This weekend I am conducting a wedding and will be giving a talk as part of it. I have promised the couple that it will be a short talk – just the three hours rather than the usual five! In the expectation that they won’t be reading this I thought I would share it with you, dear bloggists. It’s a form of recycling! Imagine the following paragraphs being spoken aloud in a wedding service, addressed directly to the newly-married couple. I would say ‘close your eyes and imagine the scene’ but unless you have a text to speech facility on your device you won’t get any further with the bloggage!
You’ve done three things today:
You have made declarations that you’re freely able to marry each other and have made vows – statements of intent of what your married life will be like.
And you have made promises – heartfelt pledges of the part you will play in your marriage.
You’ve sealed these declarations, vows and promises with the exchange of rings.
I want to offer you one more thing today, which relates to all three things you have done. I want to give you a pair of socks – one each. Don’t worry, they’re new and clean! [at this point I will brandish a colourful pair of socks].
These socks are a pair. They belong together but they go on different feet, they’re not identical. In your marriage you belong to each other, but you also need to remember to be yourself because that’s who the other person fell in love with.
These socks are colourful and very visible. Your wedding today is a moment in time when you celebrate your marriage – your commitment to one another that lasts a lifetime. Make your marriage commitment to one another colourful and very visible so that together you are a blessing to others. Living out the promises you made will be a way of showing what love is like to the people around you.
And finally, I want to say that a good way of living out those promises and vows is by trying your best to bless each other’s socks off. If you are both loving each other with the sacrificial love that Jesus shows, where the other person’s welfare is paramount, then your relationship will be stronger for it.
So, here you are – a pair of socks as your first wedding present. [I will give them the socks, which hopefully will get passed to their entourage rather than forming part of any bouquet!]
I told you it was short!
Be blessed, be a blessing (socks and all)
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