CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE: "CALLED TO LIFE IN ALL ITS FULLNESS"

 

"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,* but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7t bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.""

1Corinthians 13:1-8a

  At Grace-St.Andrew's we celebrate Christian Marriage (or Covenant) as a place in which two people may find lifelong freedom and joy. We are available to those wishing to begin their marriage with a Christian service of praise and covenant. A covenant is an agreement between two people in the presence of God and the community. It acknowledges the beauty of the love relationship and holds that relationship in the light of God's love for us: the kind of love that Paul speaks of in the passage from 1 Corinthians 13. It's important to know however that Paul is speaking of God's love in this passage. Human love has it's limits. God's love has none. IF your relationship is struggling both ministers would be pleased to meet with you to provide a safe, confidential place for you to begin to explore the changes necessary to bring renewed life and hope to your lives.

When relationship struggles: 

It's important to remember that this passage speaks of God's perfect love for us. Marriage vows are serious and meaningful but humans are fragile and the things that have hurt us sometimes cause us to lash out at those whom we try hardest to love. Sometimes we hurt one another. Sometimes we hurt ourselves by always putting the other person's needs ahead of our own. Sometimes the damage we do puts another person at risk. When these things happen in a marriage, the relationship ceases to create new life and freedom for its partners, but rather limits and damages them. Human love is never intended to "bear or endure" abusive behaviours. There are necessary limits to human love. In fact the most loving thing to do for both parties is to say: "no" to abusive, damaging behaviour. While abusive behaviour exists a relationship cannot flourish and grow as God intended. God's love for us never ends... no matter what. But our love for one another has natural, healthy and necessary limits. bout partnership not ownership. There are many resources to help couples find healthier forms of relating to one another. Sometimes dispite doing "the best we can do" at loving we reach a point at which it is necessary to follow different