On Love and Marriage

By Tom Ehrich

I stand for loving, partnering and marrying.

I believe God smiles when people give their lives to each other — taming the terrible beast of selfishness, breaking through fear and hubris, forming circles in which love abounds, establishing households of goodness and faith, raising children to be decent and self-sacrificial.

I doubt that God cares one bit whether those partnerships bring together people of the same or different social class, ethnicity, national origin or gender.

We have learned the hard way that love isn’t about human barriers, but about God’s desire that we learn to love.

Some will say that civilization itself is imperiled when people of the same gender marry. They said the same when Roman citizen married non-citizen, upper class married lower class, Romeo loved Juliet, Catholic married Protestant, German married American, Japanese married Korean, and black married white. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now.

Love is about dying to self and living to God, orienting one’s will for the good of the other. Love takes many forms.

Jesus gave three commandments: love God, love each other, and don’t be afraid. We cannot allow fear to win the battle.

Photo: Our most recent family wedding.