Wedding Season

It's mid-June and I've already been to three weddings! Of course, I am very happy that I had been invited to celebrate these momentous occasions with family and friends. Weddings are wonderful events.

Yet, at times, it is easy to get caught up in some of the lesser-important details of the 'big day': dress designs and tuxedo colors, appetizers and meals, drinks and dancing. Recently, I've been reflecting on the vows that the couple makes to each other during the ceremony. This is the very heart of a wedding.

The bride and the groom each vow to love and honor the other. These vows are much more than just sweet, sappy, and sentimental words. In all moments, every day, in good times and in bad, the spouses promise to be true to each other, and to love each other until death.

At the most recent wedding I attended, the spouses chose to have proclaimed John 15 in which Jesus describes the true nature of love: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

Marriage is the constant, daily commitment to love as Jesus loves, to lay down one's life for the well-being of one's spouse. Marriage is self-sacrificial. The good of the spouse trumps one's own personal wants, needs, and desires. Marriage is a lifelong commitment, one that is often made before the community of family and friends, the state, and God.

How privileged are we to stand before these couples during 'wedding season' and witness as they pledge their lives over to each other! Jesus Christ is always calling us to something more, to freely give of ourselves in love to others. This is perhaps best exemplified by our family and friends who exchange vows and "I-do's".