Rockin'—a Short Wedding Sermon with Reference to Mt 7:24-27 and Songbirds: for Jay and Shanda Burbine

This is good. Its good to see Jay and Shanda being married. It's good to be able to be a part of it. It's good to hear that reading from Matthew at a wedding. First time for me. Good choice Jay and Shanda, you’re giving all of us the gift of a fresh insight into wise Christian marriage building from Jesus himself.

Why does that matter? Jesus loves you and wants the very best for you and all of us. And Jesus likes weddings—his first miracle was to turn one hundred and fifty or so gallons for water into really good wine so people could have a good time at one.

Remember what the reading said? Let’s get it clear in our minds. Wise-rock. House does not fall. Foolish-sand. What a terrible fall that was! Repeat after me.

So let’s rock.

How do you build a house, a marriage, a life, on a rock? First, obey Jesus, love one another.

The song we heard as Shanda came in was Songbirds from classic rockers Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks. If we'd heard a bit more of it, we'd have heard this:

And I love you, I love you, I love you, like never before.

A love song. Deeply felt. Romantic. That kind of love is wonderful and is what brought you together. It sizzles and leaves you breathless. But if your love never gets beyond that, your marriage will be resting on the sand Jesus talks about. It may be warm and comfortable and great to wiggle your toes in to begin with, but sooner or later there will be rain, just as Jesus says, and with rain will come rising rivers of irritation and misunderstanding. Winds of time passing, of change and disappointment will blow hard against your marriage. The sand will shift, be washed and blown away, it’ll get in your eyes, up your nose and into your clothing in the most uncomfortable places.

If you want to build your marriage on a rock, add the kind of love we heard about in the first reading from 1 Corinthians 13; it's powerful, the kind of love with which God so loves the world, which Jesus uniquely demonstrated and personifies; the love with which you comfort, honour and protect each other in Christian marriage by being patient, kind, truthful, faithful, hopeful and never giving up on one another.

And, finally, you know who the Rock is. Jesus, the Rock from whom everything in all creation rolled, rolls and will ever roll. The Rock which rolls our blues away, as I’ve heard Jay sing. Jesus is the Rock upon whom wise couples like Shanda and Jay can build lives and strong Christian marriages which will never fall.

Let’s review. Repeat after me. Wise-rock-Jesus. House does not fall.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad :-)