Wedding anniversaries

Later on the same day we landed back in the UK we were at a Silver Wedding anniversary in Caius College, celebrating with a couple who met at the Cambridge church when I was once minister. We were (unsurprisingly) late entering the main dining hall where everyone had gathered for drinks and speeches before the food.  The hall was full of noisy happy chatter. 


Taking off our coats, we began to register who was in the crowd. I was amazed to catch sight of first one married couple I had not seen for 22 years, followed by a second, then a third and then a fourth.   As I greeted them with wonderment that they were instantly recognizable, I marvelled even more how their stories instantly came to mind in that weird way that memory can google search quicker than google (with added colour and emotion)!


It should have been obvious that the happy couple would invite many of their peers who have remained friends to share their night, and that they would have met in the same church and that I would know them well.  But I was surprised that there were, in all, six couples there whom I had married some 25 years ago,  all going strong. 


There wasn't time to talk in depth but it became clear that each marriage had shared in the rough and tumble of family life for the last twenty five years.  Yet, for every couple their Christian faith had remained central to their lives together.  They shared stories of different churches they now belonged to and their passions and commitments to various responsibilities.  I know Christian marriages can fail in our fallen world, but I walked on air as we drove home and reflected on our experience.  Here are six couples who have stayed true to each other with the Easter Lord in prime place.  Thank you, Lord.