Something old and something new

The wedding I attended last weekend was gracious blend of old and new. The passage in Eph. 5 was seamlessly transformed into a classic yet evenly balanced homily. The preacher first read from Eph. 5:25, then proceeded to read from two further passages. He read,

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife, and she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you,

Through these simple, biblical texts traditional values were woven into a wedding sermon, suitable for a couple in their seventies, entering into a marriage of mutual support and friendship.

Sometimes it is hard for me to remember that I was not raised in the crazyland of the submission of women. I was raised in a perfectly normal family, in a rather oddly fundamentalist group. This sermon was given by someone from the "old meeting" living with the hand-me-down mores of the 1840's. The ceremony was officiated by Noel Churchman who used to copastor Emmanuel church with Grace Irwin. It was a family affair. My elderly father was also there reminding us that some men do not wish to outlive their wives.