Wedding Sermon - Live Passionately - new creation of Marriage - Romans 12:9-13
May the words of my mouth and the mediations of all our hearts be acceptable in your Sight, our Lord and saviour, Amen
In marriage we become part of something very unique
In marriage all those present are: a witness …to a piece of creation
It is the new creation from the uniting of a Husband and Wife and the Life and Love that will grow out of that bonding
and we are witnesses today,
to that life creating moment
In marriage, no longer are there two individuals solely, although two individuals remain
But there enters into life something unique and … miraculous
The New Testament passage… that Taylor and Karyn chose for this special occasion comes from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans
To a people and place that he had up until this point not visited
To the capital city of the most powerful empire of it’s time
So St. Paul made this letter a good one
Some say his masterpiece
Our passage for today is unlike the rest of the letter, where it is a layer upon layer of well outlined argument
Paul takes a break, from that to provide a series of individual exhortations (like a charm bracelet) held together by particular theme
And that theme is - Love
That charm bracelet
Is a wonderful image to illustrate married life, where each charm is a symbolic representation of something much more
To explain the ups and down,
the challenges and joys of marriage
in this passage from St. Paul, We hear strong words,
passionate words
words that challenge us and call us to the fullness of life
o Love and Hate
o Good and Evil
o Honour
o Zeal
o Serve
o Hope
o Suffering
o Persevere
o Needs
o And hospitality
Each one of these words are loaded with ideas and images that could have, and have had volumes and volumes written on them since
But the word Love itself was a little used word of the time
You see the first Christians sought to FIND language to express their new experience of God’s grace
a “fresh minting” of a previously little-used word
and marriage is a lot like that, “a fresh minting”
two people previously solely individuals are minted in a new unique way
The word takes on a uniquely new and Christian sense to it
a sense of family belongingness which transcends the previous sense of the word
And it is this new sense of love that is SO appropriate for a wedding service
It is the type of love that binds
Marriage is a life and love that gets built on,
moments building on top of the other,
from one charm to the next
the good times, the great times
and the challenges - from which we learn from
“the creation” that is the bond between you will grows stronger
it is the new entity uniquely created by you and between you,
and it is love that binds all the charms together
It is my prayer: Taylor and Karyn, that you will be blessed with such a creation
That you will live a love between you that is filled with passion, with:
o Love that is Genuine
o That you hold fast to what is good and hate what is evil
o That you love one another in mutual affection
o Showing Honour
o Perseverance
o Lessons from Suffering
o Zeal in spirit
o But most of all - grounded in Love -
o And in the coming together - Love speaks of … Hope
o Hope of what you will create together - Amen