(Another) Royal Wedding comment
Michael Bruce Curry started his message with a reading from Song of Solomon 8:6-7. 6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised. That was the only time he referred to it as he never mentioned it again. He spoke with passion. He spoke truth! He spoke of love that could change everything. He mentioned God as being the source of love. He proclaimed that Jesus dying on the cross for us was the ultimate act of love. But unfortunately, he never mentioned why it was the ultimate act of love. He never mentioned why Jesus had to die, why Jesus chose to die for us. It is my hope that God has sown seeds that would lead to the advancement of His kingdom but I’m still left with a sense of disappointment that my brother in Christ did not fully grasp this opportunity to preach the full gospel.
What was missing? Sin. The whole institution of marriage, the real royal marriage that is to take place between Christ and His bride, started because of the brokenness of the world. So many times marriages fail, struggle, buckle and find it difficult to continue because nobody mentioned that both the bride and the groom are utterly broken, life-sucking, selfish, proud sinners.
What was the message I heard? Bishop Curry mentioned that we are children of God, made with the power of love that can change the world and rid of poverty, war, and all the brokenness and injustices that we see. Love was in your hands, as a bomb is in your house. You are in control of how and when you use it. Even more disheartening was that my brother in Christ spoke of Jesus as just an example to follow. Jesus was not the source and the means of this love that he spoke of. The message of God that had been repeatedly spoken of by the prophets of old has always been and still is, repent and believe. Repent before God and believe in God, for you and I cannot live without being in God. None of that was mentioned when Prince Harry and Meghan needed to hear it most as they embarked on this tough and fulfilling road that is marriage.
Our own marriage has been full of repentance before one another, before God, daily needing to depend on God that He would change, humble, and sanctify our hearts that we would be shaped continually into the image of His Son. It was and still is the foundation to how we sleep together, eat together, serve the community together. May the Lord, our King Jesus continue to speak to the two happily married royal couple. May God be faithful in sanctifying them for the glory of His name.
