The Homily
Trust that you have
a good and compassionate nature. You are part of the universe; you are made of
stars. When you look at your loved one, you see that he is also made of stars
and carries eternity inside. Looking in this way, we naturally feel reverence.
True love cannot be without trust and respect for oneself and for the other
person.”
- Thích Nhất Hạnh, How to Love
Every one of us is
trying to find our true home. Some of us are still searching. Our true home is
inside, but it’s also in our loved ones around us. When you’re in a loving
relationship, you and the other person can be a true home for each other.
-Thich Nhat Hanh, How to Love
Set me as a seal
upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm;
for love is strong
as death,
passion fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are
flashes of fire,
a vehement flame.
Many waters cannot
quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If one offered for
love
all the wealth of one’s house,
it would be utterly scorned.
-The Song of Songs
On behalf of
everyone here, thank you for including us all in your special day. You could
have easily run half-way between Philly and Baltimore to elope in Elkton, the
long-time marriage capital of the East Coast. But you have brought us here to
Rocky Gap, one of the most beautiful settings in the Mid-Atlantic!
And you have chosen
wisely the readings for our reflection today. Nearly every day I reflect on the
teachings of Tich Nhat Hanh, popularly known as Thay (Tay) or “teacher”,
the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. I read and
re-read his book, Living Buddha, Living Christ over and over again.
Thay reminds us that
we are star dust, that all creation is star dust, that we are all one with the creation,
and that we all carry eternity inside – what Jesus might call love for one
another. When we look at one another, says Than, when we really see one another
in this way we cannot help but have reverence for one another. True love is
built on this way of seeing and knowing one another. As all of us look at the
two of you right now, here in the most natural of settings, we begin to see
this first in you, then in one another, and finally in all others, which the
Buddha teaches leads us into lives of compassion. As I said at the outset, you
stand before us as a sign – a sign of
the unity of the Creator with all of creation, and as such we are reminded to honor
and reverence the natural world, and indeed all that is, seen and unseen,
including all creatures and all persons.
You also chose the
reading from the Song of Songs – which in the Hebrew and Aramaic some three or
more centuries before the time of Christ, the doubling of the word “song”
indicates the superlative – that this is The Song of All Songs!
It is poetry, and as Rabbi Akiva, who lived in the first century, declared, “All
of eternity in its entirety is not as worthy as the day on which Song of Songs
was given to Israel, for all the Writings are holy, but Song of Songs is the
Holy of Holies.”
How appropriate
since you and nearly all of us here consider songs and music to be central to
what it means to be alive!
Like the teachings
of Thay and the Buddha, this Song of Songs has long been understood not only to
describe the love between a man and a woman, but also the Divine Love of the
Creator for all persons and all creation! This love is on fire. It is a
vehement flame! No amount of water can quench the fire of such love! Anyone who
knows this kind of love, lives it, has reverence for it, and would turn down
all the money in the world to hold onto it for ever and ever.
You’ve heard me say,
we come from love, we return to love, and love is all around. Today your love
shines as the brightest of stars from where we all come and from which we all
have life. Your love reminds us not only of who we are, but whose we are. Your
love stands as sign for how all of us should love one another and all others –
especially those most in need, those without resources, those who for whatever
reason need to feel loved and to feel that their lives matter too.
Your love cannot be
sold, but it can be given away. On the Fourth of July weekend 1993, our friend
Milton Cole sent us a hand painted American Flag on a board with the words, You
Keep What You Give Away written on the white stripes. The more you give this
love away, the more you will have.
This goes for all of
us here. Next to the vows which come next, the most important two words spoken
earlier were “We will. We will do all in your power to surround you in Love,
Friendship and joy, and forever uphold the two of you in your marriage.
We come from love,
we return to love, and love is all around. To see what the love that surrounds you
on all sides looks like, just take this moment to turn around and look – all of
us gathered here today are the love that many waters cannot quench and will
surround you and support you all the days of your life together. This is the
Song of Songs, the song that you sing, the song that you inspire us all to
sing!
Arise, my love, my
fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come…Arise, my love,
my fair one, and come away. Your true home is inside; your true home is with
these loved ones who surround you. In your loving relationship, you are
becoming the true home for one another, and for all to whom you are sent in the
name of the Creator’s Divine Love!
It's now time to say
your vows.
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