Today I went down to the D.C. courthouse and got officially registered to be able to perform weddings in the District of Columbia. To do this, I had to affirm that I hold appropriate standing in a church body (in this case, the UCC), and be vouched for by another person with standing in that church body who was already officially registered in their database (Pastor Ken).
It's interesting to me how the rules about who may perform a wedding vary in different jurisdictions. In both Maryland and Chicago (where I've done 2 weddings each), you just list on the marriage license the church body in which you are ordained or hold standing. Same goes for Iowa. I look forward to learning the rules for Las Vegas and Berkeley, as I've recently been asked to do two weddings this summer.
All of these variations highlight what is for me the spiritual matter in the heart of the bureaucratic details. Church and state are at their least separated in marriage. As a minister performing a wedding, I am an official agent of the state (or district!) at the same time as I am a leader of worship. It's actually rather odd.
Should the church bless the action of the state in changing the legal status of two people? I'm not sure what my answer to that question is.
But I love doing weddings, getting to be a part of a couple's life at this pivotal moment of commitment, sharing and blessing their hopes and dreams of their common future. I enjoy the fact that people who don't go to church regularly very often want to get married in a church. It feels right to me, because I think that deeply human connection that leads people to want to get married is essentially spiritual. After all, God is love.
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