As I write this the daffodils are bursting forth and the sun is becoming warmer.  The colour and warmth are a welcome relief from the cold and damp of the winter months!

In around three weeks time Easter will be here and we will herald the coming of summer (I hope!) and will be looking forward to the Royal Wedding!  It will be a time broken with holiday breaks over a two week period – and I hope you will take advantage of it to enjoy being with your families.

As the Royal couple look forward to their marriage there will be many more also looking forward to an Easter wedding.

One of the wonderful duties I have as a priest is to marry couples.  It really is a joy – and I love meeting and getting to know the couples as we talk about the difference between taking vows in God’s presence, and not in a secular environment.  The couples talk about their hopes for their wedding and marriage and most of all they take part in planning the service itself.  There are options within the service itself and I always invite couples to take an active part in choosing those options. After all it is the couple making the vows in front of God – not me – and they must embrace them and the service if it is to be meaningful to them.

I believe too in a God who loves all that he has created and therefore invite all who wish to marry to think about the importance of God being by their side during their marriage, helping them through the difficult times and rejoicing with them in the good!

Easter is appropriately a time for the beginning of what many may call the marriage season. This is very apt because Easter tells us of the new life in the resurrected Jesus Christ. Easter gives hope to us all – Jesus is the first to be resurrected from the dead and one day he will return to take us to himself.  There is real hope in the present and the future when Christ is beside us.

When we desire Christ to be present we can be sure that he will be. I invite couples to always remember this in their married life.  As the couple begins a new life together we can also know that the relationship is trinitarian in that there is the groom’s life, the bride’s life and the life of the couple as one.  There must be room for each as they work in relationship with one another – just as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit work together in relationship to one another – in perfect harmony.

Perfect harmony brings with it an excellent marriage.

May you have a blessed Easter, whether you contemplate marriage or not, and may the season bring you renewal in Spirit for the future.

With love

Ann