The Rite of Holy Matrimony - The Wedding of Ryan & Hope Wright

The Church Season of Pentecost
The Rite of Holy Matrimony
Ryan Eric Wright – Hope Elizabeth Cox
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (September 26, 2009)

“AN ENDURING LOVE”

Reading: John 15:9-17

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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 15th chapter of St. John, especially the following verse:

John 15:9-17

9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

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.

Hope, and Ryan, 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 Hope and Ryan, in this rite of Holy Matrimony. Up until now you were a couple, from today on you will be husband and wife. The lesson from the Bible for today is from the book of John and it is perfect for this day because it talks in great detail about love. And Christ’s final word for us all and especially to you Hope and Ryan on this day is His command, for you to, “Love each other.”(v. 17) But that is not where Jesus began this little piece of scripture, He began by talking about God’s love for Him, and then followed Christ’s love for His disciples, and then He talked about loving each other. It is a perfect description of love in three parts. And all that is not by mere chance, or fate, or simply by dumb luck. And quite frankly your love for each other is none of those things either. God’s love for His Son Jesus Christ is real. Christ’s love for us, His people, is real. Hope and Ryan, your love for each other today is abundantly real. And all that love is,

“AN ENDURING LOVE”

Now when people think of enduring love, the first thing that does not pop into their minds is the love which they see in newlyweds. Instead they would probably think of some of their relatives or family friends who they know that have been married for years and years. It would only seem logical, wouldn’t it, that two people who have been married for such a very a long time must have a different kind of love to remain a family and endure together for such long a time?

But no matter what anybody says, it is indeed an enduring love which has brought you both here together this day. For it is not by simple chance, nor is it by coincidence that you stand here together today. God had a plan for you, and it stemmed from His enduring love for you. For soon after you were born Hope, you were baptized and made a child of God. Through the Water combined with God’s Word you received God’s salvation which endures forever. And what about you Ryan? Well you too were baptized. Maybe not as an infant, in fact it was just yesterday, but all the same God had a plan for you too. And God’s plan was to bring you Ryan, and you Hope together.

The Holy Spirit has indeed worked faith in both of you and he did so when you heard of His saving grace, Whether you heard God’s Holy Word from the lips of a pastor or from a reassuring and dear dear family member, God did create and nurture faith in both of you. And He accomplished that in the water’s of Holy Baptism, for there you made a part of the same family, God’s forever family. And if I may brag just a tad, it was Pastor Wright who baptized two out of three Wright’s in your new family. Yet I must admit, though the water flowed from the baptismal font through my hands to baptize Ryan and Chloe, it was not my work, nor was it my grace, nor was it my blessing which you received. I do stand here in God’s stead and by His command, but it was indeed God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit which brought you all together. So you are all in His forever family and at the same time you are now a family together.

Soon you will speak your wedding vows and in all these words, you will note that you Ryan will speak them directly to Hope, and Hope you will speak them directly to Ryan. In these vows you will speak of your enduring love for each another. And for all the reasons you will promise each other, you will be united to one another, and “you will become one flesh.”(Genesis 2:24) Your responsibility now will be to God and to each other and to “love each other.”(v. 17 ) and to love Chloe too. And half of the promises you will make in your vows will be easy to keep, “for better, for richer, and in health.” Yet enduring love means that you will also endure together the other half of those promises, meaning the “for worse, for poorer, and in sickness.” And even more than that there will be other challenges from this world and the people in it. There will be challenges when you fail each other or even fail yourselves. But remember we are all human and we fall to sin, and so in those times remember what enduring love is, it endures all things. For no matter what happens, God will always be there to forgive you, to support you, and to love you, for His mercy is endless, in fact His mercy endures forever.

Today Hope and Ryan you stand in the presence of God as His baptized children. God called you by name, and brought you both together, to be here together, in His church on this very day. And God will be with you each and every day, whether it be a day of enduring love or day which is to be endured, either way, God is with you. For He first loved you both and He loved you so much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ, for you. And Jesus Christ loved you so much and everyone in this world, that in love He endured all things, even death on the cross. That is true love, that Jesus Christ would lay down His life for you, so that in His death and resurrection, together you would have the promise of eternal life together and indeed Hope and Ryan that is an enduring love. Amen.

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