Weddings

Weddings have been really strange this year, haven’t they. I’m going to a wedding on Saturday in London, and yesterday we heard that London is moving to tier 3 Covid restrictions, and so there won’t be a reception. It was bad enough only having 15 guests there and nobody being able to sing during the service, and having to social distance all the time – but now it’s even worse.

And the groom called me, just after the new tiers had been announced, and I asked him how he was doing. And he said “Yeah, I’m fine really. We’re going to get married – that’s the important thing. And I’m really excited.”

See a wedding is great fun because it’s a party, and you get to see all your friends, and eat lots of cake, but really, it’s about two people who love each other making promises and starting a life together. That’s what marriage is all about, and so we can be thankful this year, that even though weddings are weird, marriage doesn’t change

And it makes sense that we’re excited by weddings, because the Bible tells us that all history is working towards a wedding. Not a wedding of two people, but a wedding of Jesus Christ and His church. Not quite like a wedding the way we imagine it, all Christians aren’t going to try and fit into a big wedding dress, but it’s a symbol of the closeness of the relationship that Jesus has with all believers.

It says in the last book of the Bible, that at this wedding at the end of history, a great multitude of people will shout “Hallelujah, for our Lord God almighty reigns, let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory, for the wedding of the lamb [that’s a name used to describe Jesus] has come”. Those words have been made famous in the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. But the hallelujah, the rejoicing comes at this great wedding.

So next time you’re at a wedding, remember what it’s all about, 2 people who love each other and want to be in a committed relationship. And remember too that that is how committed Jesus is to loving each one of us.

Matt Gurtler

https://christchurchhuntingdon.co.uk/Groups/312371/Other_Talks.aspx?show_media=265464&show_file=285843