Thoughts at the Marriage of Christian Friends

Thoughts at the Marriage of Christian Friends
(A part of the Service)

Our community is like a woven carpet
Formed from the warp of God’s law
Interwoven with the multicoloured weft
Spun from the fibres of our lives
And all the intermingled, continuous patterns
Are but two dimensional views of our Lord’s design.

Let us now rejoice that a new pattern is begun
Begun in previous patterns and itself
The beginning of patterns still to be woven
And the continuing theme remains love
For God is love and we are created in His image.

Love is the greatest of all the gifts of God
Although everything great has its dangers
And the enemy of God has chosen this gift as his especial target
For by damaging the bonds within the fabric
Our community is weakened and the Creator’s design is marred
So beware of false pride which leads us to impose
Our own presumptuous patterning upon the weave

Trust instead in God’s leading and follow Jesus’ command
To love your neighbour as yourself
And as we strengthen others with our love
So shall we be strengthened by God’s love
For love is more than just a colour within the carpet
Love is the luminescence which quickens and fills
All the fibres with glorious sparkling life

We are now at this beginning with love
Love surrounds us, love is within us, and love is before us
For God’s love is always with us
As is that Brotherly, Motherly, Sisterly, Fatherly love
We each have for each other
And we are witnessing a declaration
Of that love which is the bond between a man and a woman.

JEMcL Jan 1977