I see the bishops have been stirring it up again, this time on the issue of allowing civil partnerships to be conducted on religious premises. They’re pushing for a change in the Equality Bill currently before the House of Lords – the one they recently successfully changed on the issue of bringing equal opportunity rights into employment issues in churches. They didn’t like that change as it would have forced churches to appoint homosexual people into certain ‘non-religious’ posts, but critics of this new change will probably argue that it would be the thin end of the wedge and than the next step would be to force churches to conduct civil partnerships. And the critics will be correct for there will always be some who want to take this further.

So where could this leave those churches (and mosques, synagogues etc) that have an objection to the practice of allowing homosexuals to have their relationships put on a legal footing? I can imagine that conservative groups are already planning their response and I can fully understand why they are so angry over such issues. They have had the power to decide upon who should or should not get married for centuries and now the state wants to take that right away from them. Of course they’re angry and upset. There is an issue of conscience here and many Christians feel that their rights are being trampled upon - whether we agree with their viewpoint or not.

But rather than start protesting loudly, marching on parliament and demanding their rights, maybe there is another way forward; a way that would, however, involve the church stepping away from the state and the centre and being on the margins. Part of the problem is that the churches have been conducting the legal aspect of marriages for centuries – either by having the civil registrar come to the church building for the ceremony (as is the case in most nonconformist chapels) or by having their minister or priest do the legal aspect of proceedings themselves (as is the case in the Anglican churches). That way everything necessary to conduct a legal Christian wedding is present under one roof at one time.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. When Helen and I got married over two years ago we had to have two separate ceremonies in two different locations (the photos are from both ceremonies - couldn't resist!). The first was held in the civil registry office in Llanelli. We invited close family and friends to be with us. It was a very simple and short affair covering the legal side. On the following day, however, we had the spiritual ceremony at Helen’s church building, the Antioch Centre (that did not have the right, then, to conduct a legal ceremony). We had invited some 200 people to join us for that ceremony and a meal following. We began with a time of worship; then the wedding vows and promises to each before God were taken; then we had a great sermon; followed by a group of friends praying and sharing prophetic words over our new life together. We were legally married after the first ceremony but we believed that we truly married before God only after the second.