the freedom to marry

Last Sunday, our church devoted the worship service to "The Freedom to Marry" and publicly recognized all of the couples in our community who were recently married at city hall. Barbara, one of our ministers, gave the sermon, and it was really wonderful. I'll post some excerpts here, and you can go read the entire sermon at the archives.

Excerpted from "Freedom to Marry" by Barbara Hamilton-Holway:

Valentine’s Day, and the days that followed, were pretty amazing.
Bill and I came home to a phone message
from Maryann and Cynthia letting us know
they were headed to San Francisco to get in line for a marriage license.

You know Cynthia and Maryann are respected leaders here.
Both have been recipients of our church’s flaming chalice award
for distinguished service.
They can be counted on to bring their best selves to the work of the church.
They were a part of the committed couples class here this fall.
They could have led it.
Maryanne is an investment broker, Cynthia is a school psychologist.
In their twenty-four years together,
they have made a beautiful and loving home,
where they have raised their daughter Aija.
When Aija was a young child they did the legal work
for Cynthia to be Aija’s legal guardian.
The program of the news show 20/20 recorded in the 1980s
shows an upstanding, church-going lesbian family.
Why on earth would Cynthia and Maryann
be denied the legal rights of marriage?

That's not all! Click here to read the whole thing. You'll get to hear more of our story (and Barbara's really a gifted writer).

Posted: Sat - March 27, 2004 at 11:18 PM

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the freedom to marry

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