"Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman' for she was taken out of man.' For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame." Genesis 2:22-25 (See Eph 5:21-33.)

There is no Sacrament older, more sacred or more significant to mankind than the Covenant of Marriage. It is the very foundation of mankind. Without the sacredness of a man and a woman becoming one, there is no mankind.

Within this Sacrament are mirrored Christ and His Church. St. Paul continually makes reference to this relationship as the Church is "The Bride of Christ" and the Lord is the "Bridegroom".

Among the covenant bonds of marriage is the fact that man and woman are to have a unique bonding and relationship. They are to be more than companions. They are to "complete" one another. Secondly, they are to reproduce. "Be fruitful and multiply" is not a commandment to be good in mathematics. It is a command to have children. "Children are a heritage of the Lord" and grandchildren are the blessings of old age. Nothing is more tender or sacred. The Lord Himself sanctified marriage by performing His first miracle in the context of the Wedding at Cana.

Since in this Sacrament is reflected the reality of Christ and His Church and that covenant relationship, the Charismatic Episcopal Church believes that likewise marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman to reflect that beauty "until death shall part them".

Holy Scripture, Apostolic Tradition and the very history of mankind reveal the sacredness of this bond between a man and a woman. And it is ONLY between a man and woman in spite of current efforts even on the part of "religious" people to state otherwise.