Sunday, October 08, 2006
We're Gonna Have A Wedding!
Colossians 3:18-19
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It's not as if I wasn't deprived of my sleep but I had a strong urge to wake up at 6-ish to go to church. It seemed like an ordinary Sunday, except that the skies were cleared and that there weren't much cars fighting for spaces with me in the mscp.
I walked into the premises at about 0755h and wasn't surprised there were only a handful of people at the foyer. I passed by the bulletin and saw this.
As the title suggested, it's the Church's policy where members have to go through before couples go through the marriage ritual.
Looking at the flowchart closely, there are 5 main steps prior making the special vow.
1. Courting? Consider the Discovery Weekend for courting couples.
2. Couples, having made the decision "Yes, I want him/her to be my partner" would have to attend the course. This session allows couples to come together to share with each other and learn to understand one another better. It would also allow the couples to review where their relationship is heading. This course is held in Jan/ Jun.
3. Considering marriage? Couples would have to apply for the Marriage Preparation Counselling course 18 months before the wedding date. This is held in Feb, May and Aug.
4. In the MPC course, couple come together with a councillor to evaluate how ready they are to get married. It also allows the couple to think through if they are able to commit to one another. This course would last for 4 months, compared to 1 day for the Discovery Weekend.
5. After attending the MPC course, this would roughly leave the couple 14 months to prepare the wedding, as well as to confirm the faith they have for each other. Of course, at this stage the wedding date would be set.
Service was good today. As the Praise and Worship segment started, people entered the sanctuary in streams and well within 5 minutes, it was completely filled.
And guess what? Today's sermon is on...
Yes. God's blueprint for marriage.
It's scary to read how people end up in divorce just like that. It seemed divorce is defined as the future tense of marriage. But with God's grace, a couple would come together and be seen as one.
Congratulations to Gerrie's cousin, Andrew and Siew Ling. May God's hands mould your relationship and your honeymoon would last a lifetime.
Am going to a dinner tonight.