Wedding Homily

You’re not here for the sermon. You are here for Richard and Elizabeth, to do all in your power to uphold them in their marriage. Richard and Elizabeth are here, in this holy and sacred space dedicated to God, because they recognize that the source of their love, of all our loves, is the one and only God whose love “is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned.”

That love is God’s greatest gift to those whom God made in God’s image: “And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.”

There are many other things that often seem to be valued more highly in this world, but they all seem to boil down to power. There is the power to use words to one’s advantage. That’s what Paul is referring to at the beginning of the 13th chapter of his Letter to Church in Corinth when he talks about prophecy and knowledge without love. The blessings that Jesus says his disciples already have are the opposite of power: the power to buy whatever or whoever you want, the power to make others mourn, the power to shut others up, the power that is unbound by any responsibility to others, the power to punish others, the power to impose your will on others.

In truth, we are not here just for Richard and Elizabeth. We are here to testify to the power of love, for love is of God, indeed, God is love (1 John 4:7-8). That is what God’s Son, Jesus Christ, revealed about God when he became as human as we are, and endured the cross to reconcile us to his Father and to each other. For only love can reconcile justice and mercy in this broken world. The power of love is the power to endure, and nothing is more powerful than endurance.

When the flowers appear on the earth and the time of singing has come, when their joys are bursting out as they are on October 18th in the year of our Lord 2025, they will remember that the source of their love is God. When the powers of death threaten, they will remember that God has set his seal of love upon their hearts and upon their arms. This Love will help them be to the other a strength in need, a counselor in perplexity, a comfort in sorrow, and a companion in joy. And this Love will make their one body a sign of Love in this broken world.

You didn’t come for a sermon. But hopefully these few words will remind Richard and Elizabeth each year on October 18th, and remind us all, that we didn’t come here just for them. We came for Love, which is God.

My beloved speaks and says to me: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly scorned.

If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “

October 18th, 2025,

Marriage of Richard Hahn and Elizabeth Tippett

The Rev. David Kendrick