what love, what joy

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The presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church in the United States of America seems to have earned the respect and admiration of much of the world with his sermon today at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Harry & Meghan.

He started with their chosen text from Song of Songs, quickly moved to Dr Martin Luther King Jr, and found his own refrain with the words "There's power in love".

He urged us to find the truth of Jesus' great command, to love God and to love each other, and took us to the cross with the power of Jesus' sacrificial love for everyone, via the chorus of a spiritual.

A quick detour to French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin brought us back to Martin Luther King Jr, and the redemptive power of love was where he left us.

The BBC's coverage had commentator Dermot O'Leary waxing eloquent about the sermon. Rugby player James Haskell picked it out as his highlight of the day in a quick interview after the service. Ed Miliband tweeted that it almost made him believe.

My FaceBook & Twitter feeds are full of praise for the first American to preach at a Royal Wedding.

Which is terrific.

Of course, the rather large elephant in the room is that Michael Curry's church, TEC, his whole province of Anglicanism, is currently under special measures in the wider Anglican Communion because of their understanding of the power that there is in love. Because they won't restrict it to straight people. Because the force and life and joy that today touched the world is a strength and reality that God has for every person, and TEC (in its frankly often politicised and at times inept and not always joyful way) yet holds these truths to be self evident - that all are created equal, that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So love isn't a commodity that some get; it's a God-give gift to change the world for good for everyone.

Today we come to praise Michael Curry.

Tomorrow Twitter may be more equivocal. GAFCON and others may find they have questions. When really, the truth is clear: two billion people heard Jesus preached across the globe today.

What love, what joy!

Two billion people. We may be counting angels on pinheads if we think all our arguments are worth anything against the value of that.

Comments

  1. UnknownSaturday, May 19, 2018

    Thanks Marcus for this reflection, and for the usual grace and wisdom with which it is offered. The overarching message of love we heard today must surely not exclude anyone. Those who are perhaps challenged by the tensions raised by the stance of Michael Curry and his church would do well to read some of your other blog posts to gain a helpful open evangelical perspective.

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    Replies
    1. Marcus GreenSaturday, May 19, 2018

      Thanks Nikki! I've been working some more on St Paul and his commitment to inclusivity... I might blog more about it here. Though there's news to come soon about other publication fronts...

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