Of all the
experiences you will have of your wedding day, the one that you will remember
most will be your wedding ceremony. Therefore, your wedding ceremony
should be an expression of the sacred reality of your love --- the tender
precious love that exist between you and your spouse-to-be ... whether you are
Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or any other faith, or no particular faith at all.
God has
blessed the both of you with the gift of love, and that gift overrides
everything else.....even in you are of different faiths, having been married
before, or never being married but have children, or any other particular
circumstances in your life.
Often the
rules of different religious faiths and beliefs get in the way of the true
spirit and essence of faith. Today, just like yesteryear, there is often a
conflict in defining the differences between spirituality (many people,
especially the younger crowd, feel spiritual) and religion (structured religion
can be a turn off because of its organization and rituals.) Yet, the
spiritual belief of most religions today are very similar and the areas of
disagreement are relatively minor, but people will always disagree about
something anyway.
Most
everyone believes that divine love is the essence of God, or to some the
Goddess, and that God's primary command is for us to become better people, to
become more understanding, more loving, more compassionate, more caring, and
that we become more loving through our relationships with other people.
Most of your
wedding ceremony can be built around those universal beliefs. God lives
within all His people ... Christians and those who are not Christians and divinity
is well within all of us, and we are within divinity. See, God loves every
person both totally, completely and unequivocally. Christians believe that
love is paramount, that if "God is Love," then all those
"In Love" are in God. That specific reality overrides a
religious rule. But don't worry, if you feel more spiritual than religious
because God lives in all of us 24 hours a day and that will never change.
God's word does not deviate.
Therefore,
when the atmosphere and words of your wedding ceremony reflect the love that is
in your heart, it will become the building blocks of your new life together.
Life itself
is the continuing and spiritual quest for becoming a more loving person;
marriage is the choosing of life partner, a soul mate, a unique and trusting
partner with whom you can best make your journey to greater love, happiness,
successful and more beautiful every day.
Marriage is
the magnificent continuing passage into greater love; it is not merely a
destination itself. A wedding ceremony that builds on the values of your
past, yet looks to the future ... will speak eloquently to both of you
throughout your lifetime together as "Husband and Wife," "Wife
and Wife," "Husband and Husband," Spirituality is
what counts! Religion can certainly be a precious gift to one's life, but
it is not a necessity.
Worcester,
MA