Should Clergy Perform (LEGAL) Marriages?

I am ordained clergy and one of my favorite parts of being ordained is the unique role that I can play in officiating a wedding. I've already done 2 this year, and there's more to come. There is something so holy to me to when I walk a couple through the vows that they chose/wrote for each other as they look lovingly in each others eyes.

However, as of late there has been an interesting point being pointed out by many in the church. The latest is found on Tony Jones' blog entitled: Doug Kmiec Is Right: Clergy Should Not Perform (Legal) Marriages.

In this Tony points out some interesting and thought-provoking observations about clergy and marriage. He says:

In no other fuction as a clergyperson did I function as an extension of the government -- not when I was baptizing, burying, counseling, or communing. Only when performing a wedding did I, with the stroke of a pen, make official a legally binding contract that, in the eyes of the state, allowed that couple to enjoy certain privileges like the ability to file joint tax returns, visit one another in the hospital, and receive joint health care benefits from one of the partner's employers.....
I do find it odious that clergypersons are called upon, in this one instance, to act as agents of the state.

He goes on to conclude:

Clergy and churches, on the other hand, should have no part in legally-binding contracts. Instead, religious professionals should bless and sanctify unions and partnerships that fit within their religious traditions as part of their sacerdotal functions.

Of course part of this is brought on by the issue of same sex marriage. Douglas Kmiec on The Colbert Report (Video Below), points out that "the state has an obligation to treat all of its citizens equally and to preserve the principle of equality." In essence, he is saying that by allowing the polemic Church to decide who can and can't be married that the State is not upholding its role of equality for all citizens. This is something of which I had not considered, but has been thought-provoking to me.

By watching the video and reading all of Tony's blog, you will see that what they are suggesting is a separation of the two roles. This allows the state to practice equality, while allowing the Church to decide according to their own convictions and traditions. That would mean that different traditions would bless and marry same sex couples, and others would not. If a couple would not be recognized/blessed by their own church/tradition, then they could seek out another tradition. Either way, they would still have equal rights as heterosexual unions, because according to the State, all couples would have to go through the state for the legal union of marriage.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Douglas Kmiec
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Gay Marriage Commercial

I'm not sure this solves the problem, but it is an interesting concept. Let's face it, when it comes to marriage there is no separation of Ch. and St. When that occurs, others suffer. In this case, some churches suffer and many individuals and couples suffer. I agree that the Church and her clergy should not be agents of the State, but marriage has also become a tradition of sacrament.

I'm not sure what the right call is here, but it is a new (at least to me) thought that is interesting and will be given more thought! I do believe in equality, but in that equality it also means not forcing churches into performing marriages with which their beliefs do not mesh. How do we provide equality for all parties involved? I do not believe that there is true equality if one party is hurt by the "rights" of the other. I think on this issue it goes both ways.

In the meantime, I will continue to do weddings when asked because I truly do enjoy the unique perspective on that holy moment. I adore watching as everything that the couple feels for one another culminates into that one moment where they are pronounced married for the first time! I will continue to do it because I love the role that God plays in the blessing of those that want to seek the marriage commitment. But I will also continue to speak out for equality for all, even those that I don't agree with. Those that want to call me names and label me because I disagree with their theology, I will still fight for you. Why? 2 reasons: Because liberty for one means liberty for all. And 2, because I am called to love all and not be judgmental. And I will never forget that behind these "issues" are real human faces. People with feelings of love, pain, sorrow, etc... the same feelings that I feel. We must never remove the human element when discussing these issues or we chance perhaps losing our own humanity in the process.

These are some interesting thoughts, feel free to share yours.

God Is Not A Man

This song/video just makes me happy. So simple.... So True..... Yet still so, so hard for people to get!

The Michael Gungor Band

This is a topic that I plan to write about soon, so this is as good a primer as any!

thoughts?

Elizabeth Warren on the Economy

An interview with Elizabeth Warren on last night's Daily Show.
I thought this was a good and one of the most educational and informative interviews out of all the "experts" that have been interviewed on any network/show. Perhaps it is because I feel like finally someone is being honest with us (good and bad), as well as keen insight on the economic trends through history, and on the precipice that we are on economically RIGHT NOW!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Elizabeth Warren Pt. 1
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Elizabeth Warren Pt. 2
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

I think, like John Stewart, that after this, this is the first time I have felt a little better...can we say possibly...hopeful?

