Between Bride and Bridegroom


This is a homily I prepared for a wedding at Holy Cross Lutheran Church on Saturday, March 13, 2010.

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Readings

Genesis 1:26–31
1 Corinthians 12:31–13:13
Matthew 19:3–6

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Message

If the word “love” were a set of tires,
the tread on them would be worn smooth.
We have put so many miles on this one simple word,
using it to describe our passion for pizza,
our bonding with cats and dogs,
as well as our feelings for one another.

It’s hard to set this all aside
and to listen to these readings with fresh ears
and hear what God is telling us about love.

St. Paul’s letter to the Church at Corinth
is a big help in guiding us in our understanding.
God’s love may come to us as warm feelings for one another,
but at its root, any true love we have
reflects the love that God has—first of all—for us.

We know the love God pours out upon us
by looking to Jesus Christ,
to his self-sacrifice for us,
to his dying on the cross
and conquering death to give us life.
That is true love.

And when we love one another—
with patience and kindness,
without envy or boasting or arrogance or rudeness,
lacking self-centeredness,
with no irritation or resentment or joy in wrongdoing,
but with truth and humility and hope and endurance—
then we are loving one another with the love that comes to us
from Jesus Christ, who loved us enough to give Himself for us.

And so we become Christ’s hands
when we reach out in loving compassion to others.
We become Christ’s heart
when we give ourselves without reservation to care for another.

This love is what we pray God to pour out upon you,
Kim and Jessie,
so that you may live out your years together,
giving yourselves fully to one another
in the ways that St. Paul shares so eloquently.

And the real beauty is that when a marriage—
whether it is your new union
or one that has more than six decades behind it—
when a couple embodies and radiates the love of Jesus Christ,
their marriage becomes a message to others.

It speaks of the love that God our Father
has for the Church, His family, His people.
That’s why there’s no mistake behind the tradition
that calls Jesus Christ the bridegroom
and His Church the bride.

It’s not that we take the love in our marriages and say
that God’s love for His people is like that.
Rather, the love we celebrate in a marriage
is a glimpse, a preview, a foretaste
of the love that our Bridegroom
has for His Church.

And so, now we are ready to gather around you,
Jessie and Kim,
and pray that God will give you
the strength and the wisdom,
the patience and the compassion,
the commitment and the honesty
to love one another selflessly and joyously,
just as God loves us all in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.