The role of the pastor in the wedding ceremony is to unite the couple in holy matrimony. An important word there that many people miss is Holy. The happy couple is making a covenant with each other, with those gathered today, and with God that they will love and behold from this day forward. It is a religious commitment (so much so that in the Catholic church Marriage is a sacrament, an Impartation of grace).
The role of the pastor is to facilitate the making of this covenant. However, in our North American setting, the pastor also has another role.
Married couples have certain rights and privileges under the law: shared property, tax breaks, etc. However the Government wants to ensure that they are giving this special treatment only to people who are actually married, so they issue a marriage license.
So my question is, should Pastors be authorized to grant these licenses. Should we be allowed to legally marry a couple? Why do we say "By the authority vested in me by the province of Ontario" when we declare them husband and wife?
Because we are acting as officials of the state. We appeal to their authority when we finally marry them. But I think that we can claim a higher authority. When we marry someone, shouldn't we be declaring them husband and wife under God and within the Christian Community?
500 years ago, when church and state were intimately connected, an infant's baptism was what gave the child their legal status as citizens in that state. It was baptismal records which determined taxation.
But then brave Christians like Michael Sattler, Conrad Grebel, and George Blaurock took a stand and said that baptism is meant as a commitment to joining the people of God, a decision made when you were old enough to make that commitment. These people helped start the Anabaptist movement, the predecessor of the Mennonite Church today. They were willing to die for this freedom.
When we look at a child's legal and religious status now, we have divided what happens up. When they are born they are issued a birth certificate, registering them as citizens of a country. But the parents of the child also then go before the church to dedicate their child, making a covenant between them, the child, the congregation and God that they would raise the child in a faithful way, and offer that child to the ministry God has for them.
What I am proposing is similar to this. Take your most intimate friends and family with you to city hall and get your license, and be married by the state, then come back to your church for the religious ceremony, where instead of having a pastor act as a servant of the civil authorities, allow us to perform our roles as servants of the greatest authority: The Most High God, Ruler of Heaven and Earth.
So when I marry a couple, I hope that my words are "By the power vested in me by the Church and our Lord Jesus Christ, I now pronounce you husband and wife"
These are my thoughts, but what are yours? Whenever I do theology, preach a sermon, or pray I am entering into conversation with you and God. I want to hear what you have to say about this in the comments below.
Tim, I love this. It's an important topic and one that I haven't seen explored the way that you have done it here. I think there's definitely a place to go to the State first and then to the church, although when I was dating an African it was interesting because he told me how in his country everyone would go to the church first (whether or not they are Christian) and then to the State. I hope you'll continue to blog with thoughts like this.
ReplyDeleteMy suggestion of Civil then Religious comes out of Europe where they used to (and I'm told still do in some area) have a civil ceremony outside the church building, and then enter the building for the religious ceremony.
DeleteThe other area I'd like to explore in the future, the role this could play in the homosexuality debate. It would remove any sort of legal repercussions for churches that refuse to marry LGTBQ couples.