Officiating a wedding is one of my greatest joys as a pastor. I love journeying with a couple as they plan their wedding. It’s always special hear the couple share how they fell in love, and describe how they realized they wanted to commit their lives to one another. Planning a wedding outside has its own challenges. We’ll need to keep an eye on the weather, the tide schedule, and so forth. But all of that is made up for by the incredible view of the Atlantic Ocean in the background (as pictured above).
Weddings always make me think about commitment. Weddings are the beginning of a commitment to love and cherish one another through the ups and the downs of life. This is not always easy, and we don’t always get it right. But there is something beautiful in the vows that a couple makes to one another. A verse that I consistently use in my wedding homily comes from Genesis:
“Therefore, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”
-Genesis 2:24
Reflecting on this verse, I tell the couple, “In the promise that you are making to one another, you are stating that you will care as much for your spouse’s needs and desires as you do your own because you are no longer separate individuals living life side by side. Rather you are one; bound together in love and in promise.This is a great mystery of marriage; how two can become one. And it is a mystery that you will be able to share with each other and explore with each other for the rest of your lives.”
