This year has been my year for attending Episcopal weddings, both low church and high church (although I don't know how low some Episcopal weddings might go--I will need to ask Father W.). It seems to me that Baptist, Assembly of God, etc. preachers deserve higher salaries than Episcopal priests: 1) they have to spend more on clothes, and 2) they have to think up their own wedding liturgy (no Book of Common Prayer)--I know priests give a homily, but all the rest is pre-packaged. Having just attended a rather high church wedding, it reminded me of how much movement is expected of the congregation. I speculated whether a high-church Episcopalian is just a Pentecostal on ritalin.
On the other hand, The Book of Common Prayer has a marvelous wedding liturgy. At least one has a sense of the holiness of the matrimonial vows. The prayer book avoids some inane charges and liturgy that sometimes occur when a pastor or couple has failed to think through the biblical role and goal of marriage. I would much rather reflect on the scripture used in the Episcopal liturgy than hear another sermonette on the spiritual significance of why we use round wedding rings. And I actually heard a priest in his homily speak out directly and bluntly about the evil of divorce--I wondered what the congregation thought, because many of them were divorced. I admired him for confronting the culture of the world in the midst of the world.
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