A defining moment?

As I left the house to head out to our Praise and Prayer meeting at St Peter's last night, I heard the news that the House of Commons had voted in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.

There is a great deal going on in the life of St Peter's church at present - not least of all the consideration of a building project, decisions to be made about staffing, the setting up of a Foodbank and a trip to our link parish in Zimbabwe. And all this, along with a plan to pray for our new Archbishop, was on the agenda for the evening. And pray we did.

The evening closed, though, with a discussion about the vote in the Commons, and the main points we agreed on were as follows:

1. It isn't any surprise that the vote went this way. For as long as anyone could remember (and for some of our members that's quite a long time...) Parliament has been moving, one step at a time, away from allowing the Bible a central place in its decision making. We have been on this trajectory for a long time, and this is just one further step along that road. However, is this a step that marks a defining point on that road? 

2. The church needs to hold firmly to what it believes. In fact the more society moves away from faith in God, the more the church has to take responsibility for living faithfully and proclaiming the gospel. The church exists for the sake of the world: As Israel was to live out her faith to the nations around, so we're called to live out our faith in whatever surroundings we find ourselves. The light may shine more brightly in the dark. So, we gotta man-up and get on with it. 

3. It is inevitable that the church will face a challenge. Just as promises were made at the introduction of Civil Partnerships - i.e. that this was certainly not a step towards same-sex marriage - now promises are being made that Clergy will not be expected to conduct same-sex marriages. The trajectory is clearly in that direction and there will be a legal challenge at some point. I could even hazard a guess at the form that the challenge will take. 

4. Grace to those who come to us. All are welcome at St Peter's. Jesus calls everyone to come to him as they are, but he leaves none of us where we are. We have to work hard at living together as a church so that people experience Jesus welcome.

5. Prayer. We had begun our meeting with Psalm 33 - and we ended by praying for our nation (v.12) and for ourselves (vv.20-22) 

I was deeply encouraged by last night's prayer meeting. There was a warmth and a maturity to our discussions and our prayers that made me glad to be a part of it. The prayers that followed for the new Archbishop and our nation were sincere and real. 
'May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
    even as we put our hope in you.'