Sermon 673+November 5, 2011

Twentieth Week after Pentecost
813th Week as Priest
639th Week at St Dunstan’s

The Marriage of Bailey Lewis and Blayne Rusinko

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

What I have to say today is really more about Blayne and Bailey than it is directed to them. I want to show them to you as an example, or even proof, of the goodness and love of God.

Anybody who comes to church at St Dunstan’s knows that I am constantly telling people that their life is of infinite importance to God, and sometimes I wonder if they believe it at all. But I keep trying.

I know it’s hard to see or accept from time to time that your individual life might be that important to Almighty God, the Lord of All Creation, the Ground of Being, and the Ultimate Lover of Souls—hard to believe that God would actually choose you—particularly if you don’t see yourself that way, or if you have experienced much sadness, or disappointment, in your life. Were you ever the kid they chose last on the playground? There’s a kickball game, and two captains choose sides. One by one they choose kids to be on their team. You remember how good it felt to be chosen early or even first? Remember how bad it felt to be chosen late, or even last?

Well, I am here today to tell you it is true: God chooses you. God loves you and me more than we can ask for or imagine. God loves us more than we desire or deserve. God loves us infinitely and ultimately. God chooses you. It’s an expression of love.

And this love is best shown in what are called “Sacraments,” that is, outward and visible signs of God’s inward and spiritual grace. The Sacraments of the Episcopal Church include Marriage—but there are six others—Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Ordination, Confession, and Unction. The only Sacrament I’m going to talk about right now is Marriage, but that, after all, is the reason why we are here.

Marriage is many things. It is a celebration and a blessing. Marriage is a covenant, an agreement, a bond between two people. Marriage is a recognition of the love and friendship that exist between people, but it is also a commitment. It is a promise and a pledge.

Marriage is practically a miracle these days—we all know how uncommon a lifelong, healthy, happy marriage really is. But such a marriage is not only real, and possible; it is much more likely than you might believe.

Marriage is sacred. It is blessed by God. Marriage is God’s best intention for us—not that all persons should be married, or that every marriage should last. However, marriage is clearly God’s best intention for Bailey and Blayne.

God’s love is not only shown in the sacraments, but also in people and their loving relationships. We have one of the best examples of such a lifelong, healthy, happy relationship in Bailey’s maternal grandparents, Wanda and Buck Marsh. Please understand: I choose them because I know them and love them and admire them very much. I have visited their home many times and I have eaten at their table. I have visited them when they were sick. We have known each other for years, and we have had many good conversations. I know Wanda and Buck, as I know Bailey and Blayne.

Wanda and Buck share a true companionship. Their marriage to each other not only provides strength and comfort to themselves, it is also a wonderful example to others—including Bailey and Blayne, but also the rest of us here today, myself included.

When times get tough, and we all know there will be tough times in any life, in any marriage, just think about Granny and Buck. Their love and support for you is a type of the love that God has for you. Infinite, extravagant, unmerited love. Endless forgiveness and limitless mercy. Boundless affection and unconditional positive regard. They hold up a mirror for the rest of us to see ourselves and what we can be. And they encourage us to live a life that is worthy of Christ. They choose you—even if you are already family, or if you are a new acquaintance. They choose you.

In case you haven’t already figured it out, the other part of God’s love for us is that God takes our lives, and what we do with them, seriously. That phrase,  living a life that is worthy of Christ, comes from the letters of St Paul …

“Lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God,” he says to the Colossians.

“Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ,” he tells the Philippians.

“Lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory,” he says to the Thessalonians.

 “I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called,” he tells the Ephesians.

Marriage lived well and long is a marriage of hearts, bodies, minds, and spirits. This kind of marriage is right and worthy and honorable.

Weddings are wonderful events. But beyond the flowers, and past the beautiful language and the music, the rings, the handsome young people gathered with their closest friends, the poems and prayers and promises—beyond and above all that there is a simple truth that Blayne and Bailey have chosen each other. “I choose you,” Bailey tells Blayne, and it means I choose you, and only you, out of seven billion people on this planet. “I choose you,” says Blayne, and it says that Bailey is the most important person in the world to her.
“I choose you,” they say, willingly and openly and vulnerably, and it means forever. “I choose you,” and it means everything, even life itself. “I choose you,” say Wanda and Buck. “I choose you,” says God, Ruler of the Universe. I choose you first. Amen.

 

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