When God created the cosmos, He did so freely, creating it from nothing. A central and foundational doctrine of the Christian faith is creatio ex nihilo, creation from nothing. Now obviously, the nothing in that expression is not a preexistent material. It is, quite literally, “no thing.” Because it was not anything, it could not …
Alex and Darcey
As we gather together for yet another glorious wedding ceremony, we are doing so in order to witness an oath. That is the centerpiece of what we are doing. That is why we are here. Now different cultures adorn the wedding oath differently, but the center of it is the same. Customs can vary from …
Jeffrey and Sarah
Everyone is in favor of kindness in the abstract. Everyone in the world applauds kindness . . . until it looks like it might cost them something. It is then that our commitment to “realistic” standards kicks in. “Surely I can’t be expected to . . .” Unfortunately our commitment to realistic standards is actually …
Boden and Shanna
As we have gathered today, gathering as witnesses for this happy occasion, we are marking the inauguration of Boden and Shanna’s voyage of discovery together. They have already discovered enough about one another that they want to take the voyage together, but once they have embarked, the real discoveries will start. It will be a …
Alec and Hannah
We are gathered at a wedding, and we have gathered in order to witness the vows being made. When these vows are exchanged, a new relationship in the world is established—the marital relationship between Alec and Hannah. But it would be false to say that a new kind of relationship has been established. A unique …
Philip and Naomi
Too often we speak of marriage as though the secret to a happy one is something uniquely marital. But marriage is a human estate, and is a relationship between two humans, a man and a woman. And as something that encompasses a vast number of humans in relationship, it also encompasses the range of things …
Micah and Kelsey
A wedding ceremony is an imaging ceremony. This is the case because a wedding is made a wedding by virtue of the fact that it consists of a man and a woman, coming together as man and wife. We are told in Scripture, in various ways that this is an imaging of God. The first …
Eric and Micaiah
One of the great scriptural principles in ethics is the one about not kidding yourself. This is particularly important for marriage, for reasons I hope to explain shortly. Here is Paul’s way of putting it: “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of …
Kane and Ashlynne
Marriage was established by God in an archetype. That is, He created the first man from the dust of the ground, and fashioned the first woman from the man’s rib, and did so in order that we would have a pattern to follow. The language manifesting this as a grand template in evident in the …
Josiah and Zoe
Marriage is one of the creation ordinances, and has been with us from the very beginning. We therefore ought not to be surprised to find a description of its origin in the book of beginnings, in the book of Genesis. What I would like to do here is to take a brief walking tour of …