Thursday, December 18, 2008

12:06 PM 24-Nov-2008
A Wedding
I attended a wedding last Saturday. It was a sweet wedding.

Then, the customary sermon came along.

In that sermon, the pastor said that a wedding is like salvation, and he went on to expound how God loves us and died for us.

But he said very little to the couple about how to love one another deeper or anything much about marriage, really.

It was a little long, and I started squirming inwardly. The hard wooden pews didn't help very much haha. :P (Sorry...)

I found myself a bit uncomfortable with what the pastor was saying. While all the contents were good... it just felt so out-of-place in a wedding sermon. I wonder what the non-Christians were feeling.

Maybe it was because I had gone for Huaqiang's and Sarah's wedding a fortnight ago, and Michael's sermon on how God intended a wedding to be and the couple's testimony of how God have were so heartwarming. I believe many hearts, including the non-Christians, were sincerely touched and warmed by Michael's sharing, and HQ & Sarah's testimony too (illustrated in a very sweet and charming animation done by Peter).

I think I understand the good pastor's intentions - that he wanted to take the opportunity to use the wedding as a vehicle to share about the gospel. But if it made even the Christians feel a bit uncomfortable... then perhaps it's time to reconsider?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I want my wedding to be evangelistic too..

But yes, much attention definitely has to be paid to the how part of things. Well, thank God! I think in our church, we're pretty seasoned with relevant and seeker-sensitive approaches to evangelism. I trust that we can get the message across and not make people squirm or cringe.

I just think a wedding is a very rare opportunity for gospel-sharing. Half the people in attendance would probably not step into a church for any other reason. Not sharing the gospel while having them there seem to be a waste.

After all, it is a wedding service, and God is to be honoured above all else. It is a celebration of God's goodness in joining the couple. God is always the star, the couple are the co-stars.