Scripture Readings (for
the reading)
Matthew 5:3-9 – The eight
blessings
Romans 8:38-39 – God’s indestructible love
Contemporary reading (in
the bulletin)
Maya Angelou’s poem: In and Out of Time
Message
In the depths of a
loving relationship we experience our soul’s metamorphosis into something
splendid and unforeseen; truly, loving is a journey into allowing oneself to be
transformed and re-created, moving forward to explore and experience “new
freedom”. N and N are ready to take the journey towards a world which
they will create together with their shared visions, hopes and dreams. They are
two, independent individuals, and at the same time, blessed and united in this
sacred covenant, they will grow like a single tree that stretches and reaches
its arms to the heaven.
Loving is truly a
journey because it makes us be who we really are, without artifice or pretence.
Love requires each person to respect and protect one another’s “solitude” and
unique self. In this trusting, faithful journey, marriage is a door; it will
not lock the beloveds away but open a whole new space for them - a place of
blessed meetings: an encounter with one’s true self, an encounter with each
other’s true gifts and an encounter with the God who will shower you with
blessings and challenges.
N and N, in your
journey of loving, dreaming, hoping and rejoicing, please remember that,
in good times and bad, whether you are dancing or walking, the heart of God is
beating within each of you and between you.
As Maya Angelou’s poem
sings, in time and out of time, “When the first stone looked up at the blazing
sun and the first tree struggled up from the forest floor” God had always
loved you both with God’s indestructible love.
As
Paul says in his letter to the Romans: “Neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor
depth, nor anything else in all creation” will be able to separate you … and us
from God’s indestructible, predestined, transforming love.
N and N, may
God’s brilliant shining joy be within you on this special and sacred day and
every day forthwith. Walk forward to your new freedom and be a blessing to the
world.
Benediction
May the
God of sunshine and rain, the blue sky and the endless ocean, and of every creation
On
this blessed earth and land
Bless
this day and your lives
With
wonder, joy, love and beauty. Amen.
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