Saturday best pick: should young Christians be encouraged to get married earlier?

SHOULD YOUNG CHRISTIANS BE ENCOURAGED TO GET MARRIED EARLIER?

Early marriage might not be a problem; instead, it might just be a solution. In Young and in Love (David C Cook), Pastor Ted Cunningham boldly suggests that early marriage is not as harmful as many believe and even offers the solution to staying sexually pure. He guides young adults through the arguments against early marriage and then reveals the secrets to creating a healthy, successful, and life-long relationship in early adulthood.

Young men and women fall in love. They develop intense desires to be with one another emotionally, relationally, and, yes, sexually. Cunningham validates this budding relationship and chases the foxes that seek to delay or destroy the bud before it can turn into a blossoming marriage (Song of Solomon 2:15). He praises this budding love, calling family and friends to recognize it with a wedding, and challenges all unnecessary delays to marrying in one’s early twenties.

Developing a Godly relationship can be hard when you fall in love at a young age. Few people offer support. Many doubt your love is real. It seems almost everyone — your friends, your parents, even your church — thinks you are much too young for marriage. You’re not ready. But maybe that’s not true. Cunningham explains where the arguments against young marriage often go wrong. Then he offers wisdom on how to know if you are making the right choice including the Four C’s: 

Character, Chemistry, Competency, and Calling. 

He’ll help readers understand what it takes to be ready for marriage. And along the way he’ll show that the answer to staying pure might be to prepare for marriage. Because it’s often easier to say, “Let’s wait” when “I do” isn’t so far away.

According to Cunningham, “Ultimately, Young and in Love honors marriage and encourages marriages in the making. This is not another purity book teaching you how to suppress any and all feelings of love. I want you to express your love and then enjoy marriage. So if you kissed dating goodbye, it’s time to say hello! If you have kept true love waiting, I tell you now, wait no more. Get married!”

For more information on Ted Cunningham visit www.tedcunningham.com

Thinking of getting married ?

Last saturday, we went to the Diocesan Synod (my first) and I found it very enjoyable. Our first speaker Gillian Oliver told us about The Weddings Project. We found out that training events are being planned for clergy and lay people involved in helping couples. A range of literature has been developed to help both churches and couples plan the big day. Her presentation was excellent, very interesting and funny too. She mentioned a new website rich in information on how to plan a church wedding: http://yourchurchwedding.org

So I went on exploring this site. Well-designed, it has a vast amount of information. For instance, did you know that...... Marriage boosts happiness

Research continues to show that in the long run marriage makes you happier.  Independent research commissioned by the CofE found that nine out of ten people say marriage has made them personally happier and their relationship stronger.

And in a paper published in 2005, (How Does Marriage Affect Physical And Psychological Health?) academics conclude that after comparing many other similar studies, marriage improves psychological health and has a big effect on happiness.

Wow, I didn't know that!

Something else caught my attention as we are very careful about not wasting energy and doing our bit for the environment at home..read on

Jessica and Joe's green wedding tips

One of our Real Wedding couples, Jessica and Joe, share their top tips for a greener wedding:-

1. Pick your own flowers: ”All the greenery was from my Mum's garden and the flowers from her sun-warmed greenhouse,” said Jessica. “For the flowers we bought, we tried to have those with less air-miles, or not from heated greenhouses.”
2. Stay close-by: “We could have chosen to marry in a different church, but most of our friends lived in London, so the travelling distance to this church was less for guests. And, we held the reception at the church, so no further travelling for anybody!” said Jessica.
3. Cut down on carbon: Jessica added: “Joe really wanted a nice wedding car, so found a gas-converted Bentley - gas is better for the environment than conventional fuel.”
4. Go for home-grown: As far as possible, food and drink at the wedding was local, organic and/or Fairtrade.
5. Enjoy Britain: “One of the biggest contributors to a wedding's 'carbon footprint' is the flight for the honeymoon, so we chose to stay at a friend's home in Dorset and had a lovely time walking around the countryside,” said Jessica.
6. Save a tree: Jessica and Joe’s wedding invitation used far less paper than conventional invites because it was small and folded in such a way that no envelope was necessary. What paper they did use was made from recycled materials. Further wedding details were put on the internet, saving yet more paper.
7. Rings of peace: “Joe tried to find a suitable antique ring. It takes up a lot of energy and resources to make new rings and you have to be careful where the diamonds come from.” (Seehttp://www.kimberleyprocess.com/ for more about this.)
8. Chic looks for less: “I found a dress for £70, a floor-length veil for £5 and my wedding shoes in one of Oxfam's specialist wedding dress shops. I had one bridesmaid who wore a nice dress of her own,” said Jessica.“The boys just wore their own suits and we tried to find ethically-sourced ties; although renting is another good option. “Clothes can be a big expense, so these decisions were good on our pocket as well,” she added.
9. Enjoy giving: “Going green on the wedding presents can be very challenging,” admitted Jessica. “Although our income was not great, we realised that compared to many people in the world, we were still very privileged and could buy our own goods eventually. So instead of the usual things, we had our wedding list with Oxfam Unwrapped.We asked for safe drinking water for 225 people, 500 school dinners, 5 health workers, 4 teachers, 266 trees, 2 alpacas and a donkey!“

Fantastic! Finally, the most wanted Bible reading is 1 Corinthians 13, famous for weddings, which ends at verse 13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Have a blessed evening!