Time Has Come

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As the General Synod of the Anglican Church, the church of which I serve in, gathered to discuss and vote on marriage equality, I sat in a hotel room in East Tennessee. I felt so far removed from what was happening so I wrote these words to express my thoughts.

As the Diocesan Synod of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, the diocese in which I serve, gathers to vote on marriage equality, I will sit in the midst of the discussion and discernment.  My thoughts have not changed.

We have all prayed our prayers.

Some of us have prayed for things to change.

Others of us have prayed for things to stay as they are, as they should be

The time for praying has ended

We have all read the same scriptures

The same sacred stories

You see one thing

I see another.

You see a God fixed, steady, predictable

I see one wide open, wild, unpredictable

We both see love

The time for reading scripture has ended.

We have both listened,

Listened to people’s stories, fears, pain.

Listened to those whose faith keeps them longing for equality

Listened to those who cannot see God’s hand in this.

We have cried, we have ranted, we have bore witness

What else is there to say?

The time for listening has ended

It’s time to look each other in the eyes

Hold each other’s hand

Take the next step

Hope against hope

Put our love into verbal form

And see if we mean what say we believe about life, death, new life, the moving spirit and the unity found in diversity

Time has come

Rev. Robert Cooke is the priest-in-charge of St. Mark's Anglican Church in St. John's, Newfoundland.

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5 Comments
  • Karen Arthurs
    Posted at 11:53h, 10 January Reply

    May love prevail.

  • Caroline Maloney
    Posted at 02:18h, 11 January Reply

    Beautiful! Thank you Rev. Robert Cooke!

  • Paul Baker
    Posted at 10:02h, 11 January Reply

    Thanks for your sharing. I was struck by “We both see love”. I have been in conversations where I thought the best thing I could say was “Where their is love, don’t knock it.”

  • Esther Buckley
    Posted at 14:05h, 14 January Reply

    Thank you . Beautifully written .

  • Esther Buckley
    Posted at 14:07h, 14 January Reply

    I just wrote a comment but accidentally hit ‘submit ‘ twice . I apologize for the error .

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