Christian Marriage/Wedding

My last post was about changing wedding laws around the world. This is a follow up about the religious ceremony and specifically the Christian Wedding. There are many religions in America and they each have their own traditions concerning the wedding ceremony.

In the civil service a couple needs a license and an authorized person to sign the document. The authorized person only has to verify that the two people before them are the ones on the license and ask them if they want to be married. When they answer in the affirmative the license is signed and they are married. All cut and dry and legal.

A Christian Wedding is quite different and in the United States it involves aspects of the civil wedding but also much more. In my state and church a man and a woman come to make vows to each other and God. They come seeking a blessing on their marriage and home. It is the making of vows that makes all the difference.

When a marriage vow is made the man and woman actually make two vows at once. They make vows of commitment and fidelity to one another and they make those same vows to God! It is this act that makes the wedding ceremony sacred. The vows are binding until death do us part. Jesus made only one excuse for divorce and that was adultery.

When a person breaks the marriage vow a double sin is committed. The first sin is against the spouse and the second is against God. I count it a very serious event to make a vow to God. Breaking a vow to God is not something one does lightly and I always stress that to couples about to get married in the church. There is an eternal aspect to a vow made to God and it stays with you that long.

Marriage Laws Changing

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There have been many articles in the news about “Marriage Laws” and how they need to be changed. I have served as a pastor all over the country and I know how much they vary from state to state. They also vary a lot from country to country.

An NPR story today was about Mexico City trying to write a law to allow couples to have a termination date on the wedding license. The Bishop is apposed for some reason. I have worked in a country that allows a man to have up to four wives at a time. Some countries allow same sex marriages and so do some states.

The Christian Bible states that a Bishop must have only one wife but leaves an option for a man to have more than one wife if he is not a bishop. The bible tells us of many men both in the old and new testaments that had more than one wife. King Solomon had hundreds of them.    

Culture changes over time and our laws lag behind but they also change. There was a time when adultery was the only reason the law allowed for divorce. There was a time when only the husband could sue for divorce.

In Deuteronomy 22, if a bride was found not to be a virgin on her wedding night the law called for her to be stoned to death in front of her fathers house. A lot of women today are glad we don’t do that any more.

Weddings can be both legal contract and religious ceremonies. Some countries require that the couple go to a civil service office and register their marriage and then if they wish to do so they may have a religious ceremony afterwards.

How will our marriage laws change over the next hundred years?

New Phone Scam

It was an odd sort of phone call that I received this afternoon. I recognized that it was a new scam quickly. The male voice with a thick accent told me that I had been awarded a government grant of seven thousand dollars.

Interesting! I had not applied for a government grant. As a mayor I know all the rules and red tape for getting government a grant. I began to ask questions about what was the grant for and what department it was from and what program. No answers. Then he want to know my name, social security number and bank routing number for sending the grant money to my account.

I said, “What you don’t know my name?”

He hung up.

Available

Though out the bible we see that men and women who had an awareness of the presence of God. They listened and made themselves available to be used by God for a mission.

Abraham listened to the voice of God and moved to a new land. Moses liste4ned to the voice of God and returned to Egypt to lead the Hebrews back to that same land. Deborah listened to the voice of God and led the Hebrews to victory and a return to faith.

It matters not what our talents might be. What really matters is our availability. All of the spiritual gifts and natural abilities are  they are wasted unless we make them available to God. Long ago I resolved be available to God and be content with what ever God called me to do. 

Still working it out

In Philippians 2:12 Paul tells us to “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

This verse has often puzzled me since he also says that salvation if a free gift God though grace.  What does it mean for me to work out  my own salvation?

Here is the rub, I carry around within me a lot of baggage that hinders my acceptance of this free gift of grace. Things like anger, fear, selfishness, and hatred of those different than me. So working though my salvation means letting  go of my anger toward someone and forgiving them even if they do not ask for it. It means letting go of those things that I covet.  It means relinquishing control of situations that make me anxious.

God invites me to work out my salvation by letting go of things I want to control and allowing God to do some cleaning in this earthly tent that I call my life.

Taking It With Him

There was a man who had worked all of his life, had saved all of  his money, and was a real miser when it came to his money. Just before he died, he said to his wife,

"When I die, I want you to take all my money and put it in the casket with me. I want to take my money to the afterlife with me."

And so he got his wife to promise him with all of her heart that when he died, she would put all of the money in the casket with him. Well, he died. He was stretched out in the casket, his wife was sitting there in black, and her friend was sitting next to her. When they finished the ceremony, just before the undertakers got ready ! to close the casket, the wife said, "Wait just a minute!"

She had a box with her; she came over with the box and put it in the casket. Then the undertakers locked the casket down, and they rolled it away.So her friend said, "Girl, I know you weren't fool enough to put all that money in there with your husband."

The loyal wife replied, "Listen, I'm a Christian, I can't go back on my word. I promised him that I was going to put that money in that casket with him." "You mean to tell me you put that money in the casket with him!!!!?"

"I sure did," said the wife. "I got it all together, put it into my account and wrote him a check.

If he can cash it, he can spend it!"

Which Table?

There are times when we are at the tables of strangers and we move with caution. I remember when I first arrived in Louisville, I attended a Toastmasters club meeting but was so new I did not know which political party they belonged to.

I was seated beside a lady and she remarked, "Well the room is evenly divided today. Republicans on one side and Democrats on the other." 

As I did not know which was which, I said, "Which side are we on?" To which she replied, "The right side." 

A little flustered, I ask, "Where would a Libertarian sit?" She cracked a smile and said, "Outside!"