Bloghardt's Reflector

Love.  Loads of it today.  Husband and wives remembering their wedding with joy.  We were young like them.  Remember?   All this years and we're still together. 

Yet, as beautiful as today is and how cute you both are - it doesn't always work.  Marriages fail, relationships fail, and fights, real ones, happen.

There's a hint of that in the readings too - that stuff with Father Adam and Mother Eve. She was made for him - from His very side.  And when he saw her it was on like donkey kong - “This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!  She shall be called woman for she was taken from a man.”

Did he dance with her and sing these words to her?  I think he did.  You should too.  I’m sure he danced better than Doug.  He got excited and started dancing - I’m not sure that could be called dancing. 

Now, did Eve get so giddy at her husband’s words that she got like Hannah gets?  It’s starts with a case of the chuckles, giggles, and then comes the she starts to fan herself, and then...  If it’s funny enough a snort.. Did Eve snort for joy?  I think she could have!

But, sin.  It is what wrecks love.  Our first parents disobeyed God and ate from that tree which the Lord said wasn’t given to them.  

Then came blame - the man blamed God and His wife.  Adam’s wife went from just the right woman - bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh - to "that woman" and the songs and the love of their wedding seemed to fade away into the Fall.  And they were lost...

Their love wasn't enough.  Your love for each other - as deep and as broad and as high as you feel it to be, won't make it either.  So then what?  Blame, tearing one another up, despising each other, separation, then death.

He sent no angel to our race, Of higher or of lower place, But wore the robe of human frame And to this world Himself He came.

We need a bit of Him, don't we?  Hannah asked us to use the crucifix, so we simply must talk about the Cross.  Besides, all this talk of us and our love ends in Adam's judgment, our judgment.  And all this talk of you and your love ends there too.

What we couldn’t do, what we couldn’t fix, what failed in us, God Himself came down and took on our flesh to save us from.  Jesus, true God, the only begotten of the Father.  True man, born of the blessed Virgin Mary.  

"For us baptized, for us He bore His holy fast and hungered sore; For us temptation sharp He knew; For us the tempter overthrew." (LSB 465, 2)

That's true love - not your love for each other, but the Father's love for you seen completely in what His Son did for you and In your place..

"For us he prayed; for us He taught; For us His daily works He wrought, By words and signs and actions thus Still seeking not Himself but us." (LSB 465, 3)

For you, Hannah.  For you too, Douglas.  To fill your love for each other with life and meaning.  To show love to you, to deliver love to you, and to enliven your love for each other.

Doug, if you wanna see husband look at Jesus hanging on the Cross answering for the sins of His bride.  

"For us by wickedness betrayed, For us, in crown of thorns arrayed, He bore the shameful cross and death; For us He gave His dying breath." (465, 4)

Christ doesn’t throw His Bride under the bus.  He doesn’t tear her up or hang her out to drive for what she’s done.  He answers for her sins.  He forgives her and gives her life. Be that, live that, redemption for your wife, Doug.  In all you do, her needs before yours.

And when Our Hannah gets herself into trouble and she feels the world has stacked up all around, when the bills pile up, when life takes a turn, when the pain is so deep and she feels anything but holy, then, as Adam sung to his bride, sing to her....

"For us He rose from death again; For us He went on high to reign; For us He sent His Spirit here To guide, to strengthen, and to cheer." (465, 5)

Today, Hannah is the very picture of the very Bride of Christ, the Church.  She is adorned in His white, holy, pure, His own.  She's beautiful, spotless, and absolutely perfect.  And no one can snatch her beauty away, it cannot be lost, for it flows from the Lord Jesus side - the blood and water that flowed from His crucified side.

Hannah, you are a daughter of this congregation and I love you like I do my own daughter.  In all you do, be the church for Doug.  Let him put you first.  Receive from him forgiveness and eternal life.  He loves you very much. 

And when He doesn't as much as he should, remember the love that truly was so deep, so broad, and so high - Christ's love for you which suffered all - even death and hell to save you.  Then, forgive Douglas and start again.

Love.  It's all around you two today.  Your love for each other.  But, more importantly, the Father's love for you seen in the Cross of your Lord Jesus Christ.  

His love in the Blood and water flowing from Christ’s side will carry you through dancing, chuckles, snorts, tears, all the way through until death parts you two.  

Each day, His love for you.  Each day, His forgiveness for you.  Each day, his love which is so deep, so broad and so high.

"All glory to our Lord and God For love so deep, so high, so broad; The Trinity whom we adore Forever and forevermore." (465, 6)

Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the Undivided Unity. INI.  Amen.