It is a remarkable joy to celebrate the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States declaring the right of same-sex couples to marry. The pictures of people lining up in courthouses and clerk’s offices around the country, including right here in Dallas, to receive marriage licenses are simply amazing. The arc of the moral universe is long, as Dr. King once put it, but it bends toward justice. Well, that arc finally bent enough to honor countless committed, loving couples who desire the right and ability to marry. It is a happy day in our country.

I am especially struck by the language Justice Kennedy used in writing the final paragraph of his majority opinion, which offers a beautiful articulation of the importance of marriage equality: “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”

Even as I type these words, my eyes fill with tears at their deep truth, and the way so many couples in our congregation who have lived faithfully and lovingly together for years (some for decades!) can finally receive the proper recognition by the state that they desire and deserve. I can only begin to imagine their feeling of joy and vindication.

I am even now at General Convention, which will soon take up debate and discussion around how The Episcopal Church will finally and fully extend the holiness of marriage to same-sex couples. I am hopeful that, encouraged by this monumental judicial decision, our church will take necessary steps to offer this sacramental rite to all people. May the day soon come when gay and lesbian couples who love and serve the Lord as part of our Transfiguration community may walk down our long aisle to receive God’s blessing on their life together.

-Casey+