Dorothy F Gurney
Ephesians 3:17-19
I pray that, according to the riches of his glory…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
O Perfect Love LBW 287
1 O perfect Love, all human thought transcending, lowly we kneel in prayer before your throne,
that theirs may be the love which knows no ending, whom you forevermore unite in one.
2 O perfect Life, be now their full assurance of tender charity and steadfast faith,
of patient hope and quiet, brave endurance, with childlike trust that fears no pain or death.
3 Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow; grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife,
and to life’s day the glorious unknown morrow that dawns upon eternal love and life.
Text: Dorothy F. Gurney, 1858-1932
This is a lovely hymn that we rarely sing anymore; omitted from the ELW, I guess because it was so rarely used. It was written by Dorothy Gurney as a wedding gift to her sister, and was included in the old SBH and the LBW under the now defunct “wedding section” of the hymnal.
In recent years there has been much talk about “Biblical Marriage” but sad to note, there is no “biblical” form of marriage in Scripture, nor is there any “heterosexual bias” in Scripture. In Scripture marriage is not about sexuality or gender or romantic love, but rather about honor, about promises made and kept, about how in the midst of an imperfect world, two imperfect people can come together, faithfully give and faithfully receive vows, and by God’s grace and a community’s support, survive the stormy seas of life. And in the enduring, provide a powerful witness of Christ’ healing and transformative love to the world. In truth the most beautiful and meaningful wedding I ever attended was the marriage of my daughter, Mary to her wife, Jess as it was built upon, and celebrated the values people of faith hold dear.
O perfect Love, all human thought transcending, lowly we kneel in prayer before your throne, that theirs may be the love which knows no ending, whom you forevermore unite in one.
This is what we once taught and celebrated - that perfect love of Christ demonstrated by a messy crucifixion, by a poor itinerant Rabbi from a mud walled village called Nazareth in Galilee; a love demonstrated in blood, tears, and wails of anguish.
O perfect Life, be now their full assurance of tender charity and steadfast faith, of patient hope and quiet, brave endurance, with childlike trust that fears no pain or death
The love where two selfish people gathered to speak words they barely understood under the cross of Christ’s sacrificial love in the grand and glorious hope a miracle might occur: that the Holy Spirit, the Body of Christ and their families of blood and of faith would walk with them, stand with them through hard times, and help them keep the vows they made before God and witnesses.
Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow; grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife, and to life’s day the glorious unknown morrow that dawns upon eternal love and life.
A love that illumes the dark corners of every moment, a light that shines in the darkness and that no darkness can overcome, a love that weeps when God’s commandments are broken: like false witness, adultery, or coveting your neighbor’s wife, but a love that finds joy when two sinners stand before a body of believers in faith and hope, regardless of gender or social morals, and submit to that perfect love. This hymn never once mentions sexuality, gender or any of the things we have fought over, separated over, wept over, and ignored God’s love over for the past decade. But that love, that perfect love, is what saves us. And we should sing this hymn more often.