Marrying God
Items needed: pens, paper, projector, 4 weddings and a funeral and ‘This Is Love Reflection’ video – from our video section
Session Outline: A session exploring commitment to God in comparison to wedding vows!
Video Clip: 4 Weddings & A Funeral from 4:20 – 8:59
(Warning there is one use of strong language)
Introduction: Tonight we’re going to be thinking about commitment and especially our commitment to God but first thinking back to the clip from Four Weddings & A Funeral, what commitment does marriage involve?
Brain Storm: Brainstorm the commitments marriage involves
Explain: Marriage is a commitment people take seriously, it’s a big step in which one person commits themselves to another for life before God
Brainstorm: Split up boys and girls and ask each to come up with a list of things they think a husband and wife should be (i.e. boys may suggest wives should clean!)
Bring the groups together and compare answers
Bible: Read Ephesians 5:22-33
Ask: Ask the group what they think about the passage? How much of what Paul says is similar to what they’ve written?
Explain: In the bible the commitment between Jesus and the church or rather the Christians is paralleled as a bride and groom. Revelation 19 6-8 says (read Revelation 19:6-8).
So if the church is the bridge of Christ what commitment do we need to make to God?
If we look back to our original wedding clip the vows they make to each other are exactly the sort of commitment we should make to Jesus, so let’s look at them!
Wedding Vows
You may wish to copy these and hand them to your group
I, ________________, take you, _____________, to be my wife/husband; and I promise before God and these witnesses to be your loving and faithful husband/wife; in plenty and in want; in joy and in sorrow; in sickness and in health; as long as we both shall live.
Ask: Have you made that commitment to God?
What does it mean to being faithful to God in plenty and want (richer or poorer)? In joy and sorrow? In sickness and in health?
Explain: I don’t know about you but that’s a pretty big commitment and I think it’s the sort of commitment we make and then strive to keep up to, we have to learn not to be selfish but to put God first, the same way husbands and wives have to learn but making that commitment is a commitment to work towards keeping that vow completely.
Closing Dedication
Explain: I’d like to show you a clip of what it’s like to keep that vow, to have that commitment to someone else, to treat someone the way Paul talks about in Ephesians
Video Clip: Show the ‘This is Love’ reflection video which can be found in our video section
Response: Read through the following vow and use it as a prayer, whether you invite the young people to say it or not depends on your group
I ask you, Jesus, to come into my life; and I promise before God and these witnesses to be your loving and faithful child on this earth; in plenty and in want; in joy and in sorrow; in sickness and in health, until you return to take me home. Amen