a sermon for brett & audra

from first corinthians 13

Today we are all here to witness Brett and Audra declare their love and fidelity to one another. We are here to celebrate their wedding with them. The wedding…

And I must admit, when we first began discussing this wedding I was taking at how chill and relaxed Brett and Audra have been about the whole thing. In fact, when I asked what the reading would be Brett said; First Corinthians 13 should be fine. “Should be fine?!?!”

Where were the exaggerated emotions, I wondered?

Where was the bridezillah?!?

But laid back they were. So, along we went, cool and calm. Then yesterday I received an email from Brett with some details for the wedding. In that email he apologized that he hadn’t sent the email earlier and added, “There has been a lot on our minds.”

There has been a lot on the two of your minds, huh?

I imagine there have been a few stressers pulling this thing off…

Yet; here we are, and the whole thing has been going swimmingly, if I do say so myself.

Through all of this; through the challenges of graduating, attending graduate school, moving, searching for jobs, living into new roles as fiancés and soon husband and wife, and planning this wedding; here you are.

Here you Audra;

here you are Brett…

In many ways, this ceremony is a celebration of that. Through all of it, here you are. Through everything, love has been. Love, that is what has gotten the two of you here, and it is what brings us all here today.

Pretty simple, huh? Through it all, through moving and planning, it’s just been love. Well love and sunshine and roses, huh? There’s been nothing else as you’ve planned this wedding, as you’ve moved, graduated, and became fiancés to one another…

Perhaps that is a little too simple?

I am sure, Brett and Audra, that you know and have experienced in meaningful ways the depth of trial that love can endure and sustain. Love beyond roses and sunshine. Yes, I am sure that as the two of you have gone through everything that has brought you here today you have learned how dynamic and multidimensional love is.

I am sure that you’ve been patient and kind to one another, humble and consider to the other. Yes, you two have experienced all that love can be. As Paul says, you have seen that love is, and that love never ends.

And in the spirit of that, I would like to give the two of you a wedding gift. Here, Brett. Here, Audra.

For those of you who might not be able to see, these are gobstoppers. Not just any gobstoppers, either. They are everlasting gobstoppers. They too, like love, never end. At least that is what the name implies…

I thought maybe the two of you could save one of these candies and have it next year with your wedding cake… Or, if that is just a little too gross for you, I’ve got some other ways you could use them.

For instance, next time you are finding it hard to be patient; rather than biting your tongue you can enjoy one of these gobstoppers. Or, when you notice that one of you is having a little trouble being humble, when you can tell the other is tempted to say those treacherous four words, “I told you so,” you can give them a gobstopper instead.

See, that’s the rub today isn’t it? There are times when it is hard to be patient, or times when it is hard to be humble. In other words, there are times when it is hard to love. Brett and Audra, that two of you have been in love for a long time and through a lot; I am sure you also know these challenges very deeply.

I am sure that there have been times when you have wondered, how on earth can I be any more patient. And, I am sure there have been times you have been simply in awe by how humble and considerate the other can be.

Yes, there have been times, and there will be times, when you have wondered, how can this be?

Yet, through it all, love has been. That is what we are celebrating, that love is. And, we are also celebrating that love never ends, in other words, that love will be.

Perhaps all this talk of love, on a day like this may seem redundant. Today, as Audra looks so beautiful in her gown, and Brett so handsome in his suit. Possibly this affirmation of Love’s tenacity seems redundant.

Brett and Audra, you know better, though, don’t you?

You know that love is more than simply handsome and beautiful. You know, deeply I suspect, that love is also patient and humble and kind and considerate.

You know that love is, and that is why you have asked us to join you today. You know, and have lived though, those times when it has seen like nothing could hold your future together, yet love did.

Today you enter more deeply into that mystery. The mystery that in a life full of stresses; of finding the perfect gown, finding jobs, finding how to honor one another as your husband, as your wife, in the midst of all that, you live into the mystery that love is.

Audra, love will never end.

Love will never end, Brett.

Amen.