I also like Warren's text called "The Vanishing Middle Class" in the book, Ending Poverty in America: How to Restore the American Dream, which is an issue close to my heart (at least the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor). As is stated in the book, I think the issue of the emerging gap and polarization between classes and the issue of poverty go hand-in-hand...not just in America, but also on a global scale!

Any thoughts?

Who Goes Where There: A Cultural History of Heaven and Hell (Review)

When reviewing a book, there are many questions that I ask whilst reading. Some examples:

What is the author's thesis?

Does the author effectively work from/towards that thesis?

For what audience is the book best suited?

What are the negatives and positives about the work?

And what/how does this book add to the ongoing dialog of the Christian faith?

In Rebecca Price Janney's Who Goes there: A Cultural History of Heaven and Hell, I felt that her premise was 2 fold. One, to explore the attitudes of Heaven and Hell during different time periods in our nation; and two, to explore WHY the attitudes and theologies have changed over time. I have mixed opinions about whether she achieved these objectives or not. I think that she began this book with those two premises in mind, but quickly lets it give way to concluding that most people simply have poor theology on Heaven and Hell, and it has been that way for a while!

I'll begin with premise #1. Janney gives an American snapshot of the trend in our history to change our opinions on the subjects of the afterlife. She is very unbiased towards the fact that there was once a time when the majority (and I question her use of the word "majority") had "solid theology" on the subjects of Heaven and Hell. When was this time? Well it was none other than The First Great Awakening. Known for such tent/traveling preachers as Wesley, Whitefield, and Edwards, this was a booming time of what has become known as "Hell-fire and Brimstone Preaching". These preachers would come into town, set up shop, and people would flock to these events and buy whatever was being sold. I say that tongue-in-cheek, but let's think a little about the lifestyle of that time period.

Moral was low, the death-rate was high, all day was spent working (usually manual labor), and money was scarce among the masses. Who can blame people for flocking to an invitation given by one of these great orators that either 1) played on their already present fears, or 2) gave them a beacon of hope. People were wooed by these educated preachers because education was also poor in America at this time. It's not that dumb people fall for these messages, in fact I think it is that these average people longed for better understanding and education and "learned" from these people these doctrines they were pandering. Who would blame them? It makes complete sense that people thought more about Heaven and Hell at this point in time than any other since.

But for Janney, those were the "good old days". Americans have produced nothing but poor views on the subjects since. She chastises those who's understanding of Heaven is that "everyone good gets to go, except child-molesters and Hitler." I started thinking about this and I have to say, in all my years involved with churches and my time in ministry, I have NEVER once even heard a preacher say at a funeral, "well, Clive was a good guy, but since he never accepted Christ.... well, Clive's off to Hell now." It's not just the American populace and laity that think that people deserve to go to Heaven, even some of the most conservative ministers deep down do not act this out practically. Only when it is a concept from behind a pulpit, when we don't put faces to the concepts (except Hitler?!) is this taught with the utmost certainty.

But Janney doesn't mention this. And because she fails to accurately discover why most people's theology on the afterlife have changed, I feel that this book is truly not worth the read. Please understand, it has nothing to do with whether or not I agree with her theology on the subject! I don't recommend this book to anyone because she doesn't stay on her thesis, she is completely biased to the fact that any theology but her own is poor, and she truly misses out on a fantastic opportunity presented by this book. That opportunity comes with my last question I ask of a work:

What or how does this add to the ongoing conversation in our Christian faith?

I think that there are 2 thoughts that I conceived from this book.

1) There is a trend by many Christians, especially postmodern Christians, to NOT talk about the afterlife. I don't think its fair to say that theology has gotten weak, in fact, there has been some great theological thoughts on Salvation and the afterlife (both new and reclaimed) that has come out of this shift. But since the Heaven/Hell theology has been forced down many people's throats at the expense of equally important messages of Christ, there is a tendency to shy away from talking about or tackling the questions that people still have about the afterlife. We must focus on a holistic view of following Christ, and that means not ignoring any of these issues about which the Bible speaks. Janney, sort-of leads the reader to this conclusion, but sacrifices the calmer message for that of denouncing any theory of the afterlife except for the single one to which she herself adheres.

