More on marriage and matrimony:
“God knew what he was doin’…” — Miley Cyrus
[This is the sixteenth in a series on marriage.]
I argued in Made In Heaven? that the ministers of the sacrament of Holy Matrimony cannot be considered the marrying couple only, or the priest only, as the churches of the West and East respectively would have it. (I am a radical!) All three actors are essential for the sacrament itself. And we should add that witnesses beyond the three should normally also be part of the liturgy, to represent the community of faith. For marriage is a phenomenon of the human community of women and men that forms the image of God. Holy Matrimony is therefore one instance of God’s transforming blessing of that community of faith that is the Church. The human race since its appearing bears within it the whole communion of saints (including those whose faith is known to God alone).
In turn, each Christian congregation, and the whole Church, lift up to God the whole of humankin and indeed, our planet and the whole creation. In this we can see that there is room for all kinds of social arrangements. At the same time the one will of God continues: that we humans — the creation become aware of itself — be faith-filled stewards of that creation, as befits all who are invited to share in the life of the Holy Trinity. The Church’s mission in the…
