Today’s devotional should probably have come before yesterday’s. A FOXNews article dated June 16, 2024 posed this issue. Wedding dilemma for many couples: Should God be invited to the marriage celebration?
Many weddings today are conducted outside of churches, utilizing numerous venues to conduct the nuptials. The ceremony can be presided over by just about anyone provided they have secured the right credentials. Marriages in the State of Ohio are considered legal provided the officiant is “a legally ordained or licensed minister who is listed with the Ohio Secretary of State, a judge, a mayor, or the head of the state school for the deaf are permitted to perform marriage ceremonies.”2 That would seem to severely narrow the list of those approved to do weddings. Not so!
American Marriage Ministries is an IRS 501c3 Certified Non-Profit Church. On their webpage, it says, “American Marriage Ministries is a non-denominational church that ordains people online so that they can officiate weddings for friends, family, and community. Our free ordination grants full legal authority to conduct marriage ceremonies all across the US! Get ordained today to become a legal wedding officiant, as an ordained minister of American Marriage Ministries.”3
Click the button that says, “Apply For Ordination,” fill out a simple form that asks for your name, address, and email, create a password, and check the two required boxes that say: “I confirm that I am at least 18 years of age, and that all the information that I have submitted is truthful and accurate to the best of my knowledge.” (Required); “I request to become an AMM Certified Minister. I undertake this request as a considered, deliberate, and responsible act.” (Required)4
Once your neighbor, cousin, grocery bagger, hair stylist, or anyone else receives their ordination and gets it submitted to the State, you can get married in a winery, on the dock of a pond, in the middle of the woods, in a cave, jumping out of an airplane, or wherever you want. God doesn’t need to be a part of the ceremony so long as you are having a great time!
That’s where society’s mindset is at today regarding this topic.
Dr. Roxanne Louh, a family therapist in Florida, is married to Greek Orthodox priest Fr. Nicholas Louh, the senior priest of St. John The Divine Greek Orthodox Church in Jacksonville, Florida.1 The Louhs conduct marriage seminars and speak about the importance of including God in every wedding ceremony.
“You’re not a random act in history,” said Fr. Louh. “God has a purpose for you, whether you’re married or single. And so, is that person in my life going to help me fulfill, or work toward the purpose that God has for me?”
The Louhs make some very good points. “God designed marriage as one of the first acts of creation. In the very first chapter of the Old Testament, the Book of Genesis, the first thing that God does is establish a family with Adam and Eve.” But it doesn’t stop there. Fr. Louh said, “The very first thing that we see done in the New Testament … is this merging of a family of Joseph and Mary in the birth of Christ.” And, said Fr. Louh, “The very first miracle … that we see chronicled in the Scriptures takes place at a wedding. It’s the wedding service of Cana.”
“So God likes to be invited to weddings, he noted.”5
“Brad Wilcox, who heads the National Marriage Project in Charlottesville, Virginia, writes in his new book, “Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization,” “The research tells us that American men and women who regularly attend a church, synagogue, temple or mosque are significantly happier in their marriages, less likely to end up divorced, and more satisfied with their lives — and their children are more likely to be flourishing.”6
As I read these thoughts, I cannot disagree with the basic truth of any of them. However, I find them a bit grating because they treat God as a good luck charm. Invite God to the wedding and you’ll have a great marriage. It becomes as superstitious as something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue! Pretend spirituality is hypocritical at best, blasphemous at the worst!
A careful reading of Ephesians 5:21-33 reveals that there is a purpose for marriage besides the uniting of a couple in Holy Matrimony. Ephesians 5:29-32 says, “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: (30) For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (31) For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. (32) This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”
Marriage between two believers in Jesus is the ONLY marriage that can resemble Christ’s relationship to the church. To be in the church, you must be saved, therefore Christ cannot be the head of a marriage or home of the lost or a spiritually split home. In the split home, Christ can be the head of the saved spouse and that spouse can be instrumental in bringing the lost spouse to Christ.
Sprinkling a few religious phrases into a marriage cannot be treated like an incantation. Marriages that exalt the name of Jesus begin with two people who are born again and desire Jesus to be at the center of their home and all they do.
God made marriage. You don’t invite Him. He is already there. He who is on the outside and treated as a guest wants to be on the inside and treated like a Groom. Jesus wants to be the head of the family. But He must first be the Lord and Savior of the bride and groom’s life.
Ephesians 5:23-25 reminds us, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as 
Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. (24) Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. (25) Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” It all points to another wedding coming up in the future. This is a wedding we don’t want to miss!
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. (8) And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. (9) And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.” (Revelation 19:7-9)
1https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/wedding-dilemma-couples-should-god-invited-marriage-celebration
2https://apersonalwedding.com/in-ohio-anyone-can-officiate-weddings/
3https://theamm.org/
4https://theamm.org/ordination-application
5https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/wedding-dilemma-couples-should-god-invited-marriage-celebration
6Ibid.
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