I am guessing that the ZZ Top song “Sharp Dressed Man” is not
a tune you would expect to hear in a church, especially in the sanctuary. But its
sheer exuberance fit so well as part of our High School Youth Group’s Talent
show last month, as members old and young alike got up in the bright lights of
the chancel and shared gifts ranging from singing to story-telling to stand-up
comedy. We do have a wonderfully talented congregation!
The show was just one of many special occasions that filled the
month of May. June too will have its share of celebrations, as you’ll read
about elsewhere in this newsletter. In addition to everything else that will
fill the calendar this month, I’ll finish leading my Adult Education class on
what the Bible does and does not teach us about marriage.
What we’ve learned the past few weeks is that there is surprisingly
little in the Bible that speaks directly to marriage. We also discovered that
the church’s involvement in marriage is relatively recent. And we learned that
our Book of Confessions and Book of Common Worship are our most
helpful resources, teaching us that: “marriage
is a union, in which two people commit themselves to a mutually shared
life, in which they respond to each other in sensitive and lifelong concern.
In marriage a woman and a man belong to each other, and with affection and
tenderness freely give themselves to each other as they help and comfort each
other.”
The Reverend Peter Marshall captured
the essence of marriage perfectly with his words: “A marriage made in heaven is one where a man and a woman become
more richly themselves together than the chances are either of them could ever
have managed to become alone.”
In a time when fully half of all marriages end in divorce,
marriages that succeed are built on a foundation not only of love, but of
respect, interest, compassion, patience and goodness, where each partner takes
a strong interest in the other as friend as well as spouse. Communication is vital to a healthy marriage;
couples who don’t talk, who don’t share, who don’t make time for one another
will inevitably drift away from one another.
Anticipating marriage? Newly wed? Celebrating a 20th?
40th? Even a 50th anniversary? It is those couples who
“freely give themselves to each other”, who “help and comfort each other”, who
work to build a “mutually-shared life”, who “forgive even as they are
themselves forgiven”, and who “clothe themselves with love, which binds
everything together in perfect harmony” who will find ample reasons to celebrate year after year.
Grace
& peace,
Pastor Skip
