I
am often asked by [my college] students if I will perform their wedding
ceremonies…
There
are those who say, "We are the ones getting married. We should have the kind of ceremony that is
meaningful to us." I always respond
by saying that such a perspective shows far too limited an understanding of
what weddings are all about. While it is
true that the couple in the front of the church is being married, it should be
understood that, if the ceremony is properly constructed, those in the pews may
go through a symbolic process of being remarried
at the same time. When we attend
weddings in which we hear repeated the same words that we ourselves uttered
when we were married, we experience a sense of marital renewal.
Whenever I hear a young man saying the same words that I
myself said almost forty years ago, I seem to go through that same ceremony of
commitment once again. When he says,
"I, John, take thee, Mary, to be my lawful wedded wife; and I do promise
and covenant, before God and these witnesses, to be thy loving and faithful
husband ... ," I can hear myself saying, "I, Tony, take thee, Peggy,
to be my lawful wedded wife; and I do promise and covenant ... " It all comes back to me in the ritual. The past is renewed. I feel again what I felt on my wedding
day. I sense the commitment I made on
that day, and my marriage is renewed.
-- Tony Campolo in Following Jesus Without
Embarrassing God
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