2) I think this is the more important question that Janney totally misses her opportunity on. When you have billions of people in the world, (Janney never really looks past the American geographical boundaries, but the phenomenon of which she speaks is world-wide) and over the past 100 years (or more) this idea of a different Heaven has emerged and held tight: the idea that it isn't about accepting Christ, but something bigger. That Heaven is a place that people deserve after the hell of this life, or because they are good people, or the myriad of the other beliefs out there. When are we going to let these theological concepts (and yes they can be considered theology, that one branch of Christianity does not have a patent on thinking about Heaven and Hell) dialog with more "traditional" ideas of the afterlife? If we believe that God is still at work and revealing himself...if we believe that theology is as Daniel Migliore defines it: "Faith seeking understanding," then we owe it to our own beliefs and certainties to face these challenging thoughts and questions. Who knows where it will lead us? I think we would find that these thoughts are far from "poor theology", and in fact, be shocked to find how well thought out and developed these ideas are.

When we push people and thoughts like this aside for our own "certainty", we miss out on many opportunities. I think this sums up Janney's book...a missed opportunity!

Find more reviews here!

Previous post w/ media here!

Feel free to leave any thoughts!

An Ooze.com Viral Blogger Post.

Jeffrey C. Pugh Speaks to my boy Tripp Fuller about his new book: Religionless Christianity: Dietrich Bonhoeffer In Troubled Times. I think this is a great podcast that you should listen to. Done with the love and care of all of Homebrewed's podcasts, this one shifts some thoughts about Bonhoeffer's genius and how it would apply today in a post-Christian shift.

CHECK IT OUT HERE!

A thought-provoking and challenging series of thoughts!

Jesus, Interrupted (Preview)

Dr. Bart Ehrman, professor of Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill, has written several books that often cause a lot of conversation (and sometimes controversy) over the years. My first experience with him was reading Lost Scriptures (and its companion Lost Christianites) in my New Testament class. He deals with the books and manuscripts left behind in the canonization process of the NT. This book was an eye-opener for me because it made me (and through me, my class) ask the question, who gets to choose which version of Christianity "makes it" into the bible. There are many other traditions in our early Christian history that have all but been silenced though the canonization. One big question that this book made us wrestle with was, "did in fact the 'winners' get to choose our Christian beliefs, and what did we lose when we lost the views of the 'losers'?" Now many people will argue (and have argued...a lot!) that the process (which was messy and happened over a long period of time) brought forth the "true" scriptures and the heretical scriptures were weeded out. After reading many of those "weeded out" texts one begins to wonder what exactly we have lost in declaring them the "losers"? In essence, at that period in our history all of these groups and writings were struggling with the same questions: "Who was Jesus?", "Who are we as followers of Christ?" and "What exactly does it mean to be 'the Church'?". The answers may vary, but the questions are some of the same questions we struggle with today!

Among Ehrman's other publications, his most talked about have been Misquoting Jesus, where he explores the translation and preservation (copying) process and how that has impacted the Bibles we hold today. He sheds light on how messy and inexact the process is, and how what we read may not have been in the original texts.

His last book, God's Problem, dealt with the questions of pain, suffering and evil and how it is or isn't present in the Bible. Both of these books have brought equal amounts of praise and scorn from their readers. However, What I admire most about Ehrman, is that he brings these issues, which are commonly talked about in the world of Christian academia, and delivers them to the pews. Many people who read these publications (which are highly accessible to the average reader) are forced to ask, "is this true?" and, "Why have I never heard this talked about in church before?". Ehrman peels off the outer layers of the surface religion that is so common in American Christianity, and forces the reader to encounter, question (I would argue in a good way), and converse with the deeper parts of their own faith, assumptions, and beliefs. While I myself may not always agree with his conclusions, I highly respect and encourage his works and the dialog opportunities that they offer!

His newest book, Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don’t Know About Them), is on its way via snail mail, and I will be reviewing it within a month of receiving. Until then, as with the last post, I offer these materials to help get us all pumped for the book.

This is an excerpt and description!

This is Dr. Ehrman's Webpage

This is a blogalouge debate on the problem of pain and suffering between Ehrman and NT Wright, also a revered New Testament Scholar.

This is a video:

And if all that doesn't tide you over, I don't know what will.

What are your thoughts on the books you've read by Dr. Ehrman?

UPDATE: New Media
Ehrman's Interview on Colbert

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Bart Ehrman
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

An Ooze.com Viral Blogger post.

Heaven and Hell...Who Goes There?

I thought as I prepare to read and review a book for TheOoze.com, I would give pump you (and myself) full of expectations. Well, actually that's not how I work in trying to remain objective, but I do like it when I can pump up an excitement for a book while limiting my own exposure to opinions of the work before I form my own. So here's some resources for the book I have been sent:

Who Goes There: A Cultural History of Heaven and Hell By Rebecca Price Janney

A promotional Video:

Here's a SAMPLE EXCERPT (PDF-16 Pgs) for your own enjoyment.

