To Join Your Paths
Sermon
Wedding Sermons And Marriage Ceremonies
(for a widowed/divorced, older couple)
Hear these words from Scripture as they are found in the Book of Ruth, chapter 1, verses 16--17 (RSV):
But Ruth said, "Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God; where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if even death parts me from you."
Also hear these words from 1 Corinthians 13 (RSV):
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends...
... So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
(Bride) and (Groom), I hope you can tell the joy that it gives all of us here to see your joy, your love for each other.
The road to this moment has been a long and winding one for both of you. That is why the story of Ruth is such a good metaphor of your love. It is the story of two people coming from very different backgrounds, making a commitment to merge the pathways of their lives and continue their journey together.
Like Ruth and Naomi, the past has held both great joy and the pain of great loss for each of you. You will never forget your pasts. You wouldn't want to. For even in the painful times you experienced, you grew and found strength to live through them with dignity and integrity. They changed you and helped to form you into the person standing here today - the person each of you fell in love with.
So you cannot escape the past, but like Ruth and Naomi, you can move beyond it. It is not the last word. A whole new road called the future is opening up before you. And how we rejoice in your readiness to share the journey into that future with one another!
There may have been times when each of you wondered if you could ever love again. But God has given us an amazing capacity to love and be loved. Our part is to take the risk of trying. Your presence here today tells all of us that that risk is definitely worth taking.
There may be days ahead when you will still wonder if your love is genuine. Go back, then, to Paul's reminder in 1 Corinthians 13 of what God--given love looks like. It's true that not one of us ever lives up fully to Paul's definition. We have a hard time being that selfless. But how wonderful it is in those moments when love does show through as it was meant to be. I pray that you will have many such moments, (Bride) and (Groom). They will be the building blocks for your love to continue to grow.
This love you have for each other is truly a gift! Cherish the gift. Nurture it with all the time and tender care you can give it. And give thanks always to the Giver, for it is God who made you and will give you all the faith, hope, and love you need to carry out the commitment you are making to one another today.
May God bless your love now and always.
Hear these words from Scripture as they are found in the Book of Ruth, chapter 1, verses 16--17 (RSV):
But Ruth said, "Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God; where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if even death parts me from you."
Also hear these words from 1 Corinthians 13 (RSV):
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends...
... So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
(Bride) and (Groom), I hope you can tell the joy that it gives all of us here to see your joy, your love for each other.
The road to this moment has been a long and winding one for both of you. That is why the story of Ruth is such a good metaphor of your love. It is the story of two people coming from very different backgrounds, making a commitment to merge the pathways of their lives and continue their journey together.
Like Ruth and Naomi, the past has held both great joy and the pain of great loss for each of you. You will never forget your pasts. You wouldn't want to. For even in the painful times you experienced, you grew and found strength to live through them with dignity and integrity. They changed you and helped to form you into the person standing here today - the person each of you fell in love with.
So you cannot escape the past, but like Ruth and Naomi, you can move beyond it. It is not the last word. A whole new road called the future is opening up before you. And how we rejoice in your readiness to share the journey into that future with one another!
There may have been times when each of you wondered if you could ever love again. But God has given us an amazing capacity to love and be loved. Our part is to take the risk of trying. Your presence here today tells all of us that that risk is definitely worth taking.
There may be days ahead when you will still wonder if your love is genuine. Go back, then, to Paul's reminder in 1 Corinthians 13 of what God--given love looks like. It's true that not one of us ever lives up fully to Paul's definition. We have a hard time being that selfless. But how wonderful it is in those moments when love does show through as it was meant to be. I pray that you will have many such moments, (Bride) and (Groom). They will be the building blocks for your love to continue to grow.
This love you have for each other is truly a gift! Cherish the gift. Nurture it with all the time and tender care you can give it. And give thanks always to the Giver, for it is God who made you and will give you all the faith, hope, and love you need to carry out the commitment you are making to one another today.
May God bless your love now and always.
