In these present times there seems to be a great deal of confusion about the purpose that marriage has in the life of two people and for society.  . . . The prevalent opinion seems to be that the purpose of marriage is to have an advantage over single persons when it comes time to file income tax returns; . . . and that marriage provides certain cash savings when buying health insurance or receiving its services as an employment benefit; . . . and that marriage endows individuals with certain legal rights when it comes to property and civil entitlements.  . . . In these present times there seems to be a great deal of confusion over the purpose of marriage.  . . . And so, I want to be clear about what it is we are doing here today.  . . . Marriage, first of all, as The Book of Common Prayer says, “marriage was established by God in creation.”  . . . Marriage was established by God before there were income taxes (or governments to levy them); . . . before there was health insurance; . . . before there were entitlement programs for the elderly and the lazy.  “Marriage was established by God in creation,” . . . and to remind us of this reality, we have heard the Will of the Lord God Almighty as it is preserved for us in the first Book of the Bible, . . . in the Book of Genesis.

    At the crescendo of Creation . . . the Lord God Almighty decided that He must crown and complete His efforts by making a creature who would represent to Creation the sacred regard and tenderness and love which God has for all that had come into existence by His Word.  . . . And so, the Lord God Almighty said,

Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

And when the Lord God Almighty made a creature after His likeness to represent His Nature to Creation . . . He made a double creature:  “male and female He created them,” Genesis tells us.  In other words, no one of us adequately represents the regard and tenderness and love which God has for Creation; . . . only two of us can do that, . . . and one must be a man . . . and one must be a woman.  . . . The Lord God Almighty blesses such a union, Genesis tells us; . . . the Lord God Almighty blesses the union of a man and a woman with a Will that we “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.”  . . . That is to say, . . . it is the Will of the Lord God Almighty that the Cosmos not overwhelm us, . . . but that humanity become a family.  . . . It is the Will of the Lord God Almighty that humanity become a multitude of families, . . . each managing their own portion of Creation . . . by communicating God’s regard and tenderness and love.

    Now, there are many, many more things that Holy Scripture has to say about the nature of our humanity.  But for our purposes today, . . . it is enough to understand that the Lord God Almighty created this woman and this man in His Image to be a family and to represent His sacred regard and tenderness and love to all that He has willed to be.

    Of course, in these present times there seems to be a great deal of confusion about the nature of a family.  . . . And so, in the fullness of time the Lord God Almighty caused His creative Word to be incarnate of the Virgin Mary and be given the Name of Jesus.  In the fullness of time the Lord God Almighty willed His creative Word to be clothed in our humanity in order to show us just what it means and how it looks to be created in God’s Image and Likeness.  . . . And so, today we read what an Apostle of Jesus has to say about what he has learned from Jesus about the nature of a family as God intends it to be.

    And the first thing that the Apostle exhorts us to do is “walk in love.”  Not just any kind of love, mind you; . . . not a sentimental sort of love that revels in all the cute things about the other person that evoke cuddly feelings, . . . nor a carnal love that revels in all the sensual things about the other person which arouse sexual desire.  . . . When the Apostle writes “walk in love,” he defines it as being the love that Jesus has for us:  a sacrificial love; . . . a willingness to surrender to God whatever is needful for the sake of the other’s safety; . . . for the sake of the other person’s well-being . . . and happiness; a love symbolized by the ring which this woman and this man shall give to one another, vowing that “with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  . . . But there is more, . . . because the love which the Apostle exhorts us to walk in is a love that involves not only surrendering ourselves and our willfulness to God, but it is a love in which we are subject to one another.  “Wives be subject to your husbands,” the Apostle writes.  By which he means not that wives should allow themselves to be bullied by their husbands, . . . but that wives be patient.  Wives must be patient because men tackle problems differently from women.  Men tackle problems head-on, and must be allowed a certain amount of roaring and beating of their chest before they can settle down and think about the situation.  . . . And it is good for wives to honor God for designing husbands in this way by not interfering.  Because once all the chest pounding is done, the husband is now in a position to be subject to his wife.  You see, Gentlemen, there is a reason that Holy Scripture portrays God’s Wisdom as a woman.  And husbands must love the wisdom of their wives, the Apostle tells us:  “Husbands, love your wives.”  Treat them with honor and with reverence, because wives are the source of the Wisdom that God intends husbands to profit from.  And so, “He who loves his wife loves himself,” the Apostle writes, . . . because it is God’s Will in making our humanity male and female; . . . it is God’s will that “the two become one flesh.”

    But a husband and wife do not become one flesh by marriage; . . . what we say and do today will not make you one flesh; . . . rituals don’t make it so; . . . neither do promises and vows; . . . God doesn’t even make it so . . . against your will.  . . . The thing that empowers a husband and wife to walk in love; . . . the thing that shall help you become subject to one another; . . . that helps you become a sacred family; . . . the thing that shall make you a blessing to one another is by living the blessing the Lord God Almighty gives you today.  . . . Jesus Himself describes it.  You must be poor in spirit, Jesus says; . . . you must not be full of yourself and your needs, but mindful of your need for God.  In this way (because you are not drawing on your own strength, but God’s strength) . . . in this way you can be a comfort to one another when sorrow visits your door; . . . you can be meek and not bully one another; . . . knowing your need for God, you can treat one another (and your friends and your neighbors) with justice . . . and with mercy.  Remembering your need for God and for God’s blessing will cause you to desire purity over the low and sordid ways of thinking and speaking and behaving that are common in our culture.  . . . Remembering your need for God and desiring God’s blessing will cause you to be at peace with one another, . . . and when there is discord between you, to reconcile the hurt by means of meekness and justice and mercy.  . . . And finally, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.”  Blessed shall you be, David and Jody, when your unity as a sacred family is more important to you than the pressures of financial success or the pressures of personal achievement or the pressure to conform yourselves to the disordered affections of your peers.  . . . Blessed shall you be when you can retain your unity even under pressure.

    That is the purpose of the sacramental Rite of Holy Matrimony, you see.  It is not to receive the supposed blessings of governmental or social institutions; . . . nor is it to achieve the favors of civil law.  The purpose of the sacramental Rite of Holy Matrimony is to establish a pattern whereby you might return to God’s Altar and kneel before your Maker week by week, and renew the vows you make to one another today . . . and renew your willingness to live God’s blessing . . . so that you might become a sacred family, living with tenderness and regard and love for Creation . . . which arises out of the sacred tenderness and regard and love you have for one another; . . . so that you might become one flesh; . . . so that you might remain a unity even under pressure; . . . so that you might faithfully live together in this life . . . and in the age to come have life everlasting.