The full texts of the proposed Prayers of Love and Faith can be found here.
Paul Roberts has written two blog posts, discussing the concept of blessing, and then analysing these texts, and comparing them with others from the Church of England and the Church in Wales.
When is a liturgical blessing a blessing?
Prayers of Love and Faith – the draft rites
…The House of Bishops’ draft of Prayers of Love and Faith that will be laid before the General Synod next month do not contain any prayer or statement in which a priest blesses a same-sex couple. God, however, is petitioned to bless the couple. So, indeed, the bishops have hedged their bets in a way which says “God, we’re not sure you approve of homosexual acts, so if you do, could you bless this couple? But we’re not going be doing it ourselves, just to be on the safe side…”
Dear Simon, those of us who cautiously use https everywhere cannot access Paul’s pages. Is there a safe remedy?
Sorry David, the wordpress site (which is held on the Gloucester diocese web server) is configured for http only and there isn’t presently time to add ssl to it.
Many thanks: understood.
Thanks, this is informative, though dispiriting. With regard to ‘covenanted friendship’, the report mentions that ‘some may wish to enter into a covenanted friendship that does not involve sexual intimacy’ and refers to ‘covenanted companionship or covenanted friendship, where two people make a formal commitment to deep and lasting friendship with one another in a non-sexual relationship that profoundly shapes and marks their journey of discipleship.’