Why do We Forget Our Wedding Day?

Posted on Sunday, April 03, 2011

I went to a really cool wedding on Saturday afternoon. It was in a renovated warehouse in downtown Jackson. Exposed bricks and beams, industrial lighting, a mix of antiques with modern furnishings, exposed HVAC and strings of single bulb lights gave a magazine-shoot-in-a-New York-loft type of feel to this very happy occasion. The weather was perfect, the bride and groom ecstatic and Rachel and I were especially touched because the couple was the first we had mentored through a program at our church.

Besides the location, there were other things unique about the wedding. Because the bride had tragically lost her father a little over a year ago, she was walked down the aisle by her brother, who carried a single rose in his memory. It was very moving. Rachel cried, of course.

The ceremony was performed by two pastors- one who was the young singles leader of the church that brought them together, and the other was an older minister who was either the long time pastor for one of the families or a relative, I’m not sure which. There was a soloist who sang worship songs before and during the ceremony, traditional scripture readings and a blessing at the end where the wedding party and close friends and family laid hands on the couple.

Since I deal with marriage on a daily basis, I always do a lot of thinking during wedding ceremonies. I listen carefully to the vows and I think about how quickly many of us forget these promises as we journey through life with our spouse.

Was this read at your wedding? Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NASB

It reads like this in another translation: Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, doesn't have a swelled head, doesn't force itself on others, isn't always "me first," doesn't fly off the handle, doesn't keep score of the sins of others, doesn't revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 MSG

So what would our marriage look like if we lived out our vows and the readings of scripture like what was written by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians? What would happen if we were truly patient? What would happen if we didn’t keep score of our spouses wrong doings? What would happen if we had hope and we never looked back? What type of marriage would we have then?
I want to challenge you today to live out your wedding vows and the scriptures read over you at your wedding. You have already made the promises, now it is just time to start keeping them.

By: Craig Robertson