Convention, Theology of Marriage

The Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real here on California’s central coast, held its annual convention at St. Andrew’s, Saratoga two days ago. I have been a convention delegate for many years.  This convention was short but very well managed. Our Bishop, the Right Reverend Mary Gray-Reeves, was President of the Convention.  She lead us in worship and took care of business effectively, with charm, intelligence, and humor. My husband John and Rev. Stephenie Cooper ran the computers and projection system for the event, sitting behind the screen and only dashing out to vote as needed.

One of the highlights of the convention for me was the very interesting presentation on the just-published Report
 of 
the Diocese 
of 
El 
Camino
 Real
 Task 
Force
 on 
the
 Theology 
of 
Marriage . Four of the eight authors talked about their work, process, and findings. The authors are: The 
Rev.
 Dr.
 Ernest
 L. 
Boyer , 
Jr. (Chair 
of 
the 
Task 
Force)
, The 
Rev. 
Michael 
Ferrito, 
 The 
Rev. 
Dr. 
Caroline 
J. 
Addington 
Hall,
 The 
Rev. 
Fred 
W. 
Heard,
 The 
Rev. 
Lawrence 
Robles,
 The 
Rev. 
Deacon 
Judith 
A. 
Sato,
 Dr. 
Marilyn 
Westerkamp,
 and Mrs. 
Julie 
Zintsmaster. Even though the task force included men and women with a very wide range of opinions, they were able 
to 
identify 
seven
 theological statements of a Christian Marriage:

1. Christian Marriage is a vocation, a calling, a way of living
2. Christian Marriage is a covenant between two persons and God
3. Christian Marriage is an expression of human beings as the image of God, that is, an expression of God as Love and God as relationship through the Trinity
4. Christian Marriage is a call to discover what Christ meant when he asked us to seek Christ in others and to love one another
5. Christian Marriage is a physical embodiment of our spiritual reality
6. Christian Marriage is an expression of Christ’s ministry of reconciliation
7. Christian Marriage is a foundation for community and a Christian service in the world

To see more of John’s and my ECR convention photos in addition to those below, check out the diocesan web page.

Images by Katy Dickinson, Copyright 2010