Marriage: A Covenantal Gift of God

I was incredibly blessed to officiate the marriage of our niece, Melissa Wagner, to Corwin Kelly last evening at the Drumm Farm Golf Club in Independence, Missouri. It was the perfect evening, on the perfect place of a golf course, with just the right number of family and friends gathered around, with beautiful music, great food, a great set of attendants, and, of course, a storybook love shared by two incredible people. God is at work here and we are the privileged observers.

The older I become and the longer I am in ministry the more convinced I am that marriage is, indeed, a sacred and holy covenant between two people, a covenant which begins in God, not in the government, nor the church. Biblically speaking, God is the Holy Covenant-Maker. Humanity, at best, tries to keep covenant with God in every moment and aspect of our living. When two people come together in love what is seen in each other, what is seen by those around them, is the presence of God at work in covenant. God binds two hearts together in Spirit and blesses them in grace and mercy, a covenantal process which begins long before two people ever share a marriage vow. God does not need our legalities, our ceremonies, or our approval. God does as God has always done in the midst of humankind: God creates in love and binds in Self-sacrifice for the other. Everything else we add as human-folderol, the vanity of believing we have control and authority over what God is doing, all in the name of maintaining cultural norms and acceptability. Truth be told, if God wanted humanity in charge of maintaining cultural norms and acceptability, Jesus would not have been necessary . . . which may say something about why He was crucified . . . and why God raised Him on the third day.

Reflecting on Cory and Melissa's wedding, I am awestruck and totally amazed at God's breathtaking work, none of which had anything to do with the ceremony and all of which had to do with the two of them. Hollywood is incapable of capturing the essence of what we are honored to view as two people look into each other's eyes and see God's perfection manifest. Such is what humbles me nearly every time I officiate a wedding: Though a servant of Christ in the Church and, for the sake of this one moment in time, a minion of the State as an officiant, I am first and foremost blessed to see God transforming life, embodying dreams, fulfilling visions, and starting new creation. Words may be spoken, vows may be shared, but what God is doing requires no other affirmation than what one person sees in another's heart and trusts 'till death do us part'. It's not sappy, it's true. I know, for I'm married, too.

God bless you, Melissa and Cory, in what God is doing in and through you. May you always find God's Peace strengthening you, not in the vows you have spoken, but in the Covenant you keep for the sake of the other. Such is the love God has for you - and for all who believe.