I
spoke with my grand niece this week. This is my brother Bill’s grandchild. I
married her grandparents (my brother and his wife Evelyn) and then I married
her parents (Peggy Jo and Donnie Helms). She wanted to know if I am still doing
wedding ceremonies. She thought it would be special if I could also marry her
and her fiancé, the third generation. Being a licensed minister in the state of
Alabama, I still have the legal authority to preside at weddings and sign the
marriage license. Also, as long as I can don my robe, stand up and speak, I can
accomplish the task.
To be sure, I still have my robe;
and also my baptismal trousers. But serving at Central Park Baptist with the
few members being median and senior adults, in these four years I’ve neither
married someone in the church nor baptized anyone into the church. I have done
a number of weddings, however, for relatives and former church members or their
children. So I assured Katie that I would be delighted to preside at her wedding
in May.
For the first several decades of my
ministry I could claim that of the persons at whose weddings I had presided,
none had divorced. Alas that ended some years ago. Tragically, many now go
through the heartache and trauma of divorce, including any children involved.
The vows repeated verbally in a
ceremony are of no value unless there is a prior commitment of the will. A
commitment to the spouse but also, for believers, the vow is a commitment to
God. God is a party to the union. Jesus said, “What therefore God has joined
together, let not man put asunder.” (Mark 10:9)
Grace
and Peace
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