Last weekend two of my dear friends, Andy and Emily, were married. It was a wonderful service: theological faithful and beautiful, too.
So, it was with horror that I came across a picture of the very antithesis of the wedding I witnessed just last weekend. The picture above, sigh, is both theological skewed and aesthetically disturbing. If you can't see, the picture is of a wedding couple, pouring two differently colored vials of sand into a single jar. The two colors - neon green and pink! - of course, do not mix into one, but like retro-colored water and oil stay separate in their own corners. So much for 'becoming one flesh'!
In many weddings, the couple, each taking a lit candle, light a unity candle. The unity, far from a crass amalgamation, is a sacramental transformation. One can not look at a unity candle and identify where one spouse ends and the other begins. That is the very notion of unity.
Plus, you can also see the couple were married outside; another theological taboo.
In addendum: this is why I left Indiana.
1 comment:
In a way, the sand does make some sort of sense. While I argue with the choice of color in this case, the two individual colors come together and make a more beautiful whole. (again, not in this case, these colors are nauseating.) Marriage is like this. Both individuals are still discernible yet are part of a larger whole. The theology of the unity candle is clear, but also is a bit troubling as both individuals are subsumed by the one. I'm not really very fond of either ritual.
Why is an outdoor wedding a theological taboo?
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