Stay tuned for the review...

Is The Economic Crisis Good For America?

First off I want to apologize for not posting the last 2 weeks. Believe it or not, I've been doing A LOT of thinking and writing (in note form), but have not had time to really sit down and hammer out my thoughts in an a more reader friendly format. Don't worry, I have much on mind that I hope I catch up on here soon. Interestingly enough, a lot of the thoughts I have are all converging. Once I am ready to tackle these thoughts, new ideas and/or circumstances cause me to take a step back and ponder more!

---__---

The center of a lot of my thinking of late centers around the global issues that plague our world. With issues like global poverty, hunger, war, social justice, oppression, slavery, etc... always near the front of my mind, I have found myself thinking less about what we/I can do (even though that is always a big concern for me) and more about what causes and perpetuates these problems. This has a lot to do with our Bible Study Community reading and discussing Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change. In this book he tackles the systems that keep us from solving these global problems. More on that in another post.

With this at the front of my mind, along with the economic situation, I see this week's Time

Magazine with the cover story, "The End of Excess: Why This Crisis is Good For America" (click on link to read the full article). There are some interesting things pointed out.

We saw what was happening for years, for decades, but we ignored it or shrugged it off, preferring to imagine that we weren't really headed over the falls.....Even smart, proudly rational people engaged in magical thinking, acting as if the new power of the Internet and its New Economy would miraculously make everything copacetic again. We all clapped our hands and believed in fairies.
The popular culture tried to warn us. For 20 years, we've had Homer Simpson's spot-on caricature of the quintessential American: childish, irresponsible, willfully oblivious, fat and happy. And more recently we winced at the ultra-Homerized former earthlings of WALL•E.

The article goes on to say:

We are like substance abusers coming off a long bender, hitting bottom (we can only hope) and taking the messes we've made as a sobering wake-up call. I've always thought many of the 12 Steps were superfluous, so here is a streamlined, secularized Three-Step Program for America — Bubbleholics Anonymous? — to start getting back on track:

• Admit that we are powerless over addiction to easy money and cheap fossil fuel and living large — that our lives had become unmanageable.

• Believe that we can, individually and collectively, restore ourselves to sanity and normal living.

• Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves and be entirely ready to remove our defects of character.

Unfortunately, those steps are only a start, but the article shines with hope...at least for some people. Others (the addicts that are in denial or want to remain addicted to our "prosperity, security, and equity systems" (EMC)) will find this a judgement of damnation in their lives. For me, although this economic crisis hurts, (I like my comfortable consumerist life), I see a hope that this is the breaking down of those addictive systems. I hope that this helps break us out of our collective greed bubble and will help us focus on the role we, as the wealthiest nation in the world, can play in solving these global crises.

We've already seen it. When gas prices get too high we start looking into more affordable vehicles and learn about our carbon footprint and begin to focus on the environment. However, as gas prices dropped, we once again looked longingly at the newest H2. No, our addictions are much deeper and a bigger intervention is required. Perhaps an economic meltdown is the kind of intervention we need! Trust me... it hurts me to say that. It also scares the living snot out of me!

However, we can do it...."Yes we can!" We can break free of our suicidal systems and addictive habits and begin to see past ourselves into a bigger world; a world where there are a LOT of issues that we need to deal with. Its not just about helping others, its about helping ourselves. Its about working for the good of the collective, not just working for our own good.

Poverty, AIDS, Hunger, War and Peace, Social Justice, Equality, the Environment, Etc...

These are American issues. By that I mean these are issues about which Americans should be concerned. By ignoring these issues and denying "the American dream" ideal to the world, we have lost our own identity as a great country!

These are also spiritual issues! While we've been in our own secure little bubble where our biggest concern is safeguarding ourselves at the expense of others, we've been losing our very soul! We would sell the very essence of who we are...who we are created to be. All for excess. How? Because we are all connected. we are connected to the abused, malnourished, mistreated, and alienated human-beings that we've all been ignoring for far too long. We are all created in the image of God...referred to as the children of God. Yet we've been ignoring our own siblings.

This is why I see hope in this article. Don't question my patriotism, I love America! But perhaps this is the kick in the pants we all need to see past ourselves and to begin living for something other than ourselves...something BIGGER than ourselves!

What are your thoughts?