All three Synoptic Gospels report an encounter between Jesus and some resurrection-skeptical Sadducees about the world to come. They posed Him the case of a woman who had married and survived seven...
“What God has joined together let no one put asunder.” Jesus’ word seals the vows. No longer are they conditional. The two are now one flesh. The imperative – “let no one put asunder” – looks to the...
The Book of Common Prayer, as we have seen in the previous weeks, summons men and women to a high vision of discipleship in the context of Holy Matrimony. At the same time, Jesus and St. Paul both...
Saint Paul was a single man when the Risen Lord called him on the road to Damascus. He saw his apostolic responsibility to preach Christ (kerygma) and to pass on His teaching faithfully (didache)....
The Book of Common Prayer has no liturgy for any “manner of life” outside Holy Matrimony. Yet most people live a large portion of their lives outside marriage: before and after in their youth and old...
Holy Matrimony is a solemn occasion, best observed in a church building, where possible. It is also a joyous and celebratory occasion, most fully observed in the pageantry of the ceremony itself. In...
Holy Matrimony is marriage according to God’s Word. As in other liturgies, the service includes readings of Scripture and preaching as necessary and important elements. Sometimes clergy have omitted...
The engagement period is meant to help the couple know their own hearts. Sexual attraction and social pressure can sometimes fog over one’s eyes and better judgment. By the wedding day, it is time to...
The church does not publish a dating manual or a rite of Holy Courtship. However, it does begin to give instructions for the second stage of marriage – betrothal. Betrothal is a traditional word for...
Las Vegas USA is renowned for its quickie weddings: “You can get your licence and get married before breakfast,” they boast. Not surprisingly, Las Vegas also boasts quickie divorces. Some Christian...
The fourth or institutional purpose is for the upbuilding of his kingdom in family, church, and society, to the praise of his holy Name.
This purpose is not named in some Anglican Prayer Books, but...
The third purpose is to maintain purity, so that husbands and wives, with all the household of God, might serve as holy and undefiled members of the Body of Christ.
Just as the former purpose...
The second purpose mentioned in the service is the mutual joy of husband and wife and the help and comfort given one another in prosperity and adversity.
I have titled this purpose “marital love,”...
Marriage is purpose-driven, that is to say, driven by God’s design from the beginning. After the majestic words introducing the origins of marriage, there follows a statement of its “causes” or...
Almighty God established the bond and covenant of marriage in creation as a sign of the mystical union between Christ and his Church.
Is Holy Matrimony a Sacrament or a Contract, or perhaps something...
…Our Lord Jesus Christ adorned this manner of life by his presence and first miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and it is commended by Holy Scripture to be held in honor among all people.
In Genesis 1 and 2, we get a glimpse of the beauty and purity of marriage as intended by God “in the days of man’s innocency,” as the 1662 service puts it. As we move to Genesis 3, we see the man and...
We have gathered together in the presence of God to witness and bless the joining together of this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony.
In the story of creation in Genesis chapter 1, we learn of God...