“Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.”
There are many who pain, grieving, or in a dark place because of the failure of the marriage canon amendment at the Anglican Church of Canada General Synod on Friday, 12 July 2019. As a gay high Anglican, I am disappointed, but I will not lose my faith in Christ. The Church has two components, the spiritual (God) and the physical (man), man is not perfect, and not all our decisions are correct or reflect the nature of God. I believe in the love of Jesus Christ and that love always wins. I pray for the Anglican Church of Canada, for unity in these difficult times, and that the wounds created may one day be healed by love.
Rather than write a specific prayer, I decided I wasn’t in the right headspace to write something level-headed and peaceful. So I found a Psalm that I thought was fitting of these tumultuous times (Psalm 107, 23-31):
They that go down to the sea in ships, / and occupy their business on the great waters; These men see the works of the Lord, / and his wonders in the deep.
For at his word the stormy wind ariseth, / which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They are carried up to the heaven, and down again to the deep: / their soul melteth away because of the trouble.
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, / and are at their wits’ end.
So they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, / and he delivereth them from their distress.
For he maketh the storm to cease, / so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad, because they are at rest; / and so he bringeth them unto the haven where they would be.
O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, / and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.
High Anglican Haligonian 