By God’s grace and mercy, we will be celebrating the marriage of Andrew Hudson and Katrina Smith this Sunday afternoon.

Marriage in the Orthodox Church is a sacrament (mystery), and like all the sacraments in the Church, it is an act. Something good is offered to God, and the Lord acts to transform its goodness, so that it reveals something eternally good – something divine. It is a work of the Lord, who seeks to reconcile humanity, His “image” and ‘likeness” in Himself, with the unity and concord that humanity had with Him in the beginning.

It is good when a man and woman love each other, and promise to be with each other forever. Yet when that love for each other is offered sacramentally, it is transformed, manifesting that very same divine love that was intended for humanity from the very beginning. 

This is so beautifully expressed in the Orthodox sacrament of marriage. For the Lord acts to reconcile our estranged nature and our finite and fickle relationships, by sharing himself – mystically, with men and women in the sacrament of marriage, in a unity and communion of love, that offers an intimacy and closeness that is nothing less than the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit!

Indeed this unity is the context for Adam’s astonished exclamation “this is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh”  when he is presented with Eve (Gen. 2:23). This unity is expressed as being foundational in a marriage when the Lord says “But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ … and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Mk. 10:6-9) 

The wonder of this sacrament, is this act of the Lord in reconciling humanity as it was meant to be in the beginning, has in a kind of way, brought Andrew and Kat – as they begin of new life as being “one flesh” – back to Eden. Like Adam and Eve, they are starting anew in a whole world of wonder and blessings, sharing in that love, grace and communion for each other, and in the very divine grace of the Lord who walked with Adam and Eve in paradise. 

Of course Andrew and Kat (and all of us) don’t live in paradise (although Winnipeg isn’t so bad), yet as with Adam and Eve, the Lord has put both Andrew and Kat “in a garden” (Gen. 2:8) that is rich and lush, lacking nothing in there unbounding love for the Lord and each other. And as the Lord commanded Adam and Eve to “Be fruitful and multiply”and “subdue” the chaos of creation, both of them are given that very same vocation’; to cultivate and grow this “garden” of their love, in the chaos of our broken and confused world, with the tools of mercy, peace, patience and sacrifice. 

This is hard work, but so is marriage. This is why we should remember them always, and especially on this day. That by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and by our prayers, the Kingdom of Heaven and the restoration of humanity, manifested in their marriage, might not only protect them; blunting the demonic attacks of the evil one; but also strengthen them as they participate in, and share in the Lord’s saving work, to save the world.

Truly may Andrew and Kat (and all those who are married) be inspired to hold fast to this vocation, and the  “grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit”, as they begin this new life in this sacrament of unity and love. A divine life revealed in their marriage, as at the beginning in Eden. A divine life in their marriage, as revealed at the beginning of every day of their lives, with grace and love shared with each other, and the world around them. A divine life in their marriage, as being at the beginning of a new life in the Kingdom when the Lord comes in His glory. A divine life as being at the start of everything new!

May the Lord grant Andrew and Katrina many blessed years!