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C h u r c h o f
O u r S a v i o r, The Church of Our Saviour, founded in 1876 in the first circle of bedroom communities around downtown Cincinnati, is now considered an "inner city" parish. Originally the parish of wealthy white Episcopalians, it entered the process of racial integration in the early 1960's. While not strictly a neighborhood church anymore, drawing active members from as far away as Dayton, the congregation is more actively involved in the immediate neighborhood of Mt. Auburn, with a GED program, community Children's Choir, parent group, and other ministries. Since the early 1970's, the Church of Our Saviour has also been intentionally open and affirming towards its gay and lesbian members. For 20 years, Cincinnati's Metropolitan Community Church "lived" at the Church of Our Saviour, until the two pastors and their respective Board/Vestry agreed that both congregations had outgrown the shared space arrangement. MCC departed on very amicable terms a couple of years ago, to temporary housing while they search for a permanent home to claim as their own. There are still shared celebrations between the two congregations, and some persons hold dual membership. In 1992, a hurtful comment by a guest preacher who did not recognize the inclusiveness of our membership sparked a significant discussion in the parish. We discovered that some parishioners believed that the Bible denounces homosexuals, and that we just choose to ignore such passages! This was unacceptable to the Rector, who then undertook a Bible study course for parishioners, dealing with the handful of supposedly antigay prooftexts. Word got out about the Bible study, and the parish gladly lent their priest's time to other congregations in the Diocese, to university student groups and classes, and to Diocesan events, to present this material in a variety of formats. The response was so amazing that the Rector was given a three-month sabbatical in 1994, to fine-tune the research and to write up the findings as a scholarly monograph. Since that time a streamlined, and then a significantly abridged, version of the study have been distributed as part of the evangelistic work of the parish. In June 1998, as part of Pride Week celebrations, the Church of Our Saviour invited friends to an ecumenical "Celebration of All Members of the Body of Christ," a truly festive liturgy at which the principal offering and act of faith was the procession to the Altar to sign an Affirmation of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgendered Christians in the Church. This event was also marked by a significant consciousness-raising for our parish about the struggles of transgendered people, who are now numbered on our Vestry, as GED tutors, as liturgical readers, and as new confirmands. We have developed supportive home liturgical celebrations for members who mark an official passage such as a legal name change. Inspired by the message of the Affirmation and our public witness in the June '98 celebration, we have moved beyond the Blessing of a Home liturgy for gay and lesbian couples, to the public "Congregational Witness of Vows" before the Altar on a Sunday morning. Preparation for both forms of celebration is the same as for straight couples who are married in the church. A new section in the Parish Register records Congregational Witness of Vows for gay and lesbian couples. This is done without breaking any rubrics or canons of the Church as they presently stand, and yet it speaks so powerfully that it is already redefining what straight couples in the parish understand as the meaning of marriage. While a special committee authorized by the Vestry continues to meet prayerfully to study all relevant documents and statements so as to prepare a "parish response to Lambeth," the Vestry has also acted to send a letter of thanks to each Bishop who signed the pastoral statement toward gay and lesbian members of the Church, in the aftermath of the Lambeth controversy. We understand our parish mission and calling: "To make justice happen, to love compassion, to walk observantly with our God." Among the many goals of the Vestry for 1999, not least is that our parish continues to be an advocate for the inclusion of all people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, in Church and society. Read the guidelines and covenant blessing liturgy from Church of Our Saviour |