Thursday, February 24, 2022                                    (today’s lectionary)
For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health
Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another.
For one week each month I drive back and forth from our home and office in Urbana, Illinois for counseling, time with our son Marc, and fellowshop with friends. Until Mom passed away in November, I also spent time with her. Now I take that same time in Lincoln to contribute at least a bit to the process of closing her house and 99 years of life on earth.
Margaret said to friends the other day, “This is the way to keep a good marriage: spend time apart for a week each month. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” And also, we do less complaining.
We call blessed those who have persevered. You have seen the purpose of the Lord, who is compassionate and merciful.
Marriages don’t all last a lifetime. So far ours is doing pretty well; August 19 will mark our 43rd anniversary. Margaret made it through three pregnancies, and we not only love but also get along with those kiddos now, as they move toward and through their forties. Our four grandkids are the apples in our eyes. This just happens to be our oldest grandson’s birthday; Jack is 13 today.
Let your “yes” mean “yes,” and your “no” mean “no.”
Until March 2020 I performed several weddings in January and June at Danville Correctional Center. The wedding vows are strong and straightforward. The wedding insists that the couple say YES to each other, and to God.
Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her so long as you both shall live? If so, answer YES!
And then …
Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him so long as you both shall live? If so, answer YES!
Mankind has broken its covenants with God over and over. And of course we break ours with each other. Why … well, I think it’s because we don’t take our words as seriously as we do our personal lines of profit and loss, our own selfish skins, and what seems right now to be best for us. Even someone we have parented children with together doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Oh such fools we mortals be!
Your word, O Lord, is truth.
Jesus didn’t spare the Pharisees when he answered their questions about marriage and divorce. He simply quoted the Torah:
They are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate. So whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.
Toward the end of the services in Danville Correctional Center, the couple exchanges rings.
I give this ring as a symbol of my vow. And with all that I am and all that I have, I honor you.
All that I am.
All that I have.
I honor you.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(James 5, Psalm 49, 1 Thessalonians 2, Mark 9)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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