Church of the Incarnation

Can you believe today's finally here?

In many ways, it has to feel like the two of you have been married for a long time now. You'll make formal vows today, but you've made all kinds of vows to one another over the six years you've been together. And you'll exchange rings today, but you exchanged a ring a year and a half ago. So what makes today different?

Today God acts. Today God adds his "yes" to the "yes" you've been saying to one another for years now. Today God creates out of your love something new - a marriage. 1

When I first met with Angharad and Ben I was quite concerned when I learned that Angharad hadn't yet practiced her new signature. So of course we got out a pad and went to work.

Now, for those of you not familiar with Angharad's signature, until today it has been a round A followed by a loopy G and a squiggle, all completed in one stroke of the pen.

But as she tried to meld her round A with "Torres," she discovered that they didn't fit together. In order to have a cohesive signature, she needed to use a linear A to go with the T of Torres.

Even the part of her name that doesn't change needs to change now.

And just as your signature today becomes something different and new, so today your love for one another becomes something new - a marriage.

You two are the ministers today. In just a minute you'll come forward and make vows to one another in the name of God and you'll exchange rings as signs of those vows. And God promises to act through your vows and rings, to change your love and devotion into a marriage, a covenant between the two of you and God, a sacred thing that will bind you together through the good times when your love is strong but also through the hard times, when you scarcely remember what you ever loved about one another.

The theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer told his niece on her wedding day, "It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on the marriage that sustains your love." 2

God creates your marriage, but the community around you helps sustain it.

Today you're surrounded by the people who love you. Some are here physically and others are present only in spirit and in the tokens you've placed on the altar to remind you of their presence. But all are here to add our "yes" to your "yes" and God's "yes."

We love you both so much and we promise to do all we can to strengthen and sustain your marriage. It's what we promised at the beginning of the service, and it's what I'd like us to all promise again now.

I'll ask the question I asked on page 2 of your service booklets. The response is a resounding "we will." And Angharad and Ben, if you listen very closely, I think you'll hear the voices of those who've gone before joining with us in support of you.

So -
will ALL of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?

WE WILL!!

Amen.

References:

1. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Wedding Sermon from a Prison Cell.
2. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Wedding Sermon from a Prison Cell.