The Mystery of Marriage
Sermon
ROSES, RINGS & REJOICING
It seems like everyone enjoys a good mystery. In bookstores and libraries, whole sections are devoted to mystery books. Authors like Ed McBain and Robert Ludlum can hardly keep up with readers' demands. On television, the most popular shows are mysteries like Hardcastle and McCormick, Cagney and Lacy, and Crazy Like a Fox.
This evening, as we celebrate the love that ____ and ____ have found with one another, we come to share in a mystery. The writer of the Book of Proverbs tells us this:
Three things are too wonderful for me;
Four I do not understand;
The way of an eagle in the sky,
The way of a serpent on a rock,
The way of a ship on the high seas,
And the way of a man with a maiden.
(Proverbs 30:18-19)
The Apostle Paul also speaks of marriage as a mystery when he writes:
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one. This is a great mystery, and I take it to mean Christ and the Church.
(Ephesians 5:31-32)
And so tonight; the handsome tuxedo, the lovely dress, the beautiful flowers are telling us how special tonight is. For when I see you at the grocery, you are not dressed like this. And when I see you at the store, you never wear a tuxedo. But tonight is special, as we celebrate the mystery of love, a love that is linked to the mystery of Christ and his church — a love that depends not just on you, but on the grace and power and unity we have with Christ and his people.
In his power, God created you man and woman.
In his wisdom, God brought you together.
In his grace, God will make you one.
In the mysterious future, in the days ahead, you have each other and Christ; to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part. Out of all the people in the world, you will now have each other. Marriage is a mystery, so profound that you will never exhaust its meaning; so deep and complex, that each day will be a new adventure.
In the future ____ , ____ will not always be wearing a tuxedo. You will see him in a ratty looking T-shirt, with stubble on his chin glued to a football game on television or meticulously scrubbing pots and pans in the kitchen and you'll think "what have I gotten myself into?" And ____ , ____ will not always look as lovely as she does tonight. You will see her with a runny nose, grey bags under her eyes, and half the garden on her clothes, and you'll think "Is this the woman I married?" But that's the mystery. Marriage is more than tuxedos and lovely dresses and beautiful flowers and a candlelit church; it is the mystery of two becoming one, and the mystery of Christ and his church.
If it is your intention then to share in the mystery, to share your laughter and your tears, your joys and your sorrows, and all that the years will bring to you both, let us go to the altar of our God, that you may bind yourselves to each other as husband and wife. Amen
— Jeffrey K. Kimpel
St. John's Lutheran Church
Fowlerville, Michigan
This evening, as we celebrate the love that ____ and ____ have found with one another, we come to share in a mystery. The writer of the Book of Proverbs tells us this:
Three things are too wonderful for me;
Four I do not understand;
The way of an eagle in the sky,
The way of a serpent on a rock,
The way of a ship on the high seas,
And the way of a man with a maiden.
(Proverbs 30:18-19)
The Apostle Paul also speaks of marriage as a mystery when he writes:
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one. This is a great mystery, and I take it to mean Christ and the Church.
(Ephesians 5:31-32)
And so tonight; the handsome tuxedo, the lovely dress, the beautiful flowers are telling us how special tonight is. For when I see you at the grocery, you are not dressed like this. And when I see you at the store, you never wear a tuxedo. But tonight is special, as we celebrate the mystery of love, a love that is linked to the mystery of Christ and his church — a love that depends not just on you, but on the grace and power and unity we have with Christ and his people.
In his power, God created you man and woman.
In his wisdom, God brought you together.
In his grace, God will make you one.
In the mysterious future, in the days ahead, you have each other and Christ; to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part. Out of all the people in the world, you will now have each other. Marriage is a mystery, so profound that you will never exhaust its meaning; so deep and complex, that each day will be a new adventure.
In the future ____ , ____ will not always be wearing a tuxedo. You will see him in a ratty looking T-shirt, with stubble on his chin glued to a football game on television or meticulously scrubbing pots and pans in the kitchen and you'll think "what have I gotten myself into?" And ____ , ____ will not always look as lovely as she does tonight. You will see her with a runny nose, grey bags under her eyes, and half the garden on her clothes, and you'll think "Is this the woman I married?" But that's the mystery. Marriage is more than tuxedos and lovely dresses and beautiful flowers and a candlelit church; it is the mystery of two becoming one, and the mystery of Christ and his church.
If it is your intention then to share in the mystery, to share your laughter and your tears, your joys and your sorrows, and all that the years will bring to you both, let us go to the altar of our God, that you may bind yourselves to each other as husband and wife. Amen
— Jeffrey K. Kimpel
St. John's Lutheran Church
Fowlerville, Michigan
