All Saints

Margie and I were married at All Saints Episcopal in Pasadena, California. It was not either of our “parish” churches — I was new to being an Episcopalian (and living in Colorado), and for Margie it was a matter of various convenience factors. 

All Saints is a large and lovely church, and its congregation is noted as progressive and liberal. For example, they have an open communion rail (not only do you not need to be baptized in the Episcopal Church to receive Communion, you don’t have to be Christian, which meant we could share bread and wine with all of our wedding guests who wanted it). And over the past few years they were involved in (and exonerated from) a big IRS brouhaha over whether they had violated their tax-exempt status by talking about politics.

Now they’re making a splash again: Church to begin same-sex nuptials – Pasadena Star-News 

All Saints Church in Pasadena, one of the largest and most liberal Episcopalian congregations in the country, announced Thursday it will begin performing wedding ceremonies for gay couples starting June 16. In what All Saints Rector the Rev. Ed Bacon called a “historic vote,” church officials adopted the “Resolution on Marriage Equality” unanimously Thursday, after a special meeting of the 3,500-member congregation’s lay leadership.

The church’s action came in response to the California Supreme Court’s May 15 ruling overturning the ban on gay marriage approved by voters in 2000. All Saints has performed blessings for same-sex couples for the past 15 years.

But Bacon described the church vestry’s vote as showing “stirring courage to move beyond lip service” to the church’s commitment to equality by extending marriage rights to gay members. “Today’s decision is consistent with All Saints Church, Pasadena’s identity as a peace and justice church,” Bacon said in a statement Thursday. “It also aligns us with the Scriptures’ mandate to make God’s love tangible by `doing justice and loving mercy’ (Micah 6:8) and with the canons of our Episcopal Church that forbid discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”

As someone who was married before that same altar, I will state categorically that I do not feel that my own marriage is at all threatened, cheapened, or changed by the decision — except that it means that more loving, mature couples will be able to pledge their commitment to each other before God at the same place, which can only be (to my mind) a good thing.

The Vestry resolution is here.

I approve. And expect this to further fan lots of flames.