This past weekend

in San Saba, Texas I officiated at the wedding of my nephew. I would like

to share the wedding homily with you (Chris and Vieney have been married

before. Now, they are devoted Christians and in fellowship with a loving

church in San Saba).

The Apostle

Paul, in Ephesians 2:8, says, "For by grace you have been saved through

faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God."

With 29 years

in the pastoral ministry, I am still dumbfounded again and again by the

unrestricted limited of God's grace, love, forgiveness, compassion, and

understanding. His grace is greater than all our sin. His love is unconditional.

His forgiveness has no qualifications. His compassion heals our secret

wounds. And, his understanding seems to be that of one who walks in our

very own shoes.

So many people

go through life bound by fear and missed opportunities (and therefore

regret) because they live in light of their own mistakes and failures

rather than live in the light of the glorious grace of our Lord and Savior

Jesus Christ.

Please do not

get me wrong. The law still stands. Please permit me a joke that makes

me laugh every time, but most people fail to see the humor: Moses comes

down from the mountain and tells the children of Israel: "I've got

some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I've got God to

reduce the number of commandments from ten to seven. The bad news is that

'thou shall not commit adultery' is still one of the seven."

The point being

is that still in light of the enormous grace of God, he still expects

us to live according to his laws. But we still have the choice to live

in his grace or in view of our own condemnation and perhaps that of others.

Let's say there are two towns. In the town of Grace, the Holy Spirit serves

as the one Police Officer; Jesus Christ serves as the one District Attorney;

and God the Father serves as Presiding Judge. In the other town of Law,

your worst enemy serves as Police Officer; your ex-spouse serves as District

Attorney; and the Devil serves as the judge. Now, in which town would

you prefer to live?

I love officiating

at weddings when this is the groom's second or the bride's second or third.

Why? Because it gives me opportunity to say without fear of contradiction:

God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your lives a plan for prosperity

and success, not a plan for calamity.

Because of

God's great love, you have another chance at love-making and home-making.

And it could be the best one yet!

That's why

we your family gather around you: to demonstrate the love of the Father.

We the older generation owe it to the younger generation to demonstrated

that there's nothing you can do to get kicked out of the family and that

we love you no matter what. We the older generation made our share of

mistakes, but because you were children, you didn't grasp what we did).

At this time

I would like the families of the groom and bride to stand. Chris and Vieney,

as you look at the loving faces of your family, we are saying to you:

"We are here for you because we love you and believe in you. Also,

there is a great cloud of witnesses of your love ones looking over the

rafters of heaven."

We are all

saying, we love you and we believe in you. You are beautiful. You are

handsome. The world belongs to your heavenly father. Enjoy it!

The Rev.

Dr. John Hatcher is pastor of

River's Edge Community Church

1091 South Jeff Davis Drive

Fayetteville, Georgia 30215

770-719-0303

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