Will the Body of Christ Proclaim the Crucifixion as One Body? LGBTQ+ Sacramental Equality and the hallowing of the Episcopal Church

A perfect sacramental storm has begun to brew in the Episcopal Church. The various fronts are all meandering towards General Convention where we will discuss, and hopefully reach a resolution, on the issue of full sacramental marriage equality in the church. Meanwhile, however, a local storm is brewing off the coat of Florida, where over the past week the leadership at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Orlando sought to reschedule an infant’s baptism on account of his two fathers. As some are battening down the hatches and others hoping to surf the waves, I find myself reflecting on how this reveals the heart of sacramental theology.

The issue is that sacramental marriage equality is not the same thing as civil marriage equality. The writing of one’s name into the Book of Life at baptism is not the same thing as getting your name in the county records at birth. In cases of civil marriage and one’s name in the county records one is dealing with a situation where the primary reality is that of individual rights and freedoms. There is a corporate reality to it when it comes to access of services, and any undocumented worker or couple seeking the rights and privileges of marriage can fully explain how necessary that corporate reality is, but the argument and focus is on the rights of the individual in pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.

The sacraments of marriage and baptism are different creatures. They are corporate affairs of the Body of Christ. Though the arguments towards respecting the dignity of the individuals involved is an inherent one to our baptismal covenant it is, indeed, a secondary one. When approaching why it is that we should recognize the sacramental nature of an individual in baptism or a couple in marriage the onus of the argument is that of the community recognizing God in their midst present in such. To be clear the sacraments in these cases are about the revealing of the already existing Truth within the individuals to the community of believers for the sake of transforming the community. This is hallowing, the transforming process of sanctification.

In Baptism the community is transformed in the revelation that a member that it did not know was keenly missing is found. In Sacramental Marriage the community recognizes the outpouring of Gods grace within a couple so that they are known as an Icon of the greatest commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself. The community is then called upon to be transformed by these revelations and to consistently support the individuals involved such that they remember that which they are known to be.

The issue that arises is what happens when a community cannot handle the revelation of such an Icon in their midst. This is the earliest of Christian controversies. What occurs when a woman, or a slave, or an uncircumcised proclaims Christ Crucified and names themselves, to a group of freed circumcised men to be an equal part of the Body of Christ. The answer is chaos, strife, argumentation, the breaking apart of the accepted societal norms that were maintaining the peaceful running of the community. Our call as Christian community, however, is to enter into this place of contention and work its way out. To break the rules, as the Episcopal Church is want to do, first and figure out how the Holy Spirit makes it work later. The strife of a community grappling to recognize an unknown revelation of Christ’s love is inherently preferred over the strife that occurs when a community refuses to grapple with the proclamation of Christ Crucified from those it deems unworthy so to do. The onus of the other’s cross, the burden of strife, should always be taken up by the Christian community and never placed upon those seeking to bring a new revelation of Christ’s love.

Gamaliel’s wisdom to the Jewish elders about Christianity holds true to this day for the church. When we hear those proclaiming Christ Crucified we must not burden or silence them but allow them to be for “if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them-in that case you may be found fighting against God!”. (Acts 5:38b-39) The reality is that the Episcopal church has spent over half a century observing the proclamation of Christ Crucified by the LGBTQ+ community within and outside its midst. During that time we have had radical moves of welcome, when St. George’s Episcopal, New Orleans, was the only church to open its doors for a memorial service after the UpStairs Lounge Arson in June of 1973, to the more common acts of rejection such as the recent resending of a baptismal date at the Cathedral in Orlando. What we have found, again and again, is that Christ is with us in the midst of being transformed by the proclamation of Christ Crucified by members of the LGBTQ+ community.

As this storm continues to brew and the fronts collide in Salt Lake City in two months time the question before us is not whether same sex couples have the right to sacramental marriage. It is not whether the children of same sex couples have the right to be baptized in the church. The question before us is whether the Episcopal Church is open to being transformed by the Grace of Christ as revealed in the proclamation of Christ Crucified by the LGBTQ+ community. 

The messiness of the situation, the strife, the pain is not going to go away anytime soon... what we will be deciding is wether we as a church are willing to take up that messiness, that strife, that pain together as one Body in Christ or will we enter into full Proclamation of Christ Crucified with our LGBTQ+ members... or will we continue to persecute in oh so many ways those in the LGBTQ+ community who wish to proclaim Christ Crucified in our midst and in so doing place the onus of the mess, the strife, the pain upon them. My continued prayer is that come July we will be one Body in Christ proclaiming Christ Crucified, sharing our mess, our pain, our strife together as one in a great act of hallowing each other into the new heaven and new earth.