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Pat Hendrickson & Kate Lewis Reflect on the Blessing of Their Union
On Sunday, May 9th, at the 11:00 service, we asked for and received the blessing of God and God's church on our lives together. We began the service with these words: "We come before you and God in the presence of our family and friends, believing that we belong together; and together, that we belong to God. We ask for God's blessing and for the blessing of the church on our life together." Hartshorn then led us through our vows, the exchanging of rings, and then proclaimed that we are "united to one another in a holy covenant in the Name of God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer." For us the blessing was at the same time exhilarating and poignant. It was public and personal. Time stood still and yet it was over too quickly. Afterwards we all shared hugs and tears and a wonderful hot-pink party on the patio! This was a vitally important event in our lives for numerous personal, theological, and political reasons. First of all, we're in love! We believe that we are God's gift to each other and our way of thanking God for that gift is by vowing to honor it for the rest of our lives. Furthermore, we know that today there are children in our parishes who are gay and neither one of us wants another child to grow up like we did, without the example of happy and healthy lesbian couples to draw on. We asked to have the blessing of our union within the context of the Sunday Eucharist because we believe that the union of two people is a sacramental action that properly takes place within the company of the gathered church. It was awesome to stand before you and see your smiles and feel your blessing. For gay people who live in a world that too often asks us to hide, this was an incredibly life-affirming day. Thank you. Twice in the past three weeks we have been privileged to hear Bp. Gene Robinson speak in person. He reminded us that in order to remain true to the broad and comprehensive nature of the Episcopal Church, we all have to make room for diversity of opinion as we struggle together to understand God's ongoing revelation to God's creation, and in turn, creation's ongoing claim to God's blessing. On the other hand, Bp. Robinson was adamant that in light of the upcoming presidential election all of us must become politically astute and politically active, because indeed, our lives are being attacked. We know that we are made in the image of God and that God's image is nothing if not diverse. We hope that our relationship, like all relationships, will be an icon through which God's radical love and hospitality for all creation will continue to be revealed for us all. Now, we go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Alleluia. Alleluia!
Copyright © 2004 St. Augustine by-the-Sea
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