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| A gift from Ani and Daniel |
Ani
and Daniel are married and I had the great honor of being their officiant. I
took it on as more than a simple honor and looked at it as a task that I was
called on by the Holy Spirit to complete. I consulted with my friend Webster
and found his definition a bit much for my simple pedigree; “one (as a priest)
that officiates at a religious rite”. However, with the Easter message fresh on
our minds I think that the power of His resurrection and the grace that Jesus
affords us, that for a few hours, the definition had some merit in this
instance.
The numeral three plays a big role throughout the Bible; three crosses, three days from
cross to resurrection, the Holy Trinity, and many more. I fooled around with
several terms for the title of this post – trifecta, triple, triad, threefold… Daniel is the third of our three children to
get married and increasing our family many times over with the new families all tied together. The
blessings are heaped up well beyond threefold and I cannot really do
justice to the abundance of joy our kids bring us.
I
led off my thoughts on love and marriage for Ani and Daniel with Ecclesiastes
4: 9 – 12; “9Two are better
than one, because they have a good return for their work; 10if one
falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no
one to help him up! 11Also, if two lie down together, they will keep
warm. But how can one keep warm alone? 12Though one may be
overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly
broken.” I followed the scripture with these words for them, “I believe
that you have found this to be true for the two of you and that is what brings
us to this place; to see you wound together with God’s blessing as husband and
wife – a three stranded cord.”
The short message was seasoned with several scriptures; what better way to see a
couple married than using a liberal dose of God’s word? After some personal
observations and notes for each of them I focused on improving our love by
practice and action and ending the thought with Philippians 1:9, “9And this is my prayer, that your
love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.”
I
believe this to be true for the both of them toward each other; Ani to Daniel
and Daniel to Ani – “4I have found the one that my soul loves.”
Song of Songs 3:4.
We
ended the message with a charge to the couple and the rest of the celebrants as
well that I pulled from Colossians and I’ll end this post with the charge to all of us as well:
Colossians
3: 12 – 15a, “12Therefore, as
God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other
and forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues
put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15aLet
the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.”
Amen
