The Wedding of Hilary Nixon and Robert Dehn
St John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Loveland, CO
17 July 2015 Sirach 2, 1-11 + Psalm + Colossians 3, 12-17 + Luke 9, 1-6
Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Rachel, Ruth and Boaz, Hosea and Gomer, Elizabeth and Zachariah, Mary and Joseph, the list goes on and on. It can include others like Peter and Paul, Andrew and James, Timothy and Mark who teamed up with Paul. People like Sylvia and Bob, Ruth and Ted, Betty and Nick, Bob and Betty, Robert and Debra, Norma and David all the way down to this day when the list will include Hilary and Robert. For you see, when it comes to the lives of people who are rooted in the life and mission of Jesus Christ, people whose lives are touched by the Divine, there is no going it alone.
Sent out two by two there is no “doing your own thing”, nor doing it “my way.” That is what got Adam and Eve in trouble and continues to haunt the human family in every age. Each of these holy men and women teach us much about fidelity and love. Even Adam and Eve as they are imagined for us were the perfect couple until they traded something created for the creator. Abraham and Sarah teach us how to wait without losing faith. Jacob and Rachel teach us about devotion and perseverance as Jacob works and slaves for fourteen years just to have Rachel as his bride. The love story of Ruth reveals not just admirable loyalty that attracts Boaz, but reveals the passion of God for his people. The love story of Hosea is a lesson on the power of forgiveness. to heal what is broken. The stories of these lives go on through every age to reveal something to us of the God whose love draws us to this place today. We are intended by our Creator/God to be together. No one is alone, and to those who face that fear there is even a promise made: “I will not leave you
The Wedding of Hilary Nixon and Robert Dehn St John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Loveland, CO 17 November 2015 Sirach 2, 1-11 + Psalm + Colossians 3, 12-17 + Luke 9, 1-6
orphans. I will be with you until the end of time.” This is the promise fulfilled that we celebrate in this church today with gratitude and joy.
To those who take up a life of faith in Christ simple instructions are given by Jesus to support and sustain the partnership we have as Christ’s own. What we need is one another. All we need is one another. Everything else is going to get in the way. We have only one house and one home, God’s holy church. We need not look anywhere else. To the extent that God’s Holy Church is rooted in our homes, we will always find peace, healing, and forgiveness there.
And so Robert and Hilary, in this place Christ sends you forth today as he has countless others faithful ones. Your mission is clear: live and proclaim by the goodness of your lives and the public practice of your faith the presence of the Kingdom of God. Bind up and heal, hold up and encourage anyone who seems alone, broken, or lost. In as much as you do so, you will arrive back before the Lord as did those apostles full of joy, and full of peace for your names will be written in heaven.