Grace Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Our text today is the lesson read earlier from 1 Corinthians, especially verses 4-8, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away."
Dear Friends in Christ, Family and Friends, and especially Andrew and Darci.
After reading the text in preparation for today, I realized that I kept on walking around our house humming a song. After looking at the text, I am sure that you can guess the title, "All you need is love" by the Beatles. And it is no wonder, because our text today is all about love, and rightly so. Standing here, seeing your nervous smiles, and even just having gotten to know the two of you, one can easily see that you two are in love. Weddings are after all about love right? Love is the reason that you Andrew and you Darci are here today before God and this congregation to pledge love and faithfulness to one another. But the sinful world asks you a question, can you really make and keep this promise here today? Can you promise right here and now to be faithful and true to one another for a life time? Especially in this day and age, when marriage is not held in high esteem by the world, The world challenges the question from the Beatles song and instead says, "Is love really all you need?"
To answer this question we must examine where love really truly begins. We have to ask,
WHERE DOES LOVE COME FROM?
Often times we think of love as coming from within our own hearts. The dictionary defines Love as an outward expression of what I feel deep in my heart. When we think of Love we often think of Valentine's Day with its boxes of chocolate and pink candy hearts asking you to "be mine" and cupids shooting arrows. Love is that fluffy warm emotion we get when we think of that special person. We often think that the most important thing is that you Andrew feel (emphasis on feel) love for Darci, and that you Darci feel love for Andrew. That you feel some sort of attraction to one another.
Yes, I am certain that you feel that way now, but sadly, in this sinful world, you may not always feel this way. Sometimes you may get angry or frustrated at each other and it will seem like love is not present in your marriage. Sometimes you may not even want to be around one another. You may fight over little things, like what to have for supper, or big things, like how to handle money problems. You will eventually say things to hurt one another and know exactly what to do to push each other's buttons. Love may be the furthest thing from your mind as you struggle to make ends meet. Or maybe the stress of life and work will make that happy feeling of love difficult. These things and more will test and stretch and even at times break that fluffy feeling of love you have today. Their will be questions of how you will take little Andrew to Soccer practice and little Darci to Dance Lessons while still having time to say more than just good night to one another will be a difficult one. At times in your married life, you will feel tired, and worn out.
IN these lifelong struggles you may realize the truth, that if love is just a happy feeling that comes out from ourself, it will not be enough to stand the test of time. If love is just the emotion that you Andrew and Darci feel for one another today, it cannot maintain your marriage, because our own sinful natures will get in the way. You will want to selfishly look inward about what you want to do rather than what is best for you as a family. You will not be as our text says, Patient and kind, but instead may be arrogant or rude, and insisting on your own way. Love is difficult, and our own human love is sinful and incomplete.
But we know that there is another kind of love, One that can overcome all shortcomings within ourselves. Our text tells us that there is a love that really is patient and kind. A love that does not envy and does not boast. A love that is not arrogant or rude, one that does not insist upon its own way, but rejoices with truth. There is a love that bears all things, believes all things and endures all things. This love is Jesus Christ himself. He loves each of you so much that he was willing to suffer and die upon a cross for each of you. As Jesus says in the Gospel of John, Greater love has no one than this, that he give up his life for his friends. Andrew, Darci, This is the love Christ has for you. Christ first gave that love to each of you in the waters of Holy Baptism. He continued to nurture that love as you grew up hearing the word and began receiving the Lord's Supper. He will now continue you to give you that love together as you now as a married couple continue attending church to receive His sacraments and in them forgiveness, life and salvation.
The Love of Jesus is the love that can overcome all things, even the struggles with in your life as a married couple. And as Christ gives that love to you, it will overflow into each other, allowing you to forgive one another. The love of Christ will allow you to keep the vows you make here today, not because of anything you do, (or no matter how hard you try) but because of the love of Christ working with in you. Christ's love is the foundation for your life together. It is this love that will carry you through the hard times and the good times. It is this love that will overflow and be shared with any future children and grandchildren God provides. The love of Christ is the love that will sustain you.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. This is the love Jesus has for you, and as our text implies, the things we do here in life will pass away, but the Love of Jesus never ends. Andrew, Darci, there will be struggles in your lives, just as there have been in the past. Marriage will not be a magical formula that will change that. You may still become frustrated at one another, and still have arguments. Nevertheless, even through all trials in this life, Christ has and will love you. His love, not yours, is the foundation on which the two of you are here today, becoming one flesh. So Darci, when you are trying to get Andrew to take you dancing, and he says no, remember Christ loves him and has forgiven him all his sins. Andrew, when Darci shoots more pheasants than you on a hunting trip, remember Christ loves her as well. Each of you is forgiven first by Christ so that you can forgive one another in Christ's love for you. Upon this love everything that is important is built.
Love is the foundation for marriage, but this love is not our own mere emotion, but instead Love is Jesus Christ, crucified for your sins. Andrew and Darci, God will richly bless you and keep you in this love all the days of your married life. Amen.
