Fifth Sunday of Easter — Revelation 21:1-5; John 13:31-35
Behold, Jesus says, “I make all things new.”
Last weekend I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan for a conference, and on Saturday I was able to go downtown to the Cathedral, the Cathedral of Saint Andrew.
And I stumbled into a wedding: a handsome young Hispanic man, and a lovely young Hispanic woman, standing at the altar beneath the high, vaulted ceilings. The wedding was in Spanish, so I couldn’t understand what was being said, but to me there seemed to be something really beautiful and dignified about it, especially at the end, when the people gathered on the steps outside and waited for the bride and groom to come through the doors.
Marriage is a sacrament, as truly as ordination is a sacrament, which is to say that Christ is truly present in the love between a man and a woman, on their wedding day and every day.
And when they did, walking slowly down the steps, beaming, the woman in her flowing white dress with her flowing white veil, the crowd slowly parted for her, almost reverently, and then the people lined up to embrace her, one by one, as if they were receiving a blessing.
As they were. It was very like the tradition of people coming up for a blessing from a newly ordained priest. And that makes sense. That’s right. Marriage is a sacrament, as truly as ordination is a sacrament, which is to say that Christ is truly present in the love between a man and a woman, on their wedding day and every day.