1
Peter 3:6
Contemporary English
Version (CEV)
6 For example, Sarah
obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her true children, if you do
right and don’t let anything frighten you.
The standard wedding ceremony I attended as a youth in a very traditional South Africa used the wedding vows from the Book of Common Prayer. During the service the bride and groom would repeat the following
Groom:
I,____, take thee,_____, to be my wedded Wife, to have and to hold from this
day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in
health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy
ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth.
Bride:
I,_____, take thee,_____, to be my wedded Husband, to have and to hold from
this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and
in health, to love, cherish, and
to obey, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto
I give thee my troth.
Sylvia wrote the vows we made at our wedding ceremony. We
memorized them so the minister, her father, didn’t need to have us repeat after
him. The vows were similar to these but replaced some of the archaic forms.
They also did not include the bride’s promise to “obey” her husband. I
commented on its absence and was informed that she certainly was not planning
to obey me. I dropped the subject. By God’s grace we have lived up to our vows
for almost 50 years now.
Apparently a lot of women and men have been uncomfortable
with pledging to obey anyone−so much so that the 1928 version of the Book of Common Prayer also included an
alternate version that omitted the contentious word.
These days, unfortunately, it seems that too many couples
have no intention of living by their pledges of any form. Some even cheat on
their spouses as early as while they are still on honeymoon.
Lord, give us the
grace to live up to our vows to You.
In African churches it is still mandatory that the bride and bridegroom recite all that standard vow.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it strange that your wife refused the clause. Is it because she was not sure of you in future ? She should tell you by now because she has held steadfast onto you as far as I can recast. Your marriage has lived up to your expectation. Many more couples especially in a promiscuitous situations like Africa/Tanzania, recite the vow only to keep on cheating as it is testified by the cases of Hiv/aids pandemic.
Our marriage has been a blessed one! Of course there have been ups and downs but we have both remained faithful. Indeed when we married she was not sure about me and that may have been part of her reticence. Much more likely was a growing women's movement that has branded men in general as the root of evil in the world. Its net result has been to weaken the home and cause a societal problem that is threatening the stability of our nation.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, merely repeating a vow to love, cherish, and obey is as easily broken as the rest of the marriage vows. As long as there is evil in the world most humans will continue making and breaking vows.