Set Me As A Seal Upon Your Heart!

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Lenard Thompson
6 years ago
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1 Set Me As A Seal Upon Your Heart! ( June 27 th 2010 ) Mike and Hanna appropriately chose for their wedding scripture the climactic verse from the love poetry of the Song of Solomon, Set me as a seal upon your heart. When I m finished speaking the choir will sing these words, but first an obvious question, which is when? When is one heart sealed by another? When do two hearts impress themselves upon the other to seal the sacred spaces between them? When dos their love become strong as death; its fires unquenchable? When? Was it when Mike saw Hanna for the first time on campus a skinny little freshman girl with a funny accent, or the first time he spoke with her just before their shared philosophy class? Was this initial spark what sealed them? Was it two years of fruitless courtship on Mike s part, like when he invited Hanna out for coffee hoping for a quiet one on one with her and she showed up with five of her friends? Was it when Mike paid for Hanna and all five of her friends? Was it after years of sincere devotion to Hanna after which she finally conceded that there was something speicial between them that she could not deny? Was it their first date on Valentines Day, lunch at Lahiere s in Princeton. Was this the fire that ignighted their hearts and sealed their love? Was it the summer that they vowed not to communicate so that Mike could focus on his own spiritual life, and not be influenced by Hanna. Was it Hanna s willingness to share the worst of her life with Mike, and his loving response? Was it Mike s announcement to enroll in

2 seminary and pursue some kind of shared ministry? Was it Mike s proposal on Valentine s Day back at Lahierre s, this time for dinner? Certainly these events ignighted their hearts, but they weren t enough to seal them. So then when? Is it now? as they stand before heaven, and before all of you vowing to love no matter what the circumstance for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. Is it now that their hearts are sealed? I believe in heaven it is so. After all, the Lord takes these vows seriously He will not forget them. But even if heaven records this promise forever, it is not enough to fully register now after all, it takes three years for a couple to feel fully married. To loose touch with life as it was when they were responsible for just themselves. It takes three years at least to learn the basics of how to sacrifice the me for the sake of the we. But if not now, then when? Just when are two hearts sealed? Is it tonight in the ecastacy and hilarity of the honeymoon? Is it next week, and the excitement of establishing a new home together in Texas, and their first dinner together in their new home amid moving boxes and candlelight? No. As sweet as these moments will be they do not forge two hearts into one. It comes later. Young love is sweet, but it is still too focused on the me instead of the we. Young love is all about how you make ME feel, how you inhance My career, how you compliment all that is MINE. Young love is full of its delights, but it is still too full of itself, too full of me, my, and mine, to seal one heart to another. It comes later. Somewhere, somehow within the mystery of marriage a line is crossed where two people merge. They are not lost in the

3 other, but found. They are not dominated by the other, but devoted. They are not chained to the other but sealed... sealed by a thousand and one shared memories, ten thousand kisses, and countless sacrifices small and large that all add up to two hearts melted together... a love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. The sealing will happen after their first big fight during which Hanna calls home to Greenville and says Momma? Can I come home for a couple of days? To which her mother will wisely answer Baby, you are home. It will happen after the first burned supper, after one of them falls out of bed in the middle of the night and the other is too sound asleep to wake up and laugh, after graduation from seminary, the first big job, the decision to conceive children, and the first fender bender that reminds them it can all be lost in an instant. It happens after the birth of their first child, the death of someone dear, the first big temptation, a sparkling success, some dismal failures, and the mind numbing tedium of the day to day grind. Somewhere in the middle of this maelstrom the joys, the fights, the boredom, the revelations - a line will be crossed, and Hanna and Mike will be sealed. There will be no drama, no fan fare when it happens. Indeed, the moment will pass without remark. But it will happen. Communion between them will be shared. The we will gain the victory over the me. God s purpose for marriage will be experienced oneness. The two shall become one. Friends. Lovers. Soulmates. And after it does, they will open their Bibles and return to these same words of Solomon: Set me as a seal upon your heart For love is strong as death

4 Returning to this passage the words will be the same, but they themselves will be different. Mere sentimentality and infatuation will be burned away by their agonies and ecastacies together, and what will be left will be a simpler and more noble passion a love that is patient and kind, that is not jealous or boastful that is not arrogant and rude. A love that does not insist on its own way! A love that has at last let go of the me for the sake of the we. Under the Lord s leading their love will mature into a Jesus kind of love into a we first love into a monumental, sacrificial, reverential kind of love. Indeed, the spaces between them will become holy set apart sealed. A place where the two of them can go together to find sanctuary. A place of rest for their hearts. A place for the two to be ONE. But it will not stop there, for this love will overflow the banks of their marriage and spill over onto the lives of those they love, onto those they tolerate, and even onto those with whom they disagree and dislike. A sealed, holy, we first love is utterly contagious one that speads health and wholeness upon whomever it touches. The Lord knew this when he created marriage; and I m sure He knew it as Mike and Hanna responded to His call together that there is nothing so winsome, nothing so desirable, nothing so persuasive as two hearts sealed. All this will happen, not because their life circumstances will be just right. They won t be. The Bible cautions, In this world you will have trouble But our lives and our marriages weren t designed for that which is free and easy. Free and easy leads only to what is superficial and boredom. But in marriage

5 the Lord teaches believers how to turn trauma and tragedy upside down and inside out into growth and opportunity. In marriage the Lord shows His followers how to rescue fights and frustrations and turn them into personal revelations and transformations. Perfect circumstances aren t going to be a part of Mike and Hanna s marriage, but tell me a great love story where the pathway was free and easy Withering Heights, Jane Aire Our most profound love grows out of our most heart wrenching trials. A great love is rare because its grown when two people do the most difficult thing of all, they put away what is selfish for the sake of the other. Honestly, none of us can do this, but there is one who can. When Jesus lives in us, when His blood flows through us, when His heart beats within, selfishness gives way to selflessness, greed gives way to charity, despair gives way to hope, and two people are transformed into one. In the end, when Mike and Hanna come to the end of their lives together, when one of them lies on their death bed and struggles to hang on to this life the other will know how best to care for them what they can and cannot eat how to set their pillow just right what is needed to help them swallow that extra big pill and the kiss that still works. They will know and they will do all in their power to both relieve and share the suffering. Together, they will walk all the way to the end to the doorstep of forever sealed.

An Order for the Solemnization of Marriage

An Order for the Solemnization of Marriage (in contemporary form) When the people have assembled the service may begin with a processional hymn, such as Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven Joyful, joyful,