In a few days my wife, Sue, and I will be celebrating our Golden Wedding; one reason why I will not be publishing a blog next week.
Over the course of a lifetime there are some very special days. In one way they are just another date on a calendar, but in another way they are standout points in one's life. I think of the day I got engaged, the day I got married, the day our first son was born and then the second and the day our first grandchild was born and then six more! The day we finally cleared our mortgage registers fairly high up there as well. And then there are the Wedding Anniversaries. I remember going to lead my second Baptist church when I was in my late twenties where there were one or two couples who were coming up to their Silver Wedding Anniversary. Having been married about six years myself at that point the idea of being married 25 years seemed like some distant horizon that made me wonder even then how old and frail I might feel if we ever reached it. But then one day I found that we were still around to be celebrating our Ruby, or fortieth Wedding Anniversary. At that time, I was preaching through 2 Corinthians 5 in the Brighton Church (now Emmanuel Church) but interrupted the series to preach on marriage mentioning that we were one of five couples in the church all about to celebrate the same anniversary. Ten years on all those couples are still alive and all being well we will be together for a lunch we have planned in September. Only 5% of marriages reach a Golden Wedding day and that is not of course just some shocking statistic about how many marriages break down, though many do, but by then many marriages have already finished through death. So assuming that we make it through the next few days it will be a major milestone in our lives and certainly a cause for us to celebrate that we have spent 50 years of our lives together.
In fact Sue and I have known each other for the past 60 years. We were part of the same Baptist church as teenagers and were baptised at the same service. The church had Scout and Guides organisations attached to it, and to which we belonged, the significance of which is that Sue claims she was first attracted to me by the sight of my knees when I wore my scout shorts. From such small beginnings....
But 50 years! Inevitably we talk about how quickly the years have gone by and also about how little time we have left. One day, and it will be massively short of another 50 years, we will have to say 'goodbye' and our marriage will be at an end forever. We are very aware of this.
But for now, just two things. Enormous gratitude that our marriage has lasted so long. Speaking for myself: can a husband really love the same woman through 50 years of marriage? Yes, everyday, and I've never wanted anything different. When I promised Sue 50 years ago to be with her to the last day (however that comes) there was no back door in my mind; not a thought that I could get out if things didn't go as I hoped. I'm as committed to her today as on the first day of our marriage. In marriage not only can love last but it can continue to grow and we hold together now as tightly as we have ever done.
But also we really believe there is a greater event yet to come and one day even though in a way there is no marriage in eternity there is paradoxically a marriage to come as we will be caught up with the whole church to be joined to Christ at the wedding supper of the Lamb. There'll be no more anniversaries, not even very special ones, but there will be celebration - forever.