Wedding

Yesterday my brother-in-law got married. It was quite the family affair. My wife (his sister) was a maid of honor as was my daughter. On the other side my son was a groomsman. I was the officiant so for the first time all four of us were on the altar together. [Baby, in his tux, sat in the back of the church.]

After the service the photographer told me that it was really nice to be at a wedding with a religious context and a message. He then said that he does alot of weddings and (like I had said) most of them have no trappings of faith.

The wedding homily I delivered, on their choice of readings, 1 Corinthians 13, did focus on the current state of marriage. There are two components, a reluctance to make a commitment and rejection of institutions, which seem to go hand in hand. When a couple comes to a church to marry they are doing something different from many of their peers.

The act of marrying changes things. As I told the couple, "you  have each added new parents." I turned to her and said, "I am now your brother and you have another brother and sister, and you are an aunt." (My daughter began to cry at that moment, for joy) Her friends and his friends are now in new relationships. The chosing of a spouse makes that happen.

However, God is also invited into a church wedding. Suddenly the covenant is a sacred covenant before (and with) God. Marriage is a sacrament, a sign of the invisible God. Most amrried couples do not do a bang up job in their vocation. That is okay. There is something to be said for trying. It is important that we understand our lives together in the light of that sacred vocation to mirror the love of Christ and His church.

The 'hymn to love' from 1 Corinthians 13 is not about marriage. In the previous chapter Paul takes the small church to the woodshed because their eucharist is a time of conflict. The Apostle is quite firm with them. He then talks about the church is a body. This concept, so hard for individualist Americans to grasp, is central to his ecclesiology (theology of church). We are all different yet we make up the body. Some parts are more important, some are more needy, some require greater care and protection, but all together make one whole. Paul then talks about the different gifts in the church. Each of us has our own set of gifts. Yet, he continues in 13, whatever the gifts and however amazing, if they are not based in love they mean nothing. Our gifts can cause us to be arrogant or depressed. We may overstate our importance or understate it. Paul says focus not on yourself and your gifts, but use your gifts in (love) service of others.

He then reminds us that today is but a dim view of reality. He uses the term mirror, but of course our modern mirrors do not distort so the analogy limps. I understand that ancient mirrrors were not so true, more like a shiny peice of metal. You and I do not see the world as it is. Someday we shall. Concluding with that, our eyes are not set on the horizon, the glimpse at "coming attractions." Some day we shall see God. See Him, love and be loved by Him. Someday Jesus will be manifest, totally. Until then, spouse, family, friend, and parishioners are what we have. In us and through us His love is manifest. The mundane is the holy. We need eyes to see.