Our seven year anniversary is tomorrow. Seven, a biblical number of fullness, wholeness, completion. Or, maybe not. We are full, but we have not arrived. Like the seven days of creation in Genesis that call into being a world full of evolution, change, and transition our seven years of marriage have called into being seasons of evolution, change, and transition. The Sytsma Bratt union has not remained static as we embraced our vows to one another, community, and God. Seven years ago we were in Grand Rapids MI and took our covenantal vows in our CRC home church. Seven years later Peter will be home in Dallas, Texas, worship at our PCUSA church and I will spend the day among Benedictine monks and writers while on study leave. Our love has grown, shaped, and transformed. Thank God it is not complete, but full, not static, but dynamic.
As I have for seven years, I will revisit our four fold vows.
The Way of Creation (Genesis 2:18-25): Here at last is bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh, divine help in a form I understand. You are the image of God for me. God speaks to me in your voice. God looks at me through your eyes. God touches me with your hands. And, in my love for you, I too may reflect God.
The Way of Denial (Ephesians 5:21-33): I take you, to be my husband/wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death parts us. Nothing else will have the power, for today I turn away from all other options. Forsaking all others, I commit myself to you. I will seek to serve you with tenderness and respect, energy and intelligence, imagination and love.
The Way of Renewal (Matthew 12:46-50): I take you, to be my brother/sister in Christ, for this life and for the next. Let our love be loved within the community of God's church, and our home be embraced by a household of faith. However much our love for one another deepens, I promise to love God even more than I love you. I ask you to love God even more than you love me, that our growing love for God will draw us closer to one another.
The Way of the Spirit (Romans 12): I take you, to be my partner in Christ’s service. I will help you develop God’s gifts in you and work with you for the coming kingdom of God. I will listen with you for God’s call on our lives, that our home may be a place where the good news is proclaimed, where justice and mercy are lived, where God’s children are welcomed, and where God’s name is honored. May our marriage give God joy!
vows written by Dr. Laura Smit
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