Are you currently married, engaged and planning your wedding, or single, but hoping to find “the right one”? How would you like to say your vows in front of 2 billion witnesses? As we are all continuously reminded by the media, that is the daunting experience facing Britain’s Prince William and his bride, Kate Middleton, at their wedding this Friday. Do you ever dream of being this important?
The media tirelessly focuses on the traditions surrounding the royal wedding, speculations about what various royals and celebrities will be wearing, who is invited and who is not, and of course what Kate Middleton’s wedding gown, will be like. However, what makes this royal union truly unique is not any of these things, but the fact that the prince is marrying a commoner, someone who does not come from either a royal or a noble family.
Growing up an ordinary person and marrying a prince is the stuff fairy tales are made of, but in the thousand-year history of the British monarchy, it is an extremely rare event. In fact the last time it occurred was in 1660, when Anne Hyde, the daughter of a politician, married James, Duke of York, who later became King James II.
In countries like the U.S. with no history of monarchy or aristocracy, we have difficulty understanding class barriers and how they shape major life decisions and behaviors.
However, even in our society, we are aware that there is always an “inner circle” in every social setting: school, work, social or service club, church, and sometimes even in our own extended family.
Have you ever been on the outside, and longed to be a member of the “in group?” Unless someone extends an invitation, you remain in effect “a commoner,” shut out of association with the privileged few. That exclusion is often very painful and deeply wounding.
Prince William is extending an invitation to Kate Middleton that will permanently end her status as a commoner. As she leaves Westminster Abbey Friday, she will no longer be Kate, but the Princess of Wales. Through marriage she will be a royal, and her children will be in line to ascend to the throne.
You may be “a commoner” in your social world. Perhaps you feel ignored, overlooked and unappreciated. Maybe you even think it’s hopeless, your life is always going to be tedious and ordinary, never special or exciting. But did you know that you have been issued an invitation to be a royal in the most powerful monarchy on earth?
God is inviting you to become His child and a member of His own family. He tells us in Revelation 1:5b-6a: “Jesus loves us and has freed us from all our sins by His own blood. He has formed us into a royal race, and priests to our God and Father…” The apostle Peter wrote: “You are a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation. You are God’s very own possession…for He has called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”
Don’t live your life as a commoner. Choose to be a royal. Say “Yes!” to God’s invitation to become His child and join the royal family!
Please join us this Sunday at 9:00 AM or 11:00 AM, as we look deeper into the royal ties that bind us into God’s family. I’m discussing parenting principles in my sermon, “Successful Parenting“, that is part 1 in our new “Family Ties” series.
No comments:
Post a Comment