Cana in Rural Ontario on a Summer Afternoon
This past Friday afternoon Bonnie and I were in Kurtzville ON for the wedding of Pr & Mrs Kurt Reinhardt’s firstborn son, Eduard, to Miss Anika Molenaar. In advance of this beautiful ceremony, Pr Reinhardt had composed a poem that the gathered congregation sang to the tune of Old Hundredth.
This Is a Mystery Profound
This is a mystery profound;
We step here on to holy ground;
As man and woman are made one,
Just as the Church is with the Son.
As Christ is faithful to His Bride,
And gives her life from His pierced side,
Young man you are to give your life
For this one woman, your dear wife.
As Christ’s Church is true to her Lord,
And is served by Him through His Word,
Young woman you are to be true
To this man now in all you do.
As Christ washed His disciples’ feet
While at His table they did eat,
Each other you should serve in love
With all God gives you from above.
Forgive each other in God’s grace
From your minds all their faults erase;
In love each other’s burdens bear;
And treat each other’s hearts with care.
This is a mystery profound!
We step here on to holy ground
As with this bride and groom God shows
The love with Him that ever flows.
Kurt E. Reinhardt
Here follows Pr Reinhardt’s wedding homily for Eduard and Anika. A man of powerful emotions, Fr Kurt held it together during the service, but admitted to getting a little choked up during his reception speech as father of the groom:
Some people like to play games - video games, card games and board games. They are a way to pass the time, to be entertained and, yes, escape from everyday life even as they in some ways are a reflection of it - as many a rock song will tell you.
Some people like to play games - video games, card games and board games and, yes, by this time I have no doubt that Anika knows that Eduard is one of them. I knew we were dealing with true love when after a long week of studying Anika would faithfully sit across from Eduard at our dining room table on a Sunday evening trying to pay attention and keep her eyes open as he took great delight in explaining the rules of some new game he had brought home.
Yes, Eduard likes games, and after a few years of watching Anika playing many a board game with him, I’d venture to say that she enjoys them as well or at least enjoys playing them with him. Now, with many people I’d have to be very careful about comparing what Eduard and Anika are beginning today in any way to a game because it might mislead them into taking it lightly. But there’s no fear of that with Eduard around because a game is never just a game with him.
Not that he doesn’t have fun or enjoy them, but games are serious business for Eduard. That doesn’t mean that it’s all about winning for him. He wants to play well and he wants you to play well too. A good game for him is a game well played by all. In many ways every game is a team sport for him - he’ll do his best to play well and he enjoys helping you to do the same. It was joy to listen to him and Anika talking over how they had each played, what they had done and what they perhaps should have done when a game was over on one of those Sunday evenings.
And so, yes, with all of that in mind I dare to compare, Eduard and Anika, what you are beginning today to a game. It is after all one of the greatest ones that the you will play together as it should be played in the way that Eduard approaches every other game that he plays. It should never be taken lightly, it is never “just a game”, but serious business, with the joy and happiness of not just one of you but the two of you and, God willing, perhaps more on the line.
It is a team sport and should be played together, with each helping the other to play their best game. It is a game where if you only play for yourself to win, everyone loses. Like every good game there are rules for this one as well. They are found in the official rule book - the Lord’s Word where He lays down how you are to live out the life that He is giving you today as He joins you together as one through your promises to each other.
There’s a right and a wrong way to live out this life - to play its game so to speak. Don’t play by the Lord’s rules, cheat, and you’re sure to lose, even if you deceive yourself into thinking that somehow you’ve won. You are both called not to serve yourselves but one another. You are both called not to live for yourselves but for one another. In other words you are to play the marriage game in the same way you’ve begun it with your vows - facing one another so that you can see and look after each other’s needs.
As in many games, so in marriage, too, each player has their own special role to play. One role is not better than the other or greater or more important than the other. They are not the same. They are different. The Word of God doesn’t talk about interchangeable spouses but husbands and wives. The husband is not a wife and the wife is not the husband. Eduard, as Anika’s husband you are called to lay down your life for her as Christ did for the Church. Anika, as Eduard’s wife you are called to submit yourself to Eduard’s service of you as the Church submits to Christ’s service to her.
The rules are simple but not always the easiest to remember let alone follow for poor sinners like you and every other fallen human being and so the game will not always be played as well as it could be or should be. There will be days when one of you or both of you will not be happy with how the game is going and even times when you might feel cheated by the other. Yes, there will be days when no matter how well you might want to bring your best game to the table, the cards or the dice just won’t seem to fall right, stress at work, worries and cares over any number of things that there are to worry and care about in this world will keep you from playing the best game that you promised to play with each other today.
And that, dear Anika and Eduard, is when you must play the all-important Wildcard that God dealt into your hand when He baptized you into Christ at the beginning of your life. Yes, when you are not up to your best game that is when you must play the Jesus card for yourselves and one another. It is the most important card in the deck. It guarantees a win at the end of the game because it is the forgiveness card - the card soaked with blood of the Holy Son of God who has died to pay for all of your sins. And, yes, God put it in your hand when He baptized you many years ago. Your lives in this world and in the world to come depend on this card.
As you begin your life together, God wants to point it out to you, to remind you that it’s there and that you should remember to use it in your life together. He wants you to remember to play the Jesus card for yourself, Eduard, when you don’t play your best game for Anika and He wants you to play it for her when she’s not on her game with you. As He wants you to play it for yourself, Anika, when you’re not playing your best for Eduard and when he’s coming up short toward you. Yes, He wants each of you to live in His forgiveness, receiving it from Him in Christ and living in it toward each other as husband and wife.
No, Eduard and Anika, don’t ever forget that you have the Jesus card, as every baptized Child of God does. You can’t lose it or have it taken from you as long as you don’t throw it away - even then God will happily give it back to you if you ask Him. You can never play it too often or depend on it too much. God has given it to you because He wants you to win the game. There will be many other cards that will come into your hand in this life that might cause you to lose track of it or even forget that it is there, which is why week by week the Lord in His Word and at His altar will be there to remind you that you have it and should play it.
The best and greatest game of this life, yes, my dear Eduard and Anika, that’s what you’ve begun as you put your pieces on the same square of the board today and roll the dice together. As a father and as your pastor it is a joy to see you begin it in the Lord’s name with your Jesus’ cards foremost in your hands. Now may the Lord enrich your lives with His grace and ever deepen your love for one another with His love for you in Christ Jesus. Amen.
