In Jesus Name
Wedding:
What an exciting day! Family and Friends have come together to celebrate a major event in your lives. This day is a milestone marker in your journey through life. Many hours of work, planning by lots of people has enabled this to be a day of memory, memories to be cherished.
________: I’ve known you a long time. I’ve known you to always be truthful, so let me ask you a very important question. Have you ever seen a more beautiful bride?
A good start!
We had many great conversations together regarding life, your relationship with God and what will be necessary for a successful marriage. The walk to the altar of marriage began with friendship. Friendship grows into love. Love flows to commitment
To be loved is to know acceptance, to experience intimacy. To truly experience love one must be able to give love and be unselfish. Why? Because selfishness, self serving actions, concern for self even at the expense of others will always destroy love and destroy people.
If you dated anyone like that…you did not date them long.
Your marriage today is happening in an American culture where love almost always seems to be conditional and contractual and commitment is a rare thing.
Yet that is what you are promising each other today. In the beginning God knew that as human beings we can not experience fulfillment, purpose in life alone. God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable….for him.”
The bible tells us that after God brought all the created animals on parade before Adam there was no suitable helper to be found. So the Lord God caused the man, Adam, to fall into a deep sleep…while sleeping he took one of Adam’s ribs and made a woman and brought her to the man. It was God….who brought the woman to Adam…She was God’s gift.
One of my favorite quotes regarding marriage is by Howard Hendricks, author and professor at Dallas Theological Seminary.
“The home is to be a safe harbor for you and your children.” The world and people in the world will seek to steel your self worth and the self worth of your children. Your home, under the umbrella of God’s love must be that umbrella of safety for each other and your children.
The wedding ring you will exchange is a visible reminder of God’s never ending love. Your wedding ring is a visible reminder of your commitment to each other.
William Willimon, theological professor at Duke University in his book: “Worship as Pastoral Care” writes that “a wedding is a rite of passage. It is a ritual act that moves two people from being regarded as individual singles into a unified couple.”
I was noticing in the wedding ceremony how the liturgy gets to the nitty-gritty, the hard facts of life. In the service moments ago I did not ask you “______, do you love ____?” Nor did I ask you _____, “do you love _____?” We all know the answer is yes. A big resounding yes. We see it in your eyes, your touch, your care for one another.
Instead I ask both of you, “Will you love him?” “Will you love her?” Your friendship has grown into love. Now you are making the promise of commitment to one another, before your family and friends. Marriage is a promise of fidelity, bonded with love, through the hardships of life. The result will be joy and intimacy that gives life meaning and purpose.
The moment you each were born into the world, God was there smiling at your birth. He wanted each of you to know His love. He did not need to create you, but he chose to create you. He knows your individual needs and has brought you together.
You have come here, to ask God to bless your marriage. He will. Our culture needs families with solid values. Your parents modeled solid biblical values for you, now you must do the same. God calls a Christian marriage to overcome that selfishness.
God has promised to work with you, mold you and shape you so that love, unselfish love, blended like fine wine with words of forgiveness, will give your life all that you need to experience inner joy and satisfaction.
Walk with God. Demonstrate acceptance & commitment.
