Grace Episcopal Church Celebrates Marriage Equality

Grace Episcopal Church in Medford celebrates the arrival of the right for all people to marry across the country and in the Episcopal Church. After the June 26th Supreme Court’s ruling granting marriage rights to all people across the United States, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, voted July 1 to make the canonical and liturgical changes to provide marriage equality for all Episcopal Churches across the United States. For a number of years, Bishops of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts have allowed clergy, including those from Grace Church, to solemnize same-sex marriages within the Diocese.

Grace Episcopal Church in Medford celebrates these long awaited civic and religious rights being extended to all people. In a sermon celebrating marriage equality the Sunday after the Supreme Court ruling, Grace Church Rector, the Reverend Noah Evans, told the story of Supreme Court plaintiffs Jim Obergefell and John Arthur and “how the seeds of change came from the love found in the relationship between these two men. It shows us how love grows to change the world…God’s love wins.” In a statement after the Supreme Court ruling, Massachusetts Episcopal Bishops Alan Gates and Gayle Harris described marriage equality in an official statement as “A thing to be celebrated.”

Lucia Page, Grace Church Warden (senior lay leader) said, “…the Episcopal Church’s passing of marriage equality is the formal ratification of what our church already actively practices and preaches. It’s a community that’s truly welcoming of all, and proudly proclaims its belief that all marriages and families matter – that my marriage and my family matter. The announcement further strengthens my faith in God, and makes me so proud to be part of my religious community.” The Rev. Dr. Maggie Arnold, Grace Church Assistant Rector stated, “It is a profound honor to be able to serve all of our members more fully, with the pastoral office of marriage. I am so glad to be part of a church that seeks and serves Christ in all persons.”

Grace Episcopal Church in Medford, located at 160 High Street, is a dynamic, vibrant and welcoming community that is the spiritual home to a diverse congregation of over 200 families with different racial, social, ethnic, cultural, family and religious backgrounds. All are welcome to be part of the life of its community.

– Submitted by Grace Episcopal Church