I speak to you in the name of God
       - Creator, Redeemer, and Giver of life.
I speak to you in the name of God
       - to whom we offer our praise and thanksgiving
       this day and always.
             Amen.

I would like to begin my remarks this morning with a brief quotation. In her poem entitled, "Welcome Morning," Anne Sexton believes she must remind herself to offer thanksgiving to God. Sexton writes:

So while I think of it,
let me paint a thank-you on my palm
for this God,
this laughter of the morning,
lest it go unspoken.

Today, we celebrate Harvest Thanksgiving - a yearly reminder, painted upon our liturgical calendar, lest our own expressions of praise and thanksgiving to God "go unspoken."

Today, we praise God and give thanks for both the extraordinary aspects of our human existence, and the most ordinary, taken-for-granted aspects as well.

Today, we praise God and give thanks for a gift-laden world. We are reminded that God is the source of life's grace, and glory, and goodness. We are reminded that we are neither autonomous, nor self-sufficient.

Today, we praise God and give thanks for our families and friends - for all who treat us with dignity and respect; for all who support and care for us; for all who engender faith and hope within us. We are reminded that we are impoverished without God, and similarly impoverished without our neighbor.

Today, we praise God and give thanks for this beloved community - for the wisdom of our elders, and the laughter of our children; for the prayer and worship that sustain us; for the work that we do, and the work that we dream of doing; for the unity we experience at the center of such remarkable, creative, enriching diversity.

Today, we praise God and give thanks for our country - for the bounty and beauty of this land, for the peace, prosperity and freedom we enjoy. We praise God and give thanks for crisp autumn mornings, and clear autumn nights - "for all the colors, smells and glorious reminders of God's [abundant provision]." (Rosemary Wass)

Today, we praise God and give thanks for food, and clothing and shelter. We are reminded to "be not anxious" about these matters - for it is God's good pleasure to provide for our needs.

Today, we praise God and give thanks for Jesus the Christ - in whom we live and move and have our being. We are reminded that, in Christ, we are made whole - a new creation, without spot or blemish.

Today, we praise God and give thanks for each and every one of God's gifts to us - showering our lives with grace, and dispelling our doubts, our fears and our sorrow.

One of God's most extravagant gifts is the sacrament of marriage. Marriage is the outward and visible expression of the immeasurable love of God towards all people.

One author has written: "We can perhaps learn to prepare for love. We can welcome its coming, we can learn to treasure and cherish it when it comes, but we can not make it happen. We are elected into love." (Irene Claremont de Castillejo) I would add that we are "elected into love" by God's gift of grace.

In a few moments, Paige and Chris will promise to love each other unconditionally, to love the other as God loves us. This love - as we learn from first Corinthians - is patient. This love is kind - neither envious nor boastful, neither arrogant nor rude, neither irritable nor resentful. This love does not insist on its own way. This love is sacrificial, and this love never ends. "It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, [and] endures all things." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Chris and Paige have then set for themselves a very high goal. And they are to be commended for it. They have established an ideal (they have captured a vision) for their life together, and will promise today to strive always to transform that vision to reality - to be "rooted and grounded in love," to be "clothed in love" as long as they both shall live. (see Ephesians 3)

To do so, of course, they will need help. They will need the faithfulness, and support, and trust, and profound respect of the other. They will need the care and support of family and friends. And they will need God.

My prayer this morning is that God would pour out God's blessings upon Paige and Chris - not only on this day, but each and every day as the future unfolds. That God would help this beautiful, this glorious and good couple, to live their dream - to overcome the inescapable trials and tribulations of life through the persistence, and power, of the love they share. That God would help this couple to arise each day and paint a thank-you on their palms - for each other, and for the love they share, "lest it go unspoken."

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote:

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach when feeling out of sight for the ends of Being and Ideal Grace. I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life - and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death."

Today, we praise God and give thanks for this great gift of love, which Browning describes, and which - I have no doubt - Paige and Chris share this day. May Browning's poem provide a poetic backdrop as our service continues: as Chris and Paige make those magnificent promises one to the other - becoming not two, but one - now and forever. Amen.