Called to Bless

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

“Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction … and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.”  (from Baruch 5:1 NRSV)

As I said last week, during Advent we explore the reasons that we come to church.  We ask what it is that God is doing in our lives and how we are called to respond.  We are called to look at what we are doing well and what we could do better.  We are called to explore our mission in this place and what resources we have to accomplish that mission.

          Each year I during Advent I look back to my ordination and think about the vows that I made.  This year I am focussing on my vow to pronounce God’s blessing.  This vow sits at the centre of much of the controversy that we can find in our Anglican Church today.  The most obvious case is with the blessing of same sex unions.  When I first came here, clergy were being asked to let the bishops know where we sat on this issue and why.

          The first part was not hard for me to answer.  I grew up in Vancouver and we have been talking about this for many years.  I had long since come a clear understanding of my position.  The second part was harder to put into words.  It was the first time I was being asked to think about this as a priest, and that meant that my reason had to be theologically grounded and it had to fit with my vows.  In the end this is what I said.

          I have made a vow to pronounce God’s blessing.  I was not given the option of withholding it.  In fact, as Christians we are told in Matthew and in Luke that we should not judge one another.  Instead we are to love all of God’s creation.  If I were asked to bless a same sex union, I would be put in a very bad spot.  I do not believe that I have the right not to bless.  And this is not only about same sex unions.  I am called to pronounce God’s blessing to all who ask for it, whether they are a common law couple or married by a JP, whether they want their relationship blessed or their ship blessed, or their cat, or their house, or their lawn-mower ….  You get the idea.  I made a vow to pronounce God’s blessing, not to bless what or who I believe is worthy of being blessed.

          You might be wondering why I am brining this up now.  Well, as I said before, Christmas is a special time to celebrate God’s blessings in our lives.  During Advent, we think about our blessings and prepare to offer them back to God.  We think about the blessings we have in our families.  We think about the blessings we have in this community.  We think about the blessings we have in our church family.  And on Christmas we give thanks for these blessings.

          As many of you know, I have been asked to offer up the marriage of Adrianne and Michael to God and ask his blessing on them.  I am so happy for them that they want God to be a part of their marriage.  I think that it is wonderful that they see this as an expression of their life in this, their church family.  While it may not be common, it is fully within our tradition as Anglicans to celebrate this type of blessing as part of our regular gatherings as a congregation.  I hope that you will find as much joy as I will to be able to share this blessing with them just before we share Christ’s peace with one another on Christmas Eve at St. John’s.  And if you are worshiping at St. Andrew’s this Christmas Eve, I ask that you keep them in your prayers and think of their blessing in our lives as we share the peace.

          And now if you would join me in the Advent Prayer.  I pray that God will help us all during this Advent to hear his call in our lives.  I pray that God will send his spirit upon us so that we may heal the hurts that we have caused and be healed of those hurts that we have received.  I pray that God will open our eyes so that we can see clearly the effects that our actions have upon ourselves, upon those around us, and upon our community.  I pray that we can become a people who look for God’s blessings in our lives and in the lives of those around us and that we can celebrate those blessings as a gift to us all.  And most of all, I pray that all can feel welcome here, surrounded by our love and the love of God.  Amen.