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Celebrating 22 Years of Being Married Biblically

Normally I would not leverage a personal occasion like this to make a theological and political statement, but with permission from my lovely wife of now 22 years, I want to reaffirm my support of Biblical marriage.
Bruce Reyes-Chow
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San Francisco-based,

San Francisco-based,
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Who are those children?

Happy Anniversary honey.

It must suck to be married to a blogger.

Normally I would not leverage a personal occasion like this to make a theological and political statement, but with permission from my lovely wife of now 22 years, I want to reaffirm my support of Biblical marriage.* Now, I am not talking about the "traditional biblical marriage between one man and one woman" version that so many faithful Christians lift up as the ONLY expression of marriage that God gives in the Bible; nor am I lifting up any of the other instances of marriage that the Bible shares: ones that include adultery, polygamy and concubines. Oh. My.

As Robin and I come to the end of our 22nd year of marriage, we celebrate and re-affirm our continued adventure in living a Biblical marriage that isn't about the structure at all. Our celebration is about embracing God's unfolding hopes and intentions for the two of us who were made one on that chilly Dec. 1 morning all the way back in 1990 and...
  • living with gratitude to God for generously and continually creating and re-creating us as individuals and a family;
  • listening for the Holy Spirit's guidance, inspiration and movement in our day-to-day actions and our lifelong dreams;
  • and leaning on the resurrection promise of Jesus Christ that even out of our worst days when every word is annoying and each gesture irritating, there is new life and hope in the brush of a hand, a playful glance or a loving embrace.
And yet, as we acknowledge our wedding anniversary in such a public and acceptable way, we know that there are far too many people who yearn to be able to do the same, but simple cannot. I have same gender loving friends who want to be married and others who are married but cannot celebrate publicly. I do know that one day this will change, but this injustice is what we grieve on days like today. Simply put, the inequity around marriage that exists in so many places greatly tempers our joy.

From our wedding invitation. #helvetica

So, to help assuage our grief and/or to celebrate with us, unlike our initial wedding where we did not want ANY presents -- what WERE we thinking -- this time, we want stuff.

No, silly, we do not want another electric wok or re-gifted fondue set, but rather we would love for you to make donations to one or all of the following organizations in honor of any couple you want to remember this day.
  • California Faith for Equality [DONATE] - I am on the board of this faith-based organization that is working in the political arena. [Twitter | Facebook | Web]
  • Covenant Network of Presbyterians [DONATE] - One of the groups in my denomination that is working toward full inclusion. [Twitter | Facebook | Web]
  • We Have Faith: LGBT Clergy Speak Out [KICKSTARTER] - $1, $5, $50 or $1,000. Both the number of backers as well as the amount pledged will help them get to the point of full funding. Every little bit helps as they say. [Facebook | Web]
And finally, Robin and I want to give our thanks to so many who have helped support us on our marriage journey over the past two decades: friends, family and colleagues.

Thank you.

And here is the video for the "We Have Faith" Kickstarter Project:

*For the record, I actually think that the church should get out of the civil marriage business altogether, but seeing as that prob won't happen any time soon...

This post originally published on www.reyes-chow.com.

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