New Mexico Pastor Supporting Equal Marriage
Rev. David Wilson Rogers, pastor of First Christian Church in Carlsbad, NM, an Open & Affirming Congregation, has shared with us this article about the journey to marriage equality in New Mexico. He is quoted in the article saying “Today is a great day for human rights and equality in New Mexico. For Christians who understand God’s word as fundamentally devoted to equality, human rights, and justice, the ruling is a significant step toward all women and men in New Mexico enjoying their God-given rights.”
You can read the full article from the Carlsbad Current-Argus here.
Pastor Dave shared with us this reflection on the congregation’s experience:
When the laws banning full marriage equality were first challenged in New Mexico, I had the blessing to perform the first marriage in my predominantly rural and conservative county. Within days, the news made the front page of the local paper and I braced for the inevitable negative backlash.
Predictably, one family left the church, one church wrote me a hateful letter of condemnation, several local pastors signed a Letter to the Editor condemning the practice, and lot of people were confused, upset, and even afraid of how this would damage our little church. That was in August of 2013.
In December, the State Supreme Court upheld marriage equality and everything changed. Suddenly, I went from preforming around 8 weddings a year to several each week. So far this year alone, I’ve preformed over 30 and about half of them have been Same-Sex.
When I approached the Elders of my church with the whole issue of preforming multiple weddings, their answer was straightforward and simple. “In a world where fewer and fewer people are choosing the sanctity of marriage and opting to just live together or raise family without a legal covenant, we are proud that our church and our pastor can be the ambassador of God’s love and help make a holy marriage available to all people!”
Today we are stronger in our shared affirmation for God’s love and the importance of a genuine marriage. I have had the blessing of marrying couples from Texas, Louisiana, and Tennessee who have come to Carlsbad simply to have blessed by both God and the law, a marriage that they have held in their hearts for years. Couples with 2, 3, and even 4 decade-long partnerships now enjoy the blessing of marriage equality and it is such a humble honor to be God’s savant in pronouncing their legal marriage!
Truly, we have a long way to go. Today there is only one other clergy person in my county who will perform these weddings and all of the Judges have stopped doing weddings completely. Yet, for all the initial backlash and anger, we have found significantly greater blessing and increased hope in the process.
It is nothing short of a blessing from God!