The Rite of Holy Matrimony - The Wedding of Kurt & Genevieve Kimmerly

The Church Season of Pentecost
The Rite of Holy Matrimony
Kurt Calvin Kimmerly – Genevieve Frances Johnson
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (July 18, 2009)

“Two Will Become One”

Readings:
Ruth 1:16-17
Ephesians 5:1-, 2-33

Sermon Form Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 5th chapter of Ephesians, especially the following verse:

Ephesians 5:1-2, 22-33

1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and His Church to witness and bless the joining together of this man and this woman in Holy marriage.

Kurt, and Genevieve, dear family and friends,

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

This is a wonderful day in which Our Lord Jesus Christ offers His blessings to you both. Up until this day you two were a couple. Now, here in the sight of God, the two of you become one. And the very Word of God, as given to us by St. Paul tells us, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”(v. 31) Then Paul goes on to say, “This is a profound mystery.”(v.32) And that probably would be an understatement for those gathered here today. For today in this very church, we are blessed to have a very high concentration of engineering type people. And so that equation that was set forth for us, the two become one, is indeed a profound mystery. But even as I speak, all those engineering wheels are turning, and all the possible solution sets are being worked out. But quite frankly, none of those mathematical answers will even be close to solving the mystery, nor will they end up be correct.

For we as humans want God to play by our rules, by our own equations, and our theorems, We try to force God into a recognizable package, because we don’t want mysteries. So rejoice, Kurt and Genevieve, for it is no mystery that today, and even since the day you were born, God has had a plan for you both. God’s love has brought the two of you together and today that is abundantly apparent.

Yet because your two lives began so many miles apart, it may not have seemed so very apparent that your paths would cross and intertwine, and that you both would be standing here together as one on this day. While your lives began and unfolded miles apart and you eventually you met in college and became a couple. Time has passed and eventually you have grown together facing various challenges of varying degrees, like the how and where of jobs and homes. In fact today you still face together the solving of an incredibly difficult challenge, and that would be the equation, N + 1 cars is always better. I ask your forgiveness, I can’t help you with that one, so I’ll pray that someday that you will be able to come to a good solution for that one. But even greater challenges and equations have already been solved for you by God. For the two of you this day will become one, and even greater still you are given the promise by God that this equation will last for an eternity. For in the waters of your Baptisms, you were made as one in Jesus Christ. In Baptism you were both claimed by God and made part of His Holy family. There, in the waters of your Baptism God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, gave you both the promise to be together with Him for all eternity.

Yet God is before and beyond all eternity and that indeed is a mystery to us. It can also be a mystery that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into this world to undo all the sin of this world. For Jesus came into this world as an infant, just as both of you did, and it was here that He grew and became a man. And just like you both, Jesus Christ was baptized. And because of Jesus Christ’s life included His journey to the cross...sin, death, and the devil have been conquered. And we know that it is true for scripture tells us so. So it may be a mystery to us why Jesus would come here for us. But God gives us the answer to that question too, by saying, “8 God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”(Rom. 5:8)

God loves you both so much that He gave His Son Jesus Christ to die for you. He gives you that gift freely to you both, just as He would give that to all who live and breath in this world. One man, Jesus Christ died for many, so that they may never die, but rather see eternal life. Many equations may come before you this world. Some may be solved, and others, like your N + 1 number of cars, may never be solved. Challenges may face your marriage, there will be good days and bad, there will be sickness and health. But also know that from time eternal God has brought you to this place. God brought you both together and the two of you have become one. So in reality the greatest of all equations, the greatest of all mysteries is solved. For God brought Jesus Christ into this world for you, so that together in Him you may have eternal life. Amen.

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