans engage in theological drone strikes against different factions in their contentious communion.
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The issue of LGBTI inclusion in the Anglican church, from “welcoming but not affirming,” to draping crosses in rainbow flags, is the big dividing issue of the day. There are African churches that support anti-sodomite laws and American churches that will penalize a vicar for refusing to conduct same-sex weddings. So a very wide spectrum of views and practices are about.
In my own diocese of Melbourne, there are difficult discussions about inclusion, pastoral care, scriptural authority, scriptural interpretation, and the instruments of unity. It has not come to a dramatic confrontation yet, but may well do so in the coming years.
At the moment there is a kind of modus vivendi in operation as we try to work and live together as a theologically mixed Diocese. Of course, the problem with compromises is that they rarely please anyone and serve only to antagonize everyone. But we are electing a new Archbishop next year and maybe that is when a certain place of eternal destruction will break loose.
On lay presidency, because I have a Baptist background, I am sympathetic to the idea that the priesthood of all believers means lay people can preside at the Lord’s Supper. However, I do support the theology of ordination and the sacraments laid out in the Book of Common Prayer. In addition, I have taken an oath of canonical obedience to my bishop to do nothing that is injurious to the unity of the church and the integrity of our sacramental life. So I won’t be sponsoring lay presidency any time soon!
But lay presidency is an issue in the Sydney Anglican diocese where it does have staunch supporters. See this document from Sydney in the early 90s. It concludes:
In summary, there are no sound doctrinal objections to, and there are significant doctrinal reasons for, lay presidency at the Lord’s Supper. There are also sound reasons based on our received Anglican order for allowing lay presidency. In the light of this the continued prohibition of lay presidency at the Lord’s Supper does not seem justifiable theologically. Since church practice ought to conform to sound doctrine, practical problems related to the introduction of lay presidency ought to be dealt with, but should not constitute an obstacle to reform motivated by theological truth.
The Sydney Diocese is (in)famous for supporting Lay Presidency, though I think excitement around it has diminished in the last fifteen years.
Though I do remember during the height of the debate in the 00’s, an American Anglican friend once bailed me up in a corner and accusatively asked, “What’s the deal with Sydney Anglicans and Lay Presidency?” Then I’ll never forget her words, “Even the Presbyterians don’t do that!” LOL. “Even the Presbyterians …” Haunting words!
All that is to say, Between same-sex marriage and lay presidency, Anglican polity is far from boring!
Had a colleague, a gay Christian man who lived a single, celibate life. At a workplace fellowship group he would sometimes ask us to pray for him as he was "lonely". We obliged, of course, before rushing home to spouses, children, family ect.
He never seemed in a hurry to go home....
Dr Bird
I attend a church where they are just starting to talk about how to approach LGBT etc etc issues. Do you have any advice for people in that situation?