August 2, 2008

August 2, 2008 Holy Matrimony

Brianna Lynn Kellum and Kyle Louis Allen

Song of Solomon 2:10-13, 8:6-7


Brianna and Kyle, what I want to say first to you, and I know I’m speaking for all the family and friends gathered here this afternoon, is thank you. What a fabulous day this is! It is for us all, and for me personally, a privilege and a joy to be sharing this moment with you, to be with you as witnesses and as supporters and cheering fans as you exchange the vows and promises, the words, and the commitments of the heart, that will make you one in Christ, as husband and wife.

It’s a wonderful day, especially here at St. Andrew’s, which has been such an important place for both of you over many years now—Bri, your baptism almost exactly 8 years ago, in August of 2000, and Confirmation the year after that, and Sunday School, Christmas Pageants, Acolyting, and Youth Group, which was an important time here for both of you, and I think of the excellent work Kyle did as our Youth Ministry intern a couple of years ago. You’ve both been bright lights in our life here at St. Andrew’s. And now here, this great day of your marriage--we’ve been thinking about it and planning for it and involved in all kinds of preparation for a long time, and when we started this date seemed a long way off—but now, time has flown by, and here we are. Congratulations to you, as I know these years of your friendship and deepening relationship have been rich in so many ways, and as I know that the story that is yet to be told of the life and family you will share as husband and wife will be a great one. It could be a fun movie someday, with starring Brianna and with Oscar winning musical score by Kyle!


The lesson that you selected, from the Old Testament book of the Song of Solomon, is a wonderful and very appropriate reading for this day. It is a love song, through and through, a poetic expression of the deepest passion and compassion of the human heart, as we know that in our deepest and most intimate relationships, and as we would understand through that, that we are for at least a brief moment in this world catching a glimpse of the deep love, the passion and the compassion, that is at the heart of God’s life, and that we are all ultimately destined for. This day, the commitments you bring, the words and promises, speak about who you are today, and also about who we are all destined to become, God’s hope and dream for each one of us since the beginning of the world. Which is why marriage is understood as a sacrament--an outward and visible sign of God's grace and presence and sustaining love.


Many waters cannot quench love, no flood can sweep it away; if a man were to offer for love the whole wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned. The rarest thing of all, the most precious, the most fragile, the hardest to find and the easiest to lose, yet somehow also the most durable, the most patient, the most forgiving, the most welcoming. A gift, and the gift we celebrate today.


In the Old Testament Book of Exodus there is one of my favorite stories, about a moment of profound experience, a “vocational” moment, a life changing, transformational moment-- in a way kind of like a wedding.

Young Moses is working for his father in Law, tending his sheep out in the wilderness, and one day he sees something off in the distance that looks strange to him. He moves closer and finally comes to this great big tree or bush that is on fire, fully engulfed in flames, burning and burning—but no matter how long it burns, it doesn’t burn out. He watches for a while, amazed at the sight, and then all at once a great, deep voice comes from the flame. (I like to think it was the voice of James Earl Jones.) “Take off your shoes, Moses, for the ground on which you are standing is holy ground.” Holy Ground.


Now, Bri and Kyle, we don’t need to take that literally, and you can keep your shoes on. But we would remember that in the vows and promises you make today, in God’s sight and in the presence of these friends and family members, the ground under our feet is consecrated, and made holy. That God’s holy presence is with you, surrounding you, above you, and beneath your feet, with richness and blessing, grace and love.

The prayers and blessings of this day don’t just happen here, in this one moment of a wedding, but they go out with you into your marriage and life together, from this day forward, and will be around you and under you and with you all the days of your life. Here in Pittsburgh, and in Los Angeles, and wherever your life takes you, holy ground. And it is my and our best prayer for you that in God’s love you will continue to experience his love and his blessing always, and that your life together will be a catalyst, an inspiration, for that sense of God’s goodness to be known by others. That you will be blessed, and that you will be a blessing.


Now as Kyle and Bri come forward to exchange the vows that will make them husband and wife, I would ask all of us to bow our heads for a moment to offer a prayer for them, for their protection and their blessing, their joy, in all that God has for them in the days and years ahead.


Bruce Robison