“Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, come with me.
the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.”
-- Song of Solomon 2:10-13
Years ago, when Cassie was being trained at Publix as the
new employee she met this man standing beside her. By that time Russ had been working there many
years, had seen many employees come and go, and didn’t pay much attention to
the new recruit. But Cassie remembers
what Bobby told her when they were first introduced: “Russ is your man if you
want something in the kitchen.”
But family
friends and church friends do become very special to you, and when you see
someone every week over a period of several years and watch them grow up, you
start to feel a little protective of them.
You look with wonder to see this flighty young teen grow into such a
smart and responsible young adult, but then here she is…following the call of
God and the urgings of her heart to join in this blessed bond of marriage, to
become a family with Russ and Bailey, to allow that love which is bigger than
us all to make the two into one.
Two
becoming one – blood and bone, body and body.
Russ and Cassie have made the choice of a lifetime in coming here before
us and before God, to share their wedding vows.
They have been thinking ahead and planning for this life together
literally for years now. Even before
they knew it themselves, from the time Russ drove half an hour to give her a
Twix candy bar, or from their official public appearance as boy friend and
girlfriend on Christmas eve 2012, Russ and Cassie have been journeying together
towards this moment. 
Love is
patient, indeed, as St. Paul tells us.
And kind. Cassie looked at Russ
and saw someone who has worked long and hard to do the right thing and
struggled to care for a family in the face of many difficulties. She was able to make him laugh and get him
out of his shell, and experience life in a new way. Before Russ asked Cassie to marry him, he
talked to Bailey and they looked at rings at the mall. Nervously, he went to ask Nils for Cassie’s
hand in marriage, but he wasn’t home. The
tension just got worse when it happened again.
The third try, he and his future father-in-law finally came
face-to-face. And rock-hard Nils was all
tears of joy….
A week
later, Russ and Cassie were back at the Ruby Tuesdays where they’d had their
first date. Somehow the atmosphere in
the restaurant just never seemed right for the moment. Instead of popping the question over dinner,
they got back in the car, buckled their seat belts, and then it happened. By the time they got back to the Lenz house
they had one question for Cassie, “So, you got new jewelry?”
Together,
you have created a vision of what your marriage will look like. You’ve agreed not just to love each other,
but to say “I love you” to one another often; not just to care about each
other’s feelings but to talk about whatever’s bothering you, to have each
other’s backs, to laugh a lot, clean up after one another, and to share your
toys. In the vows that you are about to
exchange, you will give yourselves to each other through Christ, who gave
himself to us and to the world. With his
own body and soul, the one who knows us inside and out, who sees the truth of
our inmost spirit, also gives us his life and our heavenly Father’s love. Through Christ, God accepts us completely and
enable to love others the way St. Paul describes: with both gentleness and
wholehearted passion, with great tenderness, and with a strength that endures
to the end.
Today we
join our prayers and best wishes, and our own promises to support you in your
new life together. May God grant you joy
and adventure, long life and a full house.
The best part is yet to come, so you better buckle your seatbelts…
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