Future son-in-laws better plan on rings, and Christians better plan to observe . . .

Is your local church observing the Lord’s Supper this Sunday?

There is an analogy to be made between a wedding (the outward celebration of the marriage covenant) and the ordinances or sacraments.

I have two beautiful daughters (one with blue eyes and one with brown) and there exists the possibility that one day some guy is going to come and sit in my study and expect me to listen while he tries to convince me that he should be allowed to marry my daughter.  (For more here, see, I’m giving away two books and two daughters).

Let’s assume, and this is hypothetical, that after he has answered somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 questions, submitted his financial records to a thorough audit, and let me check the history of his hard drive for unsuitable material – suppose that I were to grant said candidate permission to marry my daughter (We’ll call him “Cecil”)– After all, my girls’ mother wants grandchildren. Son in laws are a necessary part of the equation.

But, picture that, a few days after I hypothetically gave Cecil permission to marry my daughter, he and the daughter in view showed up to share with Jamie and me that they were engaged. Now, after decades of marriage to my wife, I can predict that she would say with excited eyes, “Okay, let me see your ring.”

Can you imagine if at that point Cecil said, “Oh, I didn’t get her a ring.”

I would scowl, but Jamie would try and put a nice spin on things: “Well, this way, you can go and look for a ring together.”

But, Cecil responds, “Oh, there won’t be any rings. I’ve always found them a bit ostentatious and since a marriage is really about a covenant before God, we don’t find an outward sign really that important.”

I would enter the discussion at this point, if not before. “So, you’re not planning a ring ceremony in the wedding.”

Cecil, “Well, actually, we’re not planning a wedding. Again, we believe that a marriage is an invisible commitment between a husband and wife and as such does not need to be celebrated visibly.

At which point, Jamie would cry. The daughter concerned would know enough to cry. And, I would outline a future course of action.

There would be no recovery for Cecil at this point. But, for the benefit of my daughter and wife, and as evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in my life, I might respond with a little teaching at the point. I would say, “Well, Cecil, while it is true that these are outward signs, the point is that they point to a spiritual and mystical reality. Indeed, that the tangible nature of a wedding and rings and it is a tremendously helpful and concrete way to teach frail human beings about the permanence of marriage.”

Of course, all the more so with the sacraments. Indeed, you could make a far stronger case for the sacraments than for the modern version of a wedding. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are explicitly prescribed in the New Testament whereas wedding have developed culturally for the most part –though the traditions rest on a strong biblical foundation.

My future son-in-laws better plan on attending a wedding and wearing a ring, and Christians should plan on identifying with Christ in baptism and observing the Lord’s Supper.

For more on the sacraments, see Questions and Answers about the Sacraments, Is Your Church Observing the Lord’s Supper Tomorrow and Avoiding Over-reacting to Catholicism.