Saturday, 30 April 2011
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Thoughts on the Royal Wedding
Like most young ladies. I have that typical fascination with princesses. So, naturally, I found myself being sucked in to the hype of England's recent Royal Wedding- so much so that I did indeed set my alarm to get up way too early to watch several hours of the news coverage of this big event. However amidst the excitement about what Kate's dress would look like, which famous guests would make an appearance, and what color hat the Queen would wear I couldn't help but think about the sacred nature of this wedding and weddings in general.Marriage is a sacred thing and is not meant to be taken lightly. As someone who has never been married I cannot speak first hand about the difficulties of maintaining a marriage but I do know that the question "Will this marriage last?" crossed my mind; I truly hope that it does. I listened very intently to the words that were spoken during the ceremony, hoping that the fact that God needed to be the center of their marriage was made clear.
I noticed that one of the first men to speak was quite accurate in his theology when he mentioned that marriage reminds us of Christ's marriage to His Bride, the Church (the universal and invisible Body of Christ to be completely specific- not sure what words he specifically used). The more personal address given was a tad more modern, and inaccurate. Again, I don't remember the specific words used but he said that marriage is to help us bring out in one another who we truly are deep down inside. For the record, who we are deep down is not pretty- in the second half of Romans 7 we read that nothing good dwells in us, we are wretched.
I was pleasantly surprised that they sang congregational hymns during the ceremony. While I do not know the exact content of the hymns I prayed that the truths within 'Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer' and 'Love Divine All Love Excelling' would speak to those singing the words. And of course the reading from the Bible: Romans 12. You really can't go wrong with scripture- unless its a really wonky translation but I think the one Kate's brother read was pretty standard.
Perhaps it seems silly of me to dissect the Royal Wedding in this manner but I'm curious, did anyone else notice these aspects of the ceremony? What did you think?
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About the Author
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- From: jessicasutopia@xanga
- About Me: I'm Jessica. My best friend, master, and savior is Jesus Christ (Son of God). In addition, I love literature, am fascinated by science, and deeply care about my family. I am an introvert (for the most part) and enjoy planning things when necessary. I hope to some day be a writing Librarian. Being an author has always been my dream and hopefully Librarianship will be a practical way to encourage and sustain my hobby of writing. Above all I seek to glorify God with my life. Its a learning and growing process but through the work of the Holy Spirit in me, the encouragement of those who surround me, and the continued study of God's ways I can excitedly KNOW and TRUST that my sanctification will continue until the return of Jesus!
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Comments (11)
Didn't watch the wedding, though I hope that the newly weds realize the extent of the covenant they just made not only with one another, but with God as well...
Pray for them, and all married couples!!
@Ancient_Scribe@xanga - thanks for reading. If you want here's a link to the message given by the bishop of London- don't be fooled by the title of this video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1vh-zWt9h8.
And here's a link to the guy who actually presided the wedding, archbishop of Canterbury. He seems to have a little more Biblical accuracy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT8QrwYqjvw.
I thought the wedding was lovely, and I do think marriage can bring out good things in us. We have a sin nature, definitely, but we also have gifts and talents given to us by God that we can't always recognize in ourselves, but that someone who loves us selflessly can help us to develop. There's a difference between our sin nature and who God created us to be. I believe a godly spouse can help us to become who we were created to be, the person in us that we don't show to many people.
Quote from the sermon: He said that marriage is meant for "man and woman to help each other to become what God meant each one to be, their deepest and their truest selves." I agree with that--our true selves, as God intended us to be before the fall. We have a sin nature, definitely, but we are also made in God's image, and that image is not gone, even in a world of sin
In the same sermon, the Bishop also strongly addressed the need for selflessness in marriage, which I believe is a crucial and excellent point, and he explicitly stated that a married couple needs the Holy Spirit because their partner cannot be God for them.
I was surprised by the orthodoxy of all the spoken portions of the wedding, and I pray that William and Kate will embrace Christ and truly make Him the Lord of their marriage.
i think that God only needs to be the center of a marriage if you're already assuming He does. marriage existed for thousands of years before Christianity came along, and i highly doubt every single one failed. unfortunately, i might have to have a Christian wedding just to get my family to pay for it.
i am so happy for you both my you live happley for ever and yes i do stand up to you i was born and raise in canada. love you both
The religious parts brought tears to my eyes!
@Pickwick12@xanga - I agree that "marriage can bring out good things in us." When it comes to bringing out our gifts and talents, yes. But I do not agree that who we are deep down is who God wants us to be because deep down we are sinful (I know this first hand because, well, I am a human being and I know that deep down I'm pretty disgusting). While I cannot deny that Adam and Eve were made in the image of God I must argue that A LOT changed after the fall (when Adam and Eve first disobeyed God). The image of God is still in us, it's not "gone" but its not complete. The human race became a mere distortion of what was once perfect. From what I gather from scripture I would suggest that we cannot be who God created us to be until we -if we've accepted Christ's sacrifice- reach heaven.
Other than that I also agree that selflessness in marriage is important. But we mustn't forget that Will and Kate (erm... William and Catherine) as well as each and every one of us can't do it on our own. Humans fail. But with the power of God in us, with the Holy Spirit living in us, He works to make us more and more like him (that's called sanctification). We cannot be perfect here on this earth- that's how awfully sinful we are- but we can overcome individual sins that we struggle with if we work in unison with the Holy Spirit to combat our sin struggles. It is only through Christ's blood and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Thanks for your thoughts though! I really appreciate that you took the time to read my post. I hope that it got you thinking.
@jessicasutopia@xanga - You know, I think we pretty much agree :) Thanks for the post and thanks for the comment. You definitely got me thinking.
@too_pretty_to_die@xanga - You are correct, marriage existed for thousand of years before Christianity came along. BUT marriage did not exist before God came along- you know, Him being eternal and what-not.
And I guess personal definitions would highly affect how you'd determine whether or not a marriage is a success or a failure.
@mkmm87@xanga - me, too... but I'm thinking its for very different reasons... but thanks for sharing!
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