The Bridegroom and His Friend

The Bridegroom and His Friend
John 3.22-36

Millions of television viewers around the world remember the moment when Lady Diana Spencer got the words wrong in her marriage to Prince Charles. It wasn’t a serious mistake – her husband had rather a lot of names, and she got two of them in the wrong order – but I suspect that clergy who were watching will have smiled at several other similar memories.

Whenever I take a wedding in church I know that all the key people are nervous. Some parents, of course, have already seen several children get married, and one more wedding is not a big strain. But for most it is a defining moment in their whole lives. As for the bride and groom, and the attendants who are with them on either side, this is like suddenly acting in a strange and wonderful play in front of all their family and friends. No wonder several of them say things, and sometimes do things, in the wrong order...

Taken from John for Everyone – by Tom Wright