One of the great things about being a minister is that you get to do weddings. I love that part of the job. This weekend, I was able to officiate the wedding of my two best friends. How cool is that? It was so great to see two people who love Jesus and each other be married. It was truly a joyful experience.
Anyway, the experience made me think about my other weddings and all the fun stuff that came with them. The thing that really gets me is that we have turned weddings in our culture into something other than what they should be. Meaning, weddings have become all about show, rather than focusing on what is going on. Don't believe me? Look around. Weddings have become big business from the tuxes, to caterers and for crying out loud, even the churches. A wedding has become a staged performance rather than what is should be; two people coming together before God in a worship service.
Because, that is what a wedding really is. It is a worship service to the God of creation who made marriage and the two people coming together worship Him for that amazing gift. It is not a performance. It is not a race to see who can spend the most money on stuff that will not last past the wedding day. It is a time for God to be worshiped by the marriage of two people and for all those people who come to celebrate what that couple is doing.
And because of that, the minister is in charge of the ceremony. Now, this part maybe totally ego. And I have nothing against wedding coordinators. I think they do a great job in helping with the logistics and positioning of people in the ceremony. I love having them there for that.
What irritates me is when the coordinator tries to take over the ceremony. The coordinator I worked with this weekend was great and she did a great job. However, I have worked with some in the past who thought they were completely in charge and had a right to interfere with the ceremony. Not happening.
Anyway, it just made me wonder, my friends wedding was all about God and Christ being the center of marriage. I wonder if in our rush to make the wedding all about the couple (and in fact all about the bride) that we doom some marriages from the start. Because, we teach couples that marriage is all about serving their needs, even in a Christian marriage. Guess what? It isn't.
Maybe ministers are more to blame for the Christian divorce rate then we like to admit.
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