Marriage symbols

Over the past few weeks we have been to two marriages - one in Bratislava & one in the delightful surroundings of the Botanical Gardens in Olomouc. What impressed me were a couple of symbolic activities that emphasied the beauty of the big step that both couples were making...

At the first in Bratislava - Nick & Miska were invited to the front of the church where there was a 3-pronged candle holder, with 3 unlit candles. They were told to each take a candle which was then lit by the pastor, and then they were to light the remaining middle candle with theirs. Having ignited the middle candle, they were then supposed to blow out their candles and put then back in their places. (However, Nick in his zeal managed to blow out ALL of the candles! :-)) The symbolism represents the fact that their two separate lives had now become one - and that marriage is a mutual relationship - living for & encouraging each other both in their relationship and their walk with God.


The second marriage (Lenka & Tomas) in the Gardens was wonderful too, especially as it had to compete with regular cannon blasts (from the nearby war re-enactment camp), and also the musical warm ups of the approaching Beer Fest Rock Concert :-) Getting married outdoors is always something of a risk due to the weather, but thankfully, other than a couple of threatening drops of rain, it remained fine. The symbol this time was a pair of locks - the locks were locked together & given to the couple to represent the fact that 'what God had joined together, let no man separate'...the keys from the locks were then to be tied to a helium-filled balloon and let off to soar into the sky...sadly, the weight of the two keys seemed to be too much for the balloon (perhaps more helium was needed?)...so the keys were cut off (presumably thrown away!) and the balloon was released...and fly away it did!


Even though (funnily enough) both symbolic events were not quite performed as it was hoped they would, for me, they still remain very powerful images - reflecting something of the unity, stability, love, trust, and strength that Christians believe (& hope) that marriage can be. Oswald Chambers once wrote:"Marriage is one of the
mountain peaks on which God s thunder blasts souls to hell or on which His light transfigures human lives in the eternal heavens."

Yes...it is that